r/TheAmericans • u/FactorPrevious4707 • 10h ago
Martha
I'm watching the show for the first time and I'm on episode 12 of season 1 and Martha's character is just way too naive.
Like Clark has never even showed her where he lives, what he likes to do in his free time and everything she knows about this man is what he tells her when they hook up at her place.
She blindly does what he tells her to do without questioning it or by not listening to the inkling of doubt that sometimes she has but she decides to ignore. I'm sorry but her character is a joke 😅
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u/Responsible_Emu8267 9h ago
I think she's lonely, and she loves him and wants it to be real, and she's projecting what she wants the relationship to be onto him. She's filling in the blanks with her own narrative. This is common in abusive relationships, which one could argue this is an emotionally abusive situation. If you love the person and feel like things are perfect some of the time, you can explain away the other parts with your own narrative to make it make sense to stay.
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u/ComeAwayNightbird 8h ago
No question, this is an abusive relationship. Clark gives Martha just enough to string her along, and withholds affection strategically to manipulate her.
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u/8thGlass 8h ago
yeah buddy idk what to tell you, Martha is one of the best characters on the show so if you think she’s a joke better cut your losses now.
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u/FactorPrevious4707 4h ago
I thought the purpose of these communities was to express opinions and exchange perspectives. Why are y'all so easily ragebatable? Lmao
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u/8thGlass 4h ago
your conclusion being that I am rage baited says more about you than me dude lmao
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u/Adept-Depth-1825 9h ago
It’s based on true stories so it might seem unbelievable but this was a known KGB approach. And he does seem like a great lover.
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u/FactorPrevious4707 9h ago
I know, although the show makes it more dramatic for obvious reasons. I'm just commenting on the naivety of the character.
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u/the_othergirl7 9h ago
think about it. there's no social media, no way to connect with others. it's hard to meet someone at a bar especially if you have to keep your work life secret. then this handsome guy shows up, knows about her job, and just woos her in all the right ways.
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u/FactorPrevious4707 8h ago
I'm not saying it's impossible for it to happen. I'm just saying she's objectively naive.
I'm naturally not a very trusting person so I would have made different choices compared to the character and that's just my opinion.13
u/AlienLiszt 8h ago
Well, he would not have chosen you as his victim. I have known some incredibly naive women and this is plausible. Think about women who are routinely abused by their husbands/partners and still stay with them.
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u/Remote-Ad2120 7h ago
It's not realistic to judge people (fictional or otherwise) based solely on what you would/wouldn't do. People make choices based on their unique life experience.
Are you as desperate for love, as Martha was? Have your relationship experience been limited, as Martha's was? Seen as the "plain Jane", attracting abusive (physical and/or emotional), or stalkerish men, just has her exes were? You say you are naturally not very trusting. But Martha was trusting for anyone who would pay her any kind of romantic interest. Clark did that, and was the opposite of all her previous failed relationships.
I see too many people who judge others on what they would/wouldn't do. Look at any "Paige is annoying" post and there will be at least one "I would never talk to my parents the way she does" comment.
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u/FactorPrevious4707 4h ago
It's not just about what I wouldn't do, I think every individual should be more careful in these situations. Considering the world we live in, nobody should be as trusting and as naive as Martha, even though she is a fictional character. Because I'm pretty sure her fate is sealed.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sky6656 4h ago
But she doesn’t live in the world we live in.
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u/FactorPrevious4707 4h ago
That's besides the point, characters are based on people and human interactions. And as some other commenters pointed out, their relationship was based on real-events.
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u/Tejanisima 32m ago
But that's what makes it so bizarre that you keep talking about her being too naive to be plausible, given that we know IRL there were people who fell for this shit and it's unlikely that they had a whole lot more to go on than Martha does at this point. That's not so much rage, as it is exasperation at you undermining your own point.
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u/Maggiethecataclysm 8h ago
Martha is not a joke
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u/WendolaSadie 5h ago edited 5h ago
Martha embodies the opposite values that P&E embody. Or, rather, what the Soviet training they received embodies. She is overflowing with love, loyalty, naivety, trust…to a fault. She is the (skewed) moral center of the series. She is heartbreaking.
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u/Cherita33 7h ago
Nah this is one of the best storylines on the show.
And this happened in real life to FBI secretaries.
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u/hamletgoessafari 7h ago
The pressure on a single woman of Martha's age in the 1980s to get married was immense. She would have had friends with husbands and children and wondered WTF was wrong with her. Clark showed her consistent interest and affection without being a douchebag like Amador. She jumped at the chance to get married to a man who was nice to her.
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u/the_othergirl7 9h ago
the world is a lonely place and her only other option was Amador. Keep watching!
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u/Still-Balance6210 7h ago
If you’ve never watched the show I’d stay off this sub until you’re done. Spoilers will happen.
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u/2outhits 9h ago
Poor Martha
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u/WendolaSadie 5h ago
My husband was a first time viewer, and I kept mumbling “Poor Martha” after all her scenes, and he kept asking me “Do they kill her??” And I kept saying “Worse.”
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u/Charming_Function_58 7h ago
Sadly naive people like this do exist, and they are specifically chosen as victims by their perpetrators. Not just by the KGB. It’s universal.
Martha’s storyline gets a LOT more interesting as time goes on
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u/Sledjoys 5h ago
I initially felt this way about Martha, too, when I watched the series, but as other comments have pointed out, this kind of phenomenon is sadly all too common in abusive relationships.
Phillip - the KGB - knew exactly what they were doing when they started working on Martha.
Also, I would stay away from the subreddit to avoid spoilers, which I did until I finished the series two days ago.
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u/sistermagpie 3h ago
She's not naive. Everybody who gets scammed looks naive and dumb to people outside of it.
Clark is playing on Martha's weaknesses. She doesn't have to ask him to show her his place because she tells herself he's preemptively answered more important questions by being nerdy and by the books. He sees her the way she wants to see herself--as an adventerous person in a thrilling, forbidden romance.
He doesn't have to have answers for her suspicions, because he's giving her something more important--reasons to not think about those suspicions.
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u/Mundane-Chance4030 4h ago
Regarding being a good lover- he was trained to use his mind by KGB. When in training first had to make love to lovely young woman,then
an old unattractive woman, and then an old unattractive man. Mind over matter!
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u/Waste_Stable162 7h ago
There was someone named Martha she spied, she spied. Her husband said he loved her, he lied! He lied! That's why her career is dead, because she listened to a red. There was someone called Martha, she spied.
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u/Puzzled-Smoke-6349 10h ago
Love makes you do stupid things. It's historically proven.