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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[saraqael]

Elizabeth looked like a ghost of herself when she was at home talking to Philip. When she was talking to Claudia, she seemed to imply that she knows that she's doomed to die on this mission. She essentially handed Paige's future over to Claudia. Why on earth Elizabeth thinks that she can trust Claudia to provide Paige with a kinder, gentler espionage career is beyond me. I think it just fits in with Elizabeth's narrative about her own doomed future if she can convince herself that she'll die in order to ensure that Paige will have a 'nicer' future in the family business. She seems to have forgotten every single thing she ever knew about Claudia and now she's come to regard her as her trusted 'granny' just as much as Paige does. Say what you want about Claudia but it's undeniably true that she's figured out how to manipulate Elizabeth very well.

Elizabeth's willingness to embrace death as her fate is completely opposite to the artist who actually is dying. Elizabeth seems utterly blind to the fact that at any moment she could choose a different fate for herself. She's so devoted to her rigid view of herself as ideologically pure warrior that she'll willingly (and unnecessarily) die for the Cause. The artist seems to want to deny death right up until the last unbearable moment by creating new art, but at the same time the pain she's suffering is so overwhelming that death would be a welcome release. Elizabeth would like to ease her suffering and help her achieve an efficient, painless death, but she also needs to keep her alive (and suffering) until the summit is over. And Elizabeth still can't figure out why the dying artist insists on feverishly creating art (life) with every waking moment. Hopefully Elizabeth will see the point before the series ends, but maybe not. It's entirely possible that the series will end with Elizabeth choosing death-by-ideology over life.

On a lighter note, how hilarious was it to see Stan Beeman providing marriage counseling to Gennady and Sofia? Comedy gold. "Hey, uh, guys. Um. Relationships are hard. Please keep spying for us, kthanx!"

I was even more amused to see how easily Aderholt was able to lure Beeman back over to counter-intelligence ops. Forget how much fun it is to work on cases involving drug dealers, murderers, and corrupt politicians. "Hey Stan. Guess who's back in town. Your old pal Oleg Burov!" Stan: "Really? Damn. Guess I'm going to play an active role in the end of this series after all!" My current crack speculation is that Oleg is going to manipulate Stan into sending intel back to Arkady in Russia, because there's no other easy way for Oleg to get updates back home without drawing attention to himself from the hardliner wing of the KGB. We'll see.

Right now I'm not feeling too good about Elizabeth's fate, but of course the show wants us to feel that way so I still can't figure out what's going to happen to her. I know what I want to happen, but the great thing about the writing on this show is that it's unpredictable.

Random thoughts:
- How hilarious was it when Paige asked Elizabeth about honeytrapping? Elizabeth: "Who told you about me?!? I mean, NO, that never happens! I mean, it probably does happen, but what do I know? Nobody ever tells me anything! I mean... hey look over there!" Tries to distract Paige.

- How hopeful for Paige that she revealed that she is doing her own side-research into espionage. Maybe there's still a chance that she'll figure out all on her own that spying isn't a harmless, feel-good frolic.

- Henry's brief phone call with Philip was quite endearing. That kid is the only one in the family who is actually succeeding to have a life of his own. Good for him. Being the overlooked, latch-key kid probably saved his life. At least for now.

[sistermagpie]

Say what you want about Claudia but it's undeniably true that she's figured out how to manipulate Elizabeth very well.

I almost wonder why Elizabeth fought her early on.

Elizabeth's willingness to embrace death as her fate is completely opposite to the artist who actually is dying.

Yes, Elizabeth is really gearing up for yet another potential heroic death scene. Only this is the first one where when she thinks about Paige after her death she's passing her off to Claudia and the Centre rather than Philip, who seems to have become just a figure of terror for Elizabeth for everything he represents.

That's why I feel like she can't get that ending. She sees it as the solution to her problems too much.

My current crack speculation is that Oleg is going to manipulate Stan into sending intel back to Arkady in Russia, because there's no other easy way for Oleg to get updates back home without drawing attention to himself from the hardliner wing of the KGB. We'll see.

Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. Until Philip changes his mind Oleg doesn't have any other allies and Stan would be working against the KGB here. Or not. Not sure how Stan will relate to it all.

- Henry's brief phone call with Philip was quite endearing. That kid is the only one in the family who is actually succeeding to have a life of his own. Good for him. Being the overlooked, latch-key kid probably saved his life. At least for now.

I would actually give Henry more credit than that. That is, he wasn't overlooked so much as he was independent from the start. Paige was constantly jumping up and waving her arms to get her parents attention and get inside their relationship. Henry was simply more interested in the world from the very start.

Elizabeth's fatalism

[lovingboth]

To be fair, we haven't seen her wearing a suicide pill 24/7 before. That presumably does concentrate the mind somewhat.

[saraqael]

Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. Until Philip changes his mind Oleg doesn't have any other allies and Stan would be working against the KGB here. Or not. Not sure how Stan will relate to it all.

I was wondering why they brought Gennady the courier back into play as a character this season. If Oleg could get access to him somehow, he might be able to use Gennady to pass intel back to Arkady. The only way to get to Gennady is via Stan. That gives more justification for the scenes of Stan playing marriage counselor too. It won't have been just for comedic effect in this episode if it turns out that Oleg's plan relies on keeping Gennady in the game. This is just tenuous speculation on my part and it relies a lot on how much Oleg and Stan feel like they can trust each other 'for the greater good.' Of course, if Stan knows then Aderholt is bound to find out. Dennis doesn't have the same loyalty to Oleg that Stan does. And if Dennis finds out that there is a pair of embedded illegals right there in DC, I suspect that he'll just want to capture them immediately regardless of what else may be going on. We could end up with spy vs spy vs agent vs agent. That would be intense.

Gennady and Sophia

[sistermagpie]

I feel like wherever they go with those two it's going to be great. Their mess of a relationship is going to pull tons of people into it one way or another. The KGB is totally going to find out what he's doing.