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

Response to soupytwist's thoughts

[jae]

I love love love that it was so much about how their lives are so fundamentally conflicted, driving each other away and tying each other together all at the same time.

I know! I think this was my favourite montage yet--there are just so many layers there. Like, a film studies undergraduate could write a whole course paper on it. *g*

Like, maybe the friend - as an outside entity - is better able to tell Paige what about her family life is REALLY WEIRD and what isn't.

This is what I'm hoping for. Because, you know, Paige needs that--there has been so much weirdness in that home lately that she needs someone who's able to help distinguish between weirdness and WEIRDNESS. And of course it's going to freak her parents out for good reason.

I was kind of surprised that we saw NOTHING from back in the day that indicated Elizabeth was even vaguely doubtful about giving Jared the letter.

Yeah, that is surprising, and no one else has brought it up yet. It could well be that Leanne was also ideologically very rooted and Elizabeth looked up to her for that, so she didn't feel like she could turn down a request that came from a place like that? But certainly it's a major violation of the rules (and rules that in this case have a damn good reason). It's weird that neither one of them acknowledges that at any point.

This was the first episode where I kind of wondered if maybe Nina was getting feelings for Stan, but then her little smile made me go straight back to nope, she hates his guts.

See, I don't think it's either of these. I think she's very angry with him about what he did to Vlad, and that's always going to overpower any real feelings she ever has for him from this point forward. But I do think she genuinely enjoys having sex with him at the same time that it totally comes from a place that's all about the manipulation. And going through the motions on something like that can make it almost FEEL real sometimes, so she probably has to remind herself sometimes why she's doing this. But her job, Vlad, all that is still always at the forefront of her mind.

And I think that's what Philip's asking her if she's sure was about, and her pause after - a sort of acknowledgment that the whole situation is so complicated and confusing and frankly non-consensual at that point.

I LOVE this interpretation of that.

-J

Elizabeth's response to Jared's letter, and thoughts on Nina/Stan

[soupytwist]

Yeah, that is surprising, and no one else has brought it up yet. It could well be that Leanne was also ideologically very rooted and Elizabeth looked up to her for that, so she didn't feel like she could turn down a request that came from a place like that? But certainly it's a major violation of the rules (and rules that in this case have a damn good reason). It's weird that neither one of them acknowledges that at any point.

Yeah, exactly - there are possible reasons that I could buy for it, including Leanne being kind of Elizabeth's new-to-the-US "mentor", but not MENTIONING it seemed weird. Weird enough that I am wondering if that will be brought up, somehow.

I like your thoughts on Nina! I actually got more like quantumreality's impression below: I felt like at least some of her seeming satisfaction there is the satisfaction of having 'got one over' on Stan? But she's pretending so well that on reflection I think you have to be right, and there's at least a grain of truth in it somewhere, even if she's not sure how much.

(Edited for clarity about what was my opinion and what was other people's!)

Re: Elizabeth's response to Jared's letter, and thoughts on Nina/Stan

[quantumreality]

Flashbacks were awesome (Elizabeth is ROCKING that sixties fashion, helloooooooooo) and I am so pleased to see some of their earlier life, but I was kind of surprised that we saw NOTHING from back in the day that indicated Elizabeth was even vaguely doubtful about giving Jared the letter.

Hmm - people do change in ~15 years, and to my understanding they had very little contact anyway; people grow apart during that time even if they're still cordial and friendly. Plus, after a wrenching event like that?

I think for all Elizabeth's ideology-first attitude, she has come to realize the more human dimension of living in the USA and that includes letting a kid believe what he thinks is the truth rather than just wrecking his life further what with the whole evil-empire thing going on at the time.

Re: Elizabeth's response to Jared's letter

[soupytwist]

I think for all Elizabeth's ideology-first attitude, she has come to realize the more human dimension of living in the USA and that includes letting a kid believe what he thinks is the truth rather than just wrecking his life further what with the whole evil-empire thing going on at the time.

I definitely buy her changing - and I even think there are plenty of reasons why younger Elizabeth might have immediately offered to do something so very, very, very against the rules, despite being a believer. But not mentioning that at all seemed bizarre!

Re: Elizabeth's response to Jared's letter, and thoughts on Nina/Stan

[jae]

For me it comes back to the fact that she started having sex with him back before she had to. There were always HUGE consent issues involved, and to my mind this has never been a healthy thing for her, but it's not like he pushed something on her that she didn't want. It's only when Stan killed her friend that she even became clear in her own head about where her loyalties really lay. So now she's playing him, but she's what she's using to do that so easily and so well is their earlier, real connection that she actually did feel.

-J

Re: Elizabeth's response to Jared's letter, and thoughts on Nina/Stan

[soupytwist]

Yeah, that makes sense - and she'd have to have something to build it upon for Stan to believe it, for one thing. He would definitely smell a rat if one day she obviously hated him and the next day she was getting in his pants.

I do think though that even their earlier connection is deeply, deeply dubious. (Not that I think you see it as anything other than that! This is me clarifying my thoughts, rather than thinking you see Nina/Stan as sweetness and light. :) ) But for me I think it boils down to "when she had to" being such a difficult thing to determine in that situation. Yeah, he didn't say "I want you to sleep with me or I will sell you out", but he didn't really have to. He had already sorta-of-but-in-a-way-he-could-deny-even-to-himself ordered her to use sex to get information. It wouldn't take even a particularly paranoid person to read that as a very clear sign pointing down a deeply unpleasant road.

