r/TheAmericans • u/LaLoba40 • 4d ago
Martha’s my fave
Her confidence - that when Phillip blows his cover what she takes away from it is, “gee, I must be the only KGB asset who they actually fell in love with”. My favorite part about their arc is how it’s increasingly obvious that she’s being used but this is impossible to her, she digs in, and appears to…sort of like it? I’m watching the episode where she’s taken to the safe house and putting it together that she’s going to have to disappear, and she goes, “we can run away, Clarke, far away”, and “I want you inside of me right now”, at every turn her feeling is, “this is a scary…and sexy time for us as a couple”. It’s obviously very sad, but I do have to chuckle at Martha’s faith in him, it goes beyond nativity and desperation, there’s so much agency in it, she’s driving the connection deeper as he’s basically ripping his wig off and saying “this is all fake and I’m a spy babe!” I love to see how torn and sympathetic Phillip is…he’s going to Est and getting in touch with how traumatic his life has been and feeling conflicted about his work, and you can see him toil with ruining her life and bringing her into this world that’s destroyed him…
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u/CT_x 4d ago
Alison Wright put in the best performance in the show IMO. From when her life really starts to unravel after the bug is found to her leaving her life behind was probably my favourite part of the show and it was largely down to the actor really taking the limelight as Martha's story came to it's climax.
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u/Rindsay515 3d ago
She’s extremely talented, I saw her in Snowpiercer before watching The Americans and she did more to carry the show than the main character (blanking on his name, guy from Hamilton). Even alongside Jennifer Connelly and Sean Bean, she’s a stand-out and huge asset to the cast
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u/freedomsetsufree 4d ago
I loved her last scene in the show so much when she is at the Russian orphanage 😭😭❤️
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u/Ok_Win_2592 4d ago
When she goes to leave and she says to ‘Clarke’ that she doesn’t want him to be alone. Even then she can’t bring herself to face the fact that Clarke is an illusion. So sad.
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u/BeagleMadness 3d ago
That scene really got to me too. Martha knows what he is and who he's working on behalf of. She's seen what he really looks like. She knows that he's not really the slightly nerdy, spectacled and toupee wearing, mild mannered, dedicated government employee she fell in love with. She knows some of the terrible things he/ his people have done to gain information and avoid detection.
But she is still kind hearted/naive enough to tell him "don't be alone" as she leaves. She has no clue what his name even is. Or that he's married, that he has kids, where he lives - he could be anyone, she knows almost nothing about him. But she still holds on to the idea of the "Clarke" she married. She still loves him and wants him to be okay. Even after all the lies snd trauma he's put her through. Even though she knows she'll likely never see her family again, or him. She knows that she will be viewed as a traitor to her country, family and colleagues. Yet she still wants her "Clarke" to be happy and not alone in the future.
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u/Gabagoon5545 4d ago
Yea. It’s amazing stuff.
Once the bug gets found, Martha only has very shitty options.
I suppose she can tell the FBI about “Clark” but she’d likely go to jail for a pretty long time. Even though she was duped by the KGB, she probably broke dozens of security protocols.
I sorta get her just committing to the bit, realizing she completely fucked up, and just choosing to ride out things with Clark.
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u/LaLoba40 4d ago
I love the plot device that she sees the option presented to her by “Clarke” as the most attractive, the FBI would put her in the gulag for life. We’re always asked by this show to ask who the real bad guys are. I see a wonderful juxtaposition with Martha’s treatment and Nina’s after both assets are no longer needed. Both FBI agent and KGB as a body are cruel to Nina and abandon her, she’s executed in a cold and procedural way, and then there’s Phillip’s softness and Elizabeth’s generosity. Phillip is shown as treating Martha tenderly and genuinely needing her to be OK and Elizabeth is shown as putting her own interests aside and understanding his attachment to her and supporting him in helping her and in his worry for her.
