theamericans | Episode discussion post: "Urban Transport Planning"

Regardless whether they end the series dead or in prison, the country and the cause for which they as young people signed on for, killed, betrayed, risked their lives and gave up their physical autonomy for will be irrevocably gone. And it's not like Philip will be proven any more right in his hope/belief about what "the people" want than Elizabeth will be - yes, there will be a few years of openess, but the corruption will be even worse than it used to be (how much money did Yeltsin and family squirt away to the US again?), there'll be an oligarchy, not a democracy awaiting, and then you get Putin and his promise of restored "strength" stripped of any of the ideals young Nadeshda and Mischa once had. It's more obvious with Elizabeth that she's motivating herself via a phantom Russia she thinks she's recreating in Claudia's kitchen and living room, but Philip's Russia isn't any more real, either, in the end. (And is it Russia he's hoping for? With Arkady, at least, and probably Oleg, I suspect they want something along what Gorbachev did, which was not a dissolved but a reformed Soviet Union. Which was an illusion, too.)

I agree that what Arkady, Oleg, and Philip have in mind is likely a more reformed Soviet Union, not a broken up Soviet Union. The difference between them and the hardliners is how much tolerance they had for loosening social freedoms and reforming the existing economic structures to jettison all the corruption that was killing their economy. I'm sure they all love Russia, but they are citizens of the Soviet Union. Any of the Russian characters who survive the finale of the show would be blindsided once the Soviet Union breaks apart into individual nation states. The Soviet Union was a superpower. Then individual components? Not so much.

If Renee turns out to be a US-based agent of some kind, when she asked him to break the rules to get her into the FBI, she may merely have been testing him for signs of corruption.

It's odd, though. I hope the show provides a decent explanation for her behavior and role on the show.

Elizabeth might have fired Hans on the spot, I agree. But she would have done so in a far more reasonable tone of voice. The way that Elizabeth ranted at Paige was entirely personal. Sure, she's angry at Paige for screwing up but even that incredible screw-up doesn't account for the incandescent rage Elizabeth expressed. I suspect that Elizabeth knows that Paige isn't suitable for field work, and she also knows that she herself has very little time left to teach Paige anything and that's all adding to the stress she's already under.

As for Henry, it's really not uncommon for scholarships to only be good for a student's first year at school. The expectation is that the student would reapply for the first scholarship and maybe others. The school would be vested in trying to keep Henry there, but they'd expect the parents to make up for any shortfall if the scholarship ran out. As for the bursar cutting Philip some slack... nope. Philip is incredibly lucky that the guy gave him any grace period to pay at all. when all is said and done, private schools are just a business like any other business. You don't pay you get cut off.

Elizabeth might have fired Hans on the spot, I agree. But she would have done so in a far more reasonable tone of voice. The way that Elizabeth ranted at Paige was entirely personal. Sure, she's angry at Paige for screwing up but even that incredible screw-up doesn't account for the incandescent rage Elizabeth expressed. I suspect that Elizabeth knows that Paige isn't suitable for field work, and she also knows that she herself has very little time left to teach Paige anything and that's all adding to the stress she's already under.

Absolutely. I think her yelling at Paige here was actually coming from the same place as her comforting her in the premiere. Both times her real emotion seems to come from protecting Paige and protecting Paige from seeing her doing the uglier parts of the job. She protected her from her mistake with the sailor by killing him herself. Here she was upset that she couldn't protect her from seeing Elizabeth with a dead body.

She's still lying to her. Still covering up--it's unclear if Philip or Claudia know about Paige not only leaving her post but shouting "Mom!" as she did it. Paige herself might not even remember it or think it was that relevant.

And Elizabeth again in this ep repeated her mantra that Paige's job will be "different."

As for Henry, it's really not uncommon for scholarships to only be good for a student's first year at school. The expectation is that the student would reapply for the first scholarship and maybe others.

No, that just makes no sense with *this* type of private school, which typically offer plenty of full scholarships--all 4 years. It would only be revoked if he didn't fulfill his end of the bargain--that is, if his grades dropped below the minimum or he broke rules. This is a rich man's school. If they want Henry, money is no object. They don't run out of scholarship money.

As described last season, this is exactly what superstar Henry would be getting for four years. He obviously has kept up his end, so now he's exactly the kid they offered a free ride to only now he's even more valuable because it turns out he plays great hockey.

