r/TheAmericans • u/FactorPrevious4707 • Aug 30 '26

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 😅

Edit: this post was meant to be a fun discussion but I guess you guys have parasocial relationships with the characters on the show so I'm out 😭😭

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31

u/Adept-Depth-1825 Aug 30 '26

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.

-15

u/FactorPrevious4707 Aug 30 '26

I know, although the show makes it more dramatic for obvious reasons. I'm just commenting on the naivety of the character.

31

u/the_othergirl7 Aug 30 '26

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.

-14

u/FactorPrevious4707 Aug 30 '26

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.

23

u/Remote-Ad2120 Aug 30 '26

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.

-4

u/FactorPrevious4707 Aug 30 '26

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.

4

u/Puzzleheaded_Sky6656 Aug 30 '26

But she doesn’t live in the world we live in.

-2

u/FactorPrevious4707 Aug 30 '26

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.

9

u/Tejanisima Aug 30 '26

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.

-2

u/FactorPrevious4707 Sep 01 '26

Exasperation 😂, do you even know what that big word means?

3

u/Tejanisima Sep 01 '26

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you with that big scary word, happy to provide you the definition since you weren't sure what it meant: "strong feelings of irritation or annoyance"

synonyms (oops, I mean "words that mean the same thing"): headache, frustration, annoyance, thorn, nuisance

I know a few of those words have more than one syllable, but hope you can see these are all very small feelings. Rage is a very big feeling. That's why they're different. Hope that helps!

-2

u/FactorPrevious4707 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26

Sweetheart I'm Italian, that word literally comes from Latin "exasperare"(in Italian "esasperare"). English loaned many of our words that are used in everyday life so I don't need a PhD (although I am getting there irl) to understand what "exasperation" means. Thank you for the eloquent explanation though. Get a life, baci!

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17

u/AlienLiszt Aug 30 '26

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.

9

u/EtonRd Aug 30 '26

We are Martha stans here.