Promo discussion: Episode 4x02

[treonb]

This post is intended to allow discussion of the upcoming episode, as reflected in the official show promos.

Please keep the comments spoiler free from anything not mentioned in the promos (interviews, articles etc).

"The Americans 4x02 Promo "Pastor Tim" (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

"The Americans 4x02 Promo "Pastor Tim" (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

Philip tries with increasing desperation to get rid of a sensitive and dangerous package as family tensions in the Jennings House reach a boiling point when Paige shares a secret of her own.

Comments

[quantumreality]

Episode 1 sets a time limit on how far in the future Ep 2 can be, so presumably we'll see P & E getting the bioweapon to Gabriel to be safely packed up and sent off to the motherland.

It looks like both Pastor Tim's and Martha's days are numbered.

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Nah, Martha probably lives a few episodes longer, since she - or rather Clark's flat - has its own episode further into the season. I also suspect the name of this episode is a red herring...

My money is on Gabriel not surviving the episode. :-(

[jae]

That is an AWESOME trailer. Jesus.

-J

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Well, goodbye Gabriel...

And presumably, Elizabeth is off with the bioweapon to Cuba?

[saraqael]

That's what I'm thinking. Someone had to be the courier.

[treonb]

I wonder how much of this is from the next episode. What will Philip and Elizabeth do after they discover Paige told Pastor Tim everything? Will they pick up his offer to have a talk?

With everything they show here, I can't see how they can continue as usual in further season. Worse case, if they get extracted, we could continue next season with "The Canadians"...

[saraqael]

The producers did say that this season marks the end of Act Two, so after this year the show is heading towards the end. This latest preview does imply that life for the Jennings is coming unraveled.

[theplatonicnonyeah]

I think they're doing something similar to when that other KGB couple was murdered: in the promo it looked like it could have been Paige and Henry dead. So it's quite possible that the persons getting on that tiny aeroplane are not P&E. It's just edited to look like that. ;-)

[quantumreality]

Oh lord, please don't let the precious cinnamon rolls get killed off :O

*rushes to put Paige and Henry in bubble packaging*

confused

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Um, what? I don't think I understand now.

Re: confused

[quantumreality]

"in the promo it looked like it could have been Paige and Henry dead"

In reference to that.

deliberately misleading editing

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Yes, the promo from season 2 with the episode where the other KGB couple was killed made it look like Paige and Henry had been killed. It was edited to be deliberately misleading, which is something they always do (with this show?). Hence my apprehension at jumping to conclusions about who is on the plane. Just because the Rezidentura talks about extracting someone it doesn't have to mean the Jennings, especially considering that it seems like Tatiana is running a secret operation of her own.

Re: deliberately misleading editing

[saraqael]

Since we've seen Gabriel all bloody on the floor, it could be that the Rezidentura needs to extract him immediately in order to get him to a hospital. We all just assume that he's dead. He could be 'merely' dying. :o

Re: deliberately misleading editing

[sistermagpie]

Just saw a commercial for the show in general that had a couple of other quick clips. One looked like Elizabeth and Philip leaning down to the floor--I assumed it was them kneeling over Gabriel on the floor. But it looked like Philip was aggressively touching him and Elizabeth was trying to pull him away, like she didn't want him to touch him.

Which could be about her wanting him to be careful not to hurt him, but I also wondered if they didn't think Gabriel had been felled by a bio-hazard thing and she was worried he might catch it.

Re: deliberately misleading editing

[(Anonymous)]

That is entirely possible since they're dealing with bio weapons this season. That would be terrible. It would also account for him being the person that the Rezidentura needs to extract in a hurry, not the Jennings as the promo clip would have us believe.

Re: deliberately misleading editing

[saraqael]

That was me, btw. I thought I was logged in when I replied.

who is on the plane speculation

[theplatonicnonyeah]

That is a good call! Although, to be fair he looked rather un-alive there on the floor.

Re: who is on the plane speculation

[(Anonymous)]

True. He was looking pretty dead in that clip.

Re: who is on the plane speculation

[sistermagpie]

He totally did--but then, that might be what he's supposed to look like. I seem to remember somebody commenting on exactly that on Twitter and Joel saying something like "things are not as they seem!" which could just mean anything.

They're definitely not hiding the discovery of the body--they did a whole teaser about it (without showing what they were looking at, but they looked pretty obviously like they were seeing a body). That's a bit similar to the S2 promos with the Connors, but we didn't know the Connors so the misdirect was us thinking it could be someone important we already knew. In this case since they're highlighting the body and it seems pretty clearly Gabriel, maybe the misdirect is about exactly what state he's in.

Or not!

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think that this is promo for episode two, this looks like more like promo for whole season.

P.

[treonb]

You're right. Though I think it's a new trailer anyway (?)

I now added another clip for episode 4x2. Seems that things are going to be happening very fast.

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Um, where does one drop a potential spoiler that was mentioned in that NYT interview with Keri? Or should I just say DON'T READ THIS ARTICLE unless you want to be confused and a little annoyed at actors not understanding when to just stop talking. ;-)

[sistermagpie]

I suspect that since we see here that Elizabeth is going to confront Paige about what she did (I assume, since it doesn't seem like that confrontation could be about something else) that Paige might actually start getting "run" by her parents with regards to Pastor Tim. Like if they're not going to kill her, it's up to her to walk back her accusations and placate him. Which would put her in the position of having to "get him to trust her" with her parents help, and eventually he might be suspicious about that.

Of course we don't know yet if she'll tell Pastor Tim that her parents know, but since she's so uncomfortable about lying about it they may see it's smarter to let her be as open as possible.

Also I wonder if, as it appears in the clip, Elizabeth confronts her alone about what she heard. It doesn't seem like something either one would usually do alone, but you'd think Philip would be visible in the scene.

[saraqael]

Hard to tell if Philip is in that scene or not. FWIW, Elizabeth is wearing different clothes than in the clip of her telling Philip that Paige told Pastor Tim about them. She's wearing a blouse with a plain round collar in the scenes where she's listening to the wiretap and then talking to Philip. When she's yelling at Paige, she's wearing some sort of v-neck blouse or jacket. Definitely time passes between these sequences. Maybe Philip isn't home when Elizabeth confronts Paige.

[sistermagpie]

Yes, I was looking at the clothes too just now. It looks like she's wearing the same blue sweater when she listens to the tape as when she tells Philip. Then she's wearing something else when she talks to Paige, and maybe that's the same scene where Paige says "What's wrong?"

It will be interesting if Philip isn't in that scene (but of course he might be and we just don't see him. In that case it might be something like Philip is out trying to get rid of that vial and Elizabeth confronts her. Or maybe they've already confronted her together and this is a second argument without Philip there.

Btw, I noticed in my original post I mentioned the possibility of killing *her* and I meant to write *him* of course, meaning Pastor Tim. They're not thinking of killing Paige.