theamericans | Episode discussion post: "Cardinal"

jae posting in

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

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From TV Ate My Wardrobe
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From Unreality TV (UK)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jae

This one went by really fast for me for some reason. Like, I looked at the clock thinking it was probably 20 minutes in, and it was nearly 40 minutes in. I'm definitely going to have to rewatch it to get everything--I'll do that this morning before work. I'll probably have more to say about it then, but here are my initial thoughts, anyway.

I found it remarkable just how much of the truth Philip was telling to Emmet's American agent while he was trying to keep from being killed. It wasn't everything, and it wasn't, you know, egregious, it was just enough. Although on Twitter, someone observed that questions about his kids were still off-limits. Also, I felt so sad for the poor agent guy! He was totally in over his head. I wonder how he was as an agent, what he did for Emmet, and how he got recruited.

I am really, really excited about Aimee Carrero's character (the Sandinista posing as a Costa Rican--not an illegal, but a similar twist on spying!): I thought this was a great introduction to her, just a teaser. She's totally going to remind Elizabeth of herself from a few decades back. It's also really interesting to me that the KGB illegals are the ones for someone like her to call when you got into a jam--like, her own country doesn't have enough of that sort of support network. I wonder if that's accurate.

The long bedroom scene between Philip and Elizabeth at the end was so lovely and so sad. They're both scared, but they're still complementing each other really well and helping prop each other up. Also their bedroom continues to be the place of intimacy for them, and not just in the sexual sense. Also, "we'll get used to it, like we've gotten used to everything else" was something that we'd heard before from the previews, but I loved how it fit into the scene, and I still find it to be truly the most Philip line ever.

Man, Martha thinking about leaving her job--that would certainly throw a wrench into things for Philip, wouldn't it? He's doing a good job manipulating her into staying so far, but I don't know how long that's going to take.

Littler things:

I loved that Philip was still obsessing over Henry's role in the mission that went bad. Elizabeth has moved on, but his head is still there, thinking about what he could have done differently.

I totally called "Cardinal" being a code name, from when we found out the episode title. It was totally a lucky guess, of course, at that point but I'm still a bit chuffed. :)

Philip in Emmet and Leanne's place, careful not to touch anything, using the screwdriver--until he got to the Playboy and he picked it up to check it with his mitts all over it. What's up with that?

-J

From:

lovingboth

Yes, I noticed the fingers on the Playboy. Why not just wear gloves? Screwdrivers can leave scratch marks.

From:

jae

The part that puzzles me about this is that it couldn't have just been a writing error--because the writers were so clearly thinking about having him do the search without touching anything. And yet he touched that.

-J

From:

lovingboth

To see if it was sticky? :)

From:

theplatonicnonyeah

Eeeew!

I actually think he may have been looking for loose pieces of paper stuck in between an "inconspicuous" porn magazine.

Or he was just a little horny. ;-)

From:

sistermagpie

I loved how Elizabeth was in the best shape when she was dealing with the younger agent--I think Lucia is her name. Partly because she has to project that to keep her calm, but I think also she took comfort in this being a situation she could handle. She likes being the big sister in a situation where she can be that.

In general, one of the things I really like that they're obviously setting up this season is that spies are in some ways all one big family even when they're spying for different countries for different reasons. They can at least be honest about what they're doing, and they tend to get where each other's head is at. There's a lot of times in this ep where they show an immediate understanding of things the other person probably thinks is very isolating and private.

It does look like Emmett and Leanne will continue to be characters to illuminate the Jennings themselves. I'm sure Philip, too, is wondering just what made "Paul" take to Fred so much that he'd talk about his kids. I suspect Fred will wind up being a good agent for Philip now instead. And I wouldn't be surprised if Philip used the name Paul with him too!

From:

jae

In general, one of the things I really like that they're obviously setting up this season is that spies are in some ways all one big family even when they're spying for different countries for different reasons.

I like this observation! Of course this is most true when it's the same country (Philip and Elizabeth and Nina, say), or at least the same side in the "war" (as with Elizabeth and Lucia), but even Philip and Stan have this solidarity in a way. It's a large part of what brings them together as friends.

It would really make sense for Philip to take Fred on as an agent at this point--I hope they do go there.

-J

From:

sistermagpie

There is some with Philip and Stan, it's true, but I feel like it's even more for these people who are really out in the field as spies. (In Stan's case I think some of the real understanding is a holdover from his undercover days.) It's the dishonesty and double life thing--so I don't think Philip would feel the same way with, say, Gaad. But he does somewhat with Fred, and he would with someone from, say, East Germany or Israel. It's like they're all at sea and when the meet it's like a little island has cropped up briefly where they can just dry off for a second.

In Stan's case, it's really driving him too, I think. Like it's one of the things that makes him feel he understands and connects with Nina, and it was something that Amador couldn't understand. ("It was a little deeper than that.") It's funny, of course, that he seems to want to confide in Philip about it even though for all Stan knows, Philip is just as clueless as Amador.

Edited Date: 2014-03-07 12:05 am (UTC)

From:

katiac

It's a way to be intimate with someone that they can't really get anywhere else--and considering how far they have to keep the rest of the world away--those relationships are all the more important. Like in the same way that no one but Philip and Elizabeth can ever get into that special space of how they feel about *their* kids and the love they have for *their* family, no one can really get exactly how it must feel to have gone through the KGB training, to do this or that, and Emmett and Leanne can exactly. They had the same training. The same missions. The same orders to have kids. The same fears for their kids. The same feelings the KGB maybe never wanted them to have (about their kids, their lives there, whatever.)

From:

quantumreality

Paul seems to be the kind of guy who you could sit down and have a chat with when he's calmer, and maybe Emmett got that vibe and at least played a role of settling in and chatting away with his spying asset.

From:

treonb

I was thinking about the playboy that it's an excellent idea when you're hiding something to hide something ELSE in there too. Philip just looked at the first magazine and ignored everything else.

From:

jae

Oh, sure, that's definitely why he looked at it. What I don't understand, though, is why he touched it with his hands when he was being so careful about not doing that with anything else.

-J

From:

treonb

I don't understand that either. He also put that electrical thing (what was that?) without putting on gloves. I can understand they don't have to worry about DNA, but they seem way too careless with leaving fingerprints.

But what I meant - Philip shouldn't have assumed that this guy only had playboys locked up in the drawer. There could have been something else there. But the show didn't go in that direction, so he was lucky ;-)

From:

sistermagpie

It is very weird when it's usually so second nature for him to just grab a handkerchief to touch things.

Though I don't think the Playboy would be any real danger. It's a magazine inside a drawer, and a Playboy, several years old. It's made to be thumbed through by whoever picks it up, and I don't even know how clear fingerprints would be from holding it anyway. Probably partial smears most of the time at best. If they did dust for prints I don't think they'd be dusting that.