Throughout the series, these characters have alluded to the unspeakable poverty and horror they faced growing up, all of which led them to this life as soldiers for their country, fighting against what they see only as the corrupt west responsible for their oppression. But, for the American audience watching this show, it’s hard to connect those dots. Certainly, there are millions in this country who grew up — who are still growing up — not knowing if or when their next meal may come. But even they live in a nation that boasts of its plenty (the “Amber Waves” of grain, for which this very episode is titled). There are few ways to truly make a viewer understand how two ordinary people might voluntarily offer up their lives, their identities, perhaps even their children, to this life of secrecy and killing. Hunger is one of them. Hunger explains how Elizabeth can be simultaneously disgusted by the Morozov’s jam-packed dinner table, and also anxious about her own child getting enough to eat. And hunger is perhaps the reason Philip decided they would stay in the US rather than return to Russia.