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

Re: Elizabeth's rule following exceptions

[katiac]

I can see why the particulars of what name he knew, etc, could have some flexibility and that it's clear they give some agents more information than others. Charles Duluth seems to also have a higher level of trust--Philip sees him with no disguise. "Anne" too. And Dorwin knows Vasili is the Rezident and even calls him at the Rezidentura. But I still feel like it was probably a violation of protocol for Elizabeth to cultivate a romantic relationship with an agent she's recruiting for the risk she'd become as emotionally compromised as any of their honey pot targets. If she just wanted sex randomly, or had to have sex with him to keep him willing to work for them, I feel like it wouldn't be the same issue because it wouldn't be an emotional issue for her--but it's clear from the fact that she couldn't go through with KGB orders, and supported Gregory when he refused to go through with KGB orders that she was emotionally compromised by the relationship they'd once had.

Re: Elizabeth's rule following exceptions

[jae]

Well, when I said I didn't think it made sense to interpret her as violating protocols, I was specifically responding to your comment that "allowing Gregory to know her real name and to tell him personal details about her kids was a real risk, and it was a selfish thing to do because like you said, he easily could've been an FBI plant." I think it's very clear that everyone involved (Philip, their handlers, the Center) is okay with Gregory knowing her cover name and the fact that she has a family, and that in turn must mean they have reason to believe he's not an FBI plant. (And of course, if he had been an FBI plant, it wouldn't have mattered whether they were in a romantic relationship or not--it would have been just as dangerous either way.)

The romantic relationship itself, though--that I could see being a violation of...something? Probably not official protocols, because it's not the sort of thing that could be forbidden in their jobs, really. Someone like Elizabeth HAS to be able to have sex with someone like Gregory (I mean, Philip is clearly not violating any sorts of protocols with Martha), so you can't outright forbid "fraternization" with someone lower down the totem pole like you can in other kinds of jobs, and I'm sure the KGB isn't naive enough about these things to have it as an actual written rule that their agents are not permitted to have certain kinds of feelings. Behaviours you can make rules about, feelings not so much.

But just the very fact that Claudia doesn't seem to know that they were lovers during "Only You" (my read is that she suspects but has never been told) suggests that Elizabeth had reason not to tell her. So that could be very easily read as Elizabeth having violated some unwritten rule (or at least an ideal) by getting her feelings involved.

-J