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The Americans 3.10
I'm having a very exhausting Easter week and am behind on some tv shows, but this one I managed to catch (thank you, Itunes) and must review right away!
So. The big one. You know, a lesser show would have dragged out Paige learning the truth, at least to the season finale, with the last scene being the kitchen conversation and then the viewers left on the "how will Paige react?" cliffhanger for the hiatus. Not this one. Not only does Paige finally find out, and not in a finale, she doesn't find out at an episode ending, either. We see her react. And her parents react to the reaction.
But first things first. The actual spy stuff feels peripheral in this episode, though it's not unimportant - finally the audience sees Stan was right, Zidaina is a double (code name: Willow), who after being visited by disguised Oleg last week sends a "what the hell?!?" message to the Rezidentura. (Which means we see Arkady again. You know, last season Arkady wasn't a regular, but he was in every episode. This season, he's a regular, and hardly shows up! what kind promotion is this, show?) Incidentally, I entirely buy Arkady blames this on compartmentalization, because bureaucratic paranoid states work like that.
Furtherly proving his professional instincts, Stan has a "hmmm?" moment about Martha (which he doesn't share with Walter Taffet), encouraging the "Martha is doooomed" feeling (unless my crazy idea from last week is right and she is involved in a secret counterspionage attempt) some more. But mainly he's busy becoming an adopted member of the Jennings family. Seriously, by now he seems to share every second dinner, and after bonding with Henry some more, I wouldn't be surprised if Henry who's just beein exposed to Stan being sad in his big lonely house suggests they should just ask nice Mr. Beeman to move in, full stop. Of course, if he suggests that, it couldn't come at a worse time.
Speaking of Henry, the young actor finally gets some screentime again, and not just with Stan. Here I had one of my overseas bewilderment moments because I had to go online to find out that it was a SNL comedy routine by Eddie Murphy he was imitating for the non-appreciation of the rest of his family. (I was Henry's age in the 80s, but we didn't watch Saturday Night Live in Germany. I only learned about it via cultural osmosis later.) Not that I didn't get the point of the scene.
But mainly this will be remembered as The One Where Paige Finds Out. Early on, when Pastor Tim showed up at the travel agency, I had the impression Philip went through another of his "must...not....strangle...Pastor Tim...." moments. BTW, I love that the show doesn't do the obvious with Pastor Tim. He's not evil. He's not a secret lecher groping Paige. He's probably a hundred percent sincere in pitching that mission trip to Kenya as a chance for parents and child bonding time (hopefully with the older Jennings finding to Jesus as well). At the same time, he's incredibly grating, not just because we see him from Philip's pov. It's that touch of smugness, the utter confidence in his own righteousness that annoys. (As when he's relating about his breathtaking non-arrest a few eps back. )
Anyway, this time he advises Paige wants to be treated as an adult and later we find out he told her to just plain ask her parents what's going on. Paige's litany of guesses - drug dealers, witness protection, she's adopted - would all be more logical to what she knows at this point than what she's about to find out. And I love that after fighting about Paige all season, Philip and Elizabeth are united in this, taking their cues from each other, and it's only after Philip silently nods that Elizabeth moves forward, while it's Philip, the one who was most desperate for Paige to not find out, who actually makes the first statement that leads into their confession/revelation to their daughter.
I've said before that the spy scenario allows the show to explore issues like marriage and family with large scale metaphors. This scene is another case in point. Throughout the last two years, Paige has gone through the archetypical adolescent experience of waking up to the fact her parents are people with lives outside the family context, lives before her, that her parents have sides and aspects to themselves she doesn't know about. And here this arc comes to culmination that's both archetypical and unique, because what she finds out is so unique to her particular situation. And it can't be reversed. This is truly the exit from Eden; she's eaten the apple now, she can't go back to not knowing. Because this particular knowledge can't be shared with anyone but the people who gave it to her, it also will isolate her in the social circle she's made for herself.
I also love the ambiguity in Philip taking the phone of the hook when Paige goes upstairs. Mostly I think it's because on that night, neither of the Jennings is in a state to work and wants to have any conversations about that, either. But, you know... it also means Paige can't spontanously, in a state of shock, call anyone. The next morning he's the one to say that if Paige doesn't want either of them to stay with her, they can't stay regardless because that will only make her angry, that they can trust her. Which they'll have to do now. There's no alternative.
