The Jenningses are failing
at life. Their marriage continues to be a sour affair, with one tense fight
after another. They spar in the kitchen when Philip pokes holes in the story
about Rennhull’s death, then spar again in the bedroom, with Elizabeth looking
ready to pounce and announcing she’s going downstairs and he shouldn’t wait up
for her. There is a little tenderness when the two go to bed, but even that is
tinged with Elizabeth’s heartbreaking statement that she’s tired all the time.
Of course she is. Even someone as superhuman as her can’t keep up this pace
forever, particularly when more and more of her missions turn out to be dead
ends.
There were two dead end
missions this week. Elizabeth kills two security guards, very nearly avoiding
capture, and still doesn’t find the radiation detector. At least I think it was
two guards. The show was lit as badly as a Netflix drama and I couldn’t tell, although
it did make for a beautiful shot when Elizabeth shot out a light over her head.
Then, just as eavesdropping
on the American and Russian gets juicy, the stupid dying artist goes and vomits
at the stupid World Series party and has to go home like a big baby. That was
hilarious to watch, but then again, I’m always amused by televised vomit. (What
did she eat, raisins?)
Things are going just as
smashingly at the travel agency. Philip overextended his credit and can’t make
ends meet. This is also right around the time of the October 1987 stock market
crash, so I wonder if that will be a factor. As communism falls apart in the
USSR, capitalism is about to take a hit in the USA, so maybe neither ideology
has all the answers. He may not be able to afford to pay for Henry’s senior
year at the academy, which is terrible. Elizabeth knows this is bad but says to
Philip, probably coming off more harshly than she intended, that Henry is
Philip’s department.
Paige is apparently her
mother’s department, as she warns her daughter that she can date someone or be
a honeypot but she can’t mix the two. She flirts at a bar and sleeps with some
guy and may be doing just what her mother warned against. I was struck by the
contrast between Paige and Kimmy. The two are about the same age but Kimmy still
seems younger than Paige, who looked great and sophisticated at the bar, and coolly
skilled taking pictures in the hotel hallway.
Now that she’s on her
deathbed, Erica wishes she had spent more time with husband Glenn. It remains
to be seen whether Elizabeth will take the hint. Whether she knows it or not,
something is coming to an end for Elizabeth, as it is for Erica. Soon,
everything she’s done for the motherland may have been for nothing. At least
Erica has left behind some amazing art. (And Erica really should go easier on
herself. It’s awful to that young and in a drawn-out way, but passing on all
her work is about as good a legacy to leave as you could in her situation.)
I continue to find the
central conflict of this season fascinating. Philip informs on Elizabeth to
Oleg. As Oleg explains, there is an increasing divide between hardliners in the
Soviet Union and Gorbachev supporters. Philip says Elizabeth would never do
anything to hurt her country but what if her actions are hurting a country that
is changing in ways she can’t understand? Will they choose their marriage or
their country?
Elizabeth tells Paige that “somewhere
something got lost” in Philip. Elizabeth’s exhausted face tells a more complete
story: something in her is very lost and hollow and it will only get worse as the
Cold War runs the course we know it will take.
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