Yeah, they really did have quite a run. So many different jokes to be made about various old Russian leaders and their many health problems.

Props for recognizing Chernenko by face though, even with the context I certainly wasn't paying that close attention.

No worries. I thought for sure I'd made a typo, I originally almost posted that Gorbachev came to power in 1995 before catching it.

Haha, true. Philip had a line in the early season episode where Reagan got shot that but was reported to still be alive that he doubted the American press or government was lying but that 'the last two times our leader died, we lied about it for weeks.' (paraphrasing)

Not sure how this contradicts my post? What I was saying was that the new character Oleg is working for in his new job in the Soviet equivalent of the Dept. of Agriculture is Gorbachev, not that Gorbachev had already become the General Secretary. I even gave the dates!

So Oleg Burov's new boss is definitely Mikhail Gorbachev, right? A reformer who fights corruption and the old party leadership and has a lot of agricultural experience? Gorbachev worked on the agriculture committee, came from a family of farmers in Ukraine, used to run a combine harvester (for wheat and other grains)…