But I feel like during each season, there's a major over-arching story that they at least address that gets some closure. I guess the saga of Thuan and the Russian family could sort of be one, and Paige's struggles with her new role and her faith are another, but those both felt like sub-plots much of the time. I guess you could say this season was about Phillip continuing disillusionment with working as a spy and the family's decision to back to Russia, but that was quickly undone by a character that's maybe been seen/refered to twice this season.

>
>I think they accomplished a great deal, but admittedly they
>left a lot of it unresolved, presumably in order to set up all
>the dominoes to fall permanently next season. With as much as
>they set up, we're in for a doozy.

See, that's thing: I'm not sure what they're building too next season. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but in most cases when a show is close to the end, they at least establish what the endgame is. I'm not expecting Hank Schrader on the toliet, but something would be nice.

>Yeah, that was clearly all set-up, but we did learn a ton
>about Oleg and his family this season, and he's one of many
>possible lead characters that has been given plenty of reason
>to turn on his country.

I loved everything with Oleg and his family this season. I just would have liked him to get some screen time during the finale after we've spent the entire season learning about his family's dynamics and how things operate in Russia.


>I thought they made clear that Phillip wasn't going to be able
>to get homegirl back in the loop again, so the mission was
>falling into Liz's hands. Re: that not coming back, I chalked
>that up to the same thing I chalked up the young daughter of
>CIA dude disappearing for a while to: as Liz said this
>episode, they're constantly running multiple missions each, so
>there's only so much streamlining the show can do.

I could have sworn Character Actress Margo Martindale said that they both needed to stay on them, and that was after the phone call. I guess I could be wrong. That phone call certainly suggested Phillip had a way back in. If she broke it off again off-camera then that's kinda weak story-telling. I'm guessing it just got dropped.

>Yeah, I don't mind that mission not being done either. Again,
>we see Stan teetering on the edge, and if this girl dies or if
>this mission ends poorly, then Stan could easily turn imo.
>Then again, maybe this girl will be the one to pass info about
>Oleg to Stan somehow. Or maybe he uses the girl to find out
>about Phillip and Liz. Or something.

Another case where I'm not expecting resolution, just a little more momentum.

>The thing I like about the show *is* the uncertainty. They've
>proven for years now that they know how to play the long game,
>so with most of these unresolved plot lines, especially as the
>show heads into its final season, I trust them completely. So
>I have faith that will pay off.

They've definitely earned considerable trust, I'll give you that.


>Yeah, agreed here too. And I wouldn't be surprised either way
>it turns out: either Stan has his blindspot exploited, and he
>gets compromised, or he's too damn smart for that, which then
>leads to him realizing even more deeply what he communicated
>to Henry, that he can't trust anyone-- which could then
>absolutely put Phil and Liz on his radar.

I can see this happening, but that sounds like it would take like 24 episodes for it to develop and play out. If indeed the final season is about Stan figuring out what Phillip and Elizabeth are up to, I'd hate if they condensed into three episodes.


>I was excited that they didn't resolve that, because I thought
>it was going to be a simple get-him-off-the-show move.
>Instead, it was all set-up to (a) expose how smart he is,
>which could cause problems, (b) drive a wedge between him and
>Philip, now that Phil is all "families stick together" after
>the Pasha fiasco, and (c) could totally move Henry to get
>closer to Stan, which would also be really bad news for our
>heroes.

Truthfully, I think it's that the creators haven't decided yet it they want Henry to be around or not. Like, they're possibly weighing if they want him to be gone and for that to provide an extra complication if the Jennings need to flee back to Russia, or maybe they should keep him around and have him be resentful.

>Yeah, I thought that was a ray of sunshine in a bleak end to a
>bleak season of a bleak show that promises to get bleaker,
>haha. Plus, she's crushing it on Broadway six nights a week,
>so I'm not sure how much free time she'll have in the next few
>months anyhow.

Of course you'd bring it back to theater.