The Americans 3.08
Mar. 19th, 2015 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which some revelations are at hand.
The first time I heard about "necklacing" was when stories about Winnie Mandela started to come out, so when Ncgobo refused to take Elizabeth's gun, I had an inkling where this was going. It was a chilling scene and shows the darker side of the South African anti apartheid struggle in an episode that simultanously highlights the more subtle racism in the US via Taffet interrogating Aderholt and all but implying that being black and successful in his job among mostly white people somehow makes him a prime candidate for suspicion in the "hunt the mole" investigation. It was good the episode showed both Martha's and Aderholt's interrogations by Taffet, because there's an obvious differene. Taffet is suspicious (as is his job to be) in both cases, but with Martha he fixates on useful information (who had access to Gaad's office, who provides the office supplies etc.) and never once asks about her background or financial circumstances. With Aderholt, by contrast, he's all about the background and possible resentment between Aderholt and his co-workers.
With its strong emphasis on the internal FBI investigation, the Nina subplot and Arkady (at last!) on screen again with Oleg and (via telephone) with Oleg's father, this is probably the episode with the least P & E content for a while, but it's worth noting they're in rare accord through the episode; Elizabeth sides with Philip on letting Todd go (mind you, I think that's going to bite them later), and in order to help him later goes to Gabriel to ask for Philip's son being transfered from Afghanistoan to safety. Now at first, Gabriel's divide-and-conquer strategy had paid off with P & E, but it is based on outdated information. In earlier times, Elizabeth would not have apologized as she did last episode, nor would Philip have shared the truth about his son (as far as he knows it). However, things have changed, and while Gabriel is too professional to say more than "I didn't know you knew about the boy" and "I'll see what I can do" (because point blank refusing would mean admitting he needs the son, real or imaginary, to stay in Afghanistan as an emotional manipulation tool against Philip), I think he just realised that. (I also suspect that since he's not about to tell either Elizabeth or Philip a week later "good news! Mischa Jr. doesn't serve in Afghanistan anymore!", Elizabeth will come to the conclusion that his is what Gabriel is doing anyway, and it might disentchant her with their mentor and/or the whole second generation strategy.)
Not that Philip isn't an expert at manipulation himself. As I suspected, Clark's ignorance about Taffet and Taffet's investigation made Martha realise Clark can't be who he claimed to be, and in this episode she confronts him with it. I honestly had no idea how Philip would react - anything from killing Martha to trying blackmail based on "they'll assume you knowingly helped the KGB anyway given what you've done for me so far" was possible - but of course he goes, based on his knowledge of Martha, for the emotional angle, never answering her "who are you?" question at all and instead swearing his love with Martha's own words ("I would do anything to you"). Clark was created to be Martha's dream guy and respond to her emotional needs, true love being chief among them, and so Philip keeps up Clark for a while more, only now readjusted and given "what we have is real/if you love me you must believe this". The last scene, with Clark and Martha in bed, both pretending to be asleep but with eyes open, underlines that while Martha for the moment has accepted the lie (now literally with open eyes), it's not likely this will remain the case for long.
You know, even when Burov (aka Oleg's father) said Nina would be transferred to where they're holding Anton Baklanov next and if she gets into his head as well, she'll be free, I had completely forgotten Vasily was in charge of that facility, and only remembered when Nina entered his office. Triple ouch. Not a happy reunion. I thought they played it realistically; Vasily isn't ranting and raving about Nina setting him up, but he's not going to forgive her, either, and why should he? He could have died if the news that he hadn't been the mole hadn't arrived in time. (Mind you, back in s1 I wasn't sorry for Vasily, either; sleeping with a pretty young employee who doesn't have much choice to say no is highly unprofessional and morally dubious at best.) There is something terribly grinding about Nina being asked to betray people in order to save herself over and over and over again; it makes her arguably the loneliest character in the show. (Since Philip and Elizabeth have at least each other, no matter how much at odds they are.)
Paige doing research in the library gave me a moment of nostalgia. I remember researching in libraries via microfiches in the 80s! And of course she finds out more about Gregory. I don't think she buys into Elizabeth's explanation for the drug part, though.
