The Americans Review: Munchkins (Season 4 Episode 10)
On The Americans, “Munchkins,” Alice walks into the Jennings’ home with so much purpose and determination, it’s clear she’s not there for a slice of cheesecake.
Okay, let me just say Alice has some serious ovaries. She walks into the Jennings’ home, yells at the top of her lungs that she knows they’re spies, and refuses to lower her voice when Philip asks her to. All brave, but bad, moves, Alice.
The Jennings’ don’t play around when it comes to their children. It’s such a testament to how well they play the parts of Philip and Elizabeth that people keep underestimating them. If Alice knows what they really do, she should know she doesn’t know what they’re capable of.
Piss them off, dear Alice, and you’re going to end up dead. Elizabeth might show you some mercy because you’re pregnant. Maybe.
Alice may dress like your weird seventh grade art teacher but I’ll give her one thing: she’s smart. The tape is her insurance policy. I probably wouldn’t have thought that far ahead.
I admire Alice’s boldness but recklessness and boldness are a bad combination. You can’t play a player. The chances of Alice outwitting the Jennings’ are slim to none and slim just left town.
I don’t believe Elizabeth feels any sympathy for Alice’s situation. Philip probably does but not Elizabeth. The Jennings’ lives were almost destroyed because of Pastor Tim. Why wouldn’t Elizabeth want him to disappear in another country, never to be seen or heard from again?
I don’t know how realistic it is that Paige would put all this together. Sure, Paige doesn’t trust her parents now that she knows they’ve been lying to her all her life but it’s a completely different animal to accuse them of kidnapping her pastor.
Also, how ungrateful can Paige be?! A woman you haven’t known that long threatens to reveal your parents’ true identities to the government and your first instinct is to side with her?!
If your parents get arrested, you and your brother are going to end up in foster care, Paige. A spoiled brat like you isn’t going to do well in the system.
My, my, my, Paige is becoming a little Elizabeth. When she looks around awkwardly as Alice sobs on her shoulder, you can see the deception in her eyes. She thinks she is so morally superior to her parents but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Elizabeth told Paige to spy on Pastor Tim and his wife and keep them happy and she’s doing just that. Paige could grow up to be an even better spy than Elizabeth.
But more importantly, has Paige lost her mind?! If I had spoken to my mother like that, she would’ve slapped the taste out of my mouth.
This scene of The Americans is really well written. It is classic teenage behavior to be indignant about the possible consequences of a problem you caused.
While we’re discussing Paige, cluing her into the Jennings’ spy activities creates a more interesting family dynamic for the viewer and is the natural evolution of the Jennings family, but it’s not smart.
Paige has already proven she can’t be trusted. I know Elizabeth and Philip are at a point where they can’t turn back but bringing Paige even further into the fold just makes their residence in America more perilous.
Gabriel: Your feelings matter.
Elizabeth: No they don’t. Well, they shouldn’t.
I love the last scene of “Munchkins” between Elizabeth and Gabriel because it displays the war that must go on inside covert spies all the time: in many situations, what you want to do and what you have to do are not the same thing.
Other random thoughts:
- Is it true that Ethiopia was once controlled by Russia? I know I could Google it but I’d much rather ask all of you.
- Okay, am I seriously watching “Patty” just laugh it up at Yung Hee’s house like she didn’t just fake sleep with her husband?! That is so deceitful on both “Patty’s” and Don’s parts. In a way, I guess it’s good Don didn’t come clean because nothing actually happened but he doesn’t know that!
- “Does she really think we’d be so stupid as to leave Alice,” Elizabeth says. See? I told you she wouldn’t hesitate to kill a pregnant woman.
- Why does Elizabeth have to do everything? She cooks, she cleans, she’s the disciplinarian. All on top of being a spy. Start pulling your weight, Philip!
- What a stupid way for Agent Gad to die. Falling through a glass door? It would have been so much more exciting if they had just come in and shot him in the head.
What did you think of this episode of The Americans? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Americans airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.
Sheena Bosket
Sheena is an attorney, writer, and Black feminist living and working in Atlanta. She can be found searching for an opportunity to date Jake Gyllenhaal and renovating her condo in Shondaland. She watches all of the Real Housewives franchises, and she's not ashamed. Sheena also occasionally writes about pop culture, politics, and feminism for Donatidaily.com.