hellmouse

Although it would infuriate me, I would also really enjoy an episode solely from Pastor Tim's perspective. Watch as he tells his wife he's going to Ethiopia when she's 7+ months pregnant. Watch as he decides to go off into another Ethiopian village with a fellow American do-gooder and not much else. Watch as he tells his wife that Paige's parents are Russian spies. Watch as he considers whether or not Philip and Elizabeth should stop spying or have his okay to continue. Watch as his wife bails him out of jail after getting arrested at the anti-nuclear march. Watch as he talks to the busful of admiring teenagers about what it was like to be arrested. Watch as he bravely and boldly lives his noble, humble life, guiding his flock and just being Pastor Tim. It's a tough job but he's got God on his side. I don't understand why he bugs me so much, but he does. ETA: I wonder if Pastor Tim will give any sermons about his time wandering in the desert, and how he wondered if God had deserted him, etc etc. You know he'll at least think about doing that.

I am a Groovyhater too. I know he means well, and evidently he is the one who wants to give the Jennings family a chance vs Alice who wanted to turn them in right away. But I get so irritated by him. He is clueless. It's crazy that on a show with people literally being stuffed into suitcases, the one who most often makes me mad is Pastor Tim. It's Pastor Tim's world and the Jennings family just lives in it. The show has masterfully made me feel probably exactly how Philip and Elizabeth feel. This guy is so annoying, but they can't just kill him. They need to stay on his good side, which means indulging his clueless well meaning grandiosity. And I want the Jennings family to survive, so I have to hope that he won't screw it up for them.

Re: Philip's dad - I vote for both. Beating his son and wife and drinking himself to death. Good times.

I don't think Stan suspects Philip at the moment, so I don't think he'll assume he was involved in informing the KGB about the Thailand trip. I think Stan will use Philip as a friend to confide in. Eventually that will change (it must, right?!) but I don't see it happening because of this. As for Paige, I think she's a teenager. I've always thought that Paige and Henry are such good children. They're generally well-behaved, responsible and reasonable. The past season, Paige has been acting more like what I'd expect a teenager to do. She doesn't understand all the ramifications of her actions and she doesn't want to accept them when she's told. She wants everything to be normal again, and she blames her parents for when things are not the way she wants. That is a very adolescent response. But at the same time, she is growing up, as all teenagers do. Part of her growing up is learning how to manage an asset who can harm her family. She has accepted the responsibility of staying close to Tim and Alice. She reports back to her parents, and suggests which moves she thinks will be helpful (the whole family going to the Ethiopia farewell trip, not asking for the tape yet). So she is in an awkward in-between place, not fully believing what her parents say, but still doing what they tell her to do in order to protect the family. She's even thinking more about the extended family - asking Philip about his parents and his life in Russia. She's imagining what her parents' lives were like when they were her age. That's a quiet but definite sign of her still wanting to be close to her parents and be part of the family. It would not surprise me at all to find that she decides to take Russian lessons in an upcoming episode, the better to be prepared for an eventual move. It also wouldn't surprise me if she investigates the missing secretary from the FBI and interrogates her parents about it. She's that unpredictable. I like it even though it is frustrating.

I keep thinking about Elizabeth telling both Paige and Pastor Tim/Alice about what they do and how she talks about how they fight for peace and for people who can't stand up for themselves, etc, which doesn't really resonate with her very American listeners. She is such a true believer that she isn't able to modulate into a more conversational, personal approach. I'm sure she's able to sometimes, but not when it comes to describing how she really feels about what they do. So I think she lies when she needs to and believes what she's saying because it's all part of her work for the cause. Which is what makes it so powerful when she says yes to Gabriel at the end of the episode. And as for Paige, ITA. I thought the whole Alice with a tape thing was going to bring Paige into a better understanding with her parents. Instead, it made her even more of a teenager (although I loved her line about how you can't be Russian spies in Russia), who thinks she knows way more than she does. Why on earth does she think they should tell Henry? Because it's gone so well with telling her? It seems like it's one step forward two steps back with Paige. And can I just say thank goodness "Jim" has become kind of a friend to Kimmie rather than a lover. I'm not surprised either, but it is kind of lame on Stan's part given how he wanted to have more of a relationship with Matthew. Although I guess he is talking more, telling Matthew about his work, which probably he shouldn't be doing. How old is Matthew supposed to be? A year or two older than Paige?

