Monthly Archives: June 2016

It Follows

Movies

ItFollows

It Follows rode a hype wave when it first hit the film fest scene in 2014. Check out that poster. How ominous looking is that? The movie maintains that tension through almost it’s entire run time.

It Follows is about a young woman who is stalked by a supernatural force after sleeping with a guy.

With that setup, you have the obvious societal implications. It’s a parallel to reality that grounds a social message that some of the best horror movies accomplish.

I loved almost everything on display here. A great opening scene to establish the threat that makes you question what’s going on. The pacing is dead on from there with some gorgeous cinematography and direction. The movie never stops being creepy. Annie is on a normal date with Hugh at the movies, but there’s something a little off about him. Things go well until the sinister switch is flicked on and the horror stays with you as well as Annie.

The visual language of the movie is expertly crafted. One of my favorite things is that the movie is relatively nebulous in its era. Aside from an e-reader like device that one of the girls has, it looks like this takes place anywhere in the 70’s to the early 00’s. You can also practically taste the paranoia through the camera. The Follower (what I named it) can only be seen by the person it’s after so there’s that immediate doubt from those around her that she’s just broken from her experience with Hugh (and he can’t be found by the police because he used a fake name and took off). When the Follower shows up it’s always in really cool and menacing entrances. It comes off not as a physical object, but a force that can’t be stopped, like waves on a beach. Director David Robert Mitchell had the great idea to occasionally plant the camera and slowly turn it to scope out the outdoor surroundings.  It reinforces Annie’s unease and trains you to keep an eye out on the background for the threat in every scene. One of the best cinematic presentations of paranoia I can remember.

The soundtrack is also a killer throwback to 70’s-80’s synth that helps make the movie seem like it’s from a different age of film. It’s the perfect marriage to the visuals.

My only problem is the end, I’m not too sold on it. It’s a “that’s your idea to handle this?” that seems half-baked. I think that’s kind of the point through, I’m not too sure what these kids could have done (and respect to the dude for putting his neck out there). I would have liked to see them do some more research, to maybe figure out where this thing came (some culture or whatever) to come up with a concrete plan of attack. The idea come up with to help Annie is one of those plans that seems good when you think of it, but is so flawed it’s stupid. They find that out the hard way (Annie should have told them that Hugh said the Follower wasn’t ‘stupid’). There’s also a low body count and low gore content, but more of either probably wouldn’t have added much.

It Follows is one of the best horror movies I’ve seen recently, I’d put it right behind The Babadook which is high praise. Check it out.

Movie Mangerie 3

Movies

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl– This one will hit you right in the tender parts. Greg (Me in the title) is a high school senior who’s spent his time floating around every click. He struggles to socialize, has the self-confidence of a trout, and has no friends, even though he has one (Earl) who he refers to as his “co-worker.” They’ve known each other since kindergarten and make spoof movies that they share with no one except Greg’s dad. When Rachael, a classmate he’s an “acquaintance” with is diagnosed with cancer, his mother pushes him to hang out with her. Greg has a hard time getting out of his own way, stuck in the perpetual motion of being a self-doubting loner. Through his time with Rachael and Earl, his life is changed. Well written in all regards (deft jumps from comedy to tragedy) with a great cast (RJ Cyler as Earl rules) a ton of movie references and some really striking direction. I like the narration angle they used, smart way to move things along and hold the audience’s hand when necessary. Great movie.

Tomorrowland– Directed by Brad Bird (he’s made some great stuff), this movie got completely crapped on by critics. It did alright in theaters, just making a profit in worldwide total. As a whole, I liked it but it does have it’s problems in the final act (mostly). Essentially it’s a story about hope, the future, and the pushback from pessimism. Frank Walker and Casey Newton are a generation (or two) apart but they both have a brilliant and creative mind that gets them into trouble. Their personality traits put them on a collision course to help a far off land in ways that stretch the imagination. I thought George Clooney was great in this and Britt Robertson made for the perfect partner. This movie is stuffed with special effects that make for some really wild scenes. The whole segment at Frank’s house is a blast. There’s a ton of cool future tech like androids, laser blasters, rocket packs, and vehicles. The movie starts a little slow, picks up for the middle and then gets real rocky for the third act. The movie stumbles over itself with convoluted ideas and explanations (Nix is a crap character) that make it hard to follow. I thought the end was satisfying with a good message so that saved it for me.

