Episode discussion post: "Urban Transport Planning"

[jae]

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

This is a discussion post for episode 603 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 three.)

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Comments

[shapinglight]

On the topic of who can/can’t keep secrets, I wonder if Elizabeth was always planning to kill the warehouse guy, or if it was a last second decision because he mentioned that his girlfriend was in company security.

I'm pretty sure she hadn't always planned to kill him. It was his mention of his girlfriend's role that did it. Elizabeth had only just begun to work him. Ironically, he only opened up to her about the girlfriend because she was being so friendly and confiding and making him feel important.

[saraqael]

If Elizabeth had more time to make this warehouse infiltration a long-term project instead of a quick grab, she may have ended up pulling a Clark-like relationship with this guy. Poor guy was just in the right place at the wrong time because Elizabeth is in a rush. She doesn't seem at all bothered by murdering this innocent man, either. In contrast, Philip was tied up in knots over killing the innocent US scientist and other 'innocent' individuals (like the truck driver guy from early on in the series). I don't think Philip agonizes over killing people who are knowingly participating in the great game of espionage or politics, but killing the innocent always bothered him. Not so for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's murder

[sistermagpie]

It's shocking they didn't even check the guy out enough to find out he had a girlfriend in security. They would have sent her to him personally and usually that's part of it.

Re: Elizabeth's murder

[saraqael]

They don’t have time. Plus, remember, this is not a normal Directorate S operation. This is covert ops within/against Directorate S. Elizabeth isn’t getting the more normal background support she used to get from the Center.

Re: Elizabeth's murder

[sistermagpie]

Oh, I get that's the idea. Although it seems unlikely they had time to get this guy into the hotel room (obviously they'd have told her which guy to go after) but no time to know anything about his personal life, since that's usually why you pick the guy.

Unless this was the only guy who had this information and so Elizabeth just went after him blind, which is pretty risky. Obviously.

[shapinglight]

I'm not sure I agree that she didn't seem bothered by having to kill him. I know that over the course of the show it's been Philip that's been shown as being very affected by having to kill innocent people, but I don't think Elizabeth is unaffected (and this is quite apart from the protracted death scene with the old lady in season 4 (was it?) that still feels to me like it snuck into The Americans from another show altogether). She's businesslike for sure, but I felt she was quite rattled by having to kill the young marine in the previous episode and that she always is. It's just that she's much better at compartmentalising things than Philip is so these actions don't haunt her the way they do him.

Elizabeth & murder

[treonb]

I thought she was bothered, but not the way Philip is bothered. She didn't plan to kill him and will now have to take care of the body and make sure she didn't leave any fingerprints etc. She doesn't have time for any of this. There's no way she can make this not look like murder, and the same goes the marine last ep. She's leaving a trail of bodies and somebody's going to pick up on it.

[saraqael]

You're right. She is good at compartmentalizing all of the killings.