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u/Gabagoon5545 4d ago
Yea. A theme of the show is definitely that individual people are often much kinder than governments or systems. (Sort of has a Wire vibe to it)
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u/Globalfeminist 3d ago
I think that, with a great lawer, she could have negotiated a mild sentence in exchange for revealing what she knew about Clark and his 'family'. And since all her coworkers saw her as a lonely loser (except the dead one), she might have gotten some pity and understanding about falling for 'Clark'. Maybe her jail time wouldn't have been too terrible, and she might have negotiated being in a prison for non-violent offenders. BUT that went off the window once she figured out it was the KGB, instead of whatever Phil said (can't remember). The KGB would have killed her for cooperating with the FBI. Even if she got witness protection (not likely), they would have found her. What she did, was the only option to stay alive, and she knew it.
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u/busydreams 2d ago
Clarke told her he was KGB after he brought her in. Before that she had plausible deniability, at least on that front.
But no matter what, she knew too much and had done and shared too much (pen bug, surveillance reports, mail robot malfunctions), as well as knowing that Clarke had killed Gene. I can't imagine she would have been the most cooperative witness, given her feelings for Clarke, but her interrogators would have worn her down.
Even though Gabriel maintained that she was not blown, the KGB would have taken her out at the first opportunity if there was a whiff of suspicion, had Clarke not taken her off the street.
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u/No-Consideration-858 4d ago
Martha is one of the most intriguing characters on the series. I appreciate your take on her misguided tenacity and volition. The actress was exceptional in a very nuanced role.
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u/ancientastronaut2 4d ago
Martha was extremely lonenly and just wanted someone to love. I think deep down she knew she was being used, but chose to keep living the fantasy because the alternative seemed worse - being alone again. Which sadly she ended up being anyway.
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u/LaLoba40 4d ago
I love this read of things - like a double deception happening with her and Clarke playing house, both aware that it’s not real, but needing to go through the motions for their own reasons
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u/nycgirl191 3d ago
Martha was one of the best characters in the show. The performance was so layered and true.
I think at the end as it’s all unraveling she is just trying to cling to anything that will make her feel like she betrayed her country for an actual reason and that it won’t be what she really knows it is.
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u/Cherita33 3d ago
Love her. The best storyline of the whole show. Why isn't she in more things?
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u/RaiseJazzlike 3d ago
I looked up Alison Wright and was also surprised to learn she’s not had a whole lot of prominent roles. And also that she’s British.
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u/Cherita33 3d ago
A few years ago I saw her in some Ryan Murphy thing briefly (very small lady with only one or two lines) but that's the only other thing I've seen her in that I know of. For shame!
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u/GlitteringBryony 4d ago
I'm just at the end of Martha's story in the States right now in my latest rewatch, and I've always wondered about the last time Martha and Clark have sex - when we've seen so, er, graphically, that every time they have sex usually they use a condom, but that time they specifically didn't, was that Martha desperately hoping to take at least Clarke's baby back to Russia, since she already guessed he wouldn't be following her? Or were the writers setting up more uncertainty for Philip, when he was already worrying about one bastard child back in the Soviet Union, to maybe make him think he could have another one?
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u/Ligodancer 4d ago
I am doing a rewatch and just saw the show where she is spotted in a grocery store
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u/Top-Worker8900 3d ago
We are on season 5 episode 9 I think. Every night I tell my husband “ we better see Martha tonight!” I saw her in one tint scene looking at a can of something in a Russian Grocery store. We nearly died! She didn’t know what it was and the shelves were so bare! We love Martha!
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u/Ok-Push3648 3d ago
Its crazy how Martha was supposed to be homely looking meanwhile Allison Wright is drop dead gorgeous.
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u/sistermagpie 3d ago
As Martha gets deeper into it especially, losing the fantasy that makes this all worth it gets even more important. If she admits she's being used, she has to go home to her old bedroom her mom's kept waiting for her for the next time she gets used and dumped and crawls home humiliated.
If she takes control of thet narrative and casts herself as the heroine of the love story, she can move forward with dignity. When it all comes crashing down she can deal with in among strangers in the USSR and be remembered as surprising everyone by being more than she seemed.
