"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Americans 3.4: Baptism vs. Communism

An excellent episode 3.4 of The Americans tonight - the best so far this season - which pits baptism vs. Communism, among other important scenarios.

The baptism vs. Communism concerns what's to be done about Paige.  The KGB wants her to begin her life in America as an agent.   Elizabeth has come to accept and even embrace that, and Philip's opposed.  But we don't yet know if Philip's position will change after he and Elizabeth learn that Paige wants to wash herself clean in a baptism to be fit for Jesus.   Both parents are, of course, non-plussed if not horrified by what Paige wants, but this sets up a strong argument for what Elizabeth is willing to accept.  The baptism represents the worst of what could become of their daughter in America - and surely, for Elizabeth, being a KGB agent is preferable.

The irony of this is that having children was part of Philip and Elizabeth's cover, and now they may be paying the ultimate price for this, if their daughter is obliged to become a spy.  Which raises the question of what if Paige doesn't want that?  Will she be shipped back to the Soviet Union, and put in a cell next to Nina's?

Speaking of which, we're finally beginning to get a good story in that cell, as Nina is tasked with getting information from her cellmate, an American prisoner.   Looks as if she's off to a pretty good start on that score, and may be on her way to becoming a full-fledged KBG agent herself.

And Stan has a good episode, too.  He likely rightly suspects the Soviet defector as a double agent - though we' still have to see about that - and comes clean with Donna about the affair he had with Nina, and that he loved Nina, in a scene that may allow Stan to be an even better agent, divesting himself of some of his demons.

But the centerpiece remains with Elizabeth and Philip, who, in pursuit of a quarry, now seems on the verge of sleeping with a girl barely older than his daughter.

A simmering brew building up steam in all kinds of directions.





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