# 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:** 31
**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 19, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/601 "2015-03-19T22:55:11Z")
As research facilities go, I’m sure it’s top of the line but for a guy who ran the spy apparatus in the enemy capitol, it’s a definite step down. Hence my use of the term “back water”. It’d be like the CIA station chief in Moscow being sent to head up security at Los Alamos. (Not to offend any New Mexico dopers.) ---
**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 19, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/602 "2015-03-19T23:07:01Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > There was truth in what Philip said to Martha about being an honest and good woman, and wanting to protect her. I still don’t see how she can possibly come out of this alive though. He basically admitted that he’s not who he pretends to be. > > Man, there have been some highly disturbing scenes this season. The South African guy being burned alive was horrific. I can’t make up my mind one way or another what to believe after listening to Phillip tell Martha the he wanted to protect her. That just washes over me like a total mystery. I have no idea whether it is true or not. I am **PERPLEXED**. Honest I am. But I would like to say that fellow is one Hell of an actor! Don’t you think? He deserves to get many stars for his performance and whatever happens with this show, I just hope he comes out of this with a good deal of fame and fortune because he deserves that. He is (IMHO) just one hella actor.Wow! Talk about powerful. He is one powerful source of acting. He scares the shit out of me and I’d love to see him again - just like Denzel. I love Denzel (although unfortunately - not in his movie “The Equalizer”. I don’t know whose idea that was. It was a terrible mistake. A terrible movie. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/603 "2015-03-20T00:22:26Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > There was truth in what Philip said to Martha about being an honest and good woman, and wanting to protect her. I still don’t see how she can possibly come out of this alive though. He basically admitted that he’s not who he pretends to be. That was some thinking on his feet. Fwiw, the only way I can see this is that Martha accepts Clark is a fake, and a fake who is bugging the FBI. She has basically agreed to become an asset of someone and she has no idea who he works for … Why? Maybe she loves him but, even more than that, she doesn’t want to be alone. At the end it looked like Philip is still working through this … ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/604 "2015-03-20T00:25:18Z")
Aso, I did another blog recap thing. It’s a bit long but if you’d like to take a look it’s here: [https://clevertelly.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/s3e8-divestment/](https://clevertelly.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/s3e8-divestment/) All comments are welcome. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/605 "2015-03-20T00:25:47Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > …You are right that even an “accidental” death will trigger an FBI investigation. But the only other people who know about Clark are her parents, and they would not be able to identify Philip. Well they have wedding photos, and killing them & burning their house on top of killing Martha is going to attract _a lot_ of unwanted attention. > [@E-DUB](#): > > As research facilities go, I’m sure it’s top of the line but for a guy who ran the spy apparatus in the enemy capitol, it’s a definite step down. Hence my use of the term “back water”. It’d be like the CIA station chief in Moscow being sent to head up security at Los Alamos. (Not to offend any New Mexico dopers.) Vasili Nikolaievich suffered a huge lapse in judgement by letting Nina the mole seduce then frame him. He’s lucky they didn’t make him take early retirement and I mean that literally, not as a euphemism for being killed (though he’s also lucky he lived long enough for the truth to come out). > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > **alphaboi867** , just for clarity, there was a glitch in your post above. That quote came from **GeorgeMartin** , not me. Sorry. :o ---
**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 20, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/606 "2015-03-20T00:45:03Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Aso, I did another blog recap thing. It’s a bit long but if you’d like to take a look it’s here: > [https://clevertelly.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/s3e8-divestment/](https://clevertelly.