Episode discussion post: "Cardinal"
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theamericansAired:
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
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)
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
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)
On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-08 07:54 pm (UTC)* The Jennings do serious breakfasts.
* My suburban street growing up never had this much going on in it. Except when the school across the street was just going in or getting out.
* I know Clark's making orange juice from concentrate but that doesn't change that this is a pretty awesome breakfast he's making for his lady here.
* Clark's Clark-accent is making me laugh in this scene. It's like Philip dials his ass to be a couple of notches tighter. And his little mouth gets tighter too.
* Does Clark wear any dental stuff?
* I love Clark's "Good lord" about the Collins family murders.
* I love the ongoing distinction in the Jennings house b/w TV and news. I wonder if that started with Mom and Dad trying to cut down on TV time while obsessively watching the news.
* Nice that the Jennings have a literal picket fence.
* Philip must be positively gob-smacked at Elizabeth saying she didn't get the signal. This is ELIZABETH.
* I love Philip encouraging her to get out on the street a little. But he knows better than to show he thinks she needs encouragement.
* STAN!!! (Best greeting ever.)
* Do it right this time. Yeah. Right.
* If Philip was back in Russia right now he would be killing it on the black market. Born salesman, right Stan?
* I love reading comments from who thought the clock thing was a sign. Like maybe as soon as Stan leaves Phil will ask Elizabeth, "OMG, did the Centre steal that clock from Stan's mother for our office??!!"
*I suspect Oleg dancing would be kind of hilarious but he'd think he was awesome.
* I don't quite follow Elizabeth's line when she comes back from the drop. Philip says if there was someone watching the brush pass they'd have gotten them by now and she says "Why not?" Why not what?
* Elizabeth also makes the decision for Philip to go after Fred. Btw, is Fred Cardinal or Emmett? Or someone else?
* I love Arkady's office. It's like you can't walk into it without looking for a silver samovar.
* Henry's criticism of school is really awesome. He just thinks the teachers should communicate as it undermines both their pursuits of shared goals. It's a metaphor for the whole dang show, you guys!
* I also like that Henry takes an interest in their travel agent business. He'll remember what inclusive packages are. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Henry actually provides an important piece of info to Paige.
* No coincidence Henry talks about the benefits of communication in an ep where people are communicating in the most inefficient ways possible because of the situation. Like Arkady even has to talk to the walk-in through an intercom.
* I read a comment somewhere from a guy who said he had trouble following the scenes at Fred's because his apartment looked so exactly like his at the same time. The tape holders especially were awesome--those aren't CDs!
* At first I totally didn't get what Philip was doing with the electrical box. The thing he put in has the word volts on it! It must be electrical related, right? Oh wait, spies.
* Still don't catch what Philip says about the bus to Elizabeth. Is he just saying it's better to pick the kids up today?
* Fred's got liquor out on the table-spying is stressful.
* Gloves would really have solved all Philip's problems here. And they'd match his outfit.
* On the bookcase I see Smiley's People and is the other one Tinker Tailor? And then Sherlock Holmes and Richard Bach. Philip gets a ton more info from that shelf than LOL! it's the 80s.
* There are, like, no naked women in that Playboy.
* I love Philip feeling the thing under the shag rug.
* Crap. (The shock happened.)
* I think it's intentionally ambiguous whether Nina's supposed to be telling Stan about the walk-in. She lies about not knowing when the guy showed up.
*Stan just resolutely insists on pronouncing it Ar-CADE-ee. I sympathize because that's the way I pronounced it in my head when reading "The Adolescent" and I really liked it, but even I gave in after hearing a Russian pronounce it correctly, Stan. Btw, how those Russian lessons going?
* Nina's also talking about how the walk in was "in there a long time" when the last we saw he was sitting alone. It'd be cool if the guy was actually unimportant.
* I love how much of helping spies involves just calming them down and assuring them they're doing okay. Fred and Lucia both get that.
* Damn if Philip isn't using a DIFFERENT ACCENT in this scene with Fred! It's not a full out different accent. It's subtle. But listen to how he says CIA etc. He's not totally talking like himself.