Focus– An interesting movie that’s got a really long set up. Nicky is a con-man on the professional level. He meets Jess when she tries to con him, not knowing his expertise. They hook up, she becoming his protege. They work New Orleans during the Super Bowl and then when Nicky gets cold feet about them having a lasting relationship, he cuts her loose. Then, three years later he runs into her while doing another job. Is she still in the game and running a con or did she leave the game? A lot is on the line…can they trust each other? If you’re a fan of Will Smith, I think you’d like this for sure. He’s got his charm cranked to the max as Nicky. I love Margot Robbie and she’s got great chemistry with Smith so they make this work. Not an incredible movie but I think it’s a fun movie worth watching. Great for a rainy day.

The Peanuts Movie– a.k.a. Charlie Brown gets a crush. Really simple movie where Charlie Brown tries to talk to the new girl in town and Snoopy writes a story/hallucinates saving his crush from the Red Baron  (weird way to put action into a Charlie Brown movie and it totally pads the movie to get it to  feature length runtime). The highlight is the animation. They found the perfect way to update Peanuts with modern CG animation technology while keeping the classic aesthetic. The texture is understated but beautiful that adds a lot of depth to the characters and sets. I was surprised at how much of a bummer this was until the very end. Charlie Brown is straight up cursed. The entire world is against him to the point where the laws of physics change to screw him over. The kid is a nervous mess and can’t catch a break. Congrats on not being on any meds for depression Charlie Brown.

Fantastic Four (2015)- The behind the scenes chaos is probably more well known than the actual movie. The studio was so unhappy with the movie they basically took it away from director Josh Trank during editing (lots of rumors about him being difficult while shooting). There’s nothing terribly redeeming about what I saw (good cast). The story is bizarrely simple, to the point where you can tell a ton of stuff must have been taken out and the bare essentials stitched together to make something cohesive. It’s a (boring) superhero origin movie for a series that doesn’t need another origin story and it’s shot really dark for some reason. There’s very little action. The villain, Dr. Doom, is barely in it and he shows up at the very end simply to be evil. Right around release, Trank said that there’s an edit of a very good FF movie (his), but no one is going to see it (because of the studio). I’d love to see it because I want to see what the studio was so unhappy with that they went ahead and released it the way they did. Was it just too weird or controversial? Bad acting? Too many poorly shot scenes? I hope someone digs up the truth in a few years. This has essentially killed FF movies, it’ll take Marvel to get them back and integrate the family into the ongoing MCU.

Orphan Black <> Season 4

TV

Liked this season quite a bit more than the last. Quality corporate skullduggery and the Clone Club did a lot of juking and jiving to keep up.

The sisters all had good roles to play for most of the season. Krystal came in and out, proving to be useful in her own dim-witted way. Helen was on the back burner for the entire season which I found disappointing. Her coming through with the assist at the Hendrix’s home was great.  Alison and Donnie were in the mix for awhile and I was surprised how their storyline ended much sooner than episode. Smart writing to sideline them for now, it made sense. Rachel had a great story this year and while I thought they were going to do something with Sarah’s daughter, they didn’t integrate her at all. Really dug Evie Cho as the main antagonist, they gave her a lot to work with and she’s ruthless. A fun foil and mirror to Susan Duncan

The light shined on Brightborn and Neolution was great to see this season. We got to see a lot of the inner workings of the tech race (wild idea on Brightborn’s side) which really fleshed out the world. Major plot movement is always a plus in my book. Many significant story beats and character deaths made it all very meaningful. Rachel was brought back into the spotlight in baby steps and I think it worked out really well. Great season finale that had action, suspense, a touching reunion and the culmination of story threads to a quality cliffhanger ending. Nothing felt cheap and the set ups for the next (and final) season are great. Loved the last shot, looking forward to the last run to the end.

