5x08 Immersion

[7.3/10] Definitely on the slower side as episodes go, but after so many outings these season centered on notions of fathers and sons, in lots of different guises, it’s nice to have one that focuses a little more on the relationship between mothers and their children. It’s not much: we pretty much just get Elizabeth, Paige, Claudia, and a little bit from Stan’s new informant, but it’s enough to fill out the other side of the ledger thematically, which I appreciate.

To that end, the biggest development of this episode is Elizabeth confiding in her daughter about her rape (though she tastefully leaves out the part that Philip killed the guy years later -- probably too much for Paige to deal with just yet). It’s an interesting thing to return to for the character. I have to admit, I don’t think back fondly on the show using rape as drama, but I like what they do with it here. It’s meant to show Paige that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Elizabeth has a very black and white view of the world, and she’s convinced that if she can just show Paige her own example, her daughter will get that the fear keeping her up at night doesn't have to be permanent. Beyond the self-defense classes, Elizabeth is delivering an “It gets better” message, not seeking solace or even solidarity, just seeking an object lesson in how getting stronger, becoming a fighter, can help push aside the things that once made you feel vulnerable and afraid.

The one mother/child relationship I haven’t mentioned yet, one understandably different from Paige and Elizabeth’s, is the one between Oleg and his mom. Oleg’s mom is quietly panicking when some Directorate K officer come to ransack Oleg’s room, having been (presumably) tipped off to his potential involvement with the CIA. Nothing comes of it, other than him calling off his dad from making a complaint and misdirecting his boss, but it feels like foreshadowing of more serious shit to come for Oleg to have to deal with, and more revelations about his mom to contend with.

Apart from the mother/child motif, we also get some weird but sweet material between Elizabeth and Philip. As I mentioned a few episodes back, I like that we’re getting the odd episode that focuses on their relationship outside of work and the Paige situation again. It’s a bizarre scenario, but there’s something legitimately heartwarming about Elizabeth and Philip both canceling their trips to see their fake boyfriend/girlfriend so that they can be together. There’s nice subtle acting touches from both Russel and Rhys in this episode, but Elizabeth’s little smile when Philip tells her he’s canceling his Topeka flight takes the cake.

It’s a similarly strange but endearing scene when Elizabeth, in her way, reassures Philip about his Topeka girlfriend breaking up with him because he’s not assertive enough. Mission-focused Elizabeth is, naturally, first and foremost concerned with him not messing up their in. But after that’s settled, she tells him how handsome he is, and gives him a little pep talk about him being able to get her back if she wants to. Sure enough, he plays the “I’m married” card and is suddenly interesting and dangerous enough to get back into the would-be mistress’s good graces.

Philip, however, has no interest in being in Claudia’s good graces, despite her return. In one of the more welcome developments, we get her back as the Jennings handler rather than the show introducing a new character. But Philip is very cold and businesslike with her. His disillusionment has reached a peak, or at least a steady plateau, and he’s not going to pretend to have a friendly relationship with her. In fact, he’s gone so far as to doubt whether Gabriel really cared about them or if it was just a job to him.

Elizabeth doesn't feel that way though. Her scene with Claudia is revealing and one of the stronger ones in the episode. Claudia reports about her grandkids not recognizing her, and there’s the unspoken understanding -- or at least only spoken by Paige in prior episodes -- that the people on the job are the closest thing agents like Claudia and Elizabeth have to family. They ask one another how they’re doing, how things are going with kids, how things are going with Elizabeth’s husband. You wouldn’t call it chummy, but there’s a familiarity there, a tacit recognition that this is a maternal relationship too, and it deepens the material.

The other major development in the episode is the discovery that the defector’s wife is cheating on her husband with one of her CIA students. It’s leverage for the Centre which, with Twan’s help, they think they can use to get her and Pasha, and their attendant connection to the CIA, back to Russia. It’s more another link in the chain than any grand development -- just like Stan and Aderholt reeling in their new informant -- but the scenes around it are well done.

Still, this is a quieter, softer episode, that ends on another conversation between mom and daughter. With Elizabeth still smarting from her break-up with Matthew, Elizabeth takes her for a walk to try to keep her from mindlessly flipping through T.V. channels. When it happens, they talk more about Elizabeth, about how she feels about the job, about what she’d do if she weren’t in the service, and in that strange way between parents and children, about how she’s a real person beyond the side a kid sees of them as a parent.

It ties into what Elizabeth tells Claudia earlier in the episode -- that what she really wants for her daughter is for Paige to believe in something. Elizabeth talks about being a doctor in a third world country (after admitting, after Paige’s bold notice of it, that she doesn't necessarily have the best bedside manner), and it speaks to the way Elizabeth has always wanted to do something noble with her life. She thinks this is it, that it makes her proud of her work in a way that Philip never has been.

Time will tell whether Elizabeth’s gentle guidance of Paige toward this same sense of pride and confidence will win out, or if Philip’s equal and opposite concern for her ability to handle all of his, will sink things before Paige is able to begin in earnest. Either way, it’s good to see the connection between Paige and her mom deepened and explored a little bit beyond the usual stress and unveiling of spy-related secrets, instead of personal ones.