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's conversion

[sistermagpie]

Yeah, I don't give HT responsibility over Paige and her development. Someone posted a quote once that implied that she didn't even herself get a lot of detail about exactly what Paige has been doing during these 3 years. It seems like they mostly just said "She's more confident now." Which doesn't tell us much.

Psychologically and in an abstract way I get it--this episode had her say in a nutshell exactly how it seemed: Paige has replaced Pastor Tim with her mother as a leader, she's a follower and only really feels confident as part of a cause/group, fears being alone and trying to deal with life without that.

But the details are far less clear and they're still important. For instance, the way that she became disenchanted with Pastor Tim was done in great detail and that would have been easier to buy if they'd just skipped it.

Re: Paige's conversion

[saraqael]

I agree that the details are important. As a viewer, I don't like being asked to merely accept that in the 3 years the show skipped over, that Paige was so thorough brainwashed that she has clearly lost all capacity to think for herself. Last season the show spent hours and hours on a pointless storyline showing Philip's son trying to sneak out of Russia in a plot thread that ultimately went nowhere. There was an inordinate amount of screen time given over to scenes of the Jennings driving around to spy on the wheat. Yet with the show's most core, crucial plotline, the show cut from Paige reading Marx is S5 to her becoming such a brainwashed knockoff of her mom in S6 that she seems incapable of independent thought or authentic emotions. How the hell did that happen? The show asks me to believe that Paige Jennings is a smart, politically aware young woman living in the DC area in the 1980s. Everybody in the 80s knew all about the murderous, failed flaws in the Soviet system. Everyone except for Paige Jennings, apparently. I would much rather have seen how Elizabeth crushed her daughter's mind (because that's what she did) than any amount of scenes of Philip's Russian son, or Martha, or yet another scene of the Jennings driving out to spy on the wheat.

As for the scenes of Paige becoming disenchanted with Pastor Tim, I disagree that it would have been easier to buy if they'd skipped showing us how that happened. It was an important to see because showing us what it took to get Paige to reject Tim parallels what it will take to get her reject her parents, assuming she'll ever be capable of rejecting them.

Re: Paige's conversion

[sistermagpie]

I phrased that badly. I didn't mean Paige's disenchantment with Pastor Tim would have been easier to buy if we hadn't seen it--I loved seeing it. I meant that it would be easier to buy that disenchantment without seeing it than it is to buy her evolution to where she is now from there.

Iow, at least with the church we would have just been asked to believe that a girl who was really into church at 15 was out of that phase by 19. There's a context for that. Her embrace of 60s Soviet idealism is a lot more extreme and unusual. We know that Elizabeth is the cause of it, but we're not seeing the process the way we saw, say, Martha being turned into a willing traitor.

So really I'm saying I thought it was good they spent time showing us how Paige separated from Pastor Tim and would have liked seeing Elizabeth taking her over just as clearly.

Because you're right, the more I think about it the more there would have probably been a lot of moments to show exactly how the thinking went. Doing it this way implies that all that was important was getting Paige away from her first group. Once she has no leader she's vulnerable to Elizabeth or whoever the closest person is. Once Elizabeth separated the weak gazelle from her herd it was nothing to bring her down. We even saw Paige signal that, imo, when she told Elizabeth she was no longer into the churchy stuff but would still do the food bank. I thought she was basically signalling to her there that she was open to Elizabeth's way.

But still, me clearly seeing how she'd be into it isn't the same as seeing Elizabeth chip away her beliefs one by one, including something so basic as not betraying her country. Especially since the show seems to have portrayed Paige as barely interested in the actual cause she's allegedly passionate about and leaned into this all being about clinging to her mother who only approves of that.

Re: Paige's conversion

[saraqael]

Ah, I see what you meant and agree. I'm glad you mentioned Martha in this context too, because Martha is a perfect example of showing how Philip preyed on her weaknesses and then inexorably seduced Martha into betraying everything she believed in, and all for 'love.' We got to see all of that play out over the years. Elizabeth did the same thing to Paige. She preyed on Paige's obvious neediness and desire to 'do good' and turned her into an unquestioning puppet. Only we didn't get to see that process at all. Even Pastor Tim told Paige to read Marx before Elizabeth did. Millions of people are capable of agreeing with Marx's insights into the flaws of capitalism without reacting by becoming a Soviet spy. But here with the show's most central storyline and characters, the show jumped over this most crucial part of the story and just presented it as a fait accompli three years later.

