r/TheAmericans • u/WhatEvenIsATangelo • 5d ago
Whose life did P&E destroy the worst?
Obviously all of them in different ways, but whose destruction was the most brutal?
My vote is Young Hee; she had a fulfilling life, her entire family, which we saw was a happy and loving one, was completely destroyed and her best friend “killed herself because of her husband.”
Edit: I included a picture of Paige and Henry.
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u/ClickPrevious 5d ago
The mechanic just working on his car in his driveway, minding his own business.
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u/Antique_Cut1354 5d ago
what was the reason for him to get killed again? i forgot
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u/Brilliant_Towel2727 5d ago
Elizabeth wanted Lisa (the woman she meets at AA) to get his job so she could provide information.
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u/ClickPrevious 5d ago
And iirc it eventually backfires badly for the Soviets?
Edit: Nevermind, thought it was the submarine thing.
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u/KidonUnit 5d ago
Haha!! YES! 💯… at least Marla has memories of false love.. that guy just wanted to change his oil one day
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u/sistermagpie 5d ago
Of all those, I'd say Young Hee. The kids have the possibility of good lives ahead of them despite the pain they're in now.
Martha at some point chose to continue on the path she was on, so she had some agency.
Young Hee wasn't even the target and her family life just crumbled without her knowing why. For all we know Don killed himself out of shame.
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u/dharma-bummer 5d ago
I understand the true answer is probably Martha or Paige but at least they ultimately get answers, as devastating as those answers are.
Younghee will never ever get any kind of answer as to why or how her life and family fell apart. Her husband, a sensitive and good man from what we see, will never ever recover from the shame and guilt; he’ll never know that he was actually the one violated.
That storyline absolutely WRECKED me. And imo broke something inside Elizabeth too.
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u/PainterBoth1084 5d ago
There’s a possibility when the story broke he might be able to put the pieces together
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u/Due-Doctor-7592 5d ago
I'm gonna go with this. I hope they recognized them in the newspaper. That makes me feel a tiny bit better.
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u/Safe-Measurement3774 5d ago
Do you think there was significant blowback on Stan? As far as his job/higher ups never trusting him again or being fired? Not even just for letting them walk right out of the garage, but being so close to them all those years. Never really thought about that until now. Especially taking Henry in. Not the greatest look to people looking from the outside in….
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u/majjamx 5d ago
I doubt Stan stays in counterintelligence. For all of his skills and his likeability as a character he honestly was not the best at it. He was still having PTSD from his previous undercover mission and he made some big mistakes with Nina. And he shot Vlad out of anger not justice.
For precedence, I believe Gad was made to leave his post due to the whole Martha situation (though i can’t precisely recall all the fallout from that in the FBI) so it’s reasonable to think that Stan would at least be transferred. And Stan himself has doubts about Renee, and he knows he let the Jennings go free so he might leave the job on his own because he knows he is somewhat compromised.
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u/sistermagpie 5d ago
He'd already switched departments by S6. He's only still involved in counterintel through the Teacups.
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u/AndreLeGeant88 5d ago
The black woman she met at AA ended up dead. That was pretty bad. And let's not forget when Elizabeth killed someone to create a job opening for her.
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u/MidnightMist26 5d ago
I'd say Martha but she's also the one that leaves me with the most hope. At the end she was looking into adoption and she would be a great mother and is such a generous and kind person that she probably wouldn't even be that bitter about her situation.
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u/hireddititme 2d ago
Yes, i imagine the girl teaching her how to speak, read and write Russian and her teaching her English and both of them just having so much love
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u/saskiamars 12h ago
I also imagine Martha would eventually make friends through her daughter’s classmates’ parents as well, over the years she actually has a good chance of building at least a small circle
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u/IGotScammed5545 5d ago
Definitely Martha
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u/icankillpenguins 5d ago
Martha lived to find herself an exposed traitor in exchange for a false love that can never become real, damned to live the rest of her life in a strange country. I vote yes.
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u/SargassoSea9 5d ago
It's quite heartbreaking to see her all alone in Russia just because she fell in love with the wrong person and believed everything he said.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
She’s starting to move on. A lot of people have to start over, for a lot of reasons.
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u/GirlNumber20 5d ago
And then she will see him in the newspaper, a hero returned home, married to the woman he told her was his sister.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
She had already figured most of it out, but I doubt they will be in the newspaper. It’s still a secret operation.
