Episode discussion post: "Harvest"

[jae]

Aired:
9 May 2018 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 607 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 seven.)

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Comments

Paige and the cause

[sistermagpie]

I think that's a little unfair to Holly. She can only say what the script says. What she did BTS to inject realism into Paige's naivete, we haven't yet heard.

Which part is unfair? You mean where I said I doubted she did much research? I think I was actually agreeing with you. There's not a lot in the dialogue or anything on the show that implies Paige has become an expert on this sort of thing so I was saying she didn't have to do much research. I doubt anybody told her to--I think they ought to have given her specific stuff to read if they needed her to have more understanding.

Her choice in that scene is to make Paige sound naive and vague and that fits very well not just with the dialogue in that scene but in the Russia lesson scenes. Elizabeth is constantly lying to her and positioning herself as the only true authority so it wouldn't work if they made Paige her own firebrand.

Plus there's the fact that if she was researching she'd get into a lot of stuff that didn't back Elizabeth up.