A couple of seasons ago, Clark was plotting to use an edited tape to trick Martha into thinking that her superiors (and, if memory serves, especially Gaad) were a pack of sexist douchebags who held her -and women in general- in contempt. . . but Philip didn't actually need to edit it- the actual conversation was bad…

It wasn't idle chit-chat, but I don't think her target is Clark. Her target, as far as I can tell, appears to be Gaad. When she gratuitously mentioned to Taffett that Gaad's bugged writing implement was "not a supply pen", I thought at first that she was just babbling details out of panic. . . but then, in this week's…

Have you seen the new episode yet?

"STYGIAN."
"You're bluffing."

No, I think the scene where Martha probably did have the gun ready to hand was when she first confronted "Clark" about his lies. I think it was right behind the end of the couch she was sitting on. There's that moment when she kind of slides back away from him. . . I'm guessing that's where the gun was.
She works in…

This whole season feels like a shout-out to the A.V. club comments thread.

I kind of feel like the point might be to screw Agent Gaad more than it is to gather intel. First he's at the nexus of the pen incident, and then a mail robot that he just happened to send to the machine shop just happens to get a bug placed in it at the machine shop (because let's face it— that thing breaks down…

Philip had to do what he could - the actual KGB audio specialist has refused to work with him until he replaces her earrings.

Thanks for the follow! I'm a dude (and also not a shrink), which are the first observations I've posted here that I have 100% confidence in. Still, I do try my best to produce decent analysis in general, and I try to make my posts as thoughtful and well-written as I possibly can. Thanks for reading!

I think Martha's confidence and self-assurance have grown from season to season, keeping pace with (what she thinks is) her deepening relationship with "Clark" and the audacity of the acts that she's been able to carry out and get away with on his behalf.

I think Philip is shrewd enough to consider a lot of different angles (although his emotional involvement with Martha ceased to be entirely fake a long time ago, and may be clouding his judgment). I wouldn't have said Martha was equally shrewd until this episode, but the way she handled herself under (absurd, insane,…

I agree. Also, this scene (or something equally extreme) was probably necessary to illustrate that there's a point at which Elizabeth will (probably) draw the line on inflicting pain and violence. This is similar to the way that Kimmie (or something equally extreme) was required to show that Philip's willingness to…

If Philip wasn't also part of the equation (in fact, if any part of the equation had been different) then things might very well have gone differently. The decision to spare Todd was presented as an excruciatingly close one.

Great, underappreciated, and also. . .weirdly prescient. In that sense, the film falls into a narrow category of dark science fiction movies, like The Running Man and Videodrome, that somehow managed to effectively satirize the future.

I think Philip thinks he has a choice, or he'd have killed her outright. The one who really has a choice here is Martha. She can't just run away or the FBI will know she's guilty and come find her; and she can't just stop spying for Philip or Gabriel will decide she's a liability and the KGB will come find her. . .…

Based on subsequent events, that might just as well have been the CIA's. . .

True- that happened that day as well. Elizabeth is a fanatic and a zealot, but she's not bloodthirsty. She'll kill -endlessly, efficiently, and with no trace of remorse- for her own cause. . .but she shows no sign that she enjoys it. Which means that there could very well be a limit to how far she's willing go when…

That, and also that necklacing scene already feels longer than the parking lot fight from They Live.

Exactly, and also, there's not a whisper of room for Todd to doubt the inevitable outcome if he ever crosses that crew's path again.

I found it fairly plausible. The decision to spare Todd's life was a very, very close one (the kid's view through the windscreen of the three of them unmistakably dickering over his life is one of those shots that's indelible), and even so, it was the narrow result of a large combination of factors: their revulsion…