"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, March 19, 2015

The Americans 3.8: Martha, Part 2

How can Philip let Martha live, now that she's confronted him about wondering who he really is - meaning, who is he really working for - in The Americans 3.8?

Philip is not as quick to kill as Elizabeth, but he's never shied away from it when needed.  And surely it's needed now.  True, her murder - or her disappearance, if she's killed and her body is disposed of - would no doubt attract lots of FBI attention, to say the least.   But surely that's better, from Philip's perspective, then risking her telling everything to the FBI - including Stan - which would literally put Philip's as well as Elizabeth's lives in danger, and could leave their children orphans.

We know how hard he was hit when his comrade couple were killed last year.   Philip also knows that presumably no one at the FBI knows about him.  This means no one would know to look for him, if Martha turned up dead or went permanently missing.

It's not that I'm lobbying for her to be killed - I don't like seeing people murdered, especially not Americans by Soviet agents - but  the logic of the narrative requires it, and I honestly just don't get why Philip didn't kill her at the end of tonight's episode.   What's there to think about?

Would I bet that Philip will Martha?   Well, the only thing I can think of which would prevent that is Elizabeth killing Martha, or Martha getting hit by a car.   Elizabeth is a good alternative to Philip for getting Martha out of the picture.

But as to how this will actually happen - whether it will be Philip or Elizabeth or someone or something else that does the job - well, that will be told in Martha, Part 3.  And, by the way, this Martha story is the best thing going this year - the only narrative on a par with what we saw the first two seasons - certainly better than what they're doing with Nina in the Soviet Union, which is a waste of an excellent character.

And I'll be back here next week, with either more on Martha, or-- who knows?




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