 

House of Lies <> Season 5

TV

HouseofLies

The end of the series!

I’ve watched Marty Kaan swim around the consultant firm from the start and really enjoyed it. I think they ended it right on time, though. A lot of side characters fell to the wayside (like Marty’s son, I think he was in 3 episodes this season) and there are only so many times you can do a hostile business take-over story.

The four main characters remained fun and the highlight of the series. The end of season four and this season zeroed in on Marty and Jeannie relationship. It’s a move that made the most sense as Jeannie was pretty much the other leg of the show. I think Marty bounced off of only Monica more. The last big

The final client for the show brought the team to Cuba and they switched things up a bit to bring the show to a close. Once more they were  chasing a bigger whale. Kaan and Associates (and the show) had hit a wall–when is enough, enough? Marty seemed to be OK with (or at least never saw an alternative to) pushing the speed up on the treadmill but Jeannie saw otherwise after the birth of their child. The weight of pushing rivals into oncoming traffic was getting too much and making more money for the sake of making more money didn’t make sense anymore. The future she saw for herself wasn’t a happy one. Could she have a future with Marty outside of child visitation? Could Marty think of the future? And Cuba had brought the team into another back-stabbing deal. Marty did manage to find a route out of it that kept him and his friends in a good space and his two biggest rivals pulling their hair out.

Jeannie got Marty to slow down and think. In doing so, he saw a happy route for all of them. Using that Marty magic he pulls a win out of a losing scenario. It kept him and his friends in a good space and his two biggest rivals pulling their hair out.

Whenever a show ends, I pretty much just want to get a good idea of what will (most likely) happen to the characters when the cameras are gone. I find that satisfying. I got that with House of Lies. Marty, Jeannie, Clyde, and Doug will be working together, on their terms, for the foreseeable future.

Xbox

Games

It’s E3 this week so that means the video game industry is walking the catwalk with their most expensive clothing on. Show us all what the next 18 months are shaping up to be. Microsoft went earlier today and Sony is tonight.

Microsoft showed me a bunch of games I want to play and they talked about new hardware. I’m going to focus on the hardware as that’s the biggest news. A little context from the rumor mill first.

A few weeks ago, leaks about Sony’s Playstation 4 came out. Basically, it was getting a pinch on the bum to goose the specs. A kick in processor speed and a GPU bump being the main features. This to offer 4k support (read: 4k upscaling for games and 4k display capabilities for video streaming and blu-ray movies) and better performance for Playstation VR. The VR headset is due out in October and about a week ago someone was quoted as saying that the bump is greatly needed for VR performance that isn’t terrible (any dips in frame and refresh rates makes it bad). The name PS4k got tossed around until the codename, Neo, came out.

A little while after that, leaks out of MS said they were doing the same thing…but more. First, a redesigned Xbox One “Slim” which isn’t anything shocking. Smaller console, lower price, lower power consumption, and comes out this August.

Second, they were also working on more powerful hardware much like “Neo”. Xbox lead Phil Spencer went on record (around the time the Neo rumors started) that he didn’t believe in doing an incremental update. Effort into a Xbox One.5 would be a waste of time and effort.  He also ruminated that it was possible that the time for distinct console generations was coming to a close. PS4 is more powerful hardware than XO and no one lets them forget that…which was the header of the follow-up MS rumor. Along with the codename Scorpio, this bump was intended to leapfrog whatever Sony was planning. This hardware would be the most powerful console on the market when released.

Fast forward to now. A few days ago, Sony announced Neo was real, didn’t mention any specs and said they wouldn’t be discussing it at E3.

