Episode discussion post: "Comrades"
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theamericansAired:
26 February 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
2 March 2014 in Israel
15 March 2014 in the UK
This is a discussion post for episode 201 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 if you're reading this later and have already seen subsequent episodes, but please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season two, episode one.)
Original promo trailers:
Episode recaps:
From Vulture
From The AV Club
From Hitfix
From IGN
From Think Progress
From Rolling Stone
From TVLine
From the Huffington Post
From zap2it
From Collider
From spoilertv.com
From Sound on Sight
From showratings.tv
From uinterview.com
From screenrant.com
From Television Without Pity
From The Atlantic
From multimediacritics.com
From tvrage.com
From Unreality TV (UK)
26 February 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
2 March 2014 in Israel
15 March 2014 in the UK
This is a discussion post for episode 201 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 if you're reading this later and have already seen subsequent episodes, but please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season two, episode one.)
Original promo trailers:
Episode recaps:
From Vulture
From The AV Club
From Hitfix
From IGN
From Think Progress
From Rolling Stone
From TVLine
From the Huffington Post
From zap2it
From Collider
From spoilertv.com
From Sound on Sight
From showratings.tv
From uinterview.com
From screenrant.com
From Television Without Pity
From The Atlantic
From multimediacritics.com
From tvrage.com
From Unreality TV (UK)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 05:01 am (UTC)And god, the son being left alive is so painful. I wonder if they're going to pick up on that thread, since it now has me super curious where things would go from there.
The breakfast conversation and the horribly timed story from Henry was just too priceless. Loved seeing everyone just want to crawl under the table except Henry who clearly had no idea about the implications.
The one thing I really missed about the episode was not getting resolution to the emotional marriage stuff from last season. I was glad they showed them in a good place together, but it would've been nice to get like one scene with them alone that was a little more intense. The episode was fast-paced, which was good in some ways, but in others it felt like they were trying to fit so much stuff in that nothing could get touched on in too much depth, and that's what I really love about episodes--the depth.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 05:26 am (UTC)I also found the parallels interesting with how in that early scene, Phil kills the innocent kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and saw him without his disguise and is clearly shaken about it, then the son of the other sleepers being the innocent left alive to find the carnage, then their fears about the safety of the kids, and Philip's guilt over having used Henry, another innocent, to get the pass off done.
There's something just so interesting and great about watching the guy spies have to bust in on their wives (who both clearly love) having a three-way with a target, then they drive up and the wives are having a beer on the hood of the car, and everyone just stops for a quick chat about the kids like it's no biggie. Just the job. Love those little moments they give us.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 05:54 am (UTC)I was definitely a tad disappointed that I knew exactly what was going to happen when Paige walked towards that door, because I had read the spoilers. That morning breakfast table scene was so freecan awkward and that BACON. Lord we are blessed to have this show.
The car scene handhold was really sweet, I love those gestures through the show :) I also grinned like an idiot when Philip and Elizabeth kissed. Kay, its a bit dorky to kiss in front of your kids but it was so goddamn sweet.
Ummm the episode was quite fast paced and a lot of the FBI headquarters stuff went right over my head, and I was like wait-what the informant died.
When we were first introduced to Emmett and Leanne (??) I was really excited to know more about them and see them interact as a parallel with p/e in future episodes. Despite seeing those trailers, I didn't see that one coming and it was a good plot turn. The stakes really do feel so much higher. The impact of the other family's bodies overlaying each other and their son coming in to find them was really horrific. I saw one recapper thought the Paige facepaint was over emphasised but I liked the touch. The image of that bullethole and blood in the daughter's face stuck in your memory and yeah it was a nice one-two punch.
I like what @katiac said in the last para about the four of em chatting by the car - so chill and casual.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 07:26 am (UTC)Had to laugh at Matthew Rhys with the Texan accent. I wonder if Philip was wearing his cowboy boots? Thought the moment with the busboy getting shot was very well done. It was obvious that Philip didn't want to do it (demonstrated by his reaction in the car) but had no choice (like Elizabeth with the security guard last season).
I wished we'd seen Philip and Elizabeth meet up in the beginning of the episode. It seemed jarring to me that all of a sudden they were in the same car pulling up at the house.
Paige's reaction to Philip and Elizabeth's date/kiss was so sweet. She was just so happy to see them together again.
The sex scene that had been spoiled everywhere was better than I was expecting. I was worried that it was going to seem really over the top and almost gratuitous but it did seem really intimate and true for the characters.
I laughed so hard at the slow-mo shot of Elizabeth eating the bacon. Poor Paige!
Loved the way they dealt with Sanford and the Colonel. I know that some people were worried last season that Philip had said "Elizabeth" within earshot of the Colonel and that he might tell the FBI her name. Loved that he outsmarted Sanford.
The other spy family was really interesting. I was glad that they opened up their world a bit and demonstrated that the Jennings' aren't the only spy couple around. I was very interested to see that the other couple also seemed to be in love. I wonder how it worked for real illegals? Did many of them fall in love?