The first time I watched The Americans I cracked up when Stan brought over beer to Philip because it reminded me so much of The Truman Show. His character in that movie was always suggesting beer, IIRC because it was product placement.

Great point about Gabriel saying he had just learned about the son. That would mean the Centre didn't know she had a child. So maybe (if he's real), she left wherever they were training and went home and had the baby. Then she went back to training and left the baby with her own family or someone else. They kept her informed about him, but she never told the Centre, until she was caught in Brazil, at which point she told them. (Why did she do that, if she'd kept the secret all these years?) And if he's not real, she made him up to try to get leverage in both cases - to get Philip to want to be with her, and maybe to get the Centre to go easy on her for running away, since she is now the mother of the son of one of their top agents. As for Elizabeth's mother, it wouldn't shock me to find out the mother they brought in was a fake. At the time of that episode, I thought maybe she was a fake and that Elizabeth played along for Paige's benefit. But it seems like the show wants us to think she was the real mother... at least for now!

The woman who looks different is the one in the photo we see Philip tear up before he meets Elizabeth in the pilot flashback scene. That's not the same person as the subsequent Irina we meet. Probably simply due to casting not being done yet, BUT it's entertaining to think it's a giant conspiracy. On the question of the illegals, I assumed she was simply because she sounded and acted American/Canadian rather than Russian. She fit the mold of the other illegals we've seen on the show.

I like the conspiracy theory idea.The only problem is that Philip doesn't seem to suspect she's not the real Irina, and he's normally very observant. I guess it's possible he had blocked out what Irina looked like. Or maybe she had some surgery so she looked slightly different. Even if we are meant to believe she is the real Irina, I can still believe that she is being used in a trap against him. Some of the things she said to him, like "I prayed we could be together some day even though I didn't believe in God", etc were such nonsense, but they fit into the idea of a plan specifically created to test Philip's loyalty. I mean, she even reports back to the Centre (or Grannie directly?) that they slept together, before she runs off forever. Why would she report that if she was really planning to leave the KGB? Why not leave that part out? IDK but it seems sketchy. I would like to see Elizabeth beat up Irina for trying to trap Philip!

I have been rewatching season 1 and there is something I just don't understand: Mischa Jr. I know that there's doubt about whether he exists at all. But if you assume that he does, it still doesn't make a lot of sense. Irina and Mischa are a couple. She gets pregnant. He is chosen for the Illegals program, and she thinks he won't go if he knows about the baby. She ends their relationship. He is paired up with Elizabeth and begins his new life as Philip. Meanwhile, Irina has the baby. She too gets into the Illegals program, is paired up with someone and sent to Canada. Her partner dies. The baby grows up to be 20 year old Mischa Jr and he joins the Soviet military, where he is a paratrooper in Afghanistan and returns to Moscow upon completion of his tour of duty. So did Mischa get left behind in Russia when Irina went to Canada? It makes no sense that some Canadian teenager would decide to join the Soviet military, so I think he must have actually grown up in the USSR. How old was he when Irina left? Does he know who his real father is? Gabriel says that he has family in Moscow (Irina's father), so we assume he knew Irina was his mother, but maybe he doesn't really know. Who raised him? We don't really know Irina very well. But someone who would give up her boyfriend to ensure he put the cause first, and then leave her own child so she could serve the cause, and then help bring down the Polish guy... that just doesn't seem like someone who would then run away from the cause. Didn't she worry about what it would mean for Mischa Jr? It's just a weird story all around. I kind of hope we never meet him in the show, because it would just raise so many more questions.

A thought about Elizabeth's plan with Don. Maybe she's going to up the stakes by saying she's pregnant. She could have a conversation with Young Hee, in Don's hearing, where she says that she had a one-night stand with a married guy and now she is pregnant and she doesn't know what to do. Then she looks meaningfully at Don. I don't know - it would certainly be a more substantial threat to Don than just having had sex. Maybe she gets him to suggest an abortion and she says she'll do that if he gives her Level 4 clearance codes... IDK, at that point it doesn't make as much sense. But a pregnancy would certainly be less flimsy as leverage.

