Hans, that was the guy that's been with them the last couple seasons doing surveillance, and stuff? I wondered about that, I didn't recognize him and they made no hints about who he was in order to help those of us who forget a lot after a year of not watching... I just assumed it might have been simply out of narrative appropriateness.

Oh and yeah, I agree about the freaking screen time! Halfway through the digging I just sighed and exclaimed, "The Americans: Adventures in Digging!"

Oh, but I disagree about the speaking Russian. I totally believe that as ultra deep cover agents they're trained and told never ever to speak Russian. Unless you're 100% English, you may at some point subconsciously slip up and say something in Russian the wrong time, or you never know when you may be overhead...

But yeah, it'll be interesting if Rhys can speak Russian dialog. :) The show has been so wonderful having actual Russian actors, I'm sure if they need Rhys to speak Russian and he's even a half decent actor, they have the resources and motivation to train and work on his Russian diction and accent.

@piratescribe said: But yeah, it'll be interesting if Rhys can speak Russian dialog. :) The show has been so wonderful having actual Russian actors, I'm sure if they need Rhys to speak Russian and he's even a half decent actor, they have the resources and motivation to train and work on his Russian diction and accent.

...or, they will make Mischa fail to find his father (or get killed) so that they do not have to have Rhys converse with him.

The Vietnamese kid is obviously a well trained spy and probably a few years older than his cover story. Might not even be Vietnamese and was born in the US. I wonder if they've brought in a younger character who will have some story line with Philip's son when if he makes it to the US.

@SWLinPHX said:

• How did Gabriel know where William's body was buried?  Where'd they get a map to pinpoint the spot and why would it be so easy to get?  William doesn't work there so they have no inside contact anymore.

• Poor Hans!  He was so loyal. : (  That killing reminded me of how they killed Nina -- and that Elizabeth truly is cold as ice.

I assumed they had satellite images (not unlike that shown in the episode) of the location that showed the digging and subsequent burial. That hole had to take a long period of time to dig and with heavy, very visible equipment.

In terms of ruthlessness, Elizabeth reminds me of Todd in Breaking Bad. They can both size up a situation and then act in a matter of seconds and I find that admirable given their roles.

They really had me doing double takes and feeling like what the hell is going on. At first I thought the Vietnamese kid was Henry. I didn't realize that was William's body until coming here. I agree that deep undercover agents are taught to never speak Russian. I also felt like that the digging was taking up a lot of time, but I strangely found it interesting. It made me think about what spies are willing to go through for the mission - even physically. They must never sleep. And, how it highlighted (what we already knew) that Elizabeth is every bit Philip's equal in every way. Of course, emotionally, she is stronger.

I really have a hard time when new seasons start. I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone last year.

@izzybee3 said:

I really have a hard time when new seasons start. I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone last year.

Yeah, me too. Had we ever seen the Vietnamese kid before?

I kind of liked the silent digging scene -- it reminded me of that French heist film "Riffifi", where the long burglary sequence takes place in utter silence.

@tuffysmom said:

@izzybee3 said:

I really have a hard time when new seasons start. I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone last year.

Yeah, me too. Had we ever seen the Vietnamese kid before?

I kind of liked the silent digging scene -- it reminded me of that French heist film "Riffifi", where the long burglary sequence takes place in utter silence.

I don't remember that kid. I think they just wanted us to work hard this season to figure out what is going on.

I kept thinking that the digging scene sure was long and that I should not be liking it, but I kinda did.

The Vietnamese kid gave a speech about how his whole family was killed when "they" bombed them. I assume he has a hate for the USA that made him easily recruited.

There has been a few instances of Russian being spoken but pretty much just Liz, though. IIRC. But if not, who cares? As stated above, a deep cover agent wouldn't do that anyhow.

Is it really such a stretch to imagine that they got intel on the grave location via satelite, local surveillance, or an other embedded agent?

I don't blame anyone for not liking the long silent digging scene but I loved it. It would have been lame for them to dig that deep a hole too quickly and the music and mood were suspenseful. A very well executed scene.

I too feel sad for Hans. He was a growing young spy and they had history.

Love this show. I heard that this is the final season. True?

@Horus Mazinga said:

Love this show. I heard that this is the final season. True?

Not sure, but I'm also not sure I'd be disappointed if it is. I think this show is getting rather repetitive now: someone gets killed on one side or the other during a mission; the Soviet spies almost get caught once or twice, but manage to get through the episode okay. There's a lot of storm and stress w/their daughter; the FBI agents try to figure out something and/or try to talk to someone who doesn't want to talk with them. Yada, yada, yada . . . .

@SixtiesHoldout said:

yada . . . .

I'll take another few seasons of yada.

@SWLinPHX said:

and that Elizabeth truly is cold as ice.

^{^} I have questions about pretty much everything you wrote, but this is how feel after every episode. I am always just so happy Elizabeth is not my mom.

@piratescribe said:

Oh, but I disagree about the speaking Russian. I totally believe that as ultra deep cover agents they're trained and told never ever to speak Russian. Unless you're 100% English, you may at some point subconsciously slip up and say something in Russian the wrong time, or you never know when you may be overhead...

Totally agree with this!!

@SWLinPHX said:

• Why or how is a Vietnamese kid who speaks perfect English a Soviet spy?  Was he born in the U.S. or Russia or Vietnam... or what?  Don't give me he is really a Vietnamese Russian with perfect American English at his age.

• How is Phillip going to communicate with Mischa?  They not only have no Russian accent but hardly ever spoke Russian.  I don't think Rhys's Russian will be as good as his American accent.  To be honest, their lack of even a word of Russian all this time (even in private) was always made it a bit less believable).

• How did Gabriel know where William's body was buried?  Where'd they get a map to pinpoint the spot and why would it be so easy to get?  William doesn't work there so they have no inside contact anymore.

• When's the last time you saw a scene with no dialogue (and repetitive, time-lapses action) take up so much damn screen time?!?

• Poor Hans!  He was so loyal. : (  That killing reminded me of how they killed Nina -- and that Elizabeth truly is cold as ice.

The Russians had been in Vietnam since the fifties, when the war ended they still had relations (you're aware that north Vietnam was communist). Young Vietnamese had the opportunity for Russian scholarships. Remember that this show is in the eighties. Either his family was killed by the United States and he was taken in by the Russians or they grabbed him when he was young, told him his family was killed and sent him to the US as a young spy to be raised around our culture. As for Gabriel and his info, we don't really know how many people there are on the inside who would leak info or who could just be intimidated to leak (like with the Korean couple and Elizabeth last season).