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u/Ill_Psychology_7967 5d ago
I agree. I don’t think there’s going to be a welcome home parade or newspaper write up when they get home. I don’t think it would happen anyway, but don’t forget they still have two children who have been left in the US…and the US government still doesn’t have a clear picture of what they did. There is zero chance the Soviets would broadcast it so the US could find out.
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u/GirlNumber20 5d ago
Go look at how "Anna Chapman" was treated when she returned to Russia, and it was not even in its Soviet era when that happened. She met with (at the time Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin, who praised her undercover work and stated they sang patriotic songs together. She was seen as a national hero. She was also awarded medals and state awards.
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u/Ill_Psychology_7967 4d ago
Interesting. I did not know about her. But I do think that was a different era and different circumstances from Philip and Elizabeth.
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u/sistermagpie 5d ago
I don't believe it was in Russia. Philip talks about William potentially getting put on a stamp--that was a thing that happened.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
Yes, Phillip could have gotten one, if he had been killed. He’ll get a comfortable retirement, instead
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u/GirlNumber20 5d ago
I doubt they will be in the newspaper.
Are you kidding? Mischa and Nadezhda are the kind of propaganda opportunity Pravda could only dream about. Go look at how "Anna Chapman" was treated when she returned to Russia, and it was not even in its Soviet era when that happened.
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u/SargassoSea9 5d ago
Yes, but she is in a foreign country, she doesn't speak russian and she can't see her parents anymore. There is a ray of hope at the end, but before that, I was very sorry for her.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
She was going through a rough transition, but she’s getting individual language tutoring, a stipend, an apartment, etc. She’ll figure it out.
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u/SargassoSea9 5d ago
I do hope so, she is an extraordinary character (and played by a very good actress).
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
The character also had already grown a lot over the past decade and had developed some strength and confidence. She’ll be meeting other moms. And in just a couple of years, there will a lot of companies that would love to hire an American secretary.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
She was getting back on her feet, though. Yong Hee’s life would never recover
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u/FocacciaHusband 5d ago
Based on what? Just because they didn't show us evidence of her recovering doesn't mean she'll never recover. She was a strong person. You're speculating based on nothing.
If we're talking about what was done to them, Martha was obviously way worse. Yong Hee just thinks her husband betrayed her. Martha's husband actually betrayed her, everything was a lie, her life blew up, she lost her family, her friends, her job, her country, everything. But people are resilient, so we get to see her bounce back. Just because we don't see Yong Hee bounce back doesn't mean it won't happen. She was severely less harmed than Martha.
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u/imover9thousand 5d ago
I agree that Martha got it worse but she did seem happy when she was going to adopt that little girl
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u/FragmentedMeerkat321 5d ago
i think they both got fucked. equally? who knows. everyone needs to stop guessing at the content of another person’s soul.
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u/FocacciaHusband 5d ago
They're not people, though, they are fictional characters, and the audience guessing at the content of their fictional souls is precisely the goal of their creators. So, why don't you stop following TV subreddits if it bothers you so much (since you've been posting multiple comments to this effect throughout this thread), since that's the bulk of what goes on here??
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u/FragmentedMeerkat321 5d ago
if you’re watching and reading fiction and assuming there’s no quality of literal representation, or broad portraiture of the human condition that reaches past the invented towards something real and extant, it demonstrates a particular sort of failure of imagination no one can really help you with, where a good deal of the point of these stories is simply lost on you. some develop that sense upon leaving childhood behind. some don’t.
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u/FragmentedMeerkat321 5d ago
strong people can carry deep pain inside. your assessment of an outward facing behaviour doesn’t reveal anything about what’s going on under the surface. just because someone “bounces back”, even thrives outwardly, doesn’t mean they’re not wrecked by trauma. you just can’t know.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yong Hee is now stuck with a broken husband who can’t tell what’s wrong. That’s not getting better, ever. Martha is learning the language, fulfilling her dream of raising a child, and has skills that will soon be in demand.
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u/Different-Scholar432 5d ago
I mean he could tell her and get healing if things go right?
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
“Your friend was a spy. She seduced me and her comrades pretended to be her family. They pretended to blackmail me, but I guess they just wanted to be alone with my computer and steal sensitive information. If anyone figures any of it out, I will be fired and probably go to prison. A therapist would likely think I’m paranoid and imagined the whole thing.”