*Speaking of which, I know not everybody's seeing my commercials, but this new Fargo show. Apparently it's got Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thorton? I see the Cohen brother-type in both, but isn't it weird to cast a TV show based on a movie known for its Minnesota accents with two actors very much known for working in their very different native accents?
* Elizabeth would have left the kids alone if those street workers didn't freak her out.
* Got the third repetition from Philip in the scene with Fred: "It's okay, Fred. Fred, it's okay."
* I like how the Philip/Fred scene lands on "we're both his friends" rather than the fact they're working together. In fact, it's subtly contrasting to Elizabeth's scene with Lucia, because she stresses them as being bonded through their work. I don't think there's any judgment implied about one being better, btw. They're just the two sides to what they do.
* Philip says Paul "said" that Fred did it for something bigger--that's a little fib in there, right? Trying to imply that Paul had actually told Philip about Fred personally.
* Interesting that he not only tells him Paul's dead, but that he's that murder in the paper. I wonder why he does that.
* Hmm. Fred also asks why Philip told him that. I think Philip really gets that this guy needs signals that he stands out among agents enough to be "in the know" in the way they aren't. He even stresses that Paul wore disguises for Fred's protection (not so Fred didn't get to see him for Emmett's protection).
* Philip seems to relax only when Fred's weeping.
* Got dark really fast there for the Jennings. I mean literally dark. It was daylight when she said they were leaving right that minute.
* Elizabeth's not selling this sudden thing she forgot at the office thing at all well.
* And now *Philip's* bringing *Fred* a glass of water in his own house. Talk about a flip of control. Fred's even sitting while Philip's standing.
* What was his real name? Let's say Emmett. Not his real name, but one one layer peeled back.
* I'm eager to find out if Philip really has a close relationship to Emmett himself that he's drawing on here, rather than just flattering an isolated agent by saying Emmett didn't take to a lot of people like he knows that for sure.
* I mean, there have been hints that we might get flashbacks about how relationships were formed this season, so I wouldn't be surprised if the season gets more into the past of Philip/Elizabeth/Emmett/Leanne, including convos between Philip and Emmett about why they do this. Or why people do this. The other family seems a little older too, so they might have been mentors.
* Mentors with whom they occasionally stage threesomes. Their jobs are weird.
* Fred's talking about Jared left all alone. Of course Fred would be more ignorant than Philip about what might be done for or to Jared, but I feel like the show sees that the orphan they must ignore is a bigger dramatic hook that raises more interesting questions.
*And this is the first time Philip says Jared will be taken care of, but more smoothly, and Fred actually is reassured by it.
*And then makes the connection to Henry. Ouch. But that's why Fred's reassured--he knows he's talking to a dad just like Emmett who'd trust his own kid to be taken care of.
*And then Philip actually gets seriously important info he didn't know he was missing. And he pretty much only gets it because he forms a personal bond with this guy. Way to go, Philip!
* Damn, it's so awesome to contrast that scene with Elizabeth Lucia where Elizabeth's showing how the official protocol is important and sometimes a professional interaction is the most comforting thing. Especially if the professional is Wonder Woman. I mean, Elizabeth.
* I like Gaad's space shuttle crack.
* Lucia must be just overwhelmed at Elizabeth's awesomeness. Who was that capped woman?
* I love how many convos Philip and Elizabeth have had just this season that include "It's a long story...tell you later."
* Cool typewriter, Nina!
* I know Philip would probably have intentionally used two phone booths anyway, but I imagine him making the decision to blow Martha off after leaving the first one.
* I hope he made sure there was some flight that was cancelled that day. Let's not get too sloppy, Clark.
* There's something so creepy having him be Clark out of costume. I guess because with the wig and glasses he "becomes" Clark in some way, but here he's like Philip pretending to be this poor woman's husband.
* Oh, Martha. Nobody *wants* to be a victim.
* Did Paige not get the info on the phone in that scene? She starts to write on her hand but she doesn't have enough time to get a phone number or address. (Or for the operator to even search, actually.)
