# The Americans Season 3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097 "2015-01-28T09:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/521 "2015-03-14T09:30:14Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Most of that is certainly true. But, it brings me to one point that has been bothering me for a long time now and one that I keep forgetting to discuss here. Here it is: > > Why did the KGB ever send them in to work as a married couple instead of two single people who know each other in a casual way? Doesn’t it make things incredibly more difficult when they present themselves as a married couple? > > If they were two single people living in DC and maybe occasionally dating each other, if something ever went terribly wrong with one of them, there might be a good chance the other one could come to their aid. But since they are a married couple with two children, if one is ever popped, the other one will automatically be arrested as well and jailed too. > > It is the one thing about this show I have never understood. Wouldn’t they be in a much better position to deal with adversity if they were singles? It just seems like one might be able to escape or further work the enemy. If P was ever arrested, E could feign some kind of “Martha Syndrome” - meaning, "What? Phillip is a what? Are you crazy? Why, I just can’t believe it! And, now you want to know all about his activities while I’ve known him? Are you for real? > > At this point E has the option of calling for a lawyer or not). As a married couple … forget about it! If she asked for a lawyer, all she would get is laughter and torture. > > I will now leave this thread and invite anyone else who is interested to finish the scene where Elizabeth talks with the FBI after Phillip is arrested. Would she secure some big bucks to defect? (I bet you that if it was E who was arrested, things would work out much better because Phillip would point to the kids and ask for a whole lot of mercy and there’s a real good chance that he might get that. > > Anway, there is a lot of room to finish this scenario and I bet that some of the people here could do a lot better job at that than I can. The real life illegals were also married to each other. However, these were not arranged marriages, but either agents who happened to be married or the existing spouse of an agent was recruited. (Incidentally, one of the agents[later gave an interview](http://rbth.com/articles/2012/10/18/russian_spy_reveals_his_secrets_19249.html) and his details are surprisingly similar to P & E). He was not tortured, according to him the FBI was polite and professional. Their kids knew nothing about the life and it was an adjustment period when they moved to Russia. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/522 "2015-03-14T10:51:25Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Oh my goodness, Stoney (may I call you “Stoney” without offending you?). > You are around the same age as Paige but you remember TV shows like “My Favorite Martian” which ran from '63 to '66, and Bewitched which ran from '64 to '72. All I can say is Yikes! If you are around Paige’s age - say, 14 or 15 and you watched My Favorite Martian in 1963, it would be just about impossible to believe you could be 10 years old then. Because that would make you 61 years old today. So, unless my math is really defective. That show was on 51 years ago and if you watched it back then, I cannot make things compute so that you could possibly be any younger than 61 today. That would be just about the very youngest you could be. And … Betwitched? That show broadcast from '64 to '72 and so even if you were - once again - 10 years old in 1964, that would put you in your middle 60s today. I’m sorry. But I just cannot make those numbers add up. No matter how hard I try. “Yikes” is the only expression I can use and even that doesn’t come close to an explanation. But, I am just going to say, “What the Heck! Just Let it Go!” > > So, now, I will place my entire post here within a spoiler box because my intention is just to have a little fun and I really do not want to offend anyone. … > [/spoiler] You do remember reruns, don’t you? I did not watch either My Favorite Martian or Bewitched or anything else produced in the 60s in first run. I graduated high school in 1980, so I’d be a few years older than Paige (maybe as much as four) if I were trying to be more exact. Sorry to get you all excited. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/523 "2015-03-14T10:53:46Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I think he may have loosened it from what we have seen thus far. Oh snap! > [@terentii](#): > > She’s never thought he was with the FBI, and may be worried now about revealing that her superiors were being surveilled (and that she was a willing participant in the scheme). So it’s debatable at this point if she’s started to realize “Clark” is actually not what he claims to be. The way she was panicking, it sure seemed like she was envisioning prison time for herself. Which annoyed me, because she has not shown any sign of doubting Clark’s legitimacy before. I mean, she’s been trying to take in a foster kid with him! And she almost put his name on a job application until Clark’s “sister” talked her out of it just in time. On another topic: it was disappointing, but not too surprising for a white guy of his generation, to see that Stan’s a little racist (complaining about the guy who bugs him at work, and adding that he’s a black guy for no apparent reason). ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/524 "2015-03-14T15:51:55Z")
Well, Stan had been undercover with white supremacists. Maybe some of their verbiage rubbed off on him. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/525 "2015-03-14T20:49:41Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Well, Stan had been undercover with white supremacists. Maybe some of their verbiage rubbed off on him. He may have thought he was trying too hard to “prove” himself since he was black, which as I recall was a common belief among white people of the era (less than 20 years after the gains of the Civil Rights movement). ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/526 "2015-03-14T22:24:39Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > You do remember reruns, don’t you? I did not watch either My Favorite Martian or Bewitched or anything else produced in the 60s in first run. I graduated high school in 1980, so I’d be a few years older than Paige (maybe as much as four) if I were trying to be more exact. Sorry to get you all excited. I’m sorry. I should have known better. It was a foolish thought. :o (embarrassment) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/527 "2015-03-14T22:40:59Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Oh snap! > On another topic: it was disappointing, but not too surprising for a white guy of his generation, to see that Stan’s a little racist (complaining about the guy who bugs him at work, and adding that he’s a black guy for no apparent reason). I wouldn’t make too much of Stan saying the guy (Agent Aderholt) is black. Maybe it does bother him - it certainly seems to me/some of us that there’s more to Aderholt than meets the eye. Now Phil knows there’s a new black guy that Stan doesn’t like. Also Aderholt already caught a KGB illegal. Won’t be too hard for Phil/KGB to pin _something_ on Aderholt. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/528 "2015-03-14T22:53:45Z")
The KGB illegal Aderholt nabbed was a real guy: Col. Rudolph Albert Herrmann [Article from the CSmonitor published 1980](http://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0923/092342.html) > [@](#): > > The Soviets apparently placed their greatest hopes in Colonel Hermann’s 15 -year-old-son. He was being prepared by the KGB like a “baby mole,” to enroll in an American college and study political science, with the aim of eventually seeking employment with the United States government. Sounds…interesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/529 "2015-03-15T00:35:55Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > He may have thought he was trying too hard to “prove” himself since he was black, which as I recall was a common belief among white people of the era (less than 20 years after the gains of the Civil Rights movement). Saying he was black wasn’t just a throw away, I think it’s partly a bit of racism of the times, lots of people were none too happy with affirmative action, and partly an over zealous agent brought in seemingly to investigate never makes the workers too happy. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/530 "2015-03-15T00:39:19Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > Saying he was black wasn’t just a throw away, I think it’s partly a bit of racism of the times, lots of people were none too happy with affirmative action. Oh, yeah. Remember _ **Paper Chase** _? They devoted an entire episode to the subject! ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/531 "2015-03-15T02:04:38Z")
And Stan was probably around during the reign of Hoover, who didn’t like the idea of black FBI guys. (Thought they were all suspect.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/532 "2015-03-15T02:10:02Z")
I think that it would be really compelling to see a flashback of Stan during his undercover days with the White supremacists. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/533 "2015-03-15T02:51:46Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I think that it would be really compelling to see a flashback of Stan during his undercover days with the White supremacists. I’d love to see some scenes featuring Noah Emmerich in his days as a WS infiltrator. It would make for a great episode. AAMOF, they could devote several episodes to telling that story and I would be \*\*tickled red \*\* (I know “tickled pink” is the ordinary expression. But I’m talking about the FBI and Communism) ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/534 "2015-03-15T03:52:58Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > The KGB illegal Aderholt nabbed was a real guy: Col. Rudolph Albert Herrmann > > [Article from the CSmonitor published 1980](http://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0923/092342.html) > > Sounds..interesting. 🙂 Yep - in addition to what others have mentioned about married suburbs being the perfect cover - Paige’s story line makes clear the soviets intend to use her. Looking at the real illegals that were busted a couple years back - most didn’t “look” American in their mugshots. Now I’m not saying they weren’t good, but the stories made them seem a little pathetic. I doubt they acted anywhere near as flawless as non foreigners as the two main characters do on this show. Their kids would be able to pass: 1. As natural born Americans 2. An FBI background check (probably). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/535 "2015-03-15T12:58:33Z")
