Episode discussion post: "Tchaikovsky"

[jae]

Aired:
4 April 2018 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 602 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 six, episode two.)

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Comments

Re: While watching thoughts

[selenak]

"You have to keep this to yourself" - Reagan's dementia wasn't exactly a secret.

Hm, not sure about this. I seem to recall the stories didn't start until his last year in office or therabouts, but then again I wasn't in the US at the time. Or, wait - we're in 1987. That is about that time.

Skipping over Tchaikovsky's homosexuality there...

Which didn't exist as far as official Russian history was concerned at the time, methinks. (Depressingly, it got written out of history again more recently.) Certainly not when Claudia was young. Otoh "he had a lonely life" was maybe her euphemism. Though I thought she was more drawing a parallel to herself.

Re: While watching thoughts

[saraqael]

My friends and I started speculating that Reagan was developing Alzheimers' back around the time he made that on-the-air crack about outlawing Russia and launching the missile strike on them. That was in 1984. We all started watching his press conferences and public appearances very carefully after that looking for signs that he was slipping. It was bad enough that the Reagans had astrologers in the White House, supposedly just to help determine the best dates to schedule meetings. That was nutty enough. We just assumed at the time that if the President was secretly losing his mind, his handlers would step in and cover it up as best they could. Supposedly his thinking did not become seriously impaired until after he left office, but I don't think we'll ever know for sure.