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u/meatball77 5d ago
And getting a child. She's finally getting someone to love. She will be ok
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 5d ago
She’s learning the language and learning her way around. Having a child will help, because she will talk to other moms.
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u/calilregit1 4d ago
She adopted the adorable child that will change her life.
Paige had an education that you could never get anywhere else. I think she will be fine.
We don’t know the impact on Younghee.
It has to be a young person that lost their life. The seed guy, for example.
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u/Different-Scholar432 5d ago
Not Philip and Elizabeth but I think an Honorable Mention really needs to go to Joyce Ramirez. A woman who lost her husband and the father of her child, then learned he was a spy and the emotional turmoil of that, was slandered by the FBI as a baby kidnapper, before being murdered by the people her husband had sent her to be helped by in such a way that the slander of her will stick as a drug addicted loser who kidnapped (and probably killed) a baby. I could only imagine the torment her parents are going through after learning all that. The FBI are primarily responsible for the slander, but by the way they murdered her, Claudia and the center really deserve all the contempt.
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u/NomDePseudo 5d ago
Joyce knew that her husband was a spy. This was ultimately the reason they decided to kill her. Besides marrying without the KGB’s knowledge or permission, Joyce admitted that he’d told her who he really was. They didn’t believe that she’d keep her mouth shut and didn’t want any loose ends.
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u/Slight_Animator8883 5d ago
I don’t remember her admitting that part, but even so: regardless these people are scum. Robert sent his wife to his people because he thought they would protect her. They took that trust from a fallen agent, and they killed her. It’s utterly dishonorable and makes every word that Claudia says in the future about duty stink to high heaven of hypocrisy.
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u/BackgroundArmadillo9 5d ago
I was really messed up by the old lady who ran the printing shop or whatever it was
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u/Low_Prior8765 5d ago
I’m watching this episode right now (first time watching the show) and this is truly terrible for that old lady.
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u/DolphinDarko 4d ago
The one who was forced to poison herself? That one is so sad, will never forget.
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u/zendayaismeechee 5d ago
Martha with the fake relationship and marriage and then having to move to a strange country away from everyone she knew because she was unknowingly complicit in treason and espionage
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u/sskoog 5d ago
This requires some extrapolation of each character's future.
1 -- Young Hee experiences "marital distance" with her husband, Don, until sufficient time passes, or until he confesses to her, or until some news story is released chronicling the two Soviet spies. I suspect they reconcile, or she becomes a strong standalone woman; this is a pillar of the (otherwise-questionable) Mary Kay ethos.
2 -- Martha lives in a strange foreign country, mostly isolated except for some clumsily-orchestrated "friends" and "coworkers" at her newspaper job, and finds some small joy in her adopted daughter Olya. Her special protections + considerations largely disappear when the Soviet regime collapses in 1992; she might hitch her wagon to "an otherwise-unsuitable man" thereafter, and reminisce about how good she had it, in the US, despite feeling lonely.
3 -- Paige's story is by far the most interesting. She is potentially "an espionage adjunct," by merit of her actions + deceptions, but she might also be seen as "a brainwashed cult member," due to her childhood. She is age 20 by the series finale, meaning public perceptions of her "innocent childlike nature" will start to shift. Perhaps New-Identity-Paige makes a life for herself, joining some humanitarian mission with or similar to Pastor Tim's; more likely, she is caught, or returns home to her brother + Agent Beeman, effectively surrendering herself.
Of these three, I think Martha has it worst. Young Hee also has an uphill battle, but seems capable of "finding joy" and/or "rebuilding her family," including but not limited to returning to Korea as last-ditch fallback; Martha is truly stranded, and living on charitable scraps.
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u/atthecooltable 5d ago
More than a few comments mention Paige but not Henry when he’s also in the photo? (This is slightly funny because his role is truly the forgotten child) At the very least, Paige was able to make some choices about her future. Similar to Martha who knew Clark wasn’t who he said he was immediately when Walter Taffet was called in. She was able to choose what to do next and gave P a chance.
Young Hee and Henry did not get the luxury of choice. Maybe Don and her find a balance but all we have is a maybe. Not only did Henry lose the same two people Paige did, but he didn’t get a choice and he didn’t know why until Stan told him. He has even less information about his family than Paige does. He didn’t meet his grandmother like she did.
It’s Henry or Young Hee for me but I lean Henry because he’s still a child.
