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: friendships

[saraqael]

Do you think that Elizabeth feels any genuine sense of friendship with Young Hee?

Re: friendships

[sistermagpie]

I would think she's currently in denial about it. She's enjoying her company and hasn't thought about how it's going to feel when she's secretly working against her, since at this point she's not really working her yet. That is, she hasn't started working the brother or whatever.

I think her feelings for her now are genuine, though. She really enjoys her company, thinks she's funny. I think she genuinely likes her family and even feels more open to liking them because they're immigrants like her and offer a vision of what her life might have been like if she was here legally and she could be both American and Russian.

I think she just at this point thinks she can have that without thinking of herself as genuinely being her friend--and she's going to find out she's wrong there.

Re: friendships

[saraqael]

That's what I think, too. We've seen what caring for Martha has done to Philip. I think that Elizabeth feels genuine friendship for Young Hee now (though she may not even realize it since friendship is almost an alien concept for her), and that's going to affect her in some unknown way once the Young Hee plot plays out.

Re: friendships

[theplatonicnonyeah]

No, I don't think she ever allows herself to be that "sentimental" about her assets. Although, I do think she maybe wishes that she had a friend. With Gregory gone there isn't really anybody outside of the family that she can talk to.

But remember that we don't know why Elizabeth is grooming Young Hee. This is the long mission that she will have throughout the season, and so far there have been no details about what exactly it is that is so special about Young Hee.

Re: friendships

[treonb]

I think Elizabeth does feel genuine friendship. When she came back, she could have said she was "at work", but she didn't. she said she was "by a friend's", which was quite unusual. Henry is right. She really doesn't have friends.

Re: friendships

[sistermagpie]

Like she told Philip the first time she spent time with Young Hee that "it was fun."