* I love that Philip tells Elizabeth exactly why he came home: I heard your voice on the phone (and it didn't sound good!)
*I said this before, but I love how Philip never forgets his hand in every scene. The one time I got a shock I spent the whole day obsessed with my tongue. I'd gotten shocked in the finger or something but I guess it came out my tongue so that's where it was numb. So it was like a science experiment.
* I went into a ton of detail on this last P&E scene elsewhere, but just putting in one more word about how it still seems to be about Jared's future life. If he's the Dead Boy Walking, what does it matter that he screamed last week? They have to at least think it's a possibility that he's going to be left alive. Otherwise how dopey are these two? Your working for your children's future assassins!
*Love love love Philip's last confession there. It's not even just about an abstract feeling that they have choices, I don't think. I think it's also an acknowledgement that the work means something to him, that he wanted the info, wanted to get away with it and agreed that Henry made a better cover.
*I think another recapper noted this, that Elizabeth's all about the cause, but she'll freak out over her children being in danger. And Philip is all about family, but he'll use his kid as a cover.
*This is one of the many ways the show benefits from how seriously it takes their convictions. It doesn't ask us to invest in what they are, specifically, but it understands people being motivated to make a difference. The idea's brought up over and over, with Martha, Fred, Lucia and Elizabeth. Even Henry's comment about a game vs. real life kind of echoes it. Philip seems less inspired by it these days, but I think he still is tied to it and understands why he does what he does. And it might get dug into a bit later.
Re: On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-08 08:51 pm (UTC)I find his Clark accent remarkably inconsistent this season! It's got to be deliberate, too, and I just love that--it fits the most recent chaos so well. I wonder how that ends up sounding to Martha.
Philip must be positively gob-smacked at Elizabeth saying she didn't get the signal.
Yeah, there's this PAUSE where he's like "wha?" And then he just lets it go. (I love how they can both let things like that go! It's so key to the success of their partnership, even dating from before they were a real couple.
Btw, is Fred Cardinal or Emmett? Or someone else?
I was wondering this, too. Anyone?
And now *Philip's* bringing *Fred* a glass of water in his own house. Talk about a flip of control.
I noticed this, too. He sure won him over fast! I guess when Fred caves, he just totally caves.
-J
Re: On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-08 09:41 pm (UTC)That said, I liked that motif of Elizabeth's senses going into absolute hyperdrive: it's amazing how much a lot of that stuff fades into background noise under normal circumstances. And really, a lot of it is so ordinary: "Get in the car!" *car roars off* , etc.
* Clark's Clark-accent is making me laugh in this scene. It's like Philip dials his ass to be a couple of notches tighter. And his little mouth gets tighter too.
Ha! XD *snerk*
He does look and act a lot more fussbudgety as Clark than as Phillip.
* If Philip was back in Russia right now he would be killing it on the black market. Born salesman, right Stan?
Indeed. Some people are born scroungers and angle-finders, and Phillip seems like the kind of guy who would know just who to talk to if you needed anything from a quickie emergency shipment of, say, steel, because your factory was running under quota and authorizing an override through the usual channels would take forever, to needing a bulk pack of jeans so your cousin in the local Komsomol would become the instantly cool kid for having good Western jeans for all his or her buddies.
And he'd do it all with that casual air of "Hey, we're both getting something out of this, right?"
* I love Arkady's office. It's like you can't walk into it without looking for a silver samovar.
You know what I like? The fact that they're keeping him consistent. His throwaway line about liking to work late with his glass of vodka or rum is still holding true as he takes Nina's report in an obviously night-time settings.
* Gloves would really have solved all Philip's problems here. And they'd match his outfit.
Indeed! I mean, what the hell, Phillip? Electrical safety and all that means insulating yourself. Some electrician you'd make, Mister Super-Spy. :P
* I hope he made sure there was some flight that was cancelled that day. Let's not get too sloppy, Clark.
I was just thinking about that this morning! In the age of Google and the Web, Martha could have checked up on him in, like, a minute and called him out on that lie.