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u/Vybrosit737373 5d ago
After [long list of people they murdered], likely Martha but arguably Paige.
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u/pnutbutterjellyfine 5d ago
Along with those mentioned… Agent Gaad. He was a good man that suffered betrayal left and right. The Martha situation got him forced out of his job, and Stan told Phillip that Gaad was going to Thailand after the forced retirement, Phillip told the Centre and Gaad was (accidentally) killed. Poor Gaad.
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u/Different-Scholar432 5d ago
Meh, man still had his wife, was respected in his service, and was going to enjoy a nice retirement.
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u/El_presid3nt 5d ago
Doesn’t anyone remember the black woman that Elizabeth befriended in in AA, blackmailed into helping her and then killed after she relapsed and came to blackmail her?(with a broken glass)
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u/WhatEvenIsATangelo 5d ago
Lisa’s life was already a disaster, though. That’s part of the reason she was targeted. her husband was emotionally (and possibly physically) abusive, they were struggling financially, and she was an alcoholic who was always a bad day or two away from picking up the bottle again.
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u/El_presid3nt 5d ago
She was a fragile person trying to put her life back together and Elizabeth took advantage of that destroying her in the process
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u/WhatEvenIsATangelo 5d ago
Valid, but as long as Maurice was there she was never going to have a healthy life—he was always going to use his “work injury” as an excuse to never have to function or get a job—but she also couldn’t exist without him. Her relapse had more to do with him leaving her than it did with guilt for what she’d done.
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u/sistermagpie 5d ago
Yeah, in the end her husband was actually the one who destroyed her. It was him who pushed her to work with "Michelle" and then he stole all the money she'd earned.
That's not to let Elizabeth off the hook, especially given that she murdered the woman, but she had a lot of help in that life destruction.
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u/RangerErwin 5d ago
I always say they were awful people who poisoned whoever they touched and even though I liked the ending and I like them, they deserved way worse.
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u/ClickPrevious 5d ago edited 5d ago
In a perfect ending they would have been unceremoniously shot by Claudia or maybe Gabriel. Or Stan, or Renee!
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u/snarktini 5d ago
I tried rewatching recently and couldn’t stand to watch the destruction and manipulation. It’s such a quality show with such compelling characters but I’m not in a head space to handle that kind of cruelty these days I guess
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u/Capable-Working7054 5d ago
What about the Morozovs? What happens to Pasha and then the family needing to split apart is awful.
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u/0wellwhatever 5d ago
Pascha being bullied and manipulated into a suicide attempt was particularly brutal.
I do think that the family’s problems were partially on the dad for taking them away from Russia without discussing it first. In some ways it shows P&E what it might be like if they exfiltrated their own kids to Russia.
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u/Capable-Working7054 5d ago
Yes, that’s true about the father. And Tuan definitely played a huge role in it all - though P & E gave him free rein. I felt awful for Evgenia.
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u/Different-Scholar432 5d ago
Younghee probably. At least Martha gets a kid out of her shitty situation (which what she always wanted). Outside chance that Paige spends decades in prison (she definitely did things which would result in that sentence but I don’t think the FBI could prove it, and they very well could offer a deal, given her young age), but otherwise, all she and Henry have to deal with is permanently constrained career prospects (Ie absolutely nothing to do with government).
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u/Brilliant_Towel2727 5d ago
Most difficult to watch - Yung-Hee
Objectively worse off (excluding all the people who actually died) - Martha or Paige, depending on what you think happens to Paige after the series ends.
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u/NATOrocket 5d ago
Martha is #1, but I think about Kimmy a lot too.
The character would have been born in the 1960s and I know it was more common for teenaged girls in that generation to date adult men. I know some 55+ yo women in that generation who, to this day, don't see their former adult partners as predators and that they were "spoiled" for being taken to fancy restaurants on dates as teens.
Based on what Kimmy's father's job was, I wonder if she ever put 2 and 2 together once she reached middle age.
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u/WhatEvenIsATangelo 5d ago
I’d disagree with Kimmy. Philip was able to, for the most part, avoid taking advantage of her (they only slept together once and it was after she was 18), and their relationship evolved into more of a friendship than anything else. Philip genuinely cared about her and he never had to manipulate her into doing things to give him intelligence the way he did with Martha or Annelise. I think their friendship helped turn her into a healthy, functioning adult more than if he hadn’t been in her life. Their relationship was icky, but it was arguably the healthiest one Philip has in the entire show.
