Question of the week #3

[jae]

Which character from The Americans is, more than any other, the one who intrigues you most? Not necessarily the one you'd want to have a beer with/befriend/sleep with, but the one whose story you're most interested in, the one you find yourself thinking about even when the show isn't on? And why? You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[quantumreality]

1. Nina.

She's got the kind of nerve that could propel her very far in the KGB hierarchy. But from what we've seen - well, there just isn't enough info. What's her story? How did she, at a young age, get approval to go to the USA? Are her parents highly connected Soviet officials? Or did she catch someone's eye at the KGB and impress them with her intelligence and daring?

After all, she managed to run a scam right under the KGB's nose: pilfering caviar supplies and exchanging them for regular shipments of high-quality electronics. There is probably a whole smuggling ring she knows about, where at the other end people probably smuggle them into Moscow or Leningrad pawnshops, which then resell the stereo equipment at premium prices to people who want the "good stuff".

And then her gamble with Arkady! Woooow.

That shows she has the kind of initiative which could carry her far in the KGB if they forgive her her double-agent-ness on the grounds that she's bringing in valuable intelligence from the FBI.

2. Paige.

Something about her intrigues me. I was reading a Person of Interest fic recently, where the author creates a fanon back story for Harold Finch: his foster parents are actually Americans who have agreed to spy for the Soviets, and he agrees to help them.

It makes me wonder if she found out about her parents, she might even offer to help them. Feeling like you're getting away with something can be a big draw for a teenager, and Paige, like many teenagers, is still figuring out who she is and how she relates to the world around her. So she could see it as an exciting adventure without really grasping the consequences down the road.

[jae]

I thought this was what you might answer. :)

I'm totally with you on Nina. Some of what she's managed to pull of strains the boundaries of credibility, but it only just strains it--nothing the show has given us on her is actually unbelievable, if she's extraordinary. So I want to know more about that too.

-J

[treonb]

I've been thinking about this.. Paige might join Philip, but right now everything Elizabeth does is wrong. If she finds out her mother's a spy, she might just call the Feds to report her. And it's the 80s too, the Soviets were EVIL.