Episode discussion post: "Clark's Place"

[jae]

Aired:
13 April 2016 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 405 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season four, episode five.)

Original promo trailer

"The Americans 4x05 Promo "Clark's Place" (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

Overnight reviews

From Vulture
From the AV Club
From Hitfix
From Vox
From Entertainment Weekly
From Slate (official podcast)
From the LA Times
From the New York Times
From the Wall Street Journal
From Slant
From IGN
From tv.com
From TV Fanatic
From Den of Geek
From Geeks of Doom
People's World
From Inverse
From For the Win
From Hidden Remote
From Mstarsnews
From Mashable
From The Young Folks
From TV Over Mind
From Celebrity Dirty Laundry

Comments

Re: Matthew and Stan

[sistermagpie]

Another weird twist to that is how Philip and Stan both discussed how it's much easier to be a parent to a younger kid. Stan got along great with Matthew when they were playing games together like him and Henry. Obviously Henry is becoming an adolescent now, but his questions and dynamic with Stan is still very much little boy to man. He's not complicated like Matthew who can more hold his own with him. So while the Jennings are dealing with Paige the difficult adolescent and presumably getting ready to deal with that with Henry, Stan's potentially still rather avoiding Matthew.

The best scene he had with Matthew, actually, was that moment when he talked about being undercover. I thought it was pretty clear that Matthew really connected with that guy who was showing who he really was--again, a parallel to the Jennings jumping head-first into that by telling Paige the truth. So I feel like there is another level there with Matthew walking back into a house that's been made so kid-oriented--but a kid several years younger than Matthew. I know Philip barely said anything to Matthew in the scene (I haven't rewatched it so I probably shouldn't be referring to it so specifically) but I remember just feeling like he was the person actually seeing Matthew and responding to him on that level. It was just...an adult greeting. "You look good" as opposed to, like, "My how you've grown!" or whatever.