thanks for all the spoilers :0) jk - was gonna read Big Little Lies book first…
never mind - how else would this type of thing end anyway? :)

I guess 23 people know what you just said.
Oh, January 11, 1818 - of course. :)
etd: did NOT watch BB - yeah, I know!

yes, I know.
Traveling (travelling) is one thing. Yet another thing is going across borders of restrictive regimes risking being caught and imprisoned (hence smuggling across some border in a car), poor command of English, limited finances, following some code to call an operator with some code words, finding some…

wow you must be watching so carefully for every detail! not intended in any bad way, I wish I could register such trifles as you do. I can barely catch stuff of importance. I feel like I have to re-watch every ep to see what I missed after reading these comments :))

See, you and I are not THAT old :))

why is he single then? doesn't seem to be as socially awkward as Phil's target. so why?
he is charming, knows how to hold a good conversation, has various interests, cooks exotic dinners, knows about wine, ?

All good, man. i wasn't offended or anything, I thought it was cute.
Actually, your "eat me" in Russian was pretty clever! I did get your intent totally, as a pun intended, I did get that. I also thought it was a clever play on "bite me" which is a legit thing here.
Thank you for all your hard work that we enjoy every…

Dan, totally agree! On the set, yes, I probably would have, But how camerawork presented it, it was all almost lost in the scene. I think it was intentional, plus everyone obviously focused on the girls!
I feel that I have to re-watch the episode, have your list ready, and pause and look carefully to identify all that…

Dan, I am sorry, I didn't mean to imply you did a bad job. Personally. Please don't take it personally. Just please allow for some things to NOT appear perfect to all your viewers.
I do have a high bar when it comes to that kind of food, dinners, etc. So It was not what I expected. Having said that, the overwhelming…

Fake borshch comment was about the scene from previous seasons, not this one.
Dan, please keep calm.
I get it, you got all these chefs from Brighton Beach, and they know their shit.
However, as it was filmed, how the scene was filmed, IMO (ok?), the show didn't take the full advantage of the bounty described by you, it…

Good analysis! So basically, if this comes out, Ronnie calls CCCP an Evil Empire on one hand, and quietly endorses Stalin-like execution of an innocent citizen on the other? Bad bad bad optics. Gotta go with option one too.

Oh trust me - it IS great. Try whenever or if you ever have a chance.

Not so much! I worked at New Visions for Public Schools in Manhattan briefly in 2000, as paid intern actually. And they totally boycotted Microsoft products, so they used Word Perfect exclusively. Not that long ago, no? Is it still around?

I would say him speaking poor English was more realistic than having him converse at ease as if he had spent last couple of years mingling at an elite language immersion program or as an exchange student at Eton rather than cannon meat in Afghanistan and a political prisoner at a GULAG-like institution.
Now, what is…

The reason they were all waxing their skis to emigrate to the US first chance they got, and who can blame them. Plus they were the only ones WITH a chance to be let out of CCCP.

Those were available to folks in Moscow and Leningrad, yes, that's true.
CCCP was a huge country, and 99% of people and their kids never had access to these. The percentage of English instructors who were half-competent was also limited as they were graduates of major universities like Moscow University.
The majority…

yeah, that whole thing was not properly written, a lot of assumptions were made.
was Misha in NYC still, or in DC when he spoke to the operator? I think still in NYC, so really, how would he know?

I am totally on the same page :) with you. This plotline is implausible. I am trying to look the other way at how he just all of a sudden appears in NYC, makes a phone call (ok, Irina might have left instructions how to do that), then finds his way to DC, somehow manages to get to some park, etc.
Wasn't he robbed back…

You just don't understand the reality of how isolated and insular Soviet society was then. Maybe, as a "foreigner" who is from a less backward country, one easily navigated strange environments, sure.
I know the reality because I was in CCCP in 1984, I was born there actually, and I know how that would work for an…

Communists have been kicked out? Have you checked who the life-time president/tsar in Russia is? Russia and their best bud Assad and N. Korea are all existential threats to humankind.