This morning (after the info leaked on Saturday or Sunday) MS showed us the Xbox One S right away. That smaller redesign was true. It’s white, it’s got a new-ish controller and supports 4k streaming (a rumor awhile ago said that Netflix had asked MS and Sony about getting support for 4k) and blu-ray. Also, some HDR tech to help with lighting in games and video. Starts at $300 for 500GB, then $350 for 1TB and $400 for 2TB of storage.

The show goes ahead we’re told about Xbox Anywhere where basically every MS published game will be on Windows 10 with crossbuy and crossplay. Then they show a video confirming Project Scorpio at the very end. No concrete details but some numbers are thrown around and essentially it’s a major jump in hardware meant to push 4k video games and VR.  It’s coming Holiday 2017. MS is doubling down on Xbox as their gaming platform. Their PC games are Xbox games, you don’t have to have the Xbox box to play Xbox games anymore.

Valve messed around with their “Steam Machine” initiative to try and push Linux as a PC gaming platform. By the sounds of it, their idea has hit the dirt like a dead trout. So Microsoft has basically said, We Are PC Gaming. You want to game on the PC, get Windows 10 and spend as much money as you want on it.

You’ll see a lot of “Xbox is dead” talk now. It’s not Microsoft’s intention and that statement is from someone that isn’t paying attention. They’re taking Valve’s idea of tiered PC price points and making a real go of it. The Xbox One is the entry point for their games. $300 and you’re in. Eventually,they’ll sell through all the original One designs and the S will be the baseline. The PC platform is now whatever level of Xbox you want. Put as much money into it as you want. Want to play Gears 4, Forza Horizon 3, Killer Instinct and all sorts of other games in 4k when they release this year? You can.

Scorpio will be the console jump up when you’re ready for a big step up at a decent price. You won’t have to deal with a PC, just a plug and play box that will be ready to rock VR if you want as well (I’d be shocked if they made their own hardware, I’d expect Vive and Oculus Rift support, it makes so much more sense as you could do crossbuy and crossplay with those games and just move the headset around). VR will be much bigger and more mature next year so it’ll be great timing.

All the One accessories and games will work on whatever hardware you choose to use. The new controllers have BlueTooth support so you won’t have to get a One wireless dongle for your PC. The Xbox Live software solution for Windows 10 for both platforms to talk to each other has been up and running for almost a year already and the Killer Instinct release in March was a major proof of concept win (and Rocket League too). You buy these games once for either platform and you have it on both. The multiplayer player base expands significantly.

MS is aiming to get everyone on the same platform (ecosystem is probably a better word) regardless of hardware. The price of entry is low and if you want to chase the bleeding edge of performance you can do that (or get to specs somewhere in the middle) with Windows 10. They got their store with movies, TV shows and Music you can purchase/rent and you can watch your own media on Windows 10 and/or One. That’s the Apple angle with Apple TV (albeit more expensive).

It’s a daring move really. Completely changing the gaming console generation timeline that we’ve been following for about 40 years. There’s some stuff to work out, like will a jacked Win10 rig give a massive advantage to crossplay competitive games? FPSs with keyboard and mouse vs controller is the most obvious one too. Will Gears 4 Win10 gamers be forced to use controllers with no kb/m support to keep it fair?

You better believe those Playstation 4 Neo specs are changing as we speak.

 

The Americans <> S04E13

TV

Persona Non Grata

As a whole, this was a disappointing season finale but there was still some great scenes.

Turns out I misunderstood what was happening to Will at the end of episode 12. Despite his objections to stealing the bio-weapon, he’s going to do it for his last mission.

With that cleared up, the show opens with Will packing up the sample in his apartment for the handoff to Philip. What he doesn’t know is half of the FBI is now watching him. When the close in on him he makes a break for it and they surround him in the park. With few choices available to him, Will breaks the vial and infects himself. He’s brought to a special medical center with an isolation area.

When Will doesn’t show up to the meeting (and a back up one the following day) and can’t be contacted by Gabriel, the KGB team assumes he’s been picked up. It’s a lot to be concerned about and Gabriel advises Elizabeth and Philip to pack up the kids and hide at a safehouse so they can be extradited on the sly.

