theamericans | Question of the week #41

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treonb posting in

The Church and Pastor Tim seem to serve as additional parental figures for Paige--parental figures that provide a more unambiguously black-and-white, worldview than her real parents can. We also know that Philip and Elizabeth will soon be asked to tell Paige the truth about their jobs and their lives in the U.S.

Do you think Paige might confide in her pastor if her parents try to bring her in? What do you think she would tell him?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first two seasons 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.)

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From:

treonb

My guess is that she will confide in Pastor Tim, though she might not come out and say what's her problem outright. Besides which, it sounds so absurd when you say it out loud: My parents are KGB spies and they want me to spy for them. She'd have to be sure he'd take her seriously.

On the other hand, I'm still suspicious (or rather, hopeful) that the pastor is a KGB plant. So it might actually be good for her in a roundabout sort of way.

From: (Anonymous)

My comment is similar to the one I made at the end of season 2. That is, how can they expect Paige to remain silent when confronted with this mind boggling information? She will certainly need to confide in or unload to someone. Pastor Tim is a likely choice or one of her friends from the church group. What if she confides in Henry? He is less mature than she is and even more likely to have loose lips. This looks like big trouble to me.

CA

From:

sistermagpie

I think, like Treonb said, she'd if anything just confide something in a dishonest way. I.e., she might hint that she thinks her parents are involved in something illegal etc. and ask about what he thinks.

But personally I think that if her parents let her in on the truth, Paige would understand the seriousness of it and realize that telling Pastor Tim--or anybody--is too much of a risk. Paige might have problems with her parents right now, but I can't see how she'd feel so strongly about Pastor Tim that she'd trust him with that kind of family information. Not only would she be putting her whole family in danger, she'd be putting Pastor Tim in danger.

That said, I think that if Paige learns the truth the game will have slowly shifted by then. It wouldn't be like if they just told her at the end of Echo. It's like Elizabeth said--this is about her parents fulfilling the thing she feels she lacks in her life that she's now trying to fill with the church. It changes the whole dynamic. Right now her parents are the clueless suburbanites who never think beyond home repair and their travel business while Pastor Tim wants to make a difference in the world. The new dynamic is that her parents are even more committed to making a difference in the world than Pastor Tim and far from being clueless or never "helping anyone," their whole lives are dedicated to a higher cause. I think Paige would respect that even while she's confused and frightened by the cause in question. If Elizabeth can put it across like that--and she can, because it's the truth and she's just like Paige this way--I don't think Paige would see things the same way.

Right now, after all, she assumes that whatever her parents are up to is sordid and selfish. They're having affairs. If she suspected something illegal it would probably be something like drugs or some other ways they were illegally making money. Even that sort of thing would make it scary to tell Pastor Tim. But if they're committed to a higher cause I think she'd be more on their side even if she disagreed with the cause. This is in some ways central to her whole misunderstanding of her parents. The most important thing to know about them that she doesn't know now is not that they're Russian but that they're instruments of a higher cause by choice. One of her problems with her parents right now is that they appear so small to her--they don't understand, they're too caught up in petty things like whatever nonsense they've got going on. Finding out they were spies wouldn't just make them scary, they would make them bigger, imo.

From:

quantumreality

I don't think she'd talk to Pastor Tim, except maybe indirectly.

Ironically, if Jared were still alive, she'd be able to talk to him, except what if he "reports her" like Elizabeth did to Philip, because he thinks her zeal is insufficiently revolutionary, or some twaddle like that?

If Henry were a bit closer to her age he might get what was troubling her and be able to be her support. He's already shown he'll step up to the plate to protect his family, and he's shown a side of himself that has a complete lack of ethics about certain things you don't do (even if he tries to convince himself and his parents he's "still a good person").

I'm reminded of the scene in Manhattan where the scientist, Dr. Winter, ends up confessing what the project really is to the local maid, who doesn't understand any English at all.

Paige might end up just going to a park and talking to a rock if only just to get the words out somehow and actually confront the fact that her parents want her to be a Soviet spy.

From:

cadma

I'd agree too that she wouldn't tell him about the real situation, but she might still turn to him/the church community for emotional support. Finding out her parents aren't who she thinks they are might make their role as an alternative family more important to her -- if she feels like her real parents are strangers to her or she can't trust them.

From:

apolla_savre

You know, I don't think they will tell her.

At the end, Philip told Arkady that they're *done* if the Center tries to bring in their kids.

They swore to each other that they would never tell them. Elizabeth slapped Philip when he talked about defecting and the kids would know about their spy lives.

They both seem pretty adamant that they do not want their kids to know or be involved.

I don't think Paige would tell, though, if she found out. She's a smart enough kid to know that people who find out are likely to turn her parents in. Does she want them to go to prison? No.

From: (Anonymous)

Interesting as to whether her involvement with the church gives her a sense of 'right and wrong.' If so, how would she asses the right and wrong of her parents' world?

CA