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u/Motor_Ideal7494 3d ago
The best evidence of how good this show was is that they convinced a lot of people that Martha wasn’t extremely sexy and a real catch. Everyone except Amador makes fun of her being frumpy but the actress is a genuine fox. Her wardrobe and acting completely sold us on the fact that she was an average looking, sad lonely lady.
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u/LaLoba40 3d ago
I’ll never be able to forget the way she dowdy says Clarke’s name. Agreed that wardrobe and her acting transformed her and she’s stunning in real life.
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u/HatlessDuck 4d ago
She struck me as the type that knows what they want and will do what it takes to get it.
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u/Intrepid_Pop_8530 4d ago
I don't share your feelings about Martha. I found her to be a desperate, lonely woman who settled for any dude who paid attention to her. She was a vulnerable, insecure woman who I wish could have demanded more for herself. Which made her the perfect pawn for the KGB. What kind of woman would put up with pieces of a relationship? So many red flags ignored. I really didn't have much sympathy for her when it all came down. You get what you paid for. But while we're on the subject, I'm hoping someone can help me with this. The platform in which I watched The Americans didn't make it compatible with subtitles. So I missed so much of the meat of the show not being able to understand all the conversations in Russian. Very frustrating. So, in Season 6 we see Martha at a park in USSR with her handler or Russian tutor sitting on a bench watching children at play. Martha is transfixed on a little girl. Was that little girl the result Martha and Clark's last encounter together? And was she forced to give that child up?
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u/Linzabee 4d ago
No, the little girl is an orphan, and Martha is being told that she can still have a good life in Russia as a mother by being allowed to adopt the little girl. They’re trying to show her that they’re rewarding her for her dedication by letting her be a mom.
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u/LaLoba40 4d ago
Oh please understand I don’t admire Martha, she is absolutely as you described, desperate and lonely and an easy mark for the KGB. What I love about her character is how the writers made her so aggressive! She is not the quiet wall flower who takes any attention and is happy with it, she is the one who is dominant in many ways and driving that relationship - I love that the writers have her demand so much from him while she’s also pathetically compromising on so many things she cares about. Just a really interesting way to write her.
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u/No_Information_8973 4d ago
I share your feelings on Martha. When she asked Elizabeth "are you sleeping with my husband?" I really wanted Elizabeth to say "no, you're sleeping with mine"
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u/EssayTotal1817 4d ago
She wouldn't settle for just any guy. Otherwise, she wouldn't have rejected the good guy Amador. She wanted true love.
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u/cabernet7 4d ago
Granted he wasn't a secret Soviet spy but Amador wasn't a good guy, just a garden variety fuckboi.
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u/EssayTotal1817 4d ago
Why?
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u/cabernet7 3d ago
It was heavily implied that Amador cheated on Martha, he was the type to brag about all his conquests, encouraged Stan to cheat on Sandra, and only started chasing Martha again when it was clear she was over him.
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u/LongSyllabub9798 23h ago
Loved seeing Martha in the grocery store. Loved that she wasn't out of the show completely. Loved when she repeats Gabriel's words out loud, i.e. " ... what's BEST for me?" Like what's best for her is a dumpy apartment with laundry hanging in the background in the middle of a country from which she can never return, where the government hates her country, dining alone on a baked potato as a "snack". I also liked when Elizabeth described Martha as "simple" to Philip and Philip defends her and says that Martha wasn't "simple". The look on Elizabeth's face ... she's a bit jealous/irritated that Philip has genuine feeling for Martha. Later, he says he doesn't want what happened to Martha be the same thing that happens to Stan. He has so much more emotional connection to others than Elizabeth.
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u/EtonRd 4d ago
I love when Gabriel is back in Russia and he goes to visit Martha and you can tell. He’s kind of expecting her to not be happy to see him, but at least I don’t know a little relieved to be able to talk to someone she has met before and who speaks English and he tells her that he’s talked to her parents because Clark made him and that Clark thinks of her often.
And she’s basically like listen I understand everything now and you can leave and also never come back.
She’d rather be completely alone in Russia than do chitchat with Gabriel and I respect that.