Their business is in finding and cultivating future successful, impressive alumni and Henry is showing every sign that he's just that. Nickel and diming the scholarship money with his dad and sending him back to public school is a waste of their investment.

If they wanted Philip to be in this kind of mess they should have just written it as a story where Henry got into the school and Philip was determined to give him what he wanted by paying for it. Instead they wrote a story about being a superstar with a free ride scholarship Philip couldn't refuse and now want to retcon it into financial aid package that still leaves middle class parents strapped for cash.

ETA: Just FWIW, I know that they never actually laid out exactly what the scholarship was, free-ride all 4 years or not. But what bugs me is the implication last year was that Henry was so amazing everyone wanted to help him and money was no problem because "scholarship" would cover everything. And now they want Philip more responsible. It bugs me that they just didn't do that from the start. Have Henry ask his parents to pay the expense and just say he thinks he can get some financial aid or a scholarship that makes it less expensive.

Edited 2018-04-13 01:27 (UTC)

I think they'd be stretching believability beyond the breaking point to suggest that a US spy agency made a woman marry an FBI agent to test him for corruption.

I think most viewers expect that Elizabeth will get some sort of exciting last minute reprieve because that's what happens in most stories. It would be a real kick in the gut if she actually does die. What if, even after realizing that she does have the option to change her fate, she chooses death?

I don't think that would be a kick in the gut, though. Because that's her planned story from the beginning. It's the solution for her, the way it was always supposed to end. The kick in the gut is that she doesn't get her heroes death. She has to live on, perhaps with somebody else dying.

What really surprised me was how paranoid P&E both got about the food. Wouldn't any visitor have just assumed it was an ordinary beef stew of some kind?

Nitpick: I think it was Henry's tuition payment.

That said, I think he connected with Paige on a more natural level than Elizabeth did. He gets the spy life, but he's not willing to run roughshod over Paige's feelings when she's just seen a man get shot and her mother covered in blood from it.

EST was good for him and some of its teachings could help Paige process if she intends to continue the spy life the whole hog.

IKR? I get why they're like that psychologically but only Claudia would think a meal like that was uniquely Russian.

Oh yeah, I agree. He was trying to talk to her as a person there--I think that was obviously meant as a contrast with Elizabeth claiming she was "talking to" Paige when she was yelling at her.

But at the same time, what Elizabeth was saying was just as important.

Yes. I remember a Russian who a few years back when the Scots had their referendum about independence and people expressed relief that they chose to stay within the UK (Brexit wasn't even considered a possibility among the people discussing this) said that yeah, fine, but he had been told by the Westerners now angsting about the UK to happily accept the Soviet Union breaking apart and everyone going independent, instead of feeling devastated, which he was; that growing up he never ever considered as much as the possibility, and that it still feels like he lost the country he identified with for good. But then of course he was Russian, not from one of the states that went independent.

I'm trying to think whether any of the Russian (well, Soviet) characters on the show ever mentioned being in fact Georgian, or Ukrainian, or from Belarus etc., but can't think of an example, and I doubt they'll introduce one this late in the game.

Elizabeth needs to believe she represents the USSR.

Yes, I think that's what her entire self justification is build on, and if you take that away, introduce doubt, she will break down. BTW I agree with Elizabeth's conviction she'll die a death-for-the-cause, the show is bound to give her instead survival and having to live with witnessing the destruction of all she believed in, of all her certainties, too. And even retrospectively her life's justification. She always told herself that giving her life (in a metaphorical as well as a literal sense) for her country, commiting any number of crimes was worth it because in the long term, she'd be one of the people ensuring that the Soviet Union and Communism not only survives but wins its historic struggle. And very soon, instead if will feel that it will all have been for nothing, that not only any future purpose is gone but any past purpose and justification never existed.

re: courier couple - yes, that would give those scenes a point. Especially since Elizabeth (in disguise) was the whom Stan actually physically struggled with before, and he might recognize her - not as Elizabeth but as the female half of the couple he was pursuing some years back - if he comes across her going after the couple, which would motivate him to go back into the evidence he collected way back when, only this time it might finally lead him to the Jennnings. Alternatively, of course, this could happen if he ever comes across a Philip and Oleg sighting.

Firing Hans seems dangerous. They wouldn't want somebody feeling jilted and getting upset at them and going to the FBI. If he was a really bad spy (like Paige), there's a lot they could give him to do. Same for Paige. Since Elizabeth sees her as a "9 to 5" spy, there's no real reason to drag her to all these operations. I think Elizabeth is trying to create a fantasy of her daughter going in her footsteps.