Next thing is of course that Paige does tell Pastor Tim she talked to her parents, but keeps the actual content of the conversation secret. Still, should she ever slip up - or maybe Pastor Tim, used to Paige sharing all by now, becomes distrustful because she's not telling, combines this with Philip's freakout last season and concludes there's something seriously wrong in the Jennings household and snoops further - I suspect Philip will finally give into that urge to strangle Pastor Tim. Or maybe Elizabeth will. For all that she's been wanting to tell Paige the truth for a while now, here she's the one more unbalanced and worried now that it has finally happened. Either way, Pastor Tim joins poor Martha on my list of people who I suspect won't last into the next season. (Which I hear has been confirmed? Yay!)
Bits and pieces: first time in a while we've seen Kimberly, and Philip-as-Jim still manages to keep the interaction solely paternal this time, helped by the fact Kimberly is drunk and passing out. "You're the only one who cares about me" and Philip's look to the family photo - ever the awareness of the Kimberly and Paige parallels.
Also: Gabriel tells Philip that he asked the Centre to transfer Mischa Jr. from Afghanistan, and the Centre was totally willing, but Mischa Jr. declined. I thought this was a pretty smart way of Gabriel to handle this situation. (He didn't get this old in the job for nothing.) After Elizabeth asked him in the first place, and after Philip's angry speech last week, he had to do something. He couldn't know whether or not Elizabeth had told Philip about having made the request, so pretending it never happened was out. Pretending the Centre said no would just further Philip's resentment and make Elizabeth wonder. But presenting it as both himself and the Centre willing to help (anything for his Illegals!), only to be foiled by Mischa Jr.'s patriotism and sense of duty? Makes him look good without removing the emotional pressure on Philip. In conclusion, Gabriel really knows what he's doing and I'm more sceptical than ever about Mischa Jr.s mere existence, let alone anything else about him.
(Seriously: patriotic or not, I bet any young soldier offered a transfer from Afghanistan would have said HELL YES at this point of the Soviet-Afghan war and gotten out of there pronto.)
Paige watching Stan and her parents in the last scene was a great way to end the episode. Paige's not actually a good liar (see last season). (Henry, otoh, is.) How will she interact with Stan now?
So. The big one. You know, a lesser show would have dragged out Paige learning the truth, at least to the season finale, with the last scene being the kitchen conversation and then the viewers left on the "how will Paige react?" cliffhanger for the hiatus. Not this one. Not only does Paige finally find out, and not in a finale, she doesn't find out at an episode ending, either. We see her react. And her parents react to the reaction.
But first things first. The actual spy stuff feels peripheral in this episode, though it's not unimportant - finally the audience sees Stan was right, Zidaina is a double (code name: Willow), who after being visited by disguised Oleg last week sends a "what the hell?!?" message to the Rezidentura. (Which means we see Arkady again. You know, last season Arkady wasn't a regular, but he was in every episode. This season, he's a regular, and hardly shows up! what kind promotion is this, show?) Incidentally, I entirely buy Arkady blames this on compartmentalization, because bureaucratic paranoid states work like that.
Furtherly proving his professional instincts, Stan has a "hmmm?" moment about Martha (which he doesn't share with Walter Taffet), encouraging the "Martha is doooomed" feeling (unless my crazy idea from last week is right and she is involved in a secret counterspionage attempt) some more. But mainly he's busy becoming an adopted member of the Jennings family. Seriously, by now he seems to share every second dinner, and after bonding with Henry some more, I wouldn't be surprised if Henry who's just beein exposed to Stan being sad in his big lonely house suggests they should just ask nice Mr. Beeman to move in, full stop. Of course, if he suggests that, it couldn't come at a worse time.
Speaking of Henry, the young actor finally gets some screentime again, and not just with Stan. Here I had one of my overseas bewilderment moments because I had to go online to find out that it was a SNL comedy routine by Eddie Murphy he was imitating for the non-appreciation of the rest of his family. (I was Henry's age in the 80s, but we didn't watch Saturday Night Live in Germany. I only learned about it via cultural osmosis later.) Not that I didn't get the point of the scene.
