The AppleTV+ surrealist comedy-drama series, Government Cheese, has made it very obvious in the last few episodes that it wholeheartedly intends to tell stories of human emotions and feelings through unrealistic and bizarre situations, almost using them as parables. This week’s episode 7 continues on the same lines, although the focus has completely shifted to Hampton’s wife, Astoria, as we follow her actions on the day that her husband and son head off for the supposed fishing trip. While Astoria’s story is definitely important and relevant to the show, Government Cheese, it still feels like a forced departure from the robbery plot that has been central to it so far.
Spoiler Alert
What is Astoria’s goal at present?
Government Cheese episode 7, begins a day before the events of episode 6, when Hampton brought his family together to take photographs with the camera he had borrowed from Einstein. He is seen making Astoria laugh, something that he would be quite proud of later on, and the woman is genuinely in a good mood. Astoria obviously did not like the fact that their son, Harrison, had developed a strong resentment towards his father, and therefore she tried to convince him to give Hampton one more chance. While her own efforts could not bear fruit, her husband had finally managed to convince Harrison on the fishing trip, which she knew would help in strengthening their bond. Moreover, Astoria is particularly happy this morning, because she will be getting the house to herself, which is something she has missed, especially since Hampton’s return from prison.
Thus, once Hampton and Harrison leave, Astoria pulls out a file that contains documents related to her passion project, and in the process also comes across an old violin that she often used to play in the past. Earlier in the series, we had seen Astoria in her workspace, where she was rather frustratedly stuck in a menial job as a receptionist, despite having very different ambitions. Her boss, Mr. Briess, runs an interior design firm, and it was for this particular field that the woman had taken up this job. With a keen interest and passion in interior design from a young age, Astoria had decided to work at Briess’ company to learn and experience more about the field, albeit as a mere receptionist. Her plan was to impress her boss with her own designs and quickly move up positions, but that had unfortunately never happened.
When there was an opening for a new designer at the company back in episode 4, Astoria helped a young woman, Caroline Purdy, select which designs of hers she should be presenting during the interview, also learning about this opening and feeling ambitious herself. Even her friend and colleague, Cynthia, advised her to apply for the job, but Astoria just could not bring herself to do it, out of an innate fear of being rejected and being considered worthless by her boss. She makes an indirect attempt to impress Briess by redecorating a model room in the office, but she was nervous of taking any direct approach. There were substantial reasons for her hesitation as well, for Briess never minces his words, and he also had not been particularly supportive of her. When Astoria had to leave the office on very short notice after being called to Harrison’s school, Briess remarked that he should not have employed women with children, suggesting that they are unable to concentrate on their jobs because of their domestic responsibilities.
Interestingly, Mr. Briess was not as harsh as his usual self with Caroline, most likely because he had a bias towards women with good educational backgrounds and also perhaps of the same race as him. The time period in which Government Cheese is set, in 1969, racial discrimination, and sometimes even segregation, was still a common matter in the United States. It was predominantly because of this inhibition that Briess would reject her ideas and proposal immediately because she was Black, and because she did not attend any fancy college, that Astoria could not apply for the job. However, at present, she has a change of heart and a fresh boost of ambitious energy and so decides to create a design portfolio for herself that will win her boss over.
The idea of her family finally coming back together motivates her to do something about her own professional and also emotional betterment, and therefore Astoria decides to make use of the relatively empty house to get to work. She also pulls out an old tin of coffee, which has housed her secret stash of reefers for some time now, and lights one up both to relax herself and also to bring out her best creative work. However, this is when things start to go wrong, or become bizarre, and Astoria is repeatedly interrupted while putting together her design portfolio.
What is the symbolism behind the woman from the advertisement?
The strange absurdity in Government Cheese episode 7, kicks off quite early on in the episode, as Astoria is startled by the presence of an unknown woman in her house. She soon identifies the woman to be the same person shown on TV advertisements for a coffee company named Kellman’s, and so the strangeness of the situation keeps growing. However, Astoria is not very surprised or taken aback, and she instead has a normal conversation with the woman, who is clearly imaginary, for she has certain thoughts about the Kellman’s advertisement. The TV ad, which is a mirror to the beliefs of society at the time, has a woman making great coffee for her husband and his friends, which is most crucial in how he is perceived at his workplace. The woman states how her making good coffee is directly linked to their matrimonial happiness and clearly suggests that women should essentially stick to keeping their husbands happy.
The imaginary woman from the advertisement appears quite a few times to Astoria, and she tries to convince her to give up on all her dreams and aspirations and instead focus on keeping Hampton happy at all times. Astoria obviously does not pay much heed to this, and she is instantly told that this hesitation to give in to her husband’s well-being is the reason for her unhappiness. When asked, the imaginary woman makes it known how she has been written by a very creative and intelligent man who owns and runs the advertising agency, and it now becomes all the more clear as to why she propagates the messages that she does. Funnily enough, the woman later appears to Astoria once again when she is absolutely heartbroken and aggrieved after her character has been replaced by a different woman in the TV ads, while her husband has been kept the same.