I actually have to wonder just how much of Elizabeth's ideological training that Paige even believes. All Paige ever really wanted was not to be alone and for her parents to love her. Maybe she doesn't really believe any of it and is just agreeing with whatever BS Elizabeth says just to stay by her mother's side. It makes more sense to me that Paige has become so dysfunctional that she actually doesn't believe in anything at all and only cares about getting constant approval from her mom because that fills up the emptiness inside of herself. Elizabeth could tell her that Lenin was Santa Claus and Paige would gaze at her with shining eyes and say, "Yes he is! Whatever you say, Mom!"

Re: Paige's conversion

[treonb]

They did show her spying on Pastor Tim

Btw, it's interesting that we see her learning about Russia (food and history), but not about Soviet ideology. That's the exact opposite of what I'd expect from any recruit to the cause.

Re: Paige's conversion

[saraqael]

Yes, they did show Paige spying on Tim. Tim was her 'assignment' from her parents but Paige did seem to enjoy spying on him.

I have to suspect that the show skipped over Paige's ideological education on purpose. Actual Soviet ideology bears only lip service to Marx, IMO. All we've ever seen is the Jennings talking about doing good on behalf of the poor and downtrodden, blah blah, and protecting their homeland from the evil Americans. Had they jumped from the more appealing aspects of Marxist theory about income imbalance to actual Soviet ideology in practice (revolution is only possible through violence; the state must use violence, terror, and murder against its own people in order to destroy any vestige of of resistance, etc.) Paige would have run to the hills no matter how much she loved her parents.

I guess it was far easier for the show to gloss over all of that and just show Paige hanging out at Claudia's apartment drinking vodka, eating peasant stew, and watching Russian movies.

Re: Paige's conversion

[treonb]

I'm talking about the more appealing aspects - brotherhood of man, anti-racism, ensuring everybody's basic needs are covered and all that. The aspects that convinced Gregory to join, for example.

Because it's not just Paige who isn't showing interest, it's Elizabeth and Claudia as well. She can't sound less vague than her teachers.

Re: Paige's conversion

[saraqael]

The Soviets practiced their fair share of ethnic cleansing in their own territories over the years. They espoused a belief in the 'brotherhood of mankind' but only as seen through the filter of the class struggle. They were hardly the egalitarian saints that Elizabeth depicted to Paige or Gregory.

Re: Paige's conversion

[treonb]

Yes, but it did convince Gregory. There's enough non violent material to use to convince people, but the show is shying away from trying to do it. Have we ever seen somebody recruited for ideological reasons?

Re: Paige's conversion

[sistermagpie]

The closest they probably came to that was Elizabeth telling Paige back in S3 that sometimes you have to break the laws to get things done, back when she first told her about Gregory.

Of course, Elizabeth is still blatantly lying about a lot about her job and that seems to be the only thing Paige ever really asks about. She's never asked questions about things like Stalin's purges or the lack of civil rights or bigotry in the USSR. Although when watching MDBIT she felt the male lead was chauvinistic and Claudia blew it off by saying that some people are like that there rather than actually talking about the real state of feminism in the USSR. They're obviously trying to present it as simply anything that Paige thinks the world should be--or it will be that.

Re: Paige's conversion

[saraqael]

I'm not sure we have seen anyone recruited for ideological reasons, outside of possibly Gregory and Paige - both people loved by Elizabeth.

I'm beginning to wonder if Elizabeth even bothered to actually teach Paige true Soviet ideology, or if she merely settled for telling her fairy tales about wonderful Soviets bringing peace and love and harmony to the world. Paige seemed to swallow that nonsense whole. Maybe all it took to brainwash Paige was 3 solid years of being told that mommy loves her now because she's such a good little spy.

(I'm actively trying to talk myself into believing that Paige actually doesn't believe in anything at all except doing whatever her mother says. No ideology. No convictions. Nothing except her bottomless need to discover who she is by turning herself into her mother.)

Re: Paige's conversion

[sistermagpie]

To be fair, that's what we've got to work with. We know she's always wanted to make a difference. She was attracted to people sacrificing themselves for others (like Jesus). She never really looked deeply or challenged what Pastor Tim was saying either. She learned what he thought and said it back to him and got approval for "getting it."