Their value would be as double agents, which wouldn't really provide any respite at all. It would be worse.

I agree about Paige not truly understanding. Even though Phillip and Elizabeth tried to tell her not to trust other people, their warnings were too oblique for Paige to understand. I'm thinking of that speech Phillip gave when he was helping her put up the Paris poster (farewell Rick Springfield), about trusting yourself and how no one else really knows what's best for you, etc... and she thought he was talking about drugs. She really didn't get it. As Elizabeth said later, they were trying to be nice to her, but that niceness obscured the grim reality for Paige. So it really wasn't until Elizabeth laid down the law and gave her a plan for how to handle it that Paige really started to understand the implications.

I think the big problem with this approach is that they are not 100% alienated from the cause. Maybe something will happen to cause them to be 100% alienated, but they're not there yet. IMO.

I have wondered if part of why Paige told Pastor Tim even though her parents expressly told her not to was partly because she didn't understand the true nature of their work. I think it was 90% because she truly trusted Pastor Tim, but it could have been also that she thought maybe her parents were exaggerating about jail. She might not be able to imagine what they actually do that could cause them to wind up in jail. I wonder if the upcoming threat by Alice will lead Phillip and Elizabeth to be more explicit with Paige, which could both frighten her and help her understand the danger of this secret even more. I could see Paige saying "can't we do something to stop her" and Phillip and Elizabeth exchanging glances, like hell yes, we could do something. But I don't think they are going to kill the pregnant wife of a clergyman who was at one time the only person their daughter trusted (I don't think she trusts Pastor Tim anymore). So might instead serve as another unintended step in Paige's training - she will have to try to work Alice to get her to calm down and not act on her threat. That would require a level of acting and manipulation that we have not seen Paige show at any time. But maybe she'd be willing to try with the stakes so high.

I have been thinking about the situation with "Patty" and Don and Young Hee. I think that the situation will play out in two ways: 1) emotionally for Elizabeth as she experiences what it's like to lose a friend and 2) logistically as getting the level 4 access creates a new level of risk of exposure (to the diseases and law enforcement), especially for William. The risk could be heightened by a possible reconnection between Stan and Oleg. Tatiana works on the biowarfare project. She seems to the be the point person for getting the diseases from USA back to USSR. Arkady knows the gist of what she's doing, but he has no control over it. Oleg doesn't know what she's doing, but he was suspicious of her before. Now that he's sleeping with her, he may trust her more. But he may also be able to use the relationship to find out more about what she's doing. Stan has been encouraged by Gaad to pursue Oleg again. Maybe finding about about nasty diseases and biowarfare is something that Oleg would tell Stan. There can only be so many labs working on those diseases, so if Stan decided to investigate, it could lead him to Don. I think Elizabeth is going to try to blackmail Don into getting the level 4 codes. It seems like awfully flimsy leverage. Is he going to be willing to commit treason to keep the the Patty sex secret from his wife? Maybe it would work this one time, but I suspect they'll want Level 4 codes on an ongoing basis, and they must change the codes frequently. How long will this threat work for? William is unenthusiastic about getting Level 4 codes and doesn't trust Russia (or the USA) with the biowarfare materials. Will this operation compromise William? Would he inform on Philip and Elizabeth if he were arrested? Would the KGB be able to exfiltrate him before that could happen? He seems unlikely to defect, but he also seems jaded about his hero's welcome back in the USSR. Truly speculation... and knowing this show, the storyline could wrap over to next season, only to be resolved in season 5 (!) episode 6 or something!