Even if people would have immediately recognized it as Russia, Elizabeth could have put it in the refrigerator just for the night.

I'm trying to think back to that time.. I don't think people expected the USSR to break up. There were the countries that had been conquered/taken over after WWII - like Poland or the Baltic states and they were always agitating for freedom, but the rest had been the USSR forever.

Edited 2018-04-13 05:22 (UTC)

That's two potential sources she's had to kill, which in itself is a huge clue for anyone paying attention.

I don't think she really needed to kill him. She could have told him that she didn't interview his girlfriend yet and that she'll let him know once she does. That would give her at least a week to pull off the theft. Once that's done, it becomes public knowledge anyway.

Are we meant to assume she panicked then? Otherwise - unless she comes up with a plausible reason next week - the murder seems entirely plot-related, as in, it's a mistake that will come back to bite her by the end of the season.

Elizabeth is panting a lot.

Nice cut from her to Paige, plus the reveal that Philip is talking at her.

Both look at the sound of the car arriving...

"Are you OK?"

Ha, typical Elizabeth to tell Paige off like that!

Then Henry interrupts with domesticity.

I like the shot of Philip folding his arms in the blurred background, and his sigh later as Paige is sent out into the night.

"She's pretty much seen it all now." "Not all of it."

Interesting that Elizabeth doesn't tell Philip to stop being nosey.

He didn't kill himself!

Ooh, Elizabeth is talking, a bit, and Philip is pointedly not saying he already knows some of what she's talking about. He's being a better spy than she is at the moment.

Stan giving up when being smoked at!

Elizabeth at the travel agency, shock.

A more thoughtful chat between Elizabeth and Paige, then some sales talk from Philip.

The FBI isn't more enthusiastic.

.. but the hockey chat is.

Probably not who Oleg wants to open the door to, and both of them know that.

"Bullshit".

Tender home stuff for the first time in ages.

What was the problem with eating it all?

"What the Washington Post?!?"

"You haven't talked to anyone back home for over twenty years." "Neither have you."

This is more than half the cast being tired of their job episode. (Again.) Pointedly ironic that Philip and Elizabeth are currently further apart than they have been in a long time.

'Please tell me the FBI's secrets, darling.'

He does really know how to let people down.

I'll show you mine, please show me yours.

That's dumping him in it. And her, because once the FBI has said that, she's stuffed if she stays.

'Oh, you won't see your kid.'

I was just about to type that saying his girlfriend works in security too wasn't going to do anything for his life expectancy when Elizabeth doesn't disappoint...

Back to cruising in the park.

They'd be expected to last throughout in the UK.

I don't think she panicked at all. The guy basically told her he was going to go straight to security and find out this was a lie, so she killed him.

But she did fire Hans. She fired him when he was seen by the other guy. He got himself back in by taking care of the problem, but obviously Elizabeth felt perfectly comfortable saying they couldn't work with him anymore.

I don't remember any either. Although it was pointed out to be somewhere that Natalie, the woman they executed for her WWII crimes, had a Ukrainian name. She wasn't from Ukraine in the plot, though.

Probably there's a reason for some of this--we're seeing Illegals and top KGB personnel and they might usually be Russian. Especially Illegals. But yeah, we rarely see them dealing with people from other parts of the USSR.

Yep. It's how such schools keep some of their academic records: effectively pay smart kids to go there and stay until they've got the grades that some of the 'only there because they paid full whack' ones can't. Sports is a bonus.

The issue with family money is more around Philip spending on nice consumer items like the car complete with early car phone.

The more Elizabeth goes on about dying for the cause, the less likely I think it is that it will happen.

Episode discussion post: "Urban Transport Planning"

Re: My review

Re: Renee the spy

Re: Saraquel and Urban Transport...

Re: Saraquel and Urban Transport...

Re: Renee the spy

Re: Treon's thoughts

no subject

Re: Saraquel and Urban Transport...

Re: Philip's motivational speaking

Stew

Re: Philip's motivational speaking

Re: My review

Re: My review

Hans and Paige

Re: Stew

USSR breaking up

Needless murder?

Re: Needless murder?

While watching thoughts

Scholarships

Re: Needless murder?

Re: Hans and Paige

Re: Non-Russian Soviets

Scholarship

Re: My review