he could have gone to russia and come back

TBO, Nadezhda is a REALLY hard one to pronounce for an English speaker. It's impossible almost. Why didn't they go with something easy like Natalia or Tatiana or whatever?
Nadezhda, moj kompas zemnoj - a very popular pop song in the Soviet Union in the 70s I guess:
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
tribute to the legendary…

you know there are books about it. people used to read.

in the NKVD then

Tastes differ but I do not understand people complaining that this show is slow. This is the nature of this show. This is what it is exploring and how.
When I want my action fix - may I recommend Into the Badlands? Every epp a roller coaster ride times a hundred. Check it out.

May I suggest Transformers franchise?

I don't recall that scene, but he must have sounded much better than Liz because I didn't have a strong reaction to it.
When Liz spoke, I cringed

yeah like he said "Misha" "in Russian" - not that hard.
But honestly, I do not recall him speaking a full sentence in Russian, I might be forgetting, but don't recall. Liz OTOH sounded awful. I thought at the time - why would they even make her do this? Or she should have practiced with a language coach more.

Not THAT bad. You never get THAT bad in your native language, no.
I know my Russian is rusty (and it isn't my native language, I am just fluent) but no where near that bad. no way.

The accent was REALLY bad. When Americans try to imitate speaking Russian on any show or in film (like Spencer in Criminal Minds who's presumably fluent in Russian) - it's just awful, It is not only heavy accent, sometimes it is not even easy to understand for a Russian speaker. honest.

Spasibo :) but that works too :)

not sure what you mean?

It was recommended to me too by a friend, so I second that.
Personally though, I don't want to puke all over myself so I'll pass.

Mikhalkov is very pro-Putin now so one wonders..
is one oppression better or more justified than the next?
Brilliant movie director, but despicable human being (in my book) sad

exactly.

Her character (until proven otherwise by the show), to me, is just a perfect example to invalidate the notion that women, esp. "nerdy" ones, are desperate to get attention from guys, and would jump any sad stained-shirt needy Gus?

He is really confronting/facing the limits of his "charms"
That woman is solid :)
I can identify, in a way, with her attitude - I like my life as it is, and any distraction, if forced upon me too fast and too much in my face, - I do not want, and prefer things to evolve naturally, if i feel like having those things in…

yes, that! I love your insights! I don't know what your background is but you seem to be able to read people's characters so well :) as a few other commenters!
In this case, ITA!

Wasn't Elizabeth really BEAMING in that scene? Like a proud mother? I thought she was, like during a ptc when the teacher tells her what awesome job she did with her child. i thought she was really glowing, with a silly happy smile on her face, it's like she forgot for a moment the reality and was just proud, content…

well, not far from ya - Morris County, NJ :)
I lived in Queens for 2 years while in grad school at St John's
I consider NYC is where i am from in the US :)