Prisoner Of No Conscience

You Just Can't Put A Price On Oppression!

Let it not be said that Eugene Venter didn't have the opportunity to avoid the legitimately horrible fate that is about to befall him, because HE DID: the first thing we hear Philip offer him is $1 million (USD -- that would be worth as much as $5 million today, depending on where you look) and whatever the Communist version of Witness Protection is called -- a new identity in a new country. Seems like a pretty nice proposal, particularly when you consider that he's getting the offer because he is A VERY BAD MAN; I'd take that today and I'm only kind of a jerk! But Venter's not having it: "Not for me." Uh oh, that makes Philip put his gloves on, and probably not so he can count out even more cash.

$1,000,000 < State-Sponsored Racist Separatism

Snitches Get New Britches

Alert Type: Narc Alert.

Issue: Nina's still in prison, but she's also proven she's really good at making people tell her stuff -- and Viktor wants to put that talent to good use again. Or, if not "good" use, then...use. Remember that physicist Baklanov from last season? He's not making as much progress in the work he's been given to do, and no one knows whether it's because the work is hard, or because he's deliberately foot-dragging for traitorous reasons. If Nina can get inside his head and figure out which it is, she'll get out of prison like now.

Complicating Factors: Her old boss Vasili, whom she totally betrayed? He's in charge of this facility, which Nina doesn't find out until she's already started enjoying the creature comforts of her new little dorm room. Like nylons!

Resolution: After Vasili tells her that though they were both to blame for his putting himself in a position for her to sell him out, and though he's going to be professional as long as she's there, he will never forgive her. So...good luck on your first day, champ!

Spoiler: Baklanov's not much warmer. And if you fix his tea wrong, he gets REAL fucking pissy about it.

"If I Have Any More Questions, I'll Just Get You Black In Here...I MEAN--"

Situation: Taffet has gotten around to questioning Aderholt about PenGate.

What makes it awkward? Though we've just seen Taffet interrogating Martha -- really the more likely culprit from any perspective other than a patronizing, sexist one -- and being pretty curt but also pretty straightforward about it, with Aderholt he starts out totally friendly and warm and then downshifts to essentially asking whether Aderholt's turned traitor because he's resentful of colleagues who've had an easier start in life because they're not...you know. "Urban."

How is order restored? Aderholt calmly says he doesn't resent anyone else for having had a smoother path to success than he had, and when Taffet asks whether he thinks others resent him for being "new," Aderholt shrugs it off: "Being new isn't a bad thing. New beginnings; new blood. I don't think much about the rest of it." Taffet declines to push it by asking whether he's noticed that his white colleagues are bad dancers and/or poorly endowed in the penis department.

The Wages Of Sin Are Maybe Immolation, TODD

Alert Type: Informant Alert.

Issue: After seeing his old handler go up in literal flames right in front of him, Todd's pretty ready to tell Elizabeth anything.

Complicating Factors: As she points out, she can't really trust anything he says when he's panicking so hard and trying not to get killed.

Resolution: He babbles that Venter gave him a bomb to plant at the on the campus at George Washington University, at a trustees' meeting. The school has a lot of money invested in companies that do business in South Africa, so the attack would very likely be blamed on a campus anti-Apartheid group. But he never planted it! He tells Elizabeth that it's still in his dorm room, and when she sends Philip to go look, he returns with it, saying it was exactly where he said it would be. Ncgobo wants to shoot Todd anyway, just for entertaining the idea, but Elizabeth and Philip overrule him, and they leave Todd on a road someplace, still alive.

Spoiler: Not really a spoiler so much as speculation: even though Hans wasn't supposed to be doing anything but surveilling the operation, Elizabeth totally clocks him hopping into the courtyard when they're bringing Todd out from the abandoned factory or whatever to drive him to where they end up leaving him. So even though Philip and Elizabeth decide to spare Todd's life, I wonder whether the still very green Hans will go off the Rezidentura (see what I did there?) and go after Todd himself.

You're Leaving Already?

And then just like that, Philip's waiting with Ncgobo for his ride to come get him. They chat a little about Philip's wife being home "safe and sound" while Ncgobo sometimes can't even remember what his wife looks like and is pretty much fine if it turns out she has "another man." Cool? Bye, I guess!

