The Americans - Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep? - Review: "Ignorance is Bliss"

     Previously on The Americans: Stan is working with Oleg to prove that a recent Soviet defector is a spy, Paige's recruitment is a slow moving, but excellently suspenseful process, the FBI found the bug in Gaad's office, and Martha knows something is up with Clark.

     The first time I ever heard the phrase "Ignorance is bliss" was from Cypher in The Matrix. Explaining that he was bored with the real world, Cypher wished to remain in the matrix, completely ignorant of the real world. While the phrase itself is simple enough, the meaning behind the phrase is a great moral dilemma. To turn a blind eye is to deny reality, but it has the added benefit of preserving one's own happiness. In the last episode of The Americans, Martha decided that, instead of fessing up to her crimes and blatant stupidity, she would rather remain in the matrix. As convenient as this may seem for the show's longevity, it makes complete and total sense for Martha. She has spent the last few seasons ignoring the oddities of Clark and now when her common sense has finally kicked in, she decides to maintain whatever happiness is possible in her false reality. Clark and Martha's first dinner after Martha's breakdown was surprisingly blunt. Clark puts on the show for Martha and she feeds him FBI information in return for perpetuating her fantasy. It's all really quite depressing when you think about it, but it makes for fantastic drama. It looks like Martha will be around for awhile after all.

     This episode also featured quite possibly the most sickening death in the show's history. Surpassing even last week's burning alive and this week's botched murder by Hans, the forced suicide of late working accountant Betty (Lois Smith) was painful to watch. On top of the obvious sadness involved in watching the poor woman slowly die, I found myself uninterested in the overall scene. I didn't find the effect of Betty's death particularly enlightening for our central characters because they have reluctantly killed people before. In spite of the excellent acting, I found that it simply wasted a large amount of Phillip and Elizabeth's time, almost as if the writers were stalling. What could they possible be stalling for? We'll have to see in next week's episode.

     In other news, Stan and Oleg's team up continued quite well in this episode. Ruling out Zinaida as a Soviet spy was an important step for Stan as he continues to grasp for straws in everything that he does. For once, Stan has something in his life that is moving even slower than his boring love life. I'm still not completely convinced of Zinaida's innocence myself, but in the event that Zinaida is completely clear, Stan is really looking quite stupid. His off-the-books investigation is backed up with zero evidence and he seems to simply be unable to let it go (Yes, Frozen fans I hear you). If more information is introduced that points the finger at Zinaida's guilt, this could end up being a bit more interesting, but in the meantime, it's just not all that compelling. To summarize, Stan is either the most intuitive FBI agent of all time (unlikely considering his neighbors are KGB spies) or he is the biggest idiot of all time. One has to wonder where the writers could possibly be taking him next time.

     My favorite parts of this episode were Gabriel's talks with Phillip and Elizabeth. Phillip seems to have lost any and all respect that he ever had for Gabriel. While Gabriel was first welcomed back with open arms, Phillip is not blind to Gabriel's brainwashing and their confrontation at the end of this episode was good proof. I've really enjoyed Gabriel as a character so I hope that he stays through next year, but something tells me that Gabriel's time on The Americans is going to be somewhat limited. His slow working manipulations have not set well with Phillip and depending on how Paige's development as a spy goes, Gabriel could find himself on the wrong end of a gun.

8.9/10 - Tying last week's score, episode nine did not feature any major changes to the overall story, but did provide an entertaining hour. With Martha's suspicions confirmed, but set aside, we should have some time for Paige's recruitment to come back to the forefront of the story in episode ten.

About the Author - Brandon Rowe

Brandon is a Computer Science major at Fresno State University and has been a SpoilerTV writer since his sophomore year in high school. He enjoys watching an extreme amount of television and movies and is currently reviewing The Americans, Falling Skies, and True Detective. Brandon also managed the "In the Hot Seat" competition here on SpoilerTV in 2012 and is planning on doing it again in early 2015. Feel free to use the Facebook, Twitter, or G+ links below to contact him.

Recent Articles by Brandon Rowe (All Articles by Brandon Rowe)