theamericans | Episode discussion post: "Urban Transport Planning"

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theamericans

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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From:

treonb

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.

From:

shapinglight

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.

From:

sistermagpie

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.

From:

shapinglight

Well, that's how I saw it at the time. It never occurred to me that she had other options, though as

treonb says above, she actually did.

Or maybe not. She's on the clock. There's very limited time till the arms summit.

From:

sistermagpie

I don't think she really did. That guy was going to go straight to his girlfriend. She wasn't supposedly interviewing her. The girlfriend was Walter Taffet to Elizabeth's Clark.

From:

andy73

I don't think she really did. That guy was going to go straight to his girlfriend. She wasn't supposedly interviewing her. The girlfriend was Walter Taffet to Elizabeth's Clark.

I agree

From:

treonb

I don't think she panicked. I think this is the mirror image of "we're Soviets, we know how to keep secrets". Elizabeth could have taken a calculated risk, but she didn't trust him not to blab to his girlfriend and now she's risking somebody putting 2 and 2 together.

On the other hand, that guard should have been extremely aware and not be blabbing his mouth off to some stranger who flashed an ID at him. I realize we're a few decades later, but we are constantly told at work to never believe such things and always check with company security if we're ever approached to divulge any info, including the most trivial, non-sensitive sounding things like somebody's phone number.