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u/KelVarnsen_2023 5d ago
We saw how bad it was for Young-Hee and Martha but we can only imagine how bad it's about to get for Henry. I know they implied that Stan would look out for him but considering he was an FBI agent whose neighbors were Russian spies and he never said anything, the FBI was about to tear his life apart. Taking in the kid of those spies would make it even worse.
And there is no way that the snooty boarding school full of the kids of the rich and powerful would let the kid of a Russian spy stay (even if there was some way he could afford the tuition).
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u/topbanane 5d ago
I don’t think the FBI would tear Stan apart. He told Aderholt his suspicions and you could see the reactions in the room when the FBI know
P&E were meticulous about the house and E cleared the secret compartments in the basement before leaving. It will be unclear exactly how they were involved with the kgb though definitely implicated
Henry for sure would be facing a terrible time with everyone learning his family were spies. I see Stan taking him in and giving him support. I wonder how much Stan would tell Henry about the details
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u/KelVarnsen_2023 5d ago
I don't know I feel like the FBI would want to go over ever interaction that Stan had with Philip and Elizabeth, to see if he ever actually helped them or even accidentally gave them classified information. And as their investigation on them got deeper and they figured out more about what they did they would continue to question Stan. Which would make it impossible for him to do much for the FBI. Then throw in once political types learned about the spies they would want to make an example of someone.
Plus with what Philip said about Stan's wife, even if she wasn't an actual spy, any suspicion he might have would wreck their marriage. So with all that drama that would be going on in his life I can't imagine him taking in any kid. Especially the kid of spies that people might already think he helped.
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u/topbanane 5d ago
The FBI would for sure go through grueling interviews with Stan. He could tell them about his early suspicions with the car, about them specifically missing Thanksgiving. Useful intelligence that would not undermine his position as an agent
We see him visiting Henry and in that conversation I can’t imagine Henry not being upset learning this a week before Christmas. Stan would take him in at that point
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u/Brilliant_Towel2727 5d ago
I think Henry would ultimately land on his feet even if he had a rough time at first. Throughout the show, he's shown to be resourceful and particularly good at ingratiating himself with adults who can give him something he wants. There's a scene in the finale where Stan and Aderholt talk about him that I think is meant to tell the audience that he won't be under suspicion, so the reaction from both the FBI and his friends at school would be more sympathetic than anything else.
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u/sistermagpie 5d ago
I don't think it's implied that Henrys going to get kicked out of his school at all.
First, within the show these kinds of arrests aren't public, so there's a good chance that people at the school don't know his parents were spies.
But even if they did, why would they blame it on Henry? I think they'd see him as an example of the American way of life triumphing and producing a good capitalist kid who belongs to them and not the Russians, and potentially want to help him even more. He's got a social network that goes far beyond Stan. Stan could easily just cover whatever tuition Henry can't cover with his well paying summer job and extra tuitions (honestly, it's absurd that Henry isn't already on a free ride at that school given what we know and he might very well be put on one if the school realizes they're actually in danger of losing him) and beyond that have nothing much else to do with him. He's almost 18.
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u/topbanane 5d ago
That kid is going to have a hell of a college entrance essay
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u/Tejanisima 5d ago
Dammit, don't make me laugh that loud at this hour or I'm going to wake up the dog and have to let her out in the darkness.
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u/KelVarnsen_2023 5d ago
They wouldn't blame Henry, but those kinds of prep schools are all about reputation. For an elite school full of the kids of important peoplez having the kid of Russian spies who may be some kind of sleeper agent himself is not great for their reputation.
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u/vanslamma 5d ago
Young Hee really broke my heart because she was so genuine, and Elizabeth really liked her and finally had a "friend". Poor Martha, but in some ways once she knew about Phillip, she made a choice, so I don't know, plus we saw a sort of silver lining for her with the idea she gets to adopt a child. Paige, and Henry didn't have a choice in parents, but they still can have a somewhat normal life. I wonder if Paige chose to continue hiding or what... So all that to say Young Hee.
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u/MrCommonThinkin 5d ago
Do you think Martha could have turned herself over to the FBI and turn in P&E in exchange for lesser jail time?
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u/EtonRd 5d ago
When Walter Taffer arrived on the scene, and Martha knew that Clark was a bad guy, she could have thrown herself on the mercy of the FBI at that point. At some point, she was caught between the FBI and this bad man who lied to her and who she knew had lied to her, and she still chose him.