Remember that scene after Philip tries to lead Paige to the truth about the General. I think the end of the scene is Elizabeth saying she's proud of Paige and Paige giving her this big, watery smile. This after she stood by her mother's version of events about the General in the face of Philip's challenges.

Pretty much her entire arc this season is about her getting Elizabeth's approval or resenting not getting Elizabeth's approval. She's never even been shown asking about what they're doing on a mission or any wider questions about the summit. When Claudia dismissively says you can't trust the Americans negotiating Paige doesn't point out that obviously you can't trust the Soviets either or whatever. (She doesn't even seem to include herself as an American.)

Re: Paige's conversion

[saraqael]

It really is all that we've got to work with, so if I'm to take this at face value, then Paige Jennings is just a sponge with no true identity or beliefs of her own. She's just as likely to get baptized one day and commit high treason the next without giving either of these things a second thought so long as someone pats her on the head and calls her a good girl.

Re: Paige's conversion

[quantumreality]

Paige as tabula rasa would make sense in light of the fact that her entire universe was shattered and remade one night in the Jennings household, and every action of hers since then has been about guarding (or failing to guard, and having to handle the consequences thereof) a big, terrible secret which, if exposed, would mean she'd lose her parents for a long time.

And I can buy Paige being so desperate to hang onto any semblance of a "normal" relationship with her parents she literally will accept whatever her mother says.

Elizabeth probably isn't even aware of just how far she could probably push Paige. Would Paige deal drugs, have sex with a total stranger, even kill someone, all for Elizabeth's "The Cause"*?

And Paige would probably find any way possible to justify it all to herself until the moment she gets busted. I really do feel sorry for her at this point. Her '80s fashion disaster outfits** are the least of my worries.

--

* Remember how Elizabeth was always careful to wrap up her allegiance in that very nebulous phrase, which allowed her to conveniently avoid examining any of the information American society made readily available at the local library.

** The 1980s was a fashion disaster. Paige's outfits are hardly the worst.

Re: Paige's conversion

[sistermagpie]

Although we should also remember that along with her parents' revelation shattering her sense of self, she was already attracted to groups and leaders who would give her a black and white plan to follow for how to both make a difference and be good.

She converted to all of Pastor Tim's beliefs more quickly than she converted to Elizabeth's. So it's really a combination of the two things. Especially since she's got Philip right there showing her that it isn't just a case of the whole family spying this way. He's trying to take a step back. He's made it clear, I think, that he's with her no matter what she does. But I think Paige naturally gravitates towards Elizabeth who may be more witholding, but also offers a simple (if demanding) key to life.

Their philosophies are almost opposite. Elizabeth offers her alleged solutions that will conquer her fear and insecurity and loneliness. Philip says the only way to do that is to just confront it and figure it out.

Re: Paige's conversion

[quantumreality]

To be fair, given the way American racism disadvantages black people some of them may well have decided the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as Gregory seems to have done.

Re: Paige's conversion

[sistermagpie]

In a way they're doing that more with Philip in his doing things like asking Stan why things always have to grow and him having a sandwich in his office while remembering being starving. Or having to fire people because they're low-producing.

He's not explicitly linking that to socialism but we know he is a socialist and I feel like he is seeing flaws in capitalism and the benefits of his home country there.

Elizabeth and Claudia's lessons are just so weird to me. Sometimes they seem on the level of a grade school lesson on cultures of the world. Like where if your family was from Russia you come in wearing a babushka and bring borscht.

The only real-sounding discussion about the country Elizabeth's really had was with Philip when they argued over Glasnost.

Elizabeth did tell Paige that "everybody's in it together" back in S5, but of course that's ignoring plenty of reality about the country.

Re: Paige's conversion

[sistermagpie]

Although I thought it made sense that when she spied on Pastor Tim it was for her parents. First it was to contain him and make sure he wasn't about to tell their secret. But then when she was snooping around his house she was already getting approval from her parents for spying on him. Elizabeth told her not to do it again, but praised her for wanting too--much like now, Paige can see what Elizabeth really feels. (She was also snooping for what he was saying about her, and her parents reacted to that by having him disappeared so they won.)