The Americans 3.12
Apr. 16th, 2015 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which the clock ticks for more than one character.
From the minor to the major. Oh, and this review also spoils the big climax of Shogun at the end.
First of all, now the show has added Arkady to the list of characters to worry about. Incidentally, the kind of issue this is - that Arkady wants to shut down a useless operation but doing so would, as Tatiana spells out to Oleg, backfire on him, because instead of the Centre admitting that they made a mistake ordering the mail bot bugged in the first place they'd rather blame Arkady for not getting the wished for results - is the kind of bureaucratic thing that happens not just in dictatorships but everywhere. And it's the kind of thing Arkady, who is too smart and sensible to fall over his own male vanity as Vasily did, couldn't avoid. Otoh Arkady by being the competent and within reason compassionate boss he is has earned the loyalty of people who work for him, so Oleg and Tatiana find the proverbial needle in the haystack to justify keeping the operation running by the thinnest of justifications.
(Sidenote: Because of the previous cut between Stan and Aderholt's conversation to the KGB transcriptions, I thought they (Stan and Aderholt) were having said conversation in the floor and that would be the needle Oleg and Tatiana find, but thinking about it further, they went into another room not the floor? Am a bit confused on this issue, please advise.)
Secondly, Lisa's jerky husband Maurice: I suspect Lisa won't see much of that money, and methinks Elizabeth suspects the same thing. And might actually, as I mentioned, like Lisa, though even if she doesn't, from a purely pragmatic KGB pov Maurice is a loose canon and an irritant. Somehow I don't believe he'll be around to interfere for much longer.
Thirdly, the Afghanistan mission du jour for Philip and Elizabeth turns out to be not attacking the Mujaheddin themselves, but tricking one of them into killing the other by donning their CIA disguises. This is the kind of ruthless and smart operation that won't even leave KGB fingerprints, and yet it's not a moment of triumph for them because that encounter with Abassin Zadran and his praise of martyrdom is a stark reminder of what the Russians are facing in Afghanistan, and why it's impossible to win. (Obvious cue to present day parallels again.) Not to mention it's an uncomfortable mirror: their own mentality and self justification isn't much different.
But while all of these are interesting plot threads, the meant of the episode is in the Martha subplot on the one hand and in the continuing Paige arc on the other. Paige continues to react to the big revelation, first by an unannounced overnight at Pastor Tim's (where her parents retrieve her and never looked more like spies, the private and the professional now hopelessly mixed, because yes, it's their lives on the line every time Paige acts out) and then by confronting them with previous lies about relatives. It's Philip who figures out how to calm her down on this front at least, first by reminding her of the family life they shared via two childhood memories, and then by the offer to go to Russia with Elizabeth to see her dying grandmother. And how, I wonder, will they explain this absence to Henry, who looks increasingly isolated on his sofa? (My ultra paranoid mind now wonders whether Henry, not Paige, will become the next Jared, and Philip and Elizabeth won't have seen it coming at all. Only Henry will get recruited by people pretending to be American spies, or actually being American spies, just to complete the irony.)
The Gabriel and Claudia meeting over burgers (or tea, in Claudia's case) was fascinating. It's the first time we see Gabriel without Elizabeth or Philip around, and the first time we see Claudia without either since the s1 finale. Not only are they old acquaintances/friendly colleagues (this was to be expected, given their shared area of expertise) but Claudia, at least now, actually seems to have the handler position vis a vis Gabriel that Gabriel has to P & E. And just as back in the s1 finale the conversation between Claudia and Arkady revealed for the first time to the audience that Claudia had serious doubts ab out the Colonel operation, this scene for the first time shows that Gabriel has severe doubts about the whole second generation idea in general, and the Paige/Philip/Elizabeth case in particular, mainly because of the effect it's been having on Philip and on the P/E relationship. Note that neither Claudia back then nor Gabriel now would ever reveal such doubts towards Philip and Elizabeth; to them, they represent the Centre policy without reservations, because that's the professional thing to do. (You could tell Kate was new at this whole handler business when she showed up at a meeting with Philip in visible distress about the submarine fiasco.) But they do show them to someone of equal or higher rank, i.e. Claudia to Arkady in the s1 finale and Gabriel to Claudia in the present episode. It's one of the ways the show sometimes twists sideways to show characters we usually see in only one type of role because of their main function in the narrative have their own three dimensionality, history and story in which they are in other roles.