Re: On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-09 02:33 pm (UTC)* I don't quite follow Elizabeth's line when she comes back from the drop. Philip says if there was someone watching the brush pass they'd have gotten them by now and she says "Why not?" Why not what?
She says: or not.
* I love Arkady's office. It's like you can't walk into it without looking for a silver samovar.
Yeah, Nina's office has a party sign or something. He has serious tapestries.
I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Henry actually provides an important piece of info to Paige.
I'd love to see that!
* Still don't catch what Philip says about the bus to Elizabeth. Is he just saying it's better to pick the kids up today?
At first I thought he was serious, but then I figured he's speaking in code. Or not?
* Fred's got liquor out on the table-spying is stressful.
It is! But his place is so clean otherwise.
Btw, how those Russian lessons going?
Heh :-) That's a sore point ;-)
* I like how the Philip/Fred scene lands on "we're both his friends" rather than the fact they're working together. In fact, it's subtly contrasting to Elizabeth's scene with Lucia, because she stresses them as being bonded through their work. I don't think there's any judgment implied about one being better, btw. They're just the two sides to what they do.
Which leads to my question.. why did Elizabeth advise her to be the guy's girlfriend. It just doesn't seem the Elizabeth thing to do.
* Philip says Paul "said" that Fred did it for something bigger--that's a little fib in there, right? Trying to imply that Paul had actually told Philip about Fred personally.
Philip's lying so much, that would be the least of it.
* Got dark really fast there for the Jennings.
I noticed that too!
* Lucia must be just overwhelmed at Elizabeth's awesomeness. Who was that capped woman?
Hee! Wonder Woman didn't have a husband and kids to deal with, did she?
* Cool typewriter, Nina!
Her computer is even better ;-)
* Did Paige not get the info on the phone in that scene? She starts to write on her hand but she doesn't have enough time to get a phone number or address. (Or for the operator to even search, actually.)
I think she did get the number, but even if she didn't. She's home alone enough times, I'd think, to check it out.
Re: On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-09 02:39 pm (UTC)Why didn't Stan wait after knocking before entering?
And btw, what's with the "Good morning, Mr. Philip?". I see it's not the first time Philip's called that.
Re: On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-09 05:34 pm (UTC)"Mr. Philip"
Date: 2014-03-09 05:37 pm (UTC)For what it's worth, I don't correct them either. :)
-J
Re: "Mr. Philip"
Date: 2014-03-09 05:54 pm (UTC)And Philip actually probably totally gets it and remembers having to get over the impulse himself, so he's not going to be uncomfortable with hit.
Re: "Mr. Philip"
Date: 2014-03-09 06:35 pm (UTC)But I also like the fact that they're building up the character of this guy at work.
Re: On rewatch
Date: 2014-03-09 05:40 pm (UTC)Thank you! Finally it makes sense.
It definitely sounds like, if not code, just a way to sound really banal. Like Elizabeth's saying she's picking the kids up, presumably because she's too paranoid to let them take the bus? And he's cheerfully acting like that's just a nice thing to do today for perfectly ordinary reasons rather than reflecting back the fear for them?
I think, as I said in the other thread, that she's correctly understanding what Lucia's trying to do here and expertly telling her what she's doing wrong. Especially because what she's doing is so dangerous, getting her into alleys with too much cocaine. So she's basically saying no, you want to have a place in his life with some respect, where he trusts you and has some respect for you. You don't do that by partying with him in the backseat. It's giving Lucia more control over their relationship.
Elizabeth probably would do that in many situations. It's hard for her to do it now with two kids, and it's not right for every source--probably like most spies she avoids it if she can. But clearly Lucia's already working that angle, or trying to, so if she plays her cards right she'll get into some great places doing it that way rather than being some Central American grad student he gets high with and screws.
Yeah, I definitely took it as her having found the number one way or the other--she can always call back. I guess I had a moment of thinking that there wasn't really enough time for the operator to even check and see if there was a listing for her. But that's probably just TV time where they're not going to show me 20 seconds of dead air while the operator does her thing!