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/s3e8-divestment/) > > All comments are welcome. Hey! That is really nice. A very good idea. I think that kind of thing would be perfect for me. I could shoot my mouth off to my heart’s content and not bother anyone. Then whoever is interested could read it and whoever is not interested could just bypass it. I would be very happy to do something like that. Thank you ever so much for such a great idea. I should have figured that out long time ago. But, tell me. Do you really think Martha is going to live? Thank you again, up\_the\_junction! ---
**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 20, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/607 "2015-03-20T00:50:07Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Well they have wedding photos, and killing them & burning their house on top of killing Martha is going to attract _a lot_ of unwanted attention. > > Vasili Nikolaievich suffered a huge lapse in judgement by letting Nina the mole seduce then frame him. He’s lucky they didn’t make him take early retirement and I mean that literally, not as a euphemism for being killed (though he’s also lucky he lived long enough for the truth to come out). > Sorry. :o But, he is just so old and harmless. Do you really think he has any value left to the Commies? That is very difficult for me to see. AAMOF, I just can’t see it. No way! Unless, maybe, he got a big dog. That might be the one saving grace. A big dog. ---
**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 20, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/608 "2015-03-20T03:51:53Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Martha was looking for that .001% chance that Clark had a reasonable explanation. He worked his way out of it but she is useless to him now. She is nothing but a huge risk with no upside. She has to go. So many people are saying this, but I don’t see it. Why shouldn’t \*Clark \*just disappear? Martha would have to be crazy to go and rat on him when that implicates her. If he’s gone, she can just go about her job, continue to deny, and eventually it will all blow over. > [@E-DUB](#): > > Boy, how about that scene between Nina and her old boss? Seems to me, that now that the higher-ups are aware that she framed the guy, he ought to be “rehabilitated” and shouldn’t be running a backwater research facility. I agree with whomever said it was hardly a backwater when it is doing such high level research. He only got that job because they are aware that he was framed. Before she confessed, he was clearly headed for prison, maybe execution. (Speaking of which: Nina should have insisted to him that it was because of her guilt over framing him that she came clean.) ---
**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 20, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/609 "2015-03-20T05:18:48Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So many people are saying this, but I don’t see it. Why shouldn’t \*Clark \*just disappear? Martha would have to be crazy to go and rat on him when that implicates her. If he’s gone, she can just go about her job, continue to deny, and eventually it will all blow over. She could but she could also decide that the right thing to do is to try to have Clark arrested. She’s a wild card. It’s not worth it. He can make her disappear and make it look like she took money to place the device and then flee. It will be interesting to see where they go with this. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/610 "2015-03-20T17:02:00Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Well they have wedding photos, and killing them & burning their house on top of killing Martha is going to attract _a lot_ of unwanted attention. Why would he have to kill her parents? They will tell the FBI about Clark, but they can’t identify him. All the FBI will ever know is that Martha was duped by a Soviet spy, which is what they’ll suspect anyway if Martha bites the big one. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/611 "2015-03-20T17:31:12Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Why would he have to kill her parents? They will tell the FBI about Clark, but they can’t identify him. All the FBI will ever know is that Martha was duped by a Soviet spy, which is what they’ll suspect anyway if Martha bites the big one. He wouldn’t kill them, as that would be very messy to explain. They’ll probably go into the parents’ house and remove any evidence of him. Or perhaps burn down the place to make sure there are no undiscovered photos. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/612 "2015-03-20T18:37:17Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Hey! That is really nice. A very good idea. I think that kind of thing would be perfect for me. I could shoot my mouth off to my heart’s content and not bother anyone. Then whoever is interested could read it and whoever is not interested could just bypass it. > I would be very happy to do something like that. Thank you ever so much for such a great idea. I should have figured that out long time ago. > > But, tell me. Do you really think Martha is going to live? > > Thank you again, up\_the\_junction! I think it’s the smart writing that has us all wondering … I remember the closing scene with Martha and Clark lying in bed awake and I kind of wonder if Martha thought she’s make it thru the night alive. Clark is certainly still mulling things over … Martha has a lot invested with Clark, she loves him, she doesn’t want to be alone, she likes being married and there is always the possibility of a child. On Clark’s part, Martha now knows he’s fake and she accepts that - at least for now - so she has become an asset. I guess the only reason to kill an asset who has access to the heart of the FBI is if they’re unstable. I’d say all Martha needs is a child … adopted or natural. My best guess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/613 "2015-03-21T00:36:24Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > But by killing her - they almost guarantee an FBI investigation. There’s already an investigation. She’s already a suspect, although apparently she’s pretty far down the list. The question for the commies is, will the FBI learn more about their operation with her alive or dead? > [@](#): > > I didn’t pay 100% attention to the whole episode! but does she actually know he is a soviet spy? I didn’t think so, but not sure. I suspect they can come up with some reason she was used. They already have one – he can just switch to the persona he’s using with the lady from Northrup, trying to get inside information on defense contracts or whatever. But see below. