The Americans 4.12
Jun. 2nd, 2016 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which someone gets busted, and it's not just the SPOILER.
I mean, we knew the mailbot's days were numbered. But William outed, by Oleg, no less, that I didn't see coming.
It's interesting that we see all three male secret Russian spies this show features regularly - Philip, William and even Gabriel - admit to doubts about whether or not the latest super dangerous bio weapon should be given to their superiors. (And btw I like that in the doubts aren't founded in a belief that the US system is superior, but that US technology is, and the likelihood of an accidental outbreak is lesser. This being the decade of Chernobyl, accidental disaster is just around the corner, though not of a bio weapon. And they've laid the foundation with the submarine incident in season 2.) But nonetheless, they, who all have lived in the US for decades, all go through with their parts; instead, it's Oleg, the official KGB employee at the Washington Rezidentura, who's only been in the country for two or three years (depending on how show chronology works), who eventually does something about it.
In retrospect, Oleg's decision has been well prepared. It's Oleg who shares the conversation with Arkady in season 2 about how possibly the submarine disaster wasn't due to cunning US sabotage but Russian eagerness to use untested technology. It's Oleg who due to his father has learned about the recent near World War III due to a computer glitch (sun reflections!), only prevented by a then unknown officer Petrov making the call to not act. And it's Oleg who has head of the science division knows about the problematic situation back home. Not to mention that Oleg has already outed one Russian spy (Svetlana) when he thought the reason was important enough (Nina). Nonetheless, this is big. He may or may not have prevented a terrible disaster, but no one is going to thank him for it; it was treason, so if he's discovered, he'll more likely than not die, and if he's not, then even if Stan meant it last week as opposed to employing reverse psychology, he's now given the FBI such leverage that they'll never let him go. Oleg might bet on not being in the country anymore if he accepts Tatiana's offer and goes to Kenya with her, but given Tatiana's comment of her promotion depending on this last operation, I bet Oleg just cost her that new Rezident job in Kenya as well.
In terms of follow-up to Paige witnessing her mother dispatching the wannabe mugger-and-worse, it goes more or less as I expected: Paige, smart girl that she is, realises what Elizabeth's quick action implies: that this is hardly the first time Elizabeth has killed someone. And while the "Dad, too?" Question in her follow up conversation with Elizabeth re: their parents having been trained is a bit naive, I think she knew the answer already. Elizabeth is still sugar-coating the truth for Paige by saying they were trained to defend themselves, and that yes, she's killed people "in defense", but I think it's now only a matter of time until Paige arrives at the conclusion it can't have been all self defense with her parents.
For now, she's more focused on the danger her parents are in regularly, if her conversation with Matthew re: Stan is anything to go by. Speaking of said conversation, Elizabeth did of course register that Paige just before the mugging reported to her about Matthew, and what this implies. Which leads us to the final conversation between Paige and her parents in this episode. They want her to have the relationship with Matthew (or not) for its own sake, not for the possible use, but it's too late for that, and this time, it's Paige who sees it, not her parents. She can't interact with the Beemans (either Stan or Matthew) neutrally, without awareness of how everything they say might have implications for her parents. And thus another part of the spy life has Paige in its grip; it's worth noting that despite last season's push on her part to recruit Paige, Elizabeth is just as appalled by this as Philip. (And notices the implication first.)
One professional deformation of being a spy is the inability to give a straight answer: I don't think Elizabeth means to deflect when Paige asks her whether or not she, Elizabeth, had been afraid when first joining the KGB regarding the need to fight and kill, but nonetheless, she keeps doing it, even when Paige points it out to her. In a way, she can't not, because she's trying to establish context for Paige by telling her about growing up in Smolensk after the war: Nadezhda's childhood and youth were so different from Paige's that the question "were you afraid of killing people?" Was as alien as Paige's question to Philip last episode about whether or not his mother had been a good cook.
Minor matter: Paige telling Elizabeth who tells Philip about Stan's meeting with Martha's father means Philip has Gabriel call the man to reassure him about Martha's well being. For a second, I wondered why Philip didn't do this himself since everything Gabriel says is something Philip could have as well, but then I realised Philip of course would be aware that the FBI must still be tapping Martha's parents' phone, and wants to avoid them recording his voice. (Which Martha's parents could identify as that of "Clark".) Whereas Gabriel's voice is that of a stranger. Also, Gabriel making the phone call in front of Philip is a reassurance that it's actually made. In a demonstration of the improved Gabriel-Philip relationship, Philip later confesses that he shared William's doubts and opinion the Lhassa virus intel should not be transmitted, and Gabriel returns the favor by confessing he's not sure it should, either, and adds that he was wrong to work alone, without a partner, all those years. After they all survived the last virus scare together, Gabriel has been letting Philip see his vulnerabilities.
