Episode discussion post: "The Walk In"
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theamericansAired:
12 March 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
16 March 2014 in Israel
29 March 2014 in the UK
This is a discussion post for episode 203 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 even if you're coming in late--and feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season two, episode three.)
Original promo trailers
Episode recaps
From the Washington Post
From Vulture
From Hitfix
From the AV Club
From the Huffington Post
From IGN
From Collider
From Television Without Pity
From Sound on Sight
From tv.com
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From the Houston Chronicle
From spoilertv.com
From showratings.tv
From The Cloture Club
More to come once they're available!
12 March 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
16 March 2014 in Israel
29 March 2014 in the UK
This is a discussion post for episode 203 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 even if you're coming in late--and feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season two, episode three.)
Original promo trailers
Episode recaps
From the Washington Post
From Vulture
From Hitfix
From the AV Club
From the Huffington Post
From IGN
From Collider
From Television Without Pity
From Sound on Sight
From tv.com
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From the Houston Chronicle
From spoilertv.com
From showratings.tv
From The Cloture Club
More to come once they're available!
Georgley's initial episode thoughts
Date: 2014-03-13 07:17 am (UTC)- Loved the use of the flashbacks. I think they figured out how to use them better than they did in season 1(particularly the Zhukov episode). One subtle thing I liked, Philip and Elizabeth's accents didn't seem quite as strong to me. Also, the "it's time to make a baby" conversation went pretty much exactly how I thought it would have. It was so well acted by Keri and Matthew.
- Elizabeth actually looked younger to me in the flashback scenes. Well done, show!
- Elizabeth with baby Paige! That was really sweet and I liked seeing the contrast between the mother she was then and the one she is turning into.
- I think it was probably a good decision not to hand over the letter to Jared. Given he has been taken in by an American family and no-one has any idea his parents were spies, the letter probably would have done more harm than good. Also fits with Elizabeth's desire in the Pilot for Paige and Henry to never find out about her and Philip.
- I am really glad that Philip and Elizabeth had covered their tracks with the Aunt Helen story. I'll be honest that at first I thought she was just an old lady with dementia and they'd put a photo in her house so I was a bit surprised when she called Philip! I wonder if she also acts as a cover story for other spies?
- Philip was super scary (and a little bit hot) when he was talking to Paige. It had to really freak him out that she was checking up on them like that. Not to mention the fact that she had traveled so far on her own without them knowing about it given how worried they have been about something happening to the kids.
- I wonder if we'll get to see Elizabeth's reaction to Paige's little road trip.
- I like these glimpses of the fact that Philip is actually a pretty tough guy even though he comes across as such a jovial guy who is so in love with this kids. And he is those things as well, but there is a fair bit of steel to his spine.
- If the Centre was supposed to have someone watching the kids, did Paige slip away from them or did someone follow her to Aunt Helen's? That makes me suspicious of Kelly from the bus but she seems too convincing a teenager.
- Stan and Nina's story continues to fascinate me. I was glad to see that they explained why she told Stan about the walk-in and that Arkady knew about it.
- So nice to see the music montages return. This show uses music so well!
- Henry and Paige are both pretty terrible liars which is such an interesting contrast to their parents.
- I really like the kitchen scenes with the whole family. Nice to see a bit of normal in their lives.
- I like that we are still seeing conflict between P/E but on a different level to last season. This episode it was the discussion at the soda machine around what would happen to the kids and Philip saying it was Elizabeth that never wanted them to have friends. I hope they keep exploring those kinds of issues!
Paige gong off
Date: 2014-03-13 11:20 am (UTC)"too convincing a teenager"
And Helen is too convincing an old woman :)
If Kelly wasn't one of the people watching the kids, who was?
Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 12:27 pm (UTC)I'm on the fence about whether Kelly could really be KGB. Or, maybe I should say, not that she "couldn't" be KGB, but if she's that young (even if we assume she's a young looking 21 or something) and can really learn English so flawlessly as to seem like an unremarkable agent with no accent, would they waste her on babysitting Paige? Since P/E didn't know Paige was going to run off, the Centre couldn't have known Paige was going to run off, so it's not like they would have Kelly have a plan for intercepting her on the bus... seems like it would've been safer for their tail to simply follow the bus and not get spotted. Grannie kind of did a dumb thing when she talked to Paige/Philip in the restaurant because now she can never get close to them again for any purpose without the danger of Paige recognizing her, versus if she'd just passed them like the Jennings did the Connors at the carnival, the risk of being remembered is much lower.
Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 12:56 pm (UTC)I had forgotten about the restaurant - which episode was that?
Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 01:09 pm (UTC)That's true, there are ways to explain the English. It's not that she *couldn't* be KGB, I'm just trying to think of what the KGB would gain from using her like that versus what the negatives would be. Still kind of mulling over the idea in my head, and trying to argue it either way, if that makes sense.
Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 02:21 pm (UTC)I actually kind of like the idea of Paige having just an ordinary FRIEND to work through her parent issues, though, so for her sake I kind of hope that's not what it was. It would fit in with the "they'll put someone on them" thing from the beginning of the episode, though.
-J
Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 02:25 pm (UTC)Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 02:30 pm (UTC)Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 03:27 pm (UTC)Re: Who was Kelly
Date: 2014-03-13 03:35 pm (UTC)Except for Sandra. I can just tell she's trouble.
Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 09:33 am (UTC)This is a point that's bothering me. Paige cut out of school, so if only for her protection, the Center had to have somebody on her. It had to have been somebody on the bus, or somebody trailing the bus, but that would look very suspicious, and we didn't see any car. Since she got off on her own, it must have been somebody who knew where she was going.
In today's world, they could just stick a GPS on her and be done with it.
Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 11:48 am (UTC)-J
Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 11:50 am (UTC)Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 11:54 am (UTC)Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 12:02 pm (UTC)Though now that I think about it, it was supposed to be limited to just the time the were away. *ponder some more*
I trust the KGB are able to tail a bus, but I'd also expect the show to be fair and show it to us. Paige was off the bus and the tail would never have seen it, unless they knew which stop she planned to get off at.
I actually wish Paige would discuss this whole suspicion thing more with Henry. Maybe she's not doing it because he'll just dismiss it, or she doesn't trust him not to talk about it, but he could be her spy too.
Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 04:15 pm (UTC)While I get how she's not seeing Kelli as a tail so therefore technically not seeing "it" this still seems to completely undermine the point. Paige has been essentially assigned a bodyguard, so imo, there's little good in putting a girl right next to her to chat her up and get her attention--not so much watch her as infiltrate her life as if she's a source. If Kelli actually saw a threat to Paige and had to take the threat out she'd risk revealing herself as not a regular girl. Plus she's actually now just an inspiration for Paige to sneak out of the house and meet her rather than staying at home.
I think Kelli's got her own agenda and it's basically what we saw on the bus: she wants to make friends, she likes talking to kids who need to know other kids who "understand." She wants Paige to call her and want to hang out.
I trust the KGB are able to tail a bus, but I'd also expect the show to be fair and show it to us.
I think they were just fair enough in telling us about it in case we wondered about the kids just being left on their own. I know they had somebody set up as a cover for the Aunt Helen story just case of emergencies like this one. That covers all the bases for me.
Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 03:54 pm (UTC)Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 04:01 pm (UTC)Re: Who was watching Paige
Date: 2014-03-18 04:57 pm (UTC)-J
Re: Georgley's initial episode thoughts
Date: 2014-03-13 12:17 pm (UTC)I really liked the way they did that whole sequence of flashbacks and showing how it progressed over time. We know from what Gregory said that she was troubled even late in the pregnancy about the idea of "raising this child" and then even in her expression you can see that isn't completely gone. And yet also from the way she's holding Paige, it's clear there's a bond there that Elizabeth never predicted she'd have.
I like that they're being more clear on that. Because last season during the separation (and of course, they were all off balance there) it could've seemed like Elizabeth was the dictator parent and he was just Mr. Fun. And clearly, they can have those tendencies too. But it was nice that they also showed he's not afraid of the harder parts of parenting too, both here and with the "no video games for Henry" thread."
I like that too! Particularly that "didn't you want it that way?" or whatever the quote was, line because it was clearly an old fight. And they can be in love and still have typical married couple spats too. Makes the marriage all the more "real." :)
Re: Georgley's initial episode thoughts
Date: 2014-03-13 03:30 pm (UTC)I thought they did a good job with those. And even Phillip looked actually younger! They must have done hella makeup work to take the age lines out of Matthew's face to do it though.
Re: Georgley's initial episode thoughts
Date: 2014-03-13 03:32 pm (UTC)