Episode discussion post: "The Walk In"

[jae]

Aired:
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

"Next On: The Walk In" (Watch on YouTube)

"The Americans: Exclusive Scene from Episode 3" (Watch on YouTube)

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!

Comments

Re: First watch: Jae

[katiac]

I did not actually jump up in the air and chortle at Philip's snarky "isn't that how you wanted it" in response to Elizabeth's "we don't have any real friends" line, but I did in my head. *g*

That was so great and fits perfectly with what you would expect from their characters. That Philip would want to (and be great at) make friends right away and Elizabeth who mistrusts just about everyone and would see it as work rather than something enjoyable for most people she tried to be "friends" with would balk.

This is from the same scene, but deserves its own bullet point because it sparked Twitter debate: "I lost my father when I was six." Obviously Philip wouldn't be spontaneously coming up with stuff like that on the fly that's not part of his official cover story, but it still had the ring of truth to it--Misha's truth, not Philip's "truth." So I had to wonder whether this was a case of the KGB embedding a lie within a truth to make it feel more real, and if Philip's official backstory is a version of Misha's own real-life experiences. I suspect this isn't the last we hear of this, either, and that just thrills me. The slow reveals on this show are so awesome when they're this well done.

Ditto all of this. Exactly! (And are they ever going to stop spelling his name "Mischa"? Because it's making me crazy...)

I was thrown by the fact that Philip didn't seem to know about the letter and that Elizabeth didn't tell him about what she was going to do before she did it. This concerns me a little--she really doesn't need to keep things like that to herself anymore. They're closer now, they can talk! I hope she told him later, at least.

I thought he *did* know because of the line earlier about "you don't have to do this" when they were in the car. Like I didn't catch it the first time, but I noted it the second time. But then he seemed to ask about it when they were changing out of disguises. I need to rewatch, but I thought they had a little bit about "the police could still be watching the house" that indicated he knew what she was planning.

Misha/Mischa

[jae]

They're actually both equally right because they're transliterations. I currently have a Ukrainian grad student whose name is Tetyana, and she sometimes spells the short form of her name in English as 'Tania' and sometimes as 'Tanya' (and when she's writing German, she spells it 'Tanja'). If Philip were using the short form of his Russian name in his American life, he'd probably eventually pick a spelling, but as it is he doesn't have to, and one isn't more correct than the other. I write 'Misha' because it's marginally more common and because 'Mischa' looks German to me, but they're both legit! :)

Did Philip know about the letter or not?

[jae]

Ooh, good call on the line about her not having to do that. I'll listen for that on rewatch, thanks!

-J

Edited post-rewatch to add: Yep, you called this one! She even says: "You KNOW what I'm going to do." Okay, that makes me feel better about it.

Re: Did Philip know about the letter or not?

[quantumreality]

That also gives some interesting context to Elizabeth's vehemency about never letting the kids know who they really are. It's like she respected Leanne's decision, but decided it wasn't going to be like that for her and Phillip.

Re: Did Philip know about the letter or not?

[sistermagpie]

It's funny, actually, when I was watching the ep I kept forgetting that we weren't supposed to know what Elizabeth was going to do. But since I'd seen the commercial I knew the whole time and it wasn't a mystery.