‘The Americans’ on FX: Elizabeth Jennings Is The #MeToo Warrior of our Fantasies

When The Americans first debuted in 2013, there was something both equally frightening and fascinating about Keri Russell‘s ruthless Russian-agent-posing-as-an-American, Elizabeth Jennings. Here was a woman who appeared to be free of anything resembling fear or moral anguish, which allowed her to carry out regularly lethal missions without remorse. Who could forget the time she stoically walked away after crushing an innocent man beneath his car? Or executing a Pakistani intelligence agent with ninja-like aplomb in a swimming pool? And then there will always be poor Betty, forced to down her own bottle of heart medication while an aloof Elizabeth patiently watched until the elderly bookkeeper drew her last breath.

To be sure, this cold-hearted behavior doesn’t exactly make her the most likable character on TV, but due to a wise decision on the part of series creator and co-showrunner Joe Weisberg, viewers understood early on why Elizabeth was so disconnected from her feelings. In the pilot episode of the 1980s-set drama, which Weisberg wrote, a flashback reveals that Russell’s young KGB recruit character – then known as Nadezhda – was raped by one of her male superiors.

Elizabeth’s sexual assault took place in the Soviet Union in 1960. That, compounded with her series-long skepticism toward her fellow KGB-agent-posing-as-an-American husband Philip’s devotion to EST seminars, it’s safe to say Elizabeth never sought out any therapy for her trauma. Sure, Philip (Matthew Rhys) ultimately killed her rapist in the pilot, but that doesn’t mean Elizabeth isn’t still suffering in silence.

If anything, Elizabeth’s long-dormant emotional scars are just now bubbling up to the surface in the Americans’ sixth and final season. In “Dead Hand,” Elizabeth killed a creepy naval security guard who got a little aggressive with her daughter, Paige (Holly Taylor).

Because production on “Dead Hand” wrapped in mid-November, which is more than a month after The New York Times broke its story on Harvey Weinstein, but before the sexual harassment allegations against Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, it’s unlikely this narrative decision was in direct response to the news headlines. But given the rise of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, it is impossible to ignore the significance of Elizabeth’s actions here.

Now, this isn’t the first time Elizabeth unleashed her murderous mama bear tendencies. There was that moment in season 4 when she killed a mugger in the name of Paige’s safety. By this point in the story, the American-born teen knew her parents were Russian spies, but this was her unplanned, and disturbing, lesson in just how easily Mom could snuff out a person’s life.

However, now that Paige is a college student and a trainee in her mother’s spying missions – the series has jumped ahead three years from 1984 to 1987 – she is more prone to sexual harassment incidents like the one in the Season 6 premiere: One night, while she was sitting quietly in her car awaiting her next surveillance-duty shift, the aforementioned Navy dude approached her window and demanded two forms of ID – and her phone number (yeah, real smooth there, bro). Paige complied with her prepared fake documents, but none of her smiles or coy retorts could persuade this arrogant seaman to return one of the ID cards – unless the junior spy met him for a Saturday night date.

The entire scene, especially given the news cycle of late, will make your skin crawl. Not to mention the fact that this guy now has a photograph of Paige on his person, which could potentially jeopardize everyone’s cover. But it’s what happened next that turned Elizabeth into the latest, however unintentional, symbol of #MeToo/#TimesUp.

After Paige confided to her mother about the incident, an in-disguise Elizabeth subsequently tracked her daughter’s predator down – and murdered him in cold blood. Despite Elizabeth assuring Paige that she did everything right in warding off the pushy sailor, even handing over her ID, it is quite possible that the veteran KGB officer did have to eliminate him for their own protection. But that aspect almost seems secondary to what really resonates from Elizabeth’s most recent killing.

As a highly trained spy – and as a fictional character on a TV show – Elizabeth has the power to do things that ordinary women can’t. So, since killing and/or physically assaulting all of the harassers who have violated us or our children is both counter-productive and illegal, the Americans protagonist has become the no-regrets warrior of our fantasies.

Although I am in no way endorsing such vindictive behavior in real life, there is something deeply satisfying about watching someone like Elizabeth in action, whether it’s beating the crap out of her rapist, Nikolai Timoshev (David Vadim), in the pilot, or slashing the throat of a skeevy mugger in a desolate parking lot – or stabbing an obnoxious security guard in the neck. Considering what she went through with her own sexual assault, she has now proved twice that she will do whatever it takes to ensure that Paige will never experience the level of vulnerability that she did nearly 30 years earlier.

Who wouldn’t want a mother like that?

Sarene Leeds is a television and pop culture journalist who has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Vulture and EW.com. A British drama enthusiast, she is always up for a good binge-watch of Call the Midwife or Outlander. She lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband and daughter. Follow her on Twitter @SareneLeeds.

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