I mean, we knew the mailbot's days were numbered. But William outed, by Oleg, no less, that I didn't see coming.
It's interesting that we see all three male secret Russian spies this show features regularly - Philip, William and even Gabriel - admit to doubts about whether or not the latest super dangerous bio weapon should be given to their superiors. (And btw I like that in the doubts aren't founded in a belief that the US system is superior, but that US technology is, and the likelihood of an accidental outbreak is lesser. This being the decade of Chernobyl, accidental disaster is just around the corner, though not of a bio weapon. And they've laid the foundation with the submarine incident in season 2.) But nonetheless, they, who all have lived in the US for decades, all go through with their parts; instead, it's Oleg, the official KGB employee at the Washington Rezidentura, who's only been in the country for two or three years (depending on how show chronology works), who eventually does something about it.
In retrospect, Oleg's decision has been well prepared. It's Oleg who shares the conversation with Arkady in season 2 about how possibly the submarine disaster wasn't due to cunning US sabotage but Russian eagerness to use untested technology. It's Oleg who due to his father has learned about the recent near World War III due to a computer glitch (sun reflections!), only prevented by a then unknown officer Petrov making the call to not act. And it's Oleg who has head of the science division knows about the problematic situation back home. Not to mention that Oleg has already outed one Russian spy (Svetlana) when he thought the reason was important enough (Nina). Nonetheless, this is big. He may or may not have prevented a terrible disaster, but no one is going to thank him for it; it was treason, so if he's discovered, he'll more likely than not die, and if he's not, then even if Stan meant it last week as opposed to employing reverse psychology, he's now given the FBI such leverage that they'll never let him go. Oleg might bet on not being in the country anymore if he accepts Tatiana's offer and goes to Kenya with her, but given Tatiana's comment of her promotion depending on this last operation, I bet Oleg just cost her that new Rezident job in Kenya as well.
In terms of follow-up to Paige witnessing her mother dispatching the wannabe mugger-and-worse, it goes more or less as I expected: Paige, smart girl that she is, realises what Elizabeth's quick action implies: that this is hardly the first time Elizabeth has killed someone. And while the "Dad, too?" Question in her follow up conversation with Elizabeth re: their parents having been trained is a bit naive, I think she knew the answer already. Elizabeth is still sugar-coating the truth for Paige by saying they were trained to defend themselves, and that yes, she's killed people "in defense", but I think it's now only a matter of time until Paige arrives at the conclusion it can't have been all self defense with her parents.
For now, she's more focused on the danger her parents are in regularly, if her conversation with Matthew re: Stan is anything to go by. Speaking of said conversation, Elizabeth did of course register that Paige just before the mugging reported to her about Matthew, and what this implies. Which leads us to the final conversation between Paige and her parents in this episode. They want her to have the relationship with Matthew (or not) for its own sake, not for the possible use, but it's too late for that, and this time, it's Paige who sees it, not her parents. She can't interact with the Beemans (either Stan or Matthew) neutrally, without awareness of how everything they say might have implications for her parents. And thus another part of the spy life has Paige in its grip; it's worth noting that despite last season's push on her part to recruit Paige, Elizabeth is just as appalled by this as Philip. (And notices the implication first.)
One professional deformation of being a spy is the inability to give a straight answer: I don't think Elizabeth means to deflect when Paige asks her whether or not she, Elizabeth, had been afraid when first joining the KGB regarding the need to fight and kill, but nonetheless, she keeps doing it, even when Paige points it out to her. In a way, she can't not, because she's trying to establish context for Paige by telling her about growing up in Smolensk after the war: Nadezhda's childhood and youth were so different from Paige's that the question "were you afraid of killing people?" Was as alien as Paige's question to Philip last episode about whether or not his mother had been a good cook.
Minor matter: Paige telling Elizabeth who tells Philip about Stan's meeting with Martha's father means Philip has Gabriel call the man to reassure him about Martha's well being. For a second, I wondered why Philip didn't do this himself since everything Gabriel says is something Philip could have as well, but then I realised Philip of course would be aware that the FBI must still be tapping Martha's parents' phone, and wants to avoid them recording his voice. (Which Martha's parents could identify as that of "Clark".) Whereas Gabriel's voice is that of a stranger. Also, Gabriel making the phone call in front of Philip is a reassurance that it's actually made. In a demonstration of the improved Gabriel-Philip relationship, Philip later confesses that he shared William's doubts and opinion the Lhassa virus intel should not be transmitted, and Gabriel returns the favor by confessing he's not sure it should, either, and adds that he was wrong to work alone, without a partner, all those years. After they all survived the last virus scare together, Gabriel has been letting Philip see his vulnerabilities.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-02 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-02 03:39 pm (UTC)