The aftermath in the hotel room was so awful. I was especially moved seeing the mother's body over her daughters, like she'd tried to shield her.
Philip having to go see Martha was so sad. It was obvious that he wanted to talk about what had happened and she was the person he had to spend the night with... and she didn't even know what he was talking about.
Now, I know we had to wait 9 months (or so) for this episode, but having to wait a week for the next one is still frustrating!!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 07:29 am (UTC)I did love the glimpses of them being happier though. The way they kept smiling at each other and standing super close together... kind of adorable.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 08:54 am (UTC)http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/americans-comrades-201584
av club and vulture are my fave reviews :)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 10:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 10:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 10:51 am (UTC)I felt the same way. I suspect that's going to be a recurring theme--Philip having to be somewhere else for work when his heart is really at home.
I was also surprised because this is really only the second sleeper couple they showed us and they seemed very much in love--and like it had been stable longer than P/E. That would've been interesting to see what Elizabeth thought of their relationship over the years versus how things were harder for her and Philip.
Yeah, that was one thing I really missed. Although, maybe she wasn't staying so far away that he couldn't go visit her occasionally just to check in? Clearly if she was able to talk with the kids once a week, she would've been in contact with him too.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 10:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 11:00 am (UTC)Yeah, I wondered if maybe my expectations were just in a different place, but it did have a different feel to it than last season. But, they may have just had to cram a lot of stuff into the first episode to establish a baseline on all the various story threads, and things may slow down just a bit to dig in more. Or at least I hope they do.
I also thought the face paint was great.
They're really good at taking the little opportunities to show how much they love each other, not just the big ones.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 12:11 pm (UTC)I was just wondering, did the episode cut off rather abruptly at the end? Or was that my stream? The camera panned out from Elizabeth sitting in the bedroom alone and then...was that it?
So many things to talk about it, but I think I'm going to watch it again later today.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 12:28 pm (UTC)I guess I'll just do bullet-points specifically on the things that are still churning for me:
• I thought it was excellent. I also think it's going to be really hard for some people to take. I really hope the comm doesn't lose
• In response to the people who said that the episode "felt different," it felt that way to me, too. And having thought about this for a whole hour or so of being awake *g*, I think there were two things going on there: 1) The pace was faster. I approve of this given the particular story they wanted to tell in these early episodes, but I do hope they're not afraid to slow things down when that's necessary. 2) The narrative was left unfinished. I mean, this show has never been a procedural, and there have always been lots of plotlines left dangling at the end of every episode, but something has always ended (messily or tidily) at episode's end. That didn't happen here.
• Based on the early buzz I read about the episode, I had expected to feel really bad for Elizabeth, and I did. There was no room for her to be "still recovering" here--she had to be right back in the game immediately, even when her mind was clearly (and that was so well portrayed by Keri Russell here) still processing the trauma of her shooting. But when it comes right down to it, she's no stranger to having a trauma reaction and having to put it aside and get the work done. I did not expect to feel as bad as I did for Philip, though, and I did--in fact, I felt even worse for him. He's not off his game in the same way Elizabeth is, but he's had to hold everything together while she's been gone--the fake work, the real work, the family, the lies, Martha, everything--and he's clearly just tired and worried and frankly a little burned out. Even at the very beginning of the episode, when he was doing the mission as the Texan, he was freaked out at how things had gone and feeling bad about it and having no partner to sit with him about it. Philip has always taken a joy in a job well done in a way that Elizabeth doesn't, but there's no joy in a job well done when he has to go back home to Martha instead of to the family that actually may need his protection for once. I mean, this isn't just a sad sense of "man, would I ever rather be with Elizabeth and the kids right now," this is serious stuff--and he still can't be there. That sort of thing would just eat him up, and he's got no cope left.
• On that note, Martha's "relax, you're home now" thing was just so goddamned sad. Like all the best bits on the show, that line just summed up just how sad things are for everyone in that situation, whether they know it or not.
• The existence of the other family of illegals really threw me for a loop--the way these people are clearly their friends, I mean, and have been for a long time. It felt a little bit like retconning, to be honest, because the show seemed to be portraying Philip and Elizabeth as very much alone with everything they were dealing with in the first season and then all of a sudden there are these people they could have been talking with all along (other than Stan and Sandra, I mean)? I'm definitely going to have to rethink some things that I'd assumed about their lives during the first season, you know? (Of course, unless they've got another family hidden away somewhere that's played the same role for them over the years, then now they really are alone.)
• I do think the new twist on the seduction move carried out jointly by the two illegals couples was incredibly clever. It wasn't just a matter of using sex to get information out of a source, it was much more intricate than that and so very well thought through. Even better, though, I think they also thought it was clever and well executed too. It was good to give them all a moment of enjoyment of the work and the synchrony of partnership before everything went to hell. The poor source didn't even seem damaged by it (embarrassment aside), so there was no one to feel bad for, even.
