I wasn't saying it to you personally. Sorry if that was attached to your comment as a response i guess? I was just making a comment that, since in Russia, as we speak, there is a process going on intended to outlaw and ban JW as a group/religious cult or whatever.
So, why only JW? and it is not asking you, just a…

IIRC, Philip didn't know anything about his father, that he even was a guard, so his father must have died when Philip was very very young to remember anything, or notice that their lifestyle was a rung above everybody else's.
We can only speculate at this point. The show gives us these tiny bits of info and that maybe…

I can't. They don't patronize my neck of the woods :) I never had one show up at my door. I guess they just don't bother with us, godless liberals on the coasts, or something? :)

You make some good points. Maybe the fact they had any bread at all is due to his father having more access to resources like that.
Even though I was born in CCCP, this period is way before my time, but my grandparents and parents lived through that time. My mother was born in 1944 and she told me pretty sad stories…

What doesn't add up for me: so if his dad was a guard at a prison camp, those people were on a higher level in the hierarchical order than regular folks. So, the question is how come we see his son young boy Misha aka Philip watching his dad bring home some sad moldy bread for mom to warm up over open fire?
The whole…

no, you aren't if you are watching this show :)

all the time :)

Why does one have to endure even three times a year of someone trying to sell their ways? What about free will and all that? If I decide to believe in something, I will do that on my own time, especially now with the Internet and free access to all sorts of information, this is so backwards. Why does any cult have to…

Yes, Gabriel did talk a bit about his experiences during Stalin's terror years? Gabriel does know, he has seen and lived through what we cannot even imagine.
But how does Frank Langella know how to be THAT GUY? This is such brilliant acting, through and through.

Just wanted to say! Totally! And - his name IS Ben. is it intentional? I think so, why not? a nod to Felicity…
Oh, Felicity…
That show (and Russell) have a special place in my life. In 1998, I arrived in NYC "fresh off the boat" to go to grad school. I had no idea how American universities worked, how to be a student in…

Aren't they the ones who don't celebrate birthdays? poor children!

So why single JW out in Russia now, for example? JS, I don't really much care about either of those. No disrespect to fans.

Just wanted to say exactly this. (about Russia outlawing JW)

yes

wow, good catch! thanks!

thanks! don't recall, have to re-watch. what a show!

It is not about the action, it is about people, people! How do we live our lives, and what do we choose to believe in, and what does integrity mean to us? and loyalty? and family?

How does he KNOW what it feels like to be who is portraying? I mean, I know, somewhat.
It is nothing short of brilliant - he cannot possibly ever know how to feel like that, and yet he does enough to act that way. Brilliant. This show!

Don't recall that, what seas/epp?

Phillip totally channels V. I. Lenin look in that shot illustrating this ep, rite?