Episode discussion post: "The Oath"

[jae]

Aired:
24 April 2013 in the U.S. and Canada
12 August 2013 in Australia
15 August 2013 in Ireland
17 August 2013 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode #12 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the Australian/Irish/UK schedule. Please do dive in even if you've seen subsequent episodes, but take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season one, episode twelve.

FX's original promo trailer:

"Next On: The Oath" (Watch on YouTube)

( two more videos )

( reviews and recaps )

The group season one rewatch

[jae]

Back in May, we asked whether people would be interested in a group rewatch of the season one episodes, followed by specifically rewatch-oriented discussion. A good handful of people said they would be interested, but would prefer it to take place later in the year, so treonb and I decided to schedule it for after all 13 episodes had aired in Australia, the UK, and Ireland. Since that time is rapidly approaching (the season one finale will air in the UK on Saturday, August 24th), we thought we'd let you know how it's going to work.

One of the community hosts will make a reminder post on the Monday prior to each discussion along the lines that this will be the week you should be sure to watch episode x, and then anyone who wants to participate in the group rewatch should make sure watch each episode on their own time, over the course of that week. Then, each Saturday (and starting on Saturday, August 31st with the pilot), one of us will make a weekly post for rewatch-oriented discussion. We envision this in part as talk about things we saw this time that we missed the first (or second or more, for those of us who are habitual repeat viewers) time around, but one of the big ways this discussion is likely to differ from the discussion we've been having in the episode-by-episode posts to date is that everyone will be assumed to have already seen all of the season one episodes, so no one will need to be careful of spoilers. It will also allow us to talk about the way the episode we've all just seen relates to the rest of the season (as well as to possible future developments).

Timing things this way will bring us to the end of November, and then the end-of-year busy season for many folks will follow, and then in January we can start fresh with new episodes as season two begins. :)

Feel free to participate in the discussion some weeks and not others! We know how busy people can get. Also, please do feel free to jump in after the fact if you need time to catch up. We'd really like to get as many people as possible involved, though, so please let one of us know if you'd like to participate but don't have access to the episodes--we have some suggestions.