I had never seen this episode until today. I thought it was cute how they tried to incorporate current events into the series. Old Russia and the Cold War was such a scary situation back then. Although I guess back in 1966 most things concerning Russia weren't considered "cute or funny." I wonder what the reaction was?

Well this is the first time I've seen it and it came off kind of creepy, like Patty would have ended up in the Hudson River if she didn't do what the government told her to do. I remember Samantha Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith), and the treatment of her by the media and the government was much different. Of course the sixties and the eighties were much different.

Yes, I agree the Big Brother aspect is creepy by our standards today, but I bet back then, some viewers were thinking that Patty was being friendly with the enemy!