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

[https://me.yahoo.com/a/2cl73ukouOPLb3eEcwaOru5o0Qo.lDJW#40de1]

Yay, I was looking for a mention of the Nina/Stan montage. I really liked the extra layer of Nina's formal descriptions.

-Emma

[quantumreality]

It almost kind of smacks you in the face, how bluntly clinical her description is of what (to Stan, anyway) is heaven on Earth, and for her, probably an unwelcome repeat of what she did with Vasili.

I really hope she can get into a position where she doesn't have to do that again.