TVO (Ontario, Canada) showed _ **Rebellion** _ last night, about Litvinenko, Putin, and the KGB/FSB. Did anybody here watch it? _Really, really_ scary stuff! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![twuest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@twuest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twuest)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/536 "2015-03-15T17:20:33Z")
In regards to the situation with Paige, how can this NOT have an ugly ending? It’s clear Elizabeth knows Paige is forming her political views–which appear to be heading toward the liberal side–providing the opening E needs to begin to ease Paige into the fold…using Paige’s political leanings to foster attitudes which if not anti-American, would certainly be anti-government. E is trying to move Paige into the so-called “choice” of eventually turning, basing the whole enterprise on the her having been involved in the anti-war/social change movement of the 1960’s, prior to Paige’s birth. She’s not going to come right out and say day, “Hey, Paige we’re actually KGB and now you are too”. Instead, she’s going the whole “we’re about change…fight the power” route. Problem is, Elizabeth seems to be on the verge of compounding her original lie about being an ordinary American family with another lie…claiming they were part of the protest movement of the sixties, which is obviously not the whole truth. Eventually the lies will have to end, and E will be forced to tell her daughter the truth…“we want you to work for us.” As I have noted before, this is not 2015…it’s early 1980’s America. Height of the cold war. I was in my late teens in 1982-83, and those of you who were alive at the time would know the Soviet Union was not looked upon sympathetically by the vast majority of the population, regardless of whether they were left or right politically. A prime example would be the Soviet shoot down of Korean Air Flight 007 on 9.1.83. This killed all on board, including a US congressman, and the reaction to it among Americans was almost universally negative. To put it succinctly, the Soviet Union was the enemy to most Americans. As one poster put it earlier, Phillip is right. He seems to have a pulse on the attitudes of the American public…as the poster stated, remember how he knew there wouldn’t be a coup in the Reagan assassination attempt episode? He knows there is no good ending here. What will the endgame be? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/537 "2015-03-15T17:30:50Z")
> [@twuest](#): > > A prime example would be the Soviet shoot down of Korean Air Flight 007 on 9.1.83. This killed all on board, including a US congressman, and the reaction to it among Americans was almost universally negative. > > To put it succinctly, the Soviet Union was the enemy to most Americans. Things changed drastically after they invaded Afghanistan at the very end of 1979, leaving Carter looking like the complete ass he was and the rest of America feeling it had been royally duped. This was one reason why the US victory over the USSR in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics was so sweet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/538 "2015-03-15T17:36:18Z")
Putin is a really scary guy. It seems that people who oppose him are killed with great regularity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/539 "2015-03-15T17:43:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Things changed drastically after they invaded Afghanistan at the very end of 1979, leaving Carter looking like the complete ass he was and the rest of America feeling it had been royally duped. This was one reason why the US victory over the USSR in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics was so sweet. Carter could have done nothing to prevent the invasion of Afghanistan, and his only retaliation options were complain and cancel Olympic participation, which he did, or arm and train the Mujaheddin, which he did not. The Reagan administration did arm and train the Mujaheddin (but didn’t start a direct war, even Reagan wasn’t that off the rails) and the Mujaheddin became the Taliban and Al Queda. Osama bin Ladin was a Mujaheddin who was taught our methods. The reason that Carter and the Democrats didn’t want to arm and train the Mujaheddin is because they were religious fanatics that hated us. We will be fighting this for the next 100 years at least. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/540 "2015-03-15T17:52:56Z")
Many Americans were genuinely frightened of the escalating arms race and hostility between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Paige’s involvement in the anti-nuclear movement seems to me historically accurate, since she is a teenager who is becoming politically conscious in the early 1980s. And of course she has the backing of her church. I wonder whether the show will touch on the sanctuary movement at all, since that might be something else the church could participate in as well as being an additional way for Elizabeth to influence Paige’s political leanings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=28)