I’ve always thought Philip and Elizabeth’s disdain for the
indoctrination aspect of religion to be hilariously hypocritical, coming from
two people who are indoctrinated up to their eyeballs. There are certainly
valid criticisms of religion but these would perhaps be more convincing coming
from two people whose night jobs do not consist of cold-blooded murder.
At times, I can almost picture a laugh track in these
scenes, like when Elizabeth had a “WTF” expression on her face in church while
the priest explains the concept of “love thy neighbor” or when Philip scowled
at the news of Paige’s baptism like an overprotective sitcom father meeting his
daughter’s date for the first time. Other times this plays out darkly, like
when Philip was clearly ready to kill that priest.
Look at all the awful things that have happened so far in The Americans. Elizabeth has been shot
and had an emergency tooth extraction with no anesthesia. Philip was almost
electrocuted. Just two episodes ago, they stuffed the body of a woman they
recruited into luggage. They know their daughter could end up bent in a
suitcase and the fact that they are even considering letting her anywhere near
that lifestyle means they should really take a hard look at how indoctrinated
they are into their own philosophy. Getting baptized seems pretty benign in
comparison. I love these characters, and it’s a testament to the quality of the
show that I am kind of rooting for them, but the Jennings parents are not role
models.
I’m just down on Elizabeth and Philip this week because
their new recruits are happening in especially sleazy fashion. Philip is
getting into something icky with that underage Yaz fan. Even if he doesn’t want
to have sex with her, she is telegraphing her desire with that serenade of
“Only You” and the fact that he met her outside in that trashy disguise is
telegraphing “pedo.” Elizabeth is taking advantage of that vulnerable alcoholic
couple. She will probably get the woman drunk and steal her government secrets
and I will be disgusted. Both scenes made me uncomfortable.
In prison, Nina is grooming a recruit of her own. Nina must
win the title for most doomed character on this show. She got in trouble with
the FBI and made a deal to get out of that. Then she got in trouble with the
KGB and made a counter-deal. If she gets in trouble in the USSR, it will be
considerably harder to escape.
I liked the use of “Don’t Go” in Stan’s scene in the diner
bathroom. His frustration was as much with Sandra as with the shady defector,
so the scene deftly ended with the lyrics “I’m dead when you walk out the door/
Hey, babe, I’m hooked on you.” I wonder if Sandra didn’t leave the door open
just slightly for Stan to come back. During their last few encounters, she definitively
shut him down. When Stan finally admitted the affair, she left without a word.
Is she softening due to Stan’s breakthrough or is there just nothing more for
Sandra to say? I hope they resolve this soon.
Those EST scenes are a laugh riot. Why work out your issues
is private with a therapist when you can scream in a hotel ballroom? It’s the
equivalent of a Moonie mass wedding. Stan was clearly screaming, “This is
bullshit!” to the therapist, not Sandra.
For the first time, when Paige was standing at the kitchen
island, I was really struck by the resemblance to her mother. The fact that she
set up her parents at the dinner ties her to them. But there is an important difference:
Elizabeth does what her authority figures tell her to do, while Paige rebels.
Wouldn’t you? Last season, Philip screamed, “You respect Jesus but you don’t
respect us?!” at his daughter. I almost pissed myself just watching this scene;
can you imagine how scared a teen girl would be in reality? No wonder she took
up with kindly Pastor Tim (or whatever his name is).
The irony of this religion-communism conflict is that
Christian philosophy agrees with some of the non-violent ideas of the
Jenningses, like the disdain for material things. If they ever realize this,
they could use religion as a gateway to replace Jesus with Lenin in Paige’s
mind. Or maybe she will be smarter than they think and she will convert her
parents.
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