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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Treon's thoughts

[treonb]

Just saw the episode and haven't read the other comments yet..

I loved this episode! With everything going on, it still managed to be funny and tense at the same time. Funny mostly around Stan and tense around Elizabeth. Stan as the marriage counselor (of all people), and then discussing whether Sandra would stay with him if a life was at stake (not sure). Stan enjoying life after Counter Intelligence, Stan hearing that Oleg's in town.

But also Elizabeth adamantly denying that the KGB uses sex to get information and Elizabeth getting a drawing lesson.

Offering to kill off Erica - at first I thought Elizabeth was going to use that to blackmail Glenn. Though I guess she just wants to control the timing. Poor Erica.

Elizabeth infiltrating the State Department (skipping out on yet another art lesson) and preparing for this to be her last mission got me twitchy. When she said "see you tonight" to Paige, I was wondering if those were going to be her last words.

The travel agency - was this a generational thing, moving towards budget travel? Poor Philip and his "we'll always be there for you". In another decade he'll shutter up his travel agency and move to the net. Though I think nowadays his "selling an experience" would certainly work.

The previous episode was a kind of closure for the pilot episode - there was the parent threatening somebody over Paige (with all the differences people mentioned here last time), but there was also Stan hosting a meal, whereas in the pilot the Jennings showed up to welcome the Beemans. There was also going back to Elizabeth not talking to Philip, which isn't exactly closure. They barely talked this time too.

This time it was a throwback to the season 1 finale. Back then they were afraid that the Colonel was a trap. This time it was actually a trap. Did the Colonel shoot the gun? I was looking at the last few minutes through my fingers.

Re: Treon's thoughts

[sistermagpie]

The travel agency - was this a generational thing, moving towards budget travel? Poor Philip and his "we'll always be there for you". In another decade he'll shutter up his travel agency and move to the net. Though I think nowadays his "selling an experience" would certainly work.

I've seen a lot of people elsewhere thinking this was a storyline about the end of travel agencies but I think travel agencies were really only killed by the internet. Philip probably can offer budget stuff too. They were already available, I imagine. But I think this story was strictly about that personal touch and not being able to hand things off and expect them to be the same--iow, the whole thing was a metaphor for Philip not being able to tell himself that Elizabeth and everything she's involved in and Russia will be equally fine without him. It matters who you're dealing with.

I don't know whether we can completely connect that to the colonel dealing with Elizabeth this time instead of Philip, but I think Philip genuinely understood the guy and wouldn't ever have thought he'd be open to blackmail.

In fact, that kind of hooks back to the whole larger plot. Arkady went to Oleg and brought up what he knew Oleg had done, but pointedly did *not* blackmail him. He approached him the same way as Oleg later approached Philip, appealing to his sense of responsibility and wanting to do the right thing rather than threats of any kind. That's what Elizabeth/the Centre went with for the colonel and he just wasn't having it.

I think Elizabeth fired the gun--though she may have used his hand to do it. He had no intention of shooting himself in the face.

Handing things off

[treonb]

Interesting! I now see it elsewhere in the episode. Elizabeth tries to hand off Paige to Claudia, telling herself her daughter will do just fine. Stan is being pulled back into counter-intelligence, the one case he's still working with Aderholt, because he can't just hand his agent off. Maybe Glenn handing off his wife's mercy-killing to Elizabeth. He's misled to think things are going to be better that way.

Re: Handing things off

[sistermagpie]

Oh right! I didn't even think of all those examples but yes. Stan has to stick with Gennady, and it's obvious that no, Claudia and Elizabeth would not be the same when it came to Paige. She can't just "finish with her."