This is also the first time we hear about the fallout the Jared reveal had back in Russia, which I've been wondering about, though I'm with Gabriel here: all this, and they STILL think it's a good idea? Which brings us back to Arkady's present problem and the inability of any bureacracy to admit a mistake rather than continue to push forward and find others to blame.
Meanwhile, Martha. Who kept up her facade with Stan flawlessly. BTW, Shogun used to be my father's all time favourite novel - still is, come to think of it - and he devoured it repeatadly back in the 80s; being a reading-hungry teenager, I stole it and read it as well, so no, Stan, I know what you're thinking, but women do read Shogun in particular and James Clavell in general. (Cut me off here before mentioning I actually met James Clavell later.) Anyway, the Shogun thing was neat regardless, not least because Stan mentioning he read and loved the book immediately made me wonder whether he's recced it to Philip and that's why Philip-as-Clark read it as well. Stan being gone, though, Martha's facade starts to crumble, and every time we see her in this episode I was afraid it would be the last time - that Hans would kill her (no), that she'd kill herself after that conversation with her parents... and then we got the final scene. In which the intensity and suspense was ratched up and up and up while Philip realised he couldn't dissuade her anymore this time. And then took off his glasses and started to dismantle Clark in front of her, Martha's horrified expression and his own enigmatic one the last thing we see before the episode ends.
Now, usually when someone in this kind of situation sees one of the Jennings' without their disguise, it's a death sentence. (Not just with Elizabeth. Philip shot the waiter in the restaurant in the s2 opener for such a reason.) However, in this particular case I suspect it's actually Philip's last gamble to keep Martha alive, i.e. that by entrusting her with his real face and primary current identity, he'll stop her from going because that will be big enough a gesture to assure her of his affection outweighing the danger she's currently under. However, if this doesn't work, then yes, he'll kill her.
Trivia observation: this is why the pop culture details in this show are awsome - the big climax of the movie Tootsie, aka the one Zidaina and Stan watched a few eps back, is of course Michael Dorsey revealing his true face to everyone.
Come to think of it, the big climax of Shogun is Mariko accomplishing her mission to get the hostages out of Osaka by turning an assassination attempt on Toranaga's enemies part into her own public suicide, thus due to everyone's behavioral code forcing Toranaga's enemy Ishigo to release the hostages. Quite how that will find its parallel, if it does, is anyone's guess...
From the minor to the major. Oh, and this review also spoils the big climax of Shogun at the end.
First of all, now the show has added Arkady to the list of characters to worry about. Incidentally, the kind of issue this is - that Arkady wants to shut down a useless operation but doing so would, as Tatiana spells out to Oleg, backfire on him, because instead of the Centre admitting that they made a mistake ordering the mail bot bugged in the first place they'd rather blame Arkady for not getting the wished for results - is the kind of bureaucratic thing that happens not just in dictatorships but everywhere. And it's the kind of thing Arkady, who is too smart and sensible to fall over his own male vanity as Vasily did, couldn't avoid. Otoh Arkady by being the competent and within reason compassionate boss he is has earned the loyalty of people who work for him, so Oleg and Tatiana find the proverbial needle in the haystack to justify keeping the operation running by the thinnest of justifications.
(Sidenote: Because of the previous cut between Stan and Aderholt's conversation to the KGB transcriptions, I thought they (Stan and Aderholt) were having said conversation in the floor and that would be the needle Oleg and Tatiana find, but thinking about it further, they went into another room not the floor? Am a bit confused on this issue, please advise.)
Secondly, Lisa's jerky husband Maurice: I suspect Lisa won't see much of that money, and methinks Elizabeth suspects the same thing. And might actually, as I mentioned, like Lisa, though even if she doesn't, from a purely pragmatic KGB pov Maurice is a loose canon and an irritant. Somehow I don't believe he'll be around to interfere for much longer.
Thirdly, the Afghanistan mission du jour for Philip and Elizabeth turns out to be not attacking the Mujaheddin themselves, but tricking one of them into killing the other by donning their CIA disguises. This is the kind of ruthless and smart operation that won't even leave KGB fingerprints, and yet it's not a moment of triumph for them because that encounter with Abassin Zadran and his praise of martyrdom is a stark reminder of what the Russians are facing in Afghanistan, and why it's impossible to win. (Obvious cue to present day parallels again.) Not to mention it's an uncomfortable mirror: their own mentality and self justification isn't much different.
