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theamericans2018-04-25 06:32 pm
jae) wrote in theamericans2018-04-25 06:32 pm
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Episode discussion post: "The Great Patriotic War"
Aired:
25 April 2018 in the U.S. and Canada
This is a discussion post for episode 605 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season six, episode five.)
Original promo trailer
25 April 2018 in the U.S. and Canada
This is a discussion post for episode 605 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season six, episode five.)
Original promo trailer
Paige losing control
Elizabeth is blinding herself to what's obvious to every single viewer: Paige is not suitable for the spy life. The fact that it's this obvious to everyone tells me that this is the message that the showrunners actually intended to impart.Everybody is railing at Paige for being such a failure as a spy, but she's being written this way for a reason. The person who won't admit that Paige isn't cutting it is Elizabeth. (Though she did quickly admit it to Philip in a tossed off comment meant to deflect him.) Paige is out doing her own research on espionage and also out doing her own thing because she's now intensely in to being a spy. Except that she's not. She has no idea about the physical danger she's in because Elizabeth continues to shelter her. She doesn't appear to care at all that she's committing treason simply because she gets to spy with her mom and it's so cool and glamorous.
Paige may have started learning self defense in order to conquer her fear of 'rapey creepers' as you say, but as a spy in training, she ought to have known by now not to draw any undo attention to herself. That's the entire point of living as an illegal: you blend in and never draw attention to herself. From the way that Elizabeth reprimanded her, it's clear that this isn't the first time that Paige has been told never to do anything that might make people question who you are.
I actually agree with you that she lost control and reacted in a panic. I should have been more clear that my 'Me Too-girl power' comment was more directed at the social media response that I saw to this scene, and not to the scene itself. I saw so many 'badass, cool, Me Too!' Paige comments on social media that I felt like I was watching a different show from all of those viewers who thought that it was so great that Paige hit those guys. It wasn't great. It was the opposite of great.
I think that Paige is a walking disaster waiting to happen. She thinks she found the truth about her family but she's only been told a bowdlerized fairy tale version of that truth. I stand by my comment of calling her an arrogant idiot but I don't intend that in a mean way. She's in way over her head but the one person who could save her - Elizabeth - won't tell her the truth because she's too busy lying to herself about Paige. Elizabeth is feeding Paige's illusion that she's doing something secret and grand but she's not. Paige thinks that shadowboxing in the garage with nice cushiony pads on the floor makes her a badass, but it doesn't. Philip tried to show her (without telling her) that she has no idea what she's actually up against, but I don't know if the message sunk in. He's still playing by the Center's rules: Paige belongs to them now. If he really wanted to free her, while he had her in a choke hold he should have said, "Ask your mother how many people she's slept with and how many she's killed. Then come back and ask me the same thing. And then maybe think about why I'm not in to this any more." He's still just as complicit as Elizabeth in lying to Paige.
Re: Paige losing control
In a way, it's not even that. I mean, that's part of it. But the biggest issue for Philip was: why exactly am I doing this? Because there's plenty of situations where he does see a reason to do that. Paige understood why she was punching the guys in the bar--she was simply panicked. She even hit the guy who didn't do anything to her. She's used to hitting people who touch her now and it felt good to lash out at them. (Compare that to Philip when Stan slammed him up against the wall of the garage and he didn't react at all.)
But the other thing is that Paige really isn't thinking things through. She's committing treason for the USSR and is just now getting a clue about the role they played in WWII, which led up to the Cold War? She doesn't seem to have any idea exactly what she's doing and why most of the time--well, we know she doesn't. She couldn't even think through the "suicide" of the general when Philip tried to walk her through it. Russian food and Tchaikovsky are no reason to commit treason; neither are stories about how bad things were at Stalingraad.
So Paige still seems as confused about what she's doing as ever. She's still angry at her mother telling her not to do amateur spying that nobody told her to do.
Re: Paige losing control
Paige may be confused about what she's doing because Elizabeth and Claudia are withholding most of the truth from her. Claudia's 'culture/history' lessons don't mean squat to Paige except for how that all helps her to bond with her mom. Paige is doing all of this only for her mom's approval. She can intellectually understand that Elizabeth is doing it for her country, but Russia isn't Paige's country so no amount of 'oh poor Russia' stories are going to mean anything to Paige. She senses that there's more to spying than just following dudes around taking pictures, but neither Elizabeth or Claudia will tell her what else is involved. So she resorts to reading books on her own but her questions about honeypots, etc. get deflected by Elizabeth who is afraid to admit to Paige what she really does. Elizabeth basks in Paige's adoration but is trying stupidly to retain Paige's childish innocence. But Paige isn't a child anymore, hence her getting cranky about who she can/can't sleep with, etc. I've been thinking about how Paige hesitated and steeled herself before she entered Claudia's apartment. Possibly she was anticipating another lecture, but I suspect that Paige is getting fed up with being treated like a kid. She thinks she's a cool spy now but she's still being kept almost entirely in the dark by the very person (her mom) who should be being brutally honest with her right now.
Re: Paige losing control
True, but otoh, she's also acting like a kid. I mean, just in the sense that as you said, all this is about bonding with her mother. If she was a regular recruit she'd never be allowed to backtalk and demand things and make huge mistakes and get a Mulligan on them. Marilyn isn't getting lectures about what Elizabeth does either. She just does what she's told.
Elizabeth herself as a kid would have taken whatever information she was given and not expect anything else. Elizabeth is reluctant to talk about the really shitty things she does--she's flat out lied about whether she uses sex (Paige doesn't even understand that it's not just about having a boyfriend you're spying on, it's sometimes just giving a blow job for a little info) and whether she killed that general and why. But there again it's more about Elizabeth and what she does and how Paige can be like her rather than spying.
The other thing, though, is that Philip has tried to speak to her more honestly about things and Paige has given a hard pass both times. So she's giving plenty of times that she's not interested in truth, only what Elizabeth is feeding her.
Maybe one could see that as Elizabeth being the Centre to Paige the way it is to Elizabeth. That is, she's wary of information from outside sources even if those sources are more honest or respectful. Or maybe it's like she's ambivalent about it. She demands information from Elizabeth but runs from information from Philip even though he's an obvious person to speak to: WHY does he not want to do this anymore? Elizabeth's answer is the usual empty platitude without details. We don't know how honest Philip would be if she asked him directly, but she hasn't really tried. He was certainly seeming to be very honest when he tried to talk to her about understanding the satisfaction of being able to beat people up.