Nabbing Will puts both sides on new platforms. The FBI prevents some awful stuff from leaving the country, but Will is a resilient man for his people. There’s no cure for what he has so the time is short for them to get any info out of him. Gaad’s replacement confronts Arkady with all their info and drops the hammer: they have enough to get him thrown out of the country and things at the Soviet embassy are going to get real uncomfortable. This means Tatiana will be taking over his position for a while. Her move to Kenya is put on hold and Oleg tells her he’s going home to be with his family.

Stan and Dennis stick with Will as the virus quickly takes over. While they try to get info on the Soviet’s, they also ask much about him. Did he enjoy what he was doing? It isn’t until Will is in death’s delirious grip when Will lets out a lead. He tried to find a wife but never could. Alone and different from everyone around him, he’s envious of “them.” The two that are married, with kids. The ones that no one would suspect. She’s really beautiful, he’s lucky to have her…

Elizabeth and Philip are in complete darkness. They know Will has been taken but Philip isn’t sure if Will would talk but he thinks it’s a real possibility.  They don’t know that Will infected himself, they assume he’s in an interrogation room somewhere. Gabriel thinks Will could absolutely be offered a sweet deal to turn and it isn’t safe for them to stay. It’s not a simple decision for Philip and Elizabeth based on the info they have. It’s a massive ordeal for them to try and cut and run with the kids. They go home on edge, deciding to wait and see (a crazy risk considering if the snare does pull around them, they’ll have no warning). Paige has been spending time with Matt and getting awfully close to him.

Highlights:

  • Dylan Baker’s best work as Will. Great “confessional” moments. Hell of a way for a character to go out.
  • The tip that the spies Will is working with are married to each other. He doesn’t give away the Jenner’s, but it’s something. It’s going to bother Stan for sure and it’ll make him look around more carefully. It’s a big worry.
  • Interesting scene at EST. Philip doing his own hidden confessional, sharing his internal struggle with being a “travel agent.” It’s crushed him many times this year and the instructor asks him “what about making yourself happy for once?” The obligations and promises to his family (here and abroad) force him to stay in the game. If Elizabeth wasn’t so strong it’d probably be a different story.
  • Paige still growing as a spy. She’s accepted who her mother is a bit more, she’s processed the attack and even asks about learning to protect herself. She also negotiates/plans with Elizabeth about visiting Pastor Tim, Alice and their newborn at the hospital.
  • Paige and Matt! Philip has to play it so cool when his life is probably collapsing around him as he goes to FBI Stan’s to get her. Then Stan is all giddy when he reports the kids were kissing (they walk in and they are on opposite sides of the couch!) and Philip’s face is just barely managing to keep it all together. He bugs out as they walk across the street, forbidding her to get involved with Matt (cue her crushing eyebrows).
  • Gorgeous shot of the Jenner home for the final visual of the season.

I’m not to thrilled about finding out about Philip’s son, Mischa. It was put in early in the episode where it telegraphed that the Jenner’s were going to stay put, ruining that angle. It’s a seeding maneuver for season 5 that I think should have been held off for next year. Took away more than it added.

I was expecting a much more action oriented episode (in the chase department for sure) so the finale was a visceral let down in that regard. There was still plenty to like though and brought some things to a close while leaving a satisfying “what’s next” question for season 5. They put another great season in the books and I’m looking forward to next year.

Bloodline <> Season 2

Netflix Original

bloodline-season-2-trailer

I got so sucked into season 2 that I watched it all in five days. Back to the Florida Keys with the Rayburn’s I went, eager to see if John, Meg, and Kevin could keep their secrets hidden.

