I think that's sort of the point. They came over believing that they were fighting the great Satan for the glory of mother Russia and 100% dedicated to the cause but that idea is really fucking hard to support once you're here no matter how much brainwashing you have had. At the same time you *need* to believe it if you are going to continue killing people and risking your life all of the time. Call me biased but the Americans were pretty objectively the good guys in the cold war even if they did do some bad shit along the way.
Yeah, I agree, that is the point they are making. I just think how "slow" it's going getting across to them? Makes the conflict feel a little disjointed. And yeah, I agree, in this struggle, on a "government level" The American government were what I would consider the good guys, just due to the domestic differences in how the U.S. handled opposition. I mean, the U.S. had it's own political witch hunts, and they ended with horrible black lists--but the Soviet ones ended with people in Gulags, or just dead, and we are talking millions. Not to mention the gulf between living conditions (As Elizabeth even said, her experience was extreme poverty in Russia). So on that level, it's hard to get your head around the propaganda and indoctrination needed to understand why Phillip and Elizabeth would even consider letting them have Paige before bailing.
But, at least if they showed, say, the suffering in South Africa, or some more on the South American death squads. Or some other nefarious stuff the U.S. did partake in? It might make the slow burn feel more conflicted. I don't know, I think it would be time better spent than on pastor Tim. heh. Granted, I know it's character driven so the family makes sense. I just think characters and the struggles from those areas would do more to make sense of "the cause" for Elizabeth and Phillip, why they still feel the need to fight for it. But even in when they do show people from there? They seem to just give more evidence to hate the Russians--pretty horrific thing watching your ally burn someone to death with a tire. And while *I* know the white South Africans did horrible stuff, too, I haven't seen it in the show, I've only be relayed a small blurb about how it's bad...just all goes back to the tell not show. What we've seen is the side the communists supporting being horrifically violent, while we were told the other side was with a bomb.
I think part of the problem is the fact that it's about spies makes people think they're going to see a show like Homeland but this show is mostly character driven and the spy stuff is more of a sidebar. Mad Men fans should be watching this show, not Homeland fans
This spot on. Show is based on the character interplay, and struggling to make choices, not as much on the thriller/action of the accomplishing the plan. Also, I do like this season the best too, despite my complaints about the disjointed internal conflict. The stuff about Afghanistan made it very poignant that the Soviets were desperate, added another drive to the show.
