Thank you for your thoughtful input.
I still CANNOT believe how he did that. It is mind blowing.
OTOH, it has played throughout human history in various forms and in different eras - human cruelty and human sacrifice - so there are universal motifs being tapped into here.
still…

In South Korea, Spam is beloved!
https://www.nytimes.com/201…
I send my parents back home boxes of Spam. They love it :)

"Also, more than once this season, a Russian character has rhetorically asked why their country can't produce enough food to feed its citizens" -

Excellently put.

thanks! I have not watched The Wire (shame on me!) but I know about it and what's it about, TBH, it's on my list, has been for a while, but I just don't know whether I have a stomach for it right now. There is just too much sadness and suffering and heartbreak going on around me in real life…Maybe some day, I know I…

I loved the pilot and was hooked (LOVE this show) - but would not for the life of me remember these details LOL indeed.
thanks!!

wow, thanks! so it's 19 years, not 16 as I said before they have been in the US. How do you guys know these things :) do you like study every wiki page about the show and listen to every podcast? I wish I had more time :) I miss so many details…

That is a very good point. Yet another reason why P & E would not necessarily consider the US system superior now or start question things.
They have lived in the US what? 16 or more years? And only start questioning now? Didn't they see from the get go that Americans had things? Like right away?
I don't think it is…

Hey, I don't mean to sound like it's only black or white, as I said, there is some anecdotal evidence that a very bright person is born poor, and goes to Harvard and becomes a Supreme court judge.
What I meant is a systemic opportunity for everyone to participate in a democratic free society. How can I better express…

Yes, exactly. Exactly!
Also, as you are saying, "they're working for an ideal here that does not yet exist". Many people call CCCP "communist". It was ruled by a party with "communist" in its name. However, if you remember, all 15 pieces of the Soviet quilt were SSRs - soviet SOCIALIST republics.
So, basically, what it…

I love you devil's advocate approach!
Yes, we had a fare share of "hopeless alcoholics to quasi-professional drifters" - and those individuals, no matter what you try, would follow their wayward ways, and yet, there was sort of a safety net, as the piece mentions, of "special detention centers…where homeless people…

Good points all!
My take:
Yes, of course, we knew the party bosses had more, but we the rest had it fine. I grew up experiencing no hardship with food or otherwise. The first hardships started after CCCP went kaput. that was rough. I do not regret it, I want my country free of russian oppression.
I am talking as a…

I just commented above similar to what you are saying. I totally agree with you.

I don't think Philip knows anything about what is going on in the "food distribution system" in the USSR now. His Rodina is what he last remembers it to be like when he left (when was that?)

I would like to add something to this train of thought that Philip is now beginning to consider the US system superior. I am not disagreeing with your observations which are quite valid.
I would like to add a bit of a perspective from the other side (Soviet mentality). We were raised and no doubt brainwashed to believe…

Famine perpetrated onto its own people by Stalin's regime (Holodomor). After that, post WWII shortages are a cakewalk. At least one could leave to look for food elsewhere.

if that's the same father.
js, happens

You did it for me! Thanks! :)

All good questions. we have to keep following the bread crumbs the show drops here and there. ;)

Not where I am. I have not seen one in my life here in the US.
I know some from back home (in Ukraine I mean).
Also, I know a family who are JW.