MovieChat Forums > The Americans (2013) Discussion > Elizabeth and the Korean family

Elizabeth and the Korean family

posted 8 years ago by ravmeltt
8 replies | jump to latest

I'm at a loss. Why did Elizabeth drug the Korean man whose wife she befriended, and what was the real purpose of her befriending the woman? The woman seemed really nice, and I hate what Elizabeth did to the husband. If I had any liking for Elizabeth, it's completely gone. And she had the audacity to look sad and to tell Phillip that she's going to miss her. Why did she do it then. She still got nothing from him as far as I could see. All she did was ruin a friendship (false one though it is) and ruin a beautiful marriage. I despise her now. (I've only just finished episode 9 of Season 4 so maybe episode 10 will explain further, but right now I'm roaring mad).

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Teenage love affairs are about intensity, not longevity

[–] sarah-103 8 years ago

Elizabeth was using the Korean woman to get to her husband. He had access to information regarding the bio-weapon they were trying to steal. Elizabeth did what she did because she was ordered to. She was a spy carrying out her mission.

"Forget reality, give me a picture"-Remington Steele

[–] ravmeltt 8 years ago

Thanks Sarah. I guess dislike might be too strong a term, but I was getting pretty annoyed. I found the Korean lady was so nice to her. I can never take on a job where I am to deliberately hurt other people, no matter how much money is paid, or if it's for the government or country.

I guess I could never be a spy. lol

Teenage love affairs are about intensity, not longevity

[–] !!!deleted!!! (61459344) 8 years ago

I can never take on a job where I am to deliberately hurt other people, no matter how much money is paid, or if it's for the government or country.

At that time in Russia, you didn't have a choice in what you did for a living - the state decided for you. If you didn't comply, you would either end up in a Siberian prison camp or with a bullet in your head.

They would have been recruited and fed propaganda as teenagers. Once they were in America, there was always the threat of hurting their families, if they didn't comply or defected.

[–] orbert-87268 8 years ago

Elizabeth really was sad. During her time "pretending" to be Young Hee's friend, she developed a real friendship with her. They talked, went to movies together, had dinner together, and Elizabeth realized that she didn't have any real friends. With Emmett and Leanne gone, the closest thing she had was Young Hee. We don't know what the other options were, but after speaking with "The Centre" Philip told Elizabeth that there was no other way. Gabriel even asked her if she really wanted to go through with it. She did, because Elizabeth still places duty to country above her personal feelings, but she was genuinely sad to do this to Don and Young Hee.

Most of Philip's marks seem to be of the "long con" variety. Elizabeth's seem to be more one-nighters to get info, that sort of thing. She worked Don and Young Hee for over seven months, and got attached to them.

[–] forksforrests 8 years ago

Yeah, I despise her for what she did to that poor family.

But honestly, how could there not be another play to get at the code?? It seems so extra to drug him, fake an affair, drive a wedge in the marriage, then fake a pregnancy, and have a suicide attempt to top it off.

Just to get into the room and copy his computer disk. Was there really no other story to fabricate to get into that space, which wasn't as elaborate and crazy deceptive.

A rose is just a rose.

[–] balthazar_bee 8 years ago

The genius (if convoluted genius) of the plan is that it makes the husband a party to "the secret". He is so mortified, so anxious to hide the shame of his "affair" that he doesn't even consider that something else might be afoot. And the older couple in his office, well, he can't explain who they are without compromising himself big time.

And really, if you're trying to accomplish two things -- (i) get the info + (ii) cover your tracks -- the scenario kind of has to be this convoluted, otherwise dupes like the husband will figure it out. The second goal is just as important as the first, because if it's treated sloppily, it's yet another potential thread leading back to the Jennings.

The entire Young-Hee subplot was really terrific, not just because it introduced such a wonderful character, and not just because it gave Elizabeth some of the best character moments of the entire series, but because it allowed Skeezy Philip to unleash a look that can only be described as "unbearably withering" when confronting Young-Hee's husband. For such an uncomfortable scene, the look on Phil's face was surprisingly hilarious. Like, he's torn between disbelief, mortification and fury.

[–] MyNamesParadise 8 years ago

Great post!!! But omg I LOVED THAT look on Phillips face!!!

[–] churchr-1 7 years ago

The trickiest part was that they were after information, passwords and access keys, that could be changed in moments and all their work would be for nothing. I thought it was a perfect plan, espionage wise. But damaging to Elizabeth.