The first time I heard about "necklacing" was when stories about Winnie Mandela started to come out, so when Ncgobo refused to take Elizabeth's gun, I had an inkling where this was going. It was a chilling scene and shows the darker side of the South African anti apartheid struggle in an episode that simultanously highlights the more subtle racism in the US via Taffet interrogating Aderholt and all but implying that being black and successful in his job among mostly white people somehow makes him a prime candidate for suspicion in the "hunt the mole" investigation. It was good the episode showed both Martha's and Aderholt's interrogations by Taffet, because there's an obvious differene. Taffet is suspicious (as is his job to be) in both cases, but with Martha he fixates on useful information (who had access to Gaad's office, who provides the office supplies etc.) and never once asks about her background or financial circumstances. With Aderholt, by contrast, he's all about the background and possible resentment between Aderholt and his co-workers.
With its strong emphasis on the internal FBI investigation, the Nina subplot and Arkady (at last!) on screen again with Oleg and (via telephone) with Oleg's father, this is probably the episode with the least P & E content for a while, but it's worth noting they're in rare accord through the episode; Elizabeth sides with Philip on letting Todd go (mind you, I think that's going to bite them later), and in order to help him later goes to Gabriel to ask for Philip's son being transfered from Afghanistoan to safety. Now at first, Gabriel's divide-and-conquer strategy had paid off with P & E, but it is based on outdated information. In earlier times, Elizabeth would not have apologized as she did last episode, nor would Philip have shared the truth about his son (as far as he knows it). However, things have changed, and while Gabriel is too professional to say more than "I didn't know you knew about the boy" and "I'll see what I can do" (because point blank refusing would mean admitting he needs the son, real or imaginary, to stay in Afghanistan as an emotional manipulation tool against Philip), I think he just realised that. (I also suspect that since he's not about to tell either Elizabeth or Philip a week later "good news! Mischa Jr. doesn't serve in Afghanistan anymore!", Elizabeth will come to the conclusion that his is what Gabriel is doing anyway, and it might disentchant her with their mentor and/or the whole second generation strategy.)
Not that Philip isn't an expert at manipulation himself. As I suspected, Clark's ignorance about Taffet and Taffet's investigation made Martha realise Clark can't be who he claimed to be, and in this episode she confronts him with it. I honestly had no idea how Philip would react - anything from killing Martha to trying blackmail based on "they'll assume you knowingly helped the KGB anyway given what you've done for me so far" was possible - but of course he goes, based on his knowledge of Martha, for the emotional angle, never answering her "who are you?" question at all and instead swearing his love with Martha's own words ("I would do anything to you"). Clark was created to be Martha's dream guy and respond to her emotional needs, true love being chief among them, and so Philip keeps up Clark for a while more, only now readjusted and given "what we have is real/if you love me you must believe this". The last scene, with Clark and Martha in bed, both pretending to be asleep but with eyes open, underlines that while Martha for the moment has accepted the lie (now literally with open eyes), it's not likely this will remain the case for long.
You know, even when Burov (aka Oleg's father) said Nina would be transferred to where they're holding Anton Baklanov next and if she gets into his head as well, she'll be free, I had completely forgotten Vasily was in charge of that facility, and only remembered when Nina entered his office. Triple ouch. Not a happy reunion. I thought they played it realistically; Vasily isn't ranting and raving about Nina setting him up, but he's not going to forgive her, either, and why should he? He could have died if the news that he hadn't been the mole hadn't arrived in time. (Mind you, back in s1 I wasn't sorry for Vasily, either; sleeping with a pretty young employee who doesn't have much choice to say no is highly unprofessional and morally dubious at best.) There is something terribly grinding about Nina being asked to betray people in order to save herself over and over and over again; it makes her arguably the loneliest character in the show. (Since Philip and Elizabeth have at least each other, no matter how much at odds they are.)
Paige doing research in the library gave me a moment of nostalgia. I remember researching in libraries via microfiches in the 80s! And of course she finds out more about Gregory. I don't think she buys into Elizabeth's explanation for the drug part, though.