But while all of these are interesting plot threads, the meant of the episode is in the Martha subplot on the one hand and in the continuing Paige arc on the other. Paige continues to react to the big revelation, first by an unannounced overnight at Pastor Tim's (where her parents retrieve her and never looked more like spies, the private and the professional now hopelessly mixed, because yes, it's their lives on the line every time Paige acts out) and then by confronting them with previous lies about relatives. It's Philip who figures out how to calm her down on this front at least, first by reminding her of the family life they shared via two childhood memories, and then by the offer to go to Russia with Elizabeth to see her dying grandmother. And how, I wonder, will they explain this absence to Henry, who looks increasingly isolated on his sofa? (My ultra paranoid mind now wonders whether Henry, not Paige, will become the next Jared, and Philip and Elizabeth won't have seen it coming at all. Only Henry will get recruited by people pretending to be American spies, or actually being American spies, just to complete the irony.)
The Gabriel and Claudia meeting over burgers (or tea, in Claudia's case) was fascinating. It's the first time we see Gabriel without Elizabeth or Philip around, and the first time we see Claudia without either since the s1 finale. Not only are they old acquaintances/friendly colleagues (this was to be expected, given their shared area of expertise) but Claudia, at least now, actually seems to have the handler position vis a vis Gabriel that Gabriel has to P & E. And just as back in the s1 finale the conversation between Claudia and Arkady revealed for the first time to the audience that Claudia had serious doubts ab out the Colonel operation, this scene for the first time shows that Gabriel has severe doubts about the whole second generation idea in general, and the Paige/Philip/Elizabeth case in particular, mainly because of the effect it's been having on Philip and on the P/E relationship. Note that neither Claudia back then nor Gabriel now would ever reveal such doubts towards Philip and Elizabeth; to them, they represent the Centre policy without reservations, because that's the professional thing to do. (You could tell Kate was new at this whole handler business when she showed up at a meeting with Philip in visible distress about the submarine fiasco.) But they do show them to someone of equal or higher rank, i.e. Claudia to Arkady in the s1 finale and Gabriel to Claudia in the present episode. It's one of the ways the show sometimes twists sideways to show characters we usually see in only one type of role because of their main function in the narrative have their own three dimensionality, history and story in which they are in other roles.
This is also the first time we hear about the fallout the Jared reveal had back in Russia, which I've been wondering about, though I'm with Gabriel here: all this, and they STILL think it's a good idea? Which brings us back to Arkady's present problem and the inability of any bureacracy to admit a mistake rather than continue to push forward and find others to blame.
Meanwhile, Martha. Who kept up her facade with Stan flawlessly. BTW, Shogun used to be my father's all time favourite novel - still is, come to think of it - and he devoured it repeatadly back in the 80s; being a reading-hungry teenager, I stole it and read it as well, so no, Stan, I know what you're thinking, but women do read Shogun in particular and James Clavell in general. (Cut me off here before mentioning I actually met James Clavell later.) Anyway, the Shogun thing was neat regardless, not least because Stan mentioning he read and loved the book immediately made me wonder whether he's recced it to Philip and that's why Philip-as-Clark read it as well. Stan being gone, though, Martha's facade starts to crumble, and every time we see her in this episode I was afraid it would be the last time - that Hans would kill her (no), that she'd kill herself after that conversation with her parents... and then we got the final scene. In which the intensity and suspense was ratched up and up and up while Philip realised he couldn't dissuade her anymore this time. And then took off his glasses and started to dismantle Clark in front of her, Martha's horrified expression and his own enigmatic one the last thing we see before the episode ends.
Now, usually when someone in this kind of situation sees one of the Jennings' without their disguise, it's a death sentence. (Not just with Elizabeth. Philip shot the waiter in the restaurant in the s2 opener for such a reason.) However, in this particular case I suspect it's actually Philip's last gamble to keep Martha alive, i.e. that by entrusting her with his real face and primary current identity, he'll stop her from going because that will be big enough a gesture to assure her of his affection outweighing the danger she's currently under. However, if this doesn't work, then yes, he'll kill her.
Trivia observation: this is why the pop culture details in this show are awsome - the big climax of the movie Tootsie, aka the one Zidaina and Stan watched a few eps back, is of course Michael Dorsey revealing his true face to everyone.
Come to think of it, the big climax of Shogun is Mariko accomplishing her mission to get the hostages out of Osaka by turning an assassination attempt on Toranaga's enemies part into her own public suicide, thus due to everyone's behavioral code forcing Toranaga's enemy Ishigo to release the hostages. Quite how that will find its parallel, if it does, is anyone's guess...
