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

[sistermagpie]

Kelli. Chatting up Paige. Hmm. Suspect she's the KGB contact.

I think she's a completely ordinary girl.

More desaturated 1960s scenes! This time Phillip's being the paranoid one and acting a bit like Elizabeth doesn't know what she's doing. Considering how devoted she is - how crucial she considers their mission to be - I think at that moment she would have been correct to say Phillip wasn't totally respecting her skills or abilities.

I really disagree there. I thought that scene was kind of interesting the way it set up a streamroller situation with Elizabeth the steamroller. She probably insists on going by the book all the time, so it was completely natural for Philip to say, "Wait, you took a code book outside?" or whatever he said. And then Elizabeth just brushed him off saying it was worth it and he didn't fight it.

Elizabeth breaking the rules and Philip being surprised

[jae]

She probably insists on going by the book all the time, so it was completely natural for Philip to say, "Wait, you took a code book outside?" or whatever he said. And then Elizabeth just brushed him off saying it was worth it and he didn't fight it.

Yeah, that was my read, too. They were really still getting to know each other at that point, so seeing him shocked at that was really telling. If something like that came up these days, his mind would automatically jump to "I guess this is something she deems important enough to break the rules for," but he didn't have that context yet.

-J

The "code book" thing

[jae]

I keep meaning to say this (I figured it out on second watch), but forgetting to! Philip was actually referring to the fact that Elizabeth took a source along with her to a drop site. The thing you heard as "code book" is the guy's name, from what I can tell. Which is a much greater rule-violation than taking a code book outside (or at least it seems to me, as a non-spy).

-J

Re: The "code book" thing

[wendelah1]

That's what I heard too.