Question of the week #57

[treonb]

What does Martha really think about Philip?  How far would she be willing to go to protect herself, from both Philip and the FBI?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first three 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.)

Comments

[sistermagpie]

When she says she tries not to think about what he most likely is, does she know what that is? I mean, does she think he's an American working for...somebody? Does she actually think "Russian Illegal?" Or has she not allowed herself to even go far enough to consider either of those things?

Because I do tend to think that the leap to "Russian" is a really difficult one given how they present. Like even when he ripped off his Clark face, it wasn't an actual lizard underneath. He still looks and sounds and acts convincingly American to her.

But I'd be kind of fascinated if she ever got close enough for that to come out in the vaguest of ways, because you know she'd adjust to the idea and love the foreigner within.

[jae]

I can't conceive of a scenario in which Martha could realistically have heard about Soviet illegals (her clearance isn't that high), so no, I didn't mean that. But she knows who the enemy is, and she's smart enough to put two and two together and realize that her husband must therefore be working for them. And if she had heard of Soviet illegals, her brain would definitely go there.

-J

[sistermagpie]

It's funny--I agree with you about her not having clearance to hear about the Illegals but I swear people have argued with me that of course she would know about them. But yes, if she'd heard about them she'd probably have wondered about them even outside of Clark.

It's funny that thinking about the scene I thought again how scary that de-wigging scene is, despite the fact that I know what he looks like under there and it's only Philip. But then I thought...well, actually maybe it *isn't* Philip, because Philip is a persona constructed for a specific context and that context really doesn't exist with Martha. He's not revealing himself as "Philip Jennings" because most of Philip not only doesn't exist for Martha, he can't exist. So that really is a new person peeling off the wig there.

[jae]

I love that last insight! It will be fascinating to see how he is with her going forward--he can't be Philip Jennings the full-fledged person/character, but maybe what he shows her will now be closer to that, at least.

-J