Episode discussion post: "The Great Patriotic War"

[jae]

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.)

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Comments

Re: Paige losing control

[sistermagpie]

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.

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.