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > Why shouldn’t \*Clark \*just disappear? Martha would have to be crazy to go and rat on him when that implicates her. Wasn’t it earlier this season when a CIA employee did exactly that to Elizabeth? And she was disgruntled, unlike Martha, who is fully gruntled. How easy would it be to catch Clark by staking out Martha’s apartment, if she suddenly has an attack of patriotism? ---
**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 21, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/614 "2015-03-21T10:35:50Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Wasn’t it earlier this season when a CIA employee did exactly that to Elizabeth? And she was disgruntled, unlike Martha, who is fully gruntled. But I think what’s also different with the CIA employee is that she had gone full traitor, with full knowledge that’s what she was doing, and then had an attack of conscience. Martha was tricked; then when she figured out that might be what happened, she put on her best acting job (mighty impressive, actually) and denied, denied, denied. I think she would be happy to let the whole thing just fade away rather than go fess up and try to help them find a disappeared Clark that they would be unlikely to catch anyway–so Martha would be left holding the bag. > [@](#): > > How easy would it be to catch Clark by staking out Martha’s apartment, if she suddenly has an attack of patriotism? This is exactly why I said \*he \*should disappear. It’s definitely insane, and strains credulity, for him to stick around any longer. He should go in immediately after she leaves for work, wipe down all possible spots where prints could be (or maybe just torch the place?), and never return. ---
**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 21, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/615 "2015-03-21T15:24:06Z")
Yes, Martha “denied, denied, denied”, but when Taffet asked who’d been in Gaads office, the first person she said was “Me”. When asked what she provided in the way of supplies, the first word was “Pens”. When asked "Did someone give you this pen to give to Agent Gad, she says “I don’t think so.” I don’t THINK so? Maybe it’s because, as the audience, we know she’s guilty, but she sure looked guilty. ---
**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 21, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/616 "2015-03-21T23:39:27Z")
We know she is guilty, but she didn’t particularly look it. I would never have been able to pull off as cool and collected a demeanor in her shoes. I would have stammered, stuttered and flushed and probably passed out. She wasn’t as cool as a cucumber, but that would have been suspicious too. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/617 "2015-03-22T00:06:06Z")
Definitely. The way she said “I don’t think so” was far more convincing then a flat denial. As in “what a peculiar question.” Very natural, I thought. I agree with others who think Phil is nuts for not immediately disappearing. His pesky conscience is hampering him again. ---
**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 22, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/618 "2015-03-22T01:31:03Z")
I’m with **Second Stone** and **Blank Slate**. I actually think the director should have asked her to try to look a little \*more \*guilty when playing that scene. Not OTT obvious like a melodrama, but with some subtle notes of nervousness. In sharp contrast to the way it came across to **E-DUB** , I felt like Alison Wright played it too much like she was moving on to another acting project where she was portraying a completely innocent employee being interrogated. And that’s a strange contrast, too, with other scenes of her at the filing cabinet and in the elevator, where she looked flustered and nervous. Why would Martha become so smooth and naturalistic at seeming “innocent” (without overdoing it) when under the gun? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/619 "2015-03-23T10:01:56Z")
In real life, people can be panicky, emotional and scared before and after a “performance” but still pull it off. She was clearly terrified in the interview. Yet her discomfort can be easily attributed by the investigators to her being Gaad’s secretary and feeling responsible/ worrying how much will fall on her than being the guilty party. ---
**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 23, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/620 "2015-03-23T10:41:34Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > She was clearly terrified in the interview. Huh? You seem to have a different definition than I do of “clearly”, “terrified”, or both. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=32)