Interesting interview with Matthew Rhys. He is charming and thoughtful as usual. No spoilers. https://www.assignmentx.com/2016/the-americans-matthew-rhys-interview/

I think in the narrative of the show, you are correct. We aren't meant to think they have neighbors directly next door. It wouldn't make sense. But the interior of the house is shaped differently than the exterior, so I always think about it. You can see it in the pilot, around the 28 minute mark, when Elizabeth gets the mail and Paige and Philip get in the car to go to the mall. There are actually three front doors (corresponding to the A, B, C on the mailboxes when Elizabeth gets the mail). The Jennings' garage has an A above it, and you can see a two car garage opposite the one car garage used by the Jennings. However in subsequent episodes, they've been careful not to show the two car garage and have hidden the A, B, C letters. Sometimes you can see the door opposite theirs behind a lattice fence, but they usually take care not to show it. At any rate, I think for the purposes of the story, they do not have neighbors or share a wall or driveway. It's probably something they'd choose to hide better if they could reshoot the pilot.

I always wonder about the Jennings' actual neighbors, whom we've never seen. Based on the layout of the homes, it looks like they share a wall and driveway. But I've never seen a car or people go in and out of the adjoining house. Does anyone live there? If so, do they hear Philip and Elizabeth (and Paige) going up and down the stairs to the basement all the time? Do they hear their garage door opening at all hours of the night? Did they hear when Elizabeth was forcibly taken from the home? It's probably not important to the overall narrative of the show, but I always find myself wondering about those invisible neighbors.

Pastor Tim seems to think that because he is a man of faith, that the normal rules don't apply. He answers to a higher power, so at times that means disobeying the government or breaking the law is okay, because it is part of his religious conviction. So I could totally see him thinking that maybe it's okay to be a Russian spy, depending on what kind of spying they're doing and how they do it, etc. It's ridiculously self-important of him, but it fits his character. it's like when he told Philip that Paige was a teenager who should be treated as more of an adult than a child, and Philip looked like he wanted to strangle him with his bare hands. Which we know he is capable of doing! It's Pastor Tim's self-importance that gives Philip and Elizabeth the chance to work him using the "we're on the same side in this world" angle. They just have to keep him thinking that they are spies in the way he'd approve of.

I agree about Pastor Tim being naive (bolded comment above) and so part of their plan with Pastor Tim is to flatter the part of him that thinks he's a noble hero. I remember the conversation at Paige's birthday, where he talks about college and his realizations about "i won't kill or die", and then how he got arrested at the nuclear facility demonstration... Pastor Tim sees himself as not just one of the good guys but a role model good guy, willing to take risks and make tough choices. Philip and Elizabeth don't see him that way at all, but they see it as an angle they can play. So it makes sense that they'd bring in someone who he would identify with - the brave hero risk-taking priest from El Salvador. Pastor Tim sees himself in that priest (sub-consciously, and I don't think he's aware of it), so it plays to his naivete and may help make him more pliable. They have to do whatever they can to bolster the only other defense they have, which is his affection for Paige.

I thought the line about EPCOT was almost like a truce offering from Elizabeth to Philip. They are exhausted physically and emotionally and have had a huge fight. Philip looked relieved and almost on the verge of tears when Gabriel said they would get a break - for as long as they need. His body seemed to sag in on itself, as if didn't have to hold himself rigid to deal with whatever else would be thrown at them. Elizabeth just looked dazed, and Philip seemed to be looking at her to see what her reaction would be. Would she be insulted to be told to take a break? Would she refuse? How would she react? In the car, he says "now we'll be travel agents" and again waits and watches for her reaction. She waited a long time, kind of coming out of her daze, and it wouldn't have surprised me if she said something cold or resentful, or ignored him, but she didn't. She engaged with Philip. Suggesting EPCOT felt like a way for Elizabeth to say that she didn't want to fight, and she accepted needing a break, and even make a kind of dark joke, since they both know the original reason for the EPCOT plan. It felt like way to say 'we're okay, let's not fight', without saying those words. Of course it doesn't resolve the underlying issues, but it does allow them to make their way back to each other in the relationship, which they both want.

"Swedish Intelligence needs you." Philip as Scott Berman to Anneliese. I know it doesn't end well for her, but that line always gets me. I wish people in my real life watched the show so I could say that to them when I need something. Also, the one quoted above from the middle-of-the-night vacation: "There's a lot wrong with us but now we have to pack and go!" There's something about how cheerful he is, and how bizarre their behavior is at that moment that just makes me laugh.