Bloodline is all about lying and keeping up appearances and the tremendous stress that goes with it. Some people are good at it, others are not. Meeting the Rayburn’s last year, we met a well-respected family that entered a dark period when the eldest son, and black sheep of the family, Danny, came back home. Turns out the Rayburn’s have some shameful skeletons in the closet that they’ve managed to hide away for a few decades. Danny flips everything over by pulling his family into a drug smuggling ring. By the end, everyone has crossed boundaries.

Season 2 starts not long after the end of one. Danny might be physically gone but he made some contingency plans. The defense put up by Meg, Kevin, and John to throw off the authorities has more than a few holes in it. The number of lies that it took to cover up Danny’s involvement in Wayne Lowry’s criminal enterprise is simply overwhelming. They lie to everyone, they turn to drugs and alcohol at every turn to try and cope. It never gets better.

I love the setting of Bloodline. The muted and desaturated pastel colors of Florida. Everything and everyone looks beaten by the sun. Day or night. always hot and uncomfortable. The pace and editing of the show mimic the slowed down feeling of being exhausted and stressed all the time.

There are some new wrinkles added to the black shroud of the Rayburn family tree. Danny had a son (Nolan) with a woman (Evangeline) that no one knew about. They enter the picture with Danny’s side of the family story and keep those old wounds from closing.  Along with them, comes Ozzy, Eve’s now boyfriend and one of Danny’s partners in crime. It’s bad news on top of bad news (awesome casting for all three characters, I especially like John Leguizamo as Ozzy and Owen Teague as Nolan is an amazing find. He looks and acts just like a young Danny).

The Rayburn’s are an interesting lot.  Sally, the matriarch, has swept up so much misery under the rug that it’s amazing she’s been able to function for so long. She dismisses everything as a coping mechanism and cannot deal with confrontation. She does try to make it up to Nolan and Eve, despite her being blindsided by the whole thing (she was kept in the dark about a lot of stuff). I think she’s the saddest of the bunch, I often found myself pitying her.

Kevin, the one who’s been trying his whole life to maintain a standard of not being the biggest screw up in the family. It was interesting to see him try to navigate his problems but good lord is he weak. He makes bad decision after bad decision and when he gets mad, he is a colossal baby. The guy doesn’t realize how spoiled he is with all the times he’s been relying on others to bail him out.

Meg tries to get out of Florida and gets sucked right back in. I think I feel the worst for her. The youngest of the family she had the least responsibility for the event that made Danny…Danny. She does her best to help in every situation but just about every situation that comes at her is one that’s forced on her from someone else. She loses her NYC job, driven to drink, embarrass herself and drive a spike between herself and Marco so deep that it could never be undone (Meg trying to reason with Kevin about not going to Marco is one of my favorite beats).

John is the golden child who is far from one. The guilt from lying about Danny’s injuries when they were kids was just the start of his problems. For being the most responsible one, he can be a huge baby too (Meg should have told him to check himself every time he started demanding things from her. The one where he screams at her to get Roy Gilbert’s full support was the real turning point). John has the most conflict in him. He feels like he has to handle and fix everyone and every situation. He gets in so deep with handling Danny that it splinters his relationships (much like Meg). When pushed he’s capable of crossing the same lines that Danny has. And he makes bad decisions, just like Kevin. Going ahead with running for sheriff is probably the worst thing he could have done and he goes ahead with it. It’s a mindboggling stupid decision. He puts himself in the spotlight with added scrutiny when Danny’s actions are still haunting him and his family. It puts more targets on his back.

The hubris of the Rayburn family is loyalty and protection. The family never talks to each other. In an effort to keep other family members safe (and innocent in a courtroom) the kids omit things to the others (those are called lies). “The less you know, the better” is often the creed. When some sort of success is made, it’s often undermined by no communication (Kevin’s smooth move of going to Lowry comes to mind). John, Meg and Kevin are all in the same boat together but they leave each other out of the loop until it blows up in their face and they can’t hide it any longer. If they just talked and planned things out together, they could have avoided a lot. It’s how Danny got out of control, John did what he thought he had to do with the intentional/unintentional go ahead by Meg and Kevin. They keep doing the same thing and what happens? History repeats itself. When Eric is discovered to be their next biggest threat, John is sent in again to handle it.