The woman, and Astoria’s conversations with her, symbolize the general opinion about women and their role in society in the late 1960s. Although there was a constant increase in the number of working women in the USA, a significant portion of society, obviously dominated by men, did not want this to happen. Letting a woman achieve financial independence and stability has always been a scary thought for men all over the world, as it often makes it impossible for them to control their wives anymore. The intention of society and the creator of the advertisement is to make women watching television at home remember how their purpose is to serve their husbands, above anything else, and that how good they are at cooking directly affects the respect that their husbands get. It is not only the husband’s prestige that is at stake, but also the happiness of the family, for the boldly sexist ad suggests that the happiness and well-being of men is what keeps a family running, with no thought given to the wives at all.
From the perspective of rational logic, this segment of the episode is a direct effect of not just the reefer that Astoria smokes, but also of the emotional conflicts that are deeply embedded in her character. Despite having her own ambitions and holding much more progressive opinions than most women of her time, Astoria is, after all, a woman living in the 1960s, and so she naturally has certain fears or inhibitions in her with respect to how the female gender should live. It is evident that she had been taught, either by her parents or by society at large, that the purpose of wives is only to serve their husbands and then their children after becoming a mother, with personal ambitions lying very low on the list of priorities.
Astoria has been strongly placing an emphasis on her own mental well-being, which she has made evident to her husband by not readily letting him back into her life. Through this decision, she has wanted to express that her contribution in the family is very important too, but it has also made her quite guilty of herself, driven by the disbalanced standards of society. She internally questions, maybe not always but in her most vulnerable moments, whether she is being a bad woman by doing so, one who deserves the judgmental mockery of others, including characters in TV advertisements. Her insecurities take shape through the Kellman’s coffee ambassador, and when the woman is eventually replaced by someone else in the ad, her grief over the matter is also a symbolic representation of Astoria considering her to be a helpless victim.
How does Martha’s visit help Astoria?
Astoria has two more visitors in this episode, these being real humans instead of imaginary characters, and the first is Hampton’s parole officer, who had earlier told the protagonist that he would visit his house someday. The parole officer puts pressure on Astoria, just like the imaginary woman before, as he states that she should be more loving and accepting towards her husband so that he can reform himself. He mentions that ex-convicts are more prone to returning to a life of crime if they do not get the love and attention of their family, and so he suggests that she serve her husband’s wishes literally to keep him out of trouble. Interestingly enough, the parole officer has failed to save his own marriage, and the unusual behavior of his daughter suggests that the man is completely oblivious of women’s needs and emotions.
The next guest at Astoria’s house, however, has a different effect on her, although she is a bit frustrated by her presence at first. The visitor is her neighbor, Martha, a woman whom she mostly sees doing household chores and trying hard to fit into the typical role of a subservient wife. Although Martha does not really speak out against her husband, she is evidently on the brink of an emotional meltdown, caused by the realization that she has been constantly living life on her husband’s terms. As Astoria starts to warm up to her, Martha not only opens up about her worries but also talks about the similar kind of problems the other women in the neighborhood have been having as well.
This interaction helps Astoria feel connected and one with the women around her, although she is not close or friendly with any of them. Nonetheless, she had always felt a kind of detachment from the other women in the neighborhood, definitely because they were all white and led starkly different lives from her. After learning about their personal woes and frustrations, Astoria understands that their society probably treats all women in an equally miserable manner, and so she can actually reach out to some of them, at least Martha, if she ever needs to. Along with this, the conversation with Martha also makes Astoria realize that she has been on the correct path by not blindly giving herself up simply for the betterment of her husband, and this finally puts her earlier insecurities to rest.
Did Astoria finally get her work done?
At the end of Government Cheese episode 7, Astoria feels quite rejuvenated and motivated after Martha’s visit, and this is also when she stands on the roof of her house and looks out at the makeshift pool Einstein had put together. She suddenly sees a frog near the pool, which strikes a chord in her, and she jumps into the pool from the roof, taking a literal leap of faith that she has been wanting to take for a long time. This is symbolic of her decision to take a figurative leap of faith with regard to her professional life, as she chooses to get over her inhibitions about being humiliated by her boss and finally sits down to make the designs for her portfolio. Thus, at the end of the episode, Astoria is able to get her work done, as she gathers all her completed designs to take to her boss on the next workday and apply for the job as a designer. Interestingly, the frog that motivates her in the end seems to be the very same frog that had earlier inspired Hampton to take a leap of faith with regard to his innovative drill. This shared source of inspiration perhaps suggests that Hampton and Astoria also have a strong bond resurfacing between them, and we can expect to see more of this bond in action in the following episodes of Government Cheese.