But mainly this will be remembered as The One Where Paige Finds Out. Early on, when Pastor Tim showed up at the travel agency, I had the impression Philip went through another of his "must...not....strangle...Pastor Tim...." moments. BTW, I love that the show doesn't do the obvious with Pastor Tim. He's not evil. He's not a secret lecher groping Paige. He's probably a hundred percent sincere in pitching that mission trip to Kenya as a chance for parents and child bonding time (hopefully with the older Jennings finding to Jesus as well). At the same time, he's incredibly grating, not just because we see him from Philip's pov. It's that touch of smugness, the utter confidence in his own righteousness that annoys. (As when he's relating about his breathtaking non-arrest a few eps back. )
Anyway, this time he advises Paige wants to be treated as an adult and later we find out he told her to just plain ask her parents what's going on. Paige's litany of guesses - drug dealers, witness protection, she's adopted - would all be more logical to what she knows at this point than what she's about to find out. And I love that after fighting about Paige all season, Philip and Elizabeth are united in this, taking their cues from each other, and it's only after Philip silently nods that Elizabeth moves forward, while it's Philip, the one who was most desperate for Paige to not find out, who actually makes the first statement that leads into their confession/revelation to their daughter.
I've said before that the spy scenario allows the show to explore issues like marriage and family with large scale metaphors. This scene is another case in point. Throughout the last two years, Paige has gone through the archetypical adolescent experience of waking up to the fact her parents are people with lives outside the family context, lives before her, that her parents have sides and aspects to themselves she doesn't know about. And here this arc comes to culmination that's both archetypical and unique, because what she finds out is so unique to her particular situation. And it can't be reversed. This is truly the exit from Eden; she's eaten the apple now, she can't go back to not knowing. Because this particular knowledge can't be shared with anyone but the people who gave it to her, it also will isolate her in the social circle she's made for herself.
I also love the ambiguity in Philip taking the phone of the hook when Paige goes upstairs. Mostly I think it's because on that night, neither of the Jennings is in a state to work and wants to have any conversations about that, either. But, you know... it also means Paige can't spontanously, in a state of shock, call anyone. The next morning he's the one to say that if Paige doesn't want either of them to stay with her, they can't stay regardless because that will only make her angry, that they can trust her. Which they'll have to do now. There's no alternative.
Next thing is of course that Paige does tell Pastor Tim she talked to her parents, but keeps the actual content of the conversation secret. Still, should she ever slip up - or maybe Pastor Tim, used to Paige sharing all by now, becomes distrustful because she's not telling, combines this with Philip's freakout last season and concludes there's something seriously wrong in the Jennings household and snoops further - I suspect Philip will finally give into that urge to strangle Pastor Tim. Or maybe Elizabeth will. For all that she's been wanting to tell Paige the truth for a while now, here she's the one more unbalanced and worried now that it has finally happened. Either way, Pastor Tim joins poor Martha on my list of people who I suspect won't last into the next season. (Which I hear has been confirmed? Yay!)
Bits and pieces: first time in a while we've seen Kimberly, and Philip-as-Jim still manages to keep the interaction solely paternal this time, helped by the fact Kimberly is drunk and passing out. "You're the only one who cares about me" and Philip's look to the family photo - ever the awareness of the Kimberly and Paige parallels.
Also: Gabriel tells Philip that he asked the Centre to transfer Mischa Jr. from Afghanistan, and the Centre was totally willing, but Mischa Jr. declined. I thought this was a pretty smart way of Gabriel to handle this situation. (He didn't get this old in the job for nothing.) After Elizabeth asked him in the first place, and after Philip's angry speech last week, he had to do something. He couldn't know whether or not Elizabeth had told Philip about having made the request, so pretending it never happened was out. Pretending the Centre said no would just further Philip's resentment and make Elizabeth wonder. But presenting it as both himself and the Centre willing to help (anything for his Illegals!), only to be foiled by Mischa Jr.'s patriotism and sense of duty? Makes him look good without removing the emotional pressure on Philip. In conclusion, Gabriel really knows what he's doing and I'm more sceptical than ever about Mischa Jr.s mere existence, let alone anything else about him.
(Seriously: patriotic or not, I bet any young soldier offered a transfer from Afghanistan would have said HELL YES at this point of the Soviet-Afghan war and gotten out of there pronto.)
Paige watching Stan and her parents in the last scene was a great way to end the episode. Paige's not actually a good liar (see last season). (Henry, otoh, is.) How will she interact with Stan now?
no subject
If he dies, that will be the end of Paige ever trusting Philip and Elizabeth. She won't be able to keep from suspecting them and no way does she forgive them for it.
It will be interesting to see if Oleg is found out, and by extension Stan.
I was quite fond of Nina's scene this week; she really has proven herself the consummate con.
no subject
Nina: she is very good, but I fear this will ruin her ability to form genuine relationships...