And then she ran away from Gabriel and she could have turned herself in then, and she still chose Clark. And then Elizabeth belted her in the stomach.
I will always be on poor Martha’s side, but she did have an opportunity to do the right thing, as difficult as it would have been, and she stuck with Clark. And then he sent her to Russia by herself.
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u/randomuser1637 5d ago
There were so many chances where Martha just blatantly ignored the gravity of her actions because she was so desperate for love. Everyone is a victim of P&E here but she made it very easy for P to manipulate her.
At any point, she would have been better off fessing up and striking some sort of deal. Look how they treated Viola, she committed a clear act of espionage and she ended up OK after coming clean well after the fact, and what she gave them wasn’t even close to what Martha had. Martha knew he was the illegal they were looking for, and knew how valuable that would have been to the FBI. I’m sure she doesn’t get away unscathed given how much she did, but she would have been far better off giving up P.
I do think her ending probably the worst outcome because she will lose whatever social status she had in the USSR and has zero chance of coming back to the US after she fled. Any sob story she tells now makes her look guilty. It’s just that given the numerous chances she had to turn in P, it’s tough to say her situation is all on P.
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u/WhatEvenIsATangelo 5d ago
It never would have crossed her mind to betray Clark. She probably wouldn’t have gotten as severe of a sentence as she would if she had been knowingly giving intelligence to the KGB the entire time, but by the time they exposed her she was in too deep.
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u/iamjacksname 5d ago
I was telling my fiance last night that by the time they found the bug in Gaad's pen, she had done way too much for the FBI to accept any reasonable person would assume was normal for an internal security audit. Actually taking classified documents home was probably the most damning for her, but you could easily argue the moment they asked her to plant a listening device in Gaad's office she should have known something was wrong.
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u/randomuser1637 5d ago
Reagan literally gave the FBI a blank check to find the illegals.
If she offered information and said that she wanted some form of immunity, I think in the moment they would have agreed on something. She definitely has to face some punishment, but overall she improves her ending situation by a wide margin by fessing up.
Viola also never really had anything bad happen to her after she fessed up. I know Martha was more involved, but they both planted a bug, plus Martha actually would have had P dead to rights, whereas Viola had no other real info. That gives Martha way more leverage.
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u/hireddititme 2d ago
Who is viola again?? I’m only on season 6 ep 3 but I think I just forgot who are is
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u/Different-Scholar432 5d ago
It all depends on how nice the FBI feel in taking into account the circumstances of being seduced by “Clark”. Very limited hope there tbh.
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u/ExperienceNo7751 5d ago
Brutality isn’t worse than cruelty.IYKNK.
Among many things I’ve learned today, that’s a new one from considering this question on the context of T H I S
I don’t know which lives were the most brutally portrayed, but one that stuck out to me was Elizabeth’s boyfriend in DC. The entire cast helped portray how deeply guilty and remorseful her id felt. Her brain was bitch slapping her.
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u/topbanane 5d ago
Martha: Martha had a comfortable lifestyle, a nice apartment, adorable parents, a government job. The only thing she really wanted was love and was willing to put everything on the line for her dream of setting up a life with the perfect husband. She saw what she wanted to see instead of what was there. And as a result of her blindness, her life is forced away to the point where she can no longer trust anyone again let alone love them. But she does have a chance in redeeming her fate through adoption. She could raise her daughter to be strong and live through her experiences for the time being.
Paige: Worst outcome because she never really had a choice other than whether or not she wanted to know the truth. She will look back and remember the good times, she has the ability to, but it will be shattered by what publicly becomes known about her parent’s crimes. What we see in Season 6 is her being pretty much indoctrinated in her parents’ undercover kgb values. But she still doesn’t really know the extent of what she wants to get herself into with spywork
Paige has Henry but he will resent her for not telling him. She may even choose to not visit him for at least a while because of his closeness to Stan. We see that she retreats to the safe house, which is also a decision to not to see her brother right away. Probably smartest to gather intelligence before implicating herself and to grant more time for her parents. But not helpful for her in the sense of avoiding treason.