And then, of course, Stan kills Vlad, and that adds a whole extra layer of messed up to the whole thing. For me, that final level, while fundamentally important, is also more a clarifer, a final straw, rather than completely seperate from all that other stuff. Not that Nina, like, thought Stan was repulsive or anything back in the beginning, but I think there's a definite argument about how much was real and how much was the situation and how much was people in said situation trying to convince themselves it was okay.

Thoughts on Nina/Stan

[jae]

Yeah, that all makes sense to me. I particularly like Vlad's murder as a clarifier and final straw rather than something that caused her to do a complete 180--that is completely consistent with what we see on the screen.

And now I want you to tell me a story about Nina! :)

-J

Re: Thoughts on Nina/Stan

[soupytwist]

OMG if I thought I had the slightest chance of doing Nina justice, I would be all on that!

Re: Response to soupytwist's thoughts

[sistermagpie]

This is what I'm hoping for. Because, you know, Paige needs that--there has been so much weirdness in that home lately that she needs someone who's able to help distinguish between weirdness and WEIRDNESS. And of course it's going to freak her parents out for good reason.

I am seriously so repulsed by the idea of this girl being KGB. It just makes everything seem kind of stupid. Like even if I assume that she's not really supposed to be Mary Sue Kiddie!Spy, that she's supposed to be an adult, it just seems to lower everyone's dignity. Plus planting a fake spy teenager right next to Paige doesn't seem to offer any more protection than her having fake spy parents!

But apart from that, what you're saying here about her being a real friend is just so much more useful dramatically I can't see why they'd want to make her a spy (even if I believed she was one). Has there even been any time when the show's actually pulled one of these bait and switches we're always on the lookout for, where someone seems like a regular person but it turns out they're in on it--not just a few scenes later but a whole episode later? Because the show generally isn't really doing that.

Which doesn't mean there couldn't be a first time. But if Kelli's a spy it actually takes *away* all the potential interesting stuff there, because Kelli's just another decoy who's going to lead Paige back to her parents like everyone else. She's already got two KGB agents doing that to her--her mom and dad. Giving her one more just repeats the same idea yet again.

A regular teenage girl, however, brings all sorts of possibilities. This is the person who's already drawing Paige out of her house and into a host of other things that have nothing to do with home. (Which again, is hardly helpful if she's supposed to be "on" her--she's just working against Philip and Elizabeth who want Paige safe at home.) Kelli the girl is a wildcard. Kelli the spy has a known agenda we've seen a dozen times already and is just a weak version of Philip and Elizabeth in terms of betrayal.

But I do think she genuinely enjoys having sex with him at the same time that it totally comes from a place that's all about the manipulation. And going through the motions on something like that can make it almost FEEL real sometimes, so she probably has to remind herself sometimes why she's doing this. But her job, Vlad, all that is still always at the forefront of her mind.

Mild spoiler for something I read about Vlad:

Okay, apparently I can't do spoiler text so I cut it out.

Yeah, that is surprising, and no one else has brought it up yet. It could well be that Leanne was also ideologically very rooted and Elizabeth looked up to her for that, so she didn't feel like she could turn down a request that came from a place like that? But certainly it's a major violation of the rules (and rules that in this case have a damn good reason). It's weird that neither one of them acknowledges that at any point.

And also in that case why the hell doesn't Philip say anything? He's obviously against her doing it in in general, and I can see how they might have already talked about it enough that they've come to an impasse on whether it's a good thing to do for Jared if they were in disagreement there. But when he tells her the police might still be in the house you'd think he'd also mention she was going against orders, like he does in Only You and...um...I forget the ep where she goes after Zhukov's killer. But that one.

Re: Response to soupytwist's thoughts

[quantumreality]

If you want to spoilerize, you could use ROT13 ( http://www.rot13.com/ ) which shifts the text 13 letters so it looks like nonsense and anyone who doesn't want to be spoilerized can just not "decrypt" it.

Reminder of spoiler policy

[jae]

We're actually trying to enforce the rule of NO spoilers at all in these discussions (encrypted or not) beyond the episode at hand. Just to make that clear! It's just too tempting when we start allowing spoilers from outside material to creep in, and there are community members who feel very strongly about this. Thanks!

-J

Re: Reminder of spoiler policy

[sistermagpie]

Just to be clear, I wasn't actually looking for a way to include spoilers in the discussion here--I know the strong feelings about it! But the encryption is handy in general!

Re: Response to soupytwist's thoughts

[sistermagpie]

Thanks! That'll come in handy...

Re: Leanne and Elizabeth

[maidenjedi]

Leanne gives off a sense, to me, of someone who is very comfortable in her surroundings and the life she adopted, if she's a bit nostalgic for home. I think Elizabeth responds to the nostalgia, and is in awe of the confidence. Elizabeth clearly didn't have that, especially that early on. She had no idea what "Revolver" was - she has no sense for the culture or anything, and there's Leanne very much a part of the world they've been sent to as much as anything else. I think their friendship was also illicit, in the sense that they were supposed to work together, but not go deeper. Leanne hints about their past lives a little too strongly - in Philip, Elizabeth didn't tolerate that at all (until she fell for him, anyway). I find this whole thing very fascinating.

Re: Leanne and Elizabeth

[jae]

Yeah, this works for me--Leanne as a sort of mentor to her--and I find it fascinating too. That suggests even more strongly that Leanne must have been very ideologically rooted, for all of her ease with U.S. culture, because that is the only sort of person Elizabeth would have trusted. Judging from the conversation they had in "Comrades," it sounds like they didn't see each other very often, either, so when they did spend time together it must have felt all the more precious.

Still, I do think it's bizarre that even if Elizabeth wasn't going to protest and bring up how this