The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears

With a title like that, you’d never be able to guess the direction of this episode and it might be the best episode of the season. The direction was a real stand out this week with some really striking visuals and compositions. I just looked at who directed it to see if it’s someone well known and it’s Matthew Ryes! Philip himself! Not only is he a great actor, he can crush it behind the camera too.

Incredibly tense episode with emotions hitting the breaking point. A brilliant, almost silent, opening set the stage. Philip gets Martha to the plane and sees her off. A handful of dialog with some crazy minimalist environments and lighting to accentuate the mood.

First, Stan is at wits end. The FBI’s leads are all drying up, they can’t find Martha. They have come to the realization that they have to eat not seeing the spy in their own offices and the KGB making her disappear under their noses as well. Stan looks like hell when he visits Philip (it’s been awhile since he’s done that).

Philip has been running on fumes for awhile now and has been more or less the focal point this season for it. He’s depressed and he looks like hell. His only bright moment is knowing that he made the right move getting Martha out. Elizabeth goes to EST to check it out and they get into a huge fight about it. That was something to see, Elizabeth brings up some serious stuff. The shade she throws at him is unreal, essentially calling him a weak American. She’s tough as nails, but it turns out her fuse was only a few feet longer than Philip’s. While she disparages her husband for not Russian-ing it up and to just get on with his life, a complete freak out on Paige is just the start of her meltdown. Elizabeth lays down the law on Paige, which was super intense to watch. Then, her own agent, Lisa, breaks. Martha was Philip’s responsibility and after it’s all over, Elizabeth gets slammed with the same thing. Another thread in their web has broken, throwing everything off kilter. Lisa threatens to go to the police and Elizabeth reacts. When she goes back to Gabriel’s, where Philip is, she’s a basket case. There is no more anger, just shock, and devastation. Almost all of their hard work is gone.

Gabriel starts this episode in a similar emotional state as Elisabeth. He’s pissed his two agents are getting emotional and eroding their relationship. Not just between themselves, but with him. He tries to reason with and guide them, but they don’t listen or trust him. But then with the loss of Lisa, he sees the stress. There is no way to charge through what they are going through any longer. He vows to get them time off, they’ve been being pushed too hard and too long by The Center.

That leads into a long break, seven months, where they pull themselves together. In a very telling final few minutes, the FBI has restructured after the embarrassment of Martha and Stan is now in a better mental space when he gets advice from his ex-boss. When the time comes to make the hard decisions, keep your conscience in check and go for it. Watch carefully.

Back to Elizabeth and Philip, the look much better too. Paige has listened to her mother and is begrudgingly keeping close tabs on Pastor Tim and his wife. The two professional spies have been given a break on the constant lies and deceit, they’re not pretending and sneaking around 24 hours a day. But now their young daughter is being forced to put up the smoke and mirrors. Paige hasn’t been conditioned to do it like they were and it’s getting to her.

The next crisis is brewing.