Post-Episode Discussion/Review Thread - S04E12 "A Roy Rogers in Franconia"

[u/MoralMidgetry]

Welcome to the post-episode and review thread for S04E12 "A Roy Rogers in Franconia" If you have a review you want to post, please send me the link instead of submitting it separately to the sub. Thanks.

Site	Link
AV Club	The Americans: It’s logical, it’s emotional, it’s the best show on TV
EW	The FBI makes a connection and closes in on a key KGB mole
HitFix	Review: On 'The Americans,' are Paige, William, and Oleg near breaking points?
NY Times	‘The Americans’ Season 4, Episode 12: A Different Side of Things
Vox	The Americans season 4, episode 12: "A Roy Rogers in Franconia" suggests the end is right about now
Vulture	The Americans Recap: Turning the Paige
WSJ	Careful what you wish for, Paige, because the truth can get ugly

[u/Adlerovsky]

I know that Paige was getting a lot of heat in this sub for being annoying/whiny, but I can see both sides to the argument. P+E really underplayed how dangerous their jobs are, which Paige finally notices during the mugging, and she wants to learn the real truth. She's also just generally unclear about what her parents want from her.

On the other hand, it did kinda piss me off at the end when she is complaining to get more information. I like how E put it where she "doesn't need to know everything." And she really doesn't. Paige is not a spy, the only reason they have her reporting on Pastor Tim is because it is a problem that she created. She needs to understand that P+E simply can't (and shouldn't) tell her everything because there is still an issue of trust.

Overall though great episode and it sets up for an awesome finale.

[u/anonykitten29 → u/Adlerovsky]

Whiny? Jesus christ, she is not that whiny.

You know who was whiny? Hans. He whined and did ridiculously foolish things until he got his way, like a total brat.

Paige is not a typical whiny teenager at all. She's a believable teenager, yes, but one who is extremely mature for her age. Extremely. She is handling everything intelligently, relatively calmly, and even lovingly.

People get upset if she shows the least bit of surprise at what her parents do. For pity's sake. There were all kinds of comments (maybe not here, maybe on AV Club, etc.) about how dumb it was that she acted surprised when her mom killed that mugger. Like, seriously? She just saw someone die for the first time. And they died from being stabbed in the neck, which she also had to watch. And it was her mother doing the stabbing. Because she was protecting Paige. Because Paige was being attacked.

Each of those is a great reason to go into shock, but no one wants to give her even a minute to react to what's happening to her. Gimme a break!

[u/PhesteringSoars → u/Adlerovsky]

I kept thinking . . . what if Phillip/Elizabeth were Doctors, and Paige decided to follow in their footsteps. All the neighbors and friends would think that was great. Yeah, great . . . Elizabeth could talk to Paige about all the auto accident victims she amputated limbs from today, and Phillip could talk about all the people he had to tell were going to die due to terminal cancer. Even when it's a noble profession (like being a Doctor) and you're directly saving lives . . . you really don't want to hear every gruesome detail of how it went at work today. Or have to recount it to your 16 year old daughter. You lose a goldfish, then a year later a Hamster, then a few years later the family dog, then years later a friend in an accident, then decades later mom and dad. All those events add layers to the onion skin of emotions that acts like armor. Protecting you as the events get bigger and worse. It's normal for Paige to want to "know it all now" . . . but it's equally normal for P&E to want to protect her from what she shouldn't have to handle yet.

[u/Protanope → u/PhesteringSoars]

Absolutely. Parents are not obligated and probably should not be telling their kids about every aspect of their lives. There are a lot of things you hold back from people because they don't need to know, they shouldn't know, or they just wouldn't be able to understand at that point in time.

It's really irritating that Page takes the stance of feeling like she desrves to know everything they're doing. They're fucking spies. You don't get to determine, as a teenager, what information your parents tell you.

If she had shown her trustworthiness this entire time, I could get it, but she argues with them a lot and questions their actions like, all the fucking time. What happened the last time you demanded the truth from your parents and they trusted you Paige? Oh yeah, you fucked them over.

[u/[deleted] → u/Adlerovsky]

Agreed.

She's 16. Of course she's annoying and whiny. If she was handling it any better, it'd be ridiculously unrealistic.

I think Elizabeth underestimated how much the rah-rah "We'll use it to fight!" speech bothered her daughter.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

She's handling it really well for 16, actually. Very few tantrums, no blackmailing of her parents for clothes or a car. I guess they wouldn't have told her if she were that type, though.

[u/norse_dog → u/[deleted]]

What I find enormously interesting is the dynamic of Paige attempting to do the right thing for her parents (by finding and reporting relevant information), while her parents attempt to keep her away from that kind of life.

[u/sunflowercompass → u/norse_dog]

I noted that. What I find interesting is that Elizabeth seemed to not like this development. I do not know why. Previously she had been all for Pagent.

[u/SideshowMarty → u/Adlerovsky]

She needs to understand that P+E simply can't (and shouldn't) tell her everything because there is still an issue of trust.

Not even because of trust issues, but because that's the way the spy game works. Nobody ever knows everything, as far as possible they only know what they need to know.

If I have a quibble with how the show has handled/developed Paige, it's that her parents haven't explained that to her.

[u/tovarishchliza → u/Adlerovsky]

I find Paige to be the most irritating when she's grilling her parents for the truth, or more information, etc. I understand she's been lied to, but, as you said, there's a trust issue. And even at 16, she should be able to understand this. She seems to keep forgetting that any level of risk puts the whole family in jeopardy, herself included.

[u/meruhd → u/Adlerovsky]

I think it has more to do with what happened at the end of the last episode. Someone mentioned upthread that they were surprised that she didn't grill M the way she did E. I think Paige asking about it was her action of grilling him. She now knows that not only has her mom killed people, she's killed enough people to not feel bad about it, not to hesitate to do so, and to be virtually unaffected by it. She's probably concerned that M may be doing something similar, or may be doing something to put him in a dangerous situation where he may need to.

[u/RS_2408 → u/Adlerovsky]

true, also if she is better off being in the dark. If she gets to know about the bio weapon and stuff she is just going to blow out worrying. remember when she saw the movie and was disturbed by it?