The primary focus of this episode was “Russian.” The episode opens with Beth attending a college class to learn to speak Russian. Most of the episode also revolves around Beth preparing to play against Borgov, the Russian champion (and the only player who she’s afraid of). Also, in the middle of the episode, Beth plays Georgi, a (very) young Russian boy. After playing for several hours, they decide to continue the game the following day.

They briefly chat about American drive-in movies, which really helps to humanize Georgi since he is so young. This is also important in showing that the Russians have a human side, and aren’t complete robots like Borgov has been described up until this point. The next day, although Beth did end up winning, she also admits that he is the best player she has ever played, continuing the theme that the Russians are her biggest threat.

Beth does finally play Borgov but is forced to resign to him finally showing the audience what Beth had been afraid of the whole time: Borgov is better.

I think the most important thing to gather from this is not that Beth was right, and Borgov could beat her, but seeing the different sides of your opponent. Up until this episode the Russians had more or less been described as being extraordinary and a threat to Beth if she plays them, but this episode really helped to show that there are other sides to her opponent. Using a young kid also helped bring out these other sides, in particular empathy, so as not to continue to frame the Russians as the ultimate threat, but show they are also human and do make mistakes.