Episode discussion post: "Cardinal"

[jae]

Aired:
5 March 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
9 March 2014 in Israel
22 March 2014 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode 202 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 two.)

Original promo trailers

"Next On: Cardinal" (Watch on YouTube)

"The Americans: Exclusive Scene from Episode 2" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps

From Vulture
From Hitfix
From The AV Club
From The Huffington Post
From IGN
From Think Progress
From SpoilerTV
From Zap2it
From Television Without Pity
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From Filmthrasher
From showratings.tv
From Newsmanone
From Screenrant
From the LA Times
From Geekbinge
From tvrage.com
From Unreality TV (UK)

Comments

[treonb]

Nice to have Henry suggest he and Paige helping Mom and Dad at work if things are getting too hard.

I completely missed that line. And he has no idea he helped out last weekend.

I feel like some of Philip's best qualities sometimes go without being noticed as much as Elizabeth's so I have to give a shout out here to his handling of the Fred situation

I definitely agree. He was speaking so convincingly, I wasn't even sure he hadn't gotten it all from Emmett. But how could he?

As for Martha - it's sad that Philip's the only one who realizes she can be much more than what she is now.

Fred could ask Philip Emmett's "real" name and get it.

That didn't seem like too big a secret. I'm guessing his name is top headlines right now. I think you're right, though. There's a definite relief when they can finally talk with somebody who can understand. And that goes for that relaxed meeting with Emmett's family last episode.

Henry yet again gets a rambling story to tell while no one else is listening to him.

I kind of pity him. He gets all these lines when nobody really cares what he's saying.

[quantumreality]

I hope they don't turn Henry into Chris Brody.

And yeah, Phillip coming up with all that stuff - just wow. I wonder if he knows how similar some of that stuff is to being a hostage negotiator - de-escalate the situation and at least pretend to be interested in what the person wants.

[alisonx]

I hope they don't turn Henry into Chris Brody
This made me shudder. The thought of any member of the Jennings Family turned into a punchline is unfathomable. Keidrich and Holly seem really well cast, especially Holly. I have complete faith in Joel and Joe and the writers that this show will not let me down, and will certainly NOT allow Paige and Henry to turn into anything remotely resembling Dana and Chris. knock on wood. This comment made me sound like I really hated the Homeland kids but I didn't really, they were the least of that show's problems.

[quantumreality]

Yeah, the tendency to push Chris into the background was a fandom joke by the time the third season ended. Henry may not be old enough to appreciate the nuances of things yet, but he has a kind of native street-smartness that's already bailed him and Paige out and I'd like to see more of that.

And I as I noted in my symmetries writeups I think Paige is harder under her core than Elizabeth realizes, and it's this trait that I think could be a great aspect to explore as she plays spy on her own time.

[sistermagpie]

Yeah, I actually like the way that Henry is often shown. Because when he's rambling on about something, if you listen to it, it's giving him a personality. Sure it's the personality of an ordinary 11 year old boy, but it's not always cliche. The apple story is a goofy thing most boys would like--but note that Henry is the person who steps in to make sure the kid doesn't get hurt. Then his lecture about the foolishness of two tests on the same day...that's just a kid thinking something through fairly intelligently. It's not important to his parents so they're half-paying attention, but it's actually subtly showing Henry as a kid who's pretty intelligent and interesting. Not to mention pretty nice. He's just not so precocious that he pays attention to things outside his view.

[jae]

Love this analysis of him! Yeah, I don't have any issues with Henry, either.

-J