>I didn't love last season's season finale either, but this
>one felt really incomplete. I don't feel like they really
>ended up accomplishing much, story-telling wise, 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.

>No Oleg and nothing on either investigation was wack.

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.

>The whole Kansas sub=plot was completely dropped, which I
>wouldn't have minded if Character Actress Margo Martindale
>hadn't have explicitly told them to keep on with the mission.
>They never even showed the world's most boring female again
>after Phillip ran the "I'm married" game.

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.

>Mischa appeared, then disappeared just as quickly.

That one puzzles me a bit-- I still don't think that's gone for good, as it's such a huge bombshell for Phillip and he's teetering on the edge of not wanting anything to do with any of this ever again that I imagine it'll come into play next season. Really this season, it served mostly as a plot device to get rid of Gabriel, which I'm fine with overall-- although I'll miss his steady hand on the show.

>Stan's working the Russian chick never really went anywhere
>either. Unless the resolution was that she and her new
>boyfriend were telling the truth. And ha @ her boyfriend being
>Styr the Thenn from GoT.

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.

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.

>>So as usual, Liz is ride or die and Phil has to compromise
>his
>>uneasy feelings
>
>I looked at Liz a little different. I get the sense that part
>of the reason she told Phillip that they need to stay is
>because she's getting attached to being an American. During
>the final Elton John montage they spent a lot of time showing
>Elizabeth lingering over all the material possessions that
>she's acquired while here. She's not ready to leave everything
>that they've built here, and is willing to go at it alone to
>help preserve it for as long as possible.

110%. This was a HUGE revelation, as we've really never seen Liz consider that before. As big a bombshell as anything else we got this season. And, of course, the show revealed it silently. That montage was an absolute monster for character moments.

>>The look Stan gave his lady when she was giving him her
>>"recruitment pitch" He has to know something's up with her
>>now
>
>I think she's def. a spy, but not necessarily for the
>Russians. I think she might be with the CIA or some other US
>agency, who might be watching over him for any number of
>reasons (his affair with Nina, his contact with Oleg, his
>threats to his boss' boss). Or she could be with the Israelis
>or something.

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.

Again, the fact that I have noooooooo idea how this show will end excites me to no end.

>>Will Henry go rogue due to not being allowed to go to the
>>boarding school (dime them out?)
>
>I think they're going to end up allowing him to go (keeps them
>attached to the U.S.), but it's another thing that I wished
>they showed some sort of resolution to.

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.

>I don't see how they can go anywhere else with Martha. They're
>implying that she's going to adopt the kid and find salvation
>there.

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.

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