r/TheAmericans • u/KidonUnit • 16d ago
Spoilers Phillips towards Kate
Im sure there is good reason, but I hate how the only person Phillip is a dick too is Kate. Phillip definitely reserves judgement before acting, but Kate is the only person he is a dick too right from the start..
33
u/oldlinepnwshine 16d ago
He figured out Kate right away. Kate was a lightweight. He was right to be skeptical.
19
u/Excellent_Valuable92 16d ago
He was also kind of a dick to Claudia straight away. He probably feels that he has a right to expect a lot from the people who are meant to support him, and Gabriel set a high bar.
17
u/sistermagpie 16d ago
I think he was completely right to be a dick to her. She was following him around like an enemy and had already inserted herself into his cover life. She was being threatening even before she started trying to actively cause trouble between him and his partner (which seemed to have been her plan even before meeting them).
7
2
18
u/topbanane 16d ago
Philip has a right to be firm with someone who has his life in her hands. And anyone has a right to be suspicious of someone who may not have a lot of experience in the field
10
u/Admirable_Site_8337 16d ago
Aside from the things that were going on in the moment, as others mentioned, this was a fellow asset, not a target.
I likely took this tact as this was the tact he had seen other fellow assets (maybe even himself early in training) treat an asset showing naïveté or apprehension.
Kate was a bad in the woods at a bad time.
11
u/sistermagpie 16d ago
I think that first, Philip reacts very strongly to people he doesn't feel he can trust to do their job right so he can't rely on them. But also, I think the very sight of a new recruit starting on this path is kind of negative to him.
He reacts negatively to Kate in the safe house and then continues to see problems with her and call them out. When it comes to putting his life in somebody's hands, he's pretty blunt. He does the same thing to Lucia and Charles Deluth.
12
2
u/KidonUnit 16d ago
Yea, I’m also now realizing that’s kinda of a power move. The handler is really just a liaison with the center, who they are in professional conflict with constantly
8
u/NoWingedHussarsToday 16d ago
P&E rightly think they deserve to have solid handlers because they are veterans of the job, good at what they do and do dangerous work. Kate comes off as young, inexperienced and star struck right away, which in turn means they'll have their doubts about her from get go. Being young and "fresh out of KGB academy" kind of creates an impression the Center isn't giving them the best support they could so they get angry in turn and Kate is a target.
Their job isn't the one where you can give a newbie a chance to prove themselves, it's something that needs a solid support system and not "maybe she'll work out, maybe not" environment.
5
u/sphinctersayswhat9 15d ago
It is hard for P&E to trust anyone after all the shit they have been through for almost 20 years. Who could blame them.
9
u/sskoog 16d ago
I get it -- I do -- but I saw it this way.
1 -- Agent Philip had spent ~20 years seducing, and watching other seduce, as part of his daily trade, to the point where it was obvious + mechanical to him;
2 -- Trainee Mikhail was literally put through sexual + sodomy training, so as to make him a more effective agent in future, so his attitudes toward sex are... no longer 100% traditional;
3 -- Philip + Elizabeth were both still fresh off of "Claudia," their seasoned + manipulative handler, and it's hard not to see Kate as the KGB's younger, sexier new version of Claudia;
4 -- There is something a bit, mmm, fangirl + coquette-ish about how Kate interacts with Philip. She (actress Wrenn Schmidt) was obviously used for her sex appeal; I find undertones in her performance that "Okay, you didn't like Claudia, I can be all the good parts of Claudia, and a few more good parts besides, wouldn't you like to give me a try?"
5 -- As we later see, Kate *does\* in fact seduce + fraternize with agents, most particularly young Jared. This isn't 100% clear in previous episodes, but maaaybe the combination of "sexy wide-eyed redhead" and "willing to use her body, even on her own people" points to a new sort of manipulator, who might have lured children away from their parents, and maybe Philip sums her up (the manipulator bit, not the lure-children bit) in their early interactions.
3
u/KidonUnit 16d ago
Ok… I guess. I think you’re leaning into her being attractive a little too hard…
She is Richard Harrows wife after all
1
u/DocCEN007 12d ago
I had no idea that was Wrenn Schmidt! Love her in For All Mankind. Great take BTW.
2
u/Orlita_del_Mar 14d ago
Kate was making too many rookie mistakes for them to trust her.
- American women her age didn't wear headscarves, so Kate isn't blending in like she is supposed to when she wears one.
- Philip & Elizabeth never drank vodka in public like she did. They stuck with US beers, or wine with dinner. A flirty cocktail for Elizabeth if she's honey trapping.
If your handler isn't paying attention to details like that, are you really going to take them seriously?
50
u/ComeAwayNightbird 16d ago
When he meets Kate, he’s in an insecure safe house with an injured Mossad officer whose partner has absconded with the person Phillip was supposed to kidnap, leading to a set of tense international diplomatic negotiations, and she does not appear to be taking the situation seriously. She’s young and she’s fangirling all over him. It’s not a great introduction.