The end is pretty nuts (both good and bad). Watching Kevin and Meg turn on John was something to watch. A whole lot of resentment and anger came out of that one. It had been building and seeping out here and there and was long overdue. The season ends right in the action, though. At 10 episodes, it’s cut at least an episode short. The set ups for next season (we better get one) are numerous but we’re left in a complete lurch. Cliffhanger isn’t the word for it, made me mad when the last credits rolled.

I’m totally invested in these characters (the cast rules). The ties that make them a family are pretty amazing on a writing front. I admire how they layer each Rayburn child as different but so alike. The overall story arc is kept strong with some thoughtful planning based on Danny’s past that goes on to pay off well. The new characters are all great and the intensity is kept up through every episode. There’s some useless fat that could be trimmed here and there (that weird shower subplot with Sally) but nothing that broke my suspension of belief. I can see getting one more really good season out of this to bring all the threads to a satisfying end. I’m looking forward to it.

The Americans S4E12

TV

A Roy Rogers in Franconia

There are three pieces to this week’s episode: Paige, the bio-weapon, and the FBI getting their act together.

As expected, Paige is shell shocked from the attempted mugging. She sees her mom in a new light and because of that, a level of naivete is taken away. She asks more questions, gets some details about the past (I like Elizabeth talking about her childhood) and becomes a bit more aggressive about things. She’s now starting to see herself as part of this and is walking into dangerous territory: she’s a dumb kid with no training and too much confidence. Elizabeth connects the dots that Paige has been reporting things to her and Philip, talking strategy. They’ve been treating her with kid gloves through this to keep her from freaking out, giving her basics to keep tabs on Pastor Tim. Now after the attack, Paige wants to know more. Seeing your mother drop a dude and kill another in front of you wakes you up to the world your parents are actually in. The mystery calls may not be a total mystery anymore as Philip relents to her heated questions and gives her the basics about meeting with someone to get info for a weapon. Elizabeth witnessed Paige probing Matt about Stan early in the episode and combined with this new fervor, it’s opening a whole new avenue of potential exposure for them. Philip and Elizabeth were recruited and trained extensively for years and this goofy girl thinks she’s got all the moves now. They have to reel her in.

Pilfering Don’s data paid off. They found access codes to get to access to Level 4 so it’s possible to get a sample of the bio-weapon. Phillip goes to meet Will to pass along the information and he flat out says no, I’m not going to get it. The potential of letting this stuff out is far too much on his conscious. He’s been working for the Soviet’s for most of his life and he draws the line here. Gabriel is brought in for negotiations and to my initial surprise, doesn’t try to talk Will into doing it. Gabriel sees Will as a burned out agent. Away from home for too long, his agenda no longer exactly matching what they need, he’s done. Will will be brought back and retired (not in the “he lives on a farm upstate” kind of way, actual retirement with benefits).

Finally, the FBI. Agent Alderholt found a loose thread and followed it back to the repair place where they fix the machines that they use in the office to ferry paperwork around. The location of the amazing scene where Elizabeth talks the owner’s mother into ODing. They find the bug in the machine there and snap into action. In full detective mode, they nab the woman bribed to swap the tapes every week (the Soviets tricked her into thinking it’s a mob operation and give her $500 for every drop). Oleg gets some info from Tatiana that makes him nervous enough to go to Stan and tips him off about the bio-weapon theft plan. They cross reference all their info to find who/where a theft could be done and they narrow it down to Will. While Will is in no danger of getting nabbed for doing the deed since he’s getting pulled, it’s all eyes on and around him. It’s not a complete burn but I doubt Will will be leaving the country and the danger of Philip getting put into the crosshairs is massive. Edit on 6/9: I misunderstood this. Will doesn’t want to do it, but it will be his last mission and he’ll be sent back to Soviet Russia.

Next week: The season finale.