Well, The MAIL ROBOT Didn't Plant That Pen!

Gaad is so flustered by his dressing-down by Taffet that when Martha tells him a report he asked her to get is locked up in the jammed mail robot, he demands her keys, stomps straight up to the mail robot, and when it still won't open for him -- like he thought he had some key-turning power Martha doesn't -- he starts kicking the crap out of it.

GregsList

Having apparently already lost control of her other operative Hans, Elizabeth checks in on Paige, finding her in the kitchen eating Alpha-Bits FROM WHAT IS DEFINITELY NOT A PERIOD BOX...

...and reading Why We Can't Wait. Elizabeth assumes it's for school, but Paige says she's just interested...in Elizabeth's friend Gregory, whom she's been researching at the library lately. Elizabeth's not going to let an opening go to waste, but they're also getting into some slightly dicey territory.

Nyet-Cute

Nina starts Operation Bone-klanov innocently enough, by bringing him a cup of tea and a cookie because, she says, she noticed he hadn't eaten and figured he was too busy too. Baklanov is instantly suspicious -- "You're watching me" -- and when she says she's there to help him but isn't a scientist, he snaps, "Then you're of no use to me." He does take a bite of the cookie -- he's only human -- but when he notices that there's no lemon for the tea, he apparently writes her off as useless, refusing her offer to go get some. BRRRRRRRRR IT'S LIKE SIBERIA IN HERE, RIIIIIIGHT? (Is it actually Siberia? I forget if they said.)

Martha vs. Clark

Clark comes home in enTIREly the wrong mood for Martha, who's clearly been having fifty simultaneous heart attacks all week. After he's finished talking about his awful day -- he had a meeting that got cancelled, except no one told him! -- she informs him that she met a man named Walter Taffet yesterday. Clark: "Who's he?" Shouldn't they know the names of the people at the real OPR? I mean, for god's sake, Linus had to know the name of the guy at the Nevada Gaming Commission who DIED last year in Ocean's Eleven! Martha: "Well, he's you." Philip tries to come up with an answer but is totally unprepared. Martha: "They found the pen. Who are you?" He realizes this is very serious when she starts backing away from him, repeating the question: "Who are you, Clark." "I'm your husband, the man you married." Martha makes one of her dumbest faces yet...

...as Clark continues: "Who loves you more than you will ever know." Martha: "Oh god. What have I done?!" As she stalks into the bedroom, sobbing and freaking out, it's clear that it's taking ALL of Philip's energy to figure out how to talk her off the ledge, so he defaults to lovey talk: they fell in love; "We are what's real"; blah blah blah bullshitcakes. Martha keeps wavering, begging him not to lie to her, and finally he uncorks this line of total crap: "When we first met, I didn't want to fall in love with you, but I did. And now you mean so much to me. You have to believe that. You are one of the most true and honest and good women I have ever known. I love you. And I would do anything for you. To protect you." She catches her breath. "Is that enough?" he asks. "Or do you need more than that?" By now, he's gotten close enough to touch her, and as her face crumples, she shakes her head, and he verrrrrrry carefully wraps his arms around her.

Winner: Clark...but shit, that was TOO CLOSE.

A Place For The Son

Who called the meeting? Elizabeth.

What's it about? After walking in on Philip listening anxiously to a report about the war in Afghanistan on the radio (badly tuned in, btw -- I know this was thirty-plus years ago but they'd pretty much cracked AM broadcast technology by then), she's obviously worried about how HIS worry about his son is wearing on him.

How'd it go? Gabriel seems pretty shocked that Philip told Elizabeth about Misha at all, and seems not to love the connection she's made about his having a son serving in a war and what he's been tasked to do to contribute to that effort: "This thing with Kimberly has been hard on Philip. She's very young. He knows -- we both know -- that maintaining access to the CIA Afghan group is critical, especially now." But...she'd like Gabriel to see what he can do to help Misha: "To get him home." Gabriel says he'll do what he can. And doing something for him should be VERY easy for Gabriel if it turns out that "Misha" is just a concept whose purpose is to manipulate Philip and totally not a person at all!