Wow, Elizabeth and Philip having a completely genuine, intimate moment dancing to cheesy 80s country music in Oklahoma City is at the same time one of the most romantic, sexiest and most adorable moments on TV in a very, *very* long time
I lied like seven times today. Get over it, with your nosy ass. If you weren’t all up in grown folks’s business the other season, you wouldn’t have to be all stressed and pissy about the possibility of having “to be fake with [your] boyfriends.”
I make a habit of not asking my parents about certain shit, because, deep down, I don’t want to know. And we don’t even have any deep, dark secrets. Half the time they are giving too much information about their past emotional states and relationship dynamics that I would prefer not to know. So spare me your teen bullshit.
Like @missmudpie said last night: PAIGE IS THE WOOOORST.
The Jennings are tracking the source of dangerous pests that can eat away at crops. Like the midges in the title, lies can eat away at people and relationships. Though the truth can be destructive as well. My thoughts on this episode are after the cut.
From the very beginning, The Americans has dealt with the nature of lies and truth and the difficult nature of how open and honest you can be with those you love. On the one hand, relationships are built on trust. So people in a relationship want to be truthful to help build that trust. But the J’s have pointed out that on the flip side, being completely truthful and open can leave you vulnerable or can have negative consequences.
In the opening scene, we learn that Alexei Morizov didn’t tell his family that they were defecting. And this deception has left his wife and son deeply angry and resentful. Morizov tells his wife that he would have been shot if he had told them beforehand which is probably true. Later, Philip and Elizabeth express disapproval of Morizov not telling his family which is very ironic. But then Philip asks Elizabeth if they would tell their kids in advance if they had to flee back to the Soviet Union. And it shows that the issue of when to be truthful is not such an easy thing.
Later, Philip and Elizabeth decide to be truthful with Paige about their current operation. They know that it will help Paige be sympathetic to their work and their cause. And it does have that effect. But it also shows that people may divulge the truth for reasons other than morality and altruism. The Jennings did it to manipulate their daughter.
The thought of the US trying to starve people bothers Paige. When she has date with Matthew he can sense something is wrong. She uses the little trick that her parents showed her in the last episode and tells him she is worried about a homework assignment.
Understandably, Paige is unhappy about telling her boyfriend a lie. And the thought of constantly deceiving him is eating away at her. Elizabeth tries to tell her that everyone holds back some bit of themselves in a relationship. And this is the truth. But Paige has not had enough life experience yet to understand what her mother is telling her.
And it’s not just the Jennings with the potentially destructive problems with deception and truth. The story line with Oleg deals with this as well. Corruption is a form of dishonesty. And he points out to a store manager that her corruption is part of the reason why people have a hard time finding food for their meals.
Yet, Oleg is facing danger from a truth being exposed. During the episode, we see Stan and Aderholt trying to recruit different Russian officials and getting nowhere. And it helps to explain why the CIA is willing to use leverage to turn Oleg. At first, he rebuffed their efforts. But now he knows that they have a tape of him betraying a double agent. He will not want that truth coming out as the consequences would be very dire.
And, finally, at the end of the episode the Jennings are confronted with a situation in which they know they can’t tell Paige the truth. They’ve tracked down the source of the midges and killed the deputy director of the lab. They know revealing this to Paige would likely alienate her completely.
Miscellaneous notes: Many items in this episode dealt with food. Morizov tells the Jennings about seeing starving people at the labor camp where his father was being imprisoned. Tuan tells Philip about needing to eat garbage while going without anything to eat at other times. Philip responds that his family went hungry at times when he was a boy. Stan and Aderholt tried to talk to an Aeroflot official just as he was about to eat at a diner. When he walked away, Aderholt started to eat the food he left behind. Philip wonders why the Soviet Union has trouble producing food as well as what he sees in Oklahoma. And, finally, Matthew and Paige were having their date while eating pizza.
And even though it wasn’t very long, I was both happy and sad to see Martha. On the one hand, I’m happy that she avoided prison and death (so far). But I feel very sorry for her that she’s stuck in this very difficult life and has very little hope for happiness.