• The one kid coming back to find them and Philip having to watch/hear that happen--my GOD. That was so much more horrifying than so much of the outright violence on this show. My mind is still kind of reeling from that, and I'm finding myself terribly worried about the kid. Because it's not like he's got aunts and uncles who can step in, now, you know? And Philip and Elizabeth can't take that role on. I guess the KGB will just wash their hands of him, too--which is a mixed blessing (I was saying during the episode that the kid will be lucky if he doesn't find out the rest of the story, even though I'm sure he won't see it that way).
• I felt like Stan and Nina and Nina's Rezidentura world got short shrift here--rightfully so, given everything else that was going on, but still. We barely got a glimpse of the new guy Oleg (although I did note that Arkady addressed him with his patronymic despite him not being some high-level person, which is fascinating), for one. I will say about Stan and Nina that it sure looks like it's a full-blown affair now, and that it's not obvious at least from what we've seen that she's playing him. That puts some of my fears at ease, because I'm nervous about the show portraying Stan as the incompetent one.
• This was my favourite tweet of the night: Holly Taylor (Paige) in response to the question "If you had to sum up the premiere episode of The Americans in one word, what would it be? HEE. And this little exchange was also funny/horrible.
I'm actually about to go watch it again while I work out, so maybe I'll have more to say after that? But for now I guess I'll stop here.
-J
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 12:30 pm (UTC)Kind of famously NOT, actually. :) But I'm okay with that poetic license. It's really not unrealistic that people who live together and work so well together as partners for that long might fall into taking their roles more seriously, and it's way more interesting than what happens when it doesn't work that way.
-J
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:02 pm (UTC)Oh, and I really loved how they used the "The French Lieutenant's Woman" movie. The bits of Meryl Streep (♥) and the different interpretation/reactions of Nina and Sandra. Yay for more parallels!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:07 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:21 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:30 pm (UTC)• Where is the house in the woods where Elizabeth was recuperating, and who the heck is the woman who was with her at the beginning? I guess she's working for the KGB in some respect, but she did seem to be American.
• It's interesting the things that I had assumed based on the trailers and early spoilers that turned out to be wrong: Joel Fields had said "we're going to have a wig malfunction" at one point, and I assumed that it was going to have to do with sex and Martha. This was much scarier (and also ruined the long-term plot a lot less). I also assumed the orders to use Henry in a mission were going to come from their new handler, not from one of the other illegals. Still, I have to give the trailers credits for not actually being misleading, like they often were last season. It's like
• The moment that Philip said "it's okay" to the busboy before shooting him was a bit of a wrench--he really wanted the kid to think he was going to be okay right up until his death.
• Philip saying "are you ready?" to Elizabeth as they're getting out of the car to go up to the house, and getting no answer. At least she's honest?
• The "I missed her, too, pal" part was very sweet--they couldn't help but kiss like newlyweds. But it makes me wonder what the kids think about this sudden shift in their parents' relationship--they were actually broken up, and now they're all happy and enjoying each other. Paige at least must be wondering what's up with that.
• I loved seeing Elizabeth's scar in the sex scene with the dweeby U.S. government source! Very nice continuity.
• The initial line when Elizabeth is sitting on the car with the wife of the other illegals couple is "That's a long time to be away," like the writers didn't want to specify exactly how long it had been. Though Joe and Joel said "a couple of months" in one interview, if I remember correctly, and Elizabeth remarks that they've had "a good couple of months" when she comes back to the travel agency (as an aside: it was very odd to see her acting like a buisnesswoman momentarily, there!).
• It had clearly been a long time since Philip and Elizabeth had seen the other couple, though it seems to have been more on the order of six to eight years. They've also clearly been in the U.S. longer than Philip and Elizabeth, because their kids were older. I wonder if they sort of took Philip and Elizabeth under their wings when they were first in the U.S.? That's a nice thought, that they had that.
• The sex scene that Paige walked in on was waaaaay less in-your-face than I thought it was going to be based on the big deal that was made out of it in the pre-premiere buzz. (I'm just as glad, too; I was worried it was going to seem gratuitious.)
• So glad that Nina finally got a patronymic! Now she just needs a last name.
• I enjoyed the way that Elizabeth immediately forgave Philip for using Henry in a mission--that was very much in line with other work-related missteps that she's always been quick to just accept. And Philip being harder on himself than she was on him about that was also very in character. It's interesting, though, that the other illegals couple clearly did use their kids in missions, otherwise it wouldn't have been suggested. I wonder what else they had their unwitting kids do over the years?
• I was wondering how they were going to explain why Stan and Sandra were still together, but I wasn't expecting Leo Buscaglia! :)
• Did anyone else notice that Philip sounded like Philip, not Clark, while he was telling Martha about his hard day at the end? Nice touch.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:35 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 2014-02-27 03:37 pm (UTC)