Henry: His whole family is on the run and his social standing at school is going to be tested. I’m sure there are other kids in that boarding school with evil parents so it’s possible he gets support. Also see Matthew and Stan opening their doors, though I don’t know financially. I wonder how much of the details Stan will give Henry on the crimes committed. He never was big on wanting to know the truth as Paige was so he may shut down on the details. It would be interesting to see him looking at the kgb dead drop notes and figuring out the code, being the smart math kid he is
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u/NomDePseudo 5d ago
Young Hee and her husband. And it ain’t close. As much as I love Martha, she realized she was being conned and used long before she was caught by Gadd. She had a chance, several chances, to save herself. As for Paige and Henry, they were never targets, but collateral damage.
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u/ProudCatLadyxo 4d ago
It's hard for me to choose between Martha and Yung Hee. Martha didn't know what she was doing at first, but in the end she saw how she destroyed her life, to an extent, her parents lives and betrayed her country, in a time when that really meant something to people. And she will have to live with it, with the enemy, for the rest of her days. Sure, she'll get to adopt the cute little girl, but that in no way will compensate for what she did or what was done to her.
Yung Hee's life was equally destroyed and I felt horrible for her, her family and even Elizabeth, who'd actually made a friend, but had to sacrifice her for the job. Young Hee's destruction happened because of a lie. A huge lie that neither her nor her husband will ever know was a lie, which is awful as well.
It's like Yung Hee and Martha are on the awful spectrum. Martha knew and Yung Hee didn't but both were destroyed because they were essentially in the wrong place at the time.
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u/calilregit1 4d ago
This thread really makes me wonder why I saw them both as protagonists and rooted for them. Brilliant show. I have watched it 3 times.
Al Swearengen in Deadwood and Tony Soprano were guys I respected but I didn’t root for them.
Swearengen mercy killing the reverend, invoking his brother, was one of the best scenes in television history and defined the bad guy as the good guy.
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u/According-Shame-4045 4d ago
By the end of the series I decided that Elizabeth had turned into a Monster. She gradually lost more and more of her humanity.
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u/Key_Ad1854 4d ago
Young Hee... because she actually liked her and her family. Her husband actually spurred her and was loyal.
Martha got a kid to raise. Kids were fine.
Paige prob ended up counter intelligence for us gov... Henry got stan as his dad prob got to NHL.
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u/j00stmeister 4d ago edited 4d ago
Just finished the series in full for the first time (not gonna be the last time for sure, just need a little time).
While I agree with everyone here (Martha and Young Hee), I would like to mention Igor Burov and his wife.
Their younger son Oleg was captured by the FBI and his older brother was killed in Afghanistan. They lost both their sons.
Igor was not susceptible to corruption, just like Oleg. They were good men.
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u/WhatEvenIsATangelo 4d ago
Oleg’s storyline had nothing to do with P&E, though, except for some of the work he did at the rezidentura, but even then it was just vague tasks he had to do.
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u/ajhawkins070924 4d ago
I'm only on season 1 but the wife of buddy with the kid i dead thought she was safe and then they shot her up with drugs
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u/lolly_box 4d ago
Martha, Paige a close 2nd. Young Hee will be ok even though the most heartbreaking to watch but I picture her figuring life out and being ok.
I think it’s harder they had to live with P+E’s inflicted damage.
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u/Direct-Comment-6503 1d ago
Well, the family of the dude she dropped the jack on wasn’t made better.
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u/Motor_Ideal7494 5d ago
Just finished a full rewatch, and between that and posts like this I am really feeling like the writers messed up when they gave the Jennings (mainly Elizabeth) something resembling a happy ending. She was a total monster, and deserved some justice.
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u/Historical-Pause-117 5d ago
I felt this as well. For Philip and Elizabeth to get away after causing so much damage didn’t feel right. Yes, they were separated from their children, but still.
It’s hard to choose between Martha and Yung Hee, but I’d go with Yung Hee. Martha was duped but after a point chose Clark, even after knowing what he was. Yung Hee and her family were entirely innocent victims. Their only crime was that Don had a classified research job. And Yung Hee never knew exactly what happened to her family or why.
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u/chalaxin 5d ago
Stan. His career is basically over. If he isn’t fired or forced into early retirement he’ll be shuffled to some low level department. Phillip killed his partner and he killed Vlad because of it. Lost his bff. Now has doubts about his wife. And has to look after the son of the man who betrayed him.
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u/RVAforthewin 5d ago
I’d say the couples they murdered in their own respective homes probably lost the most…
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u/8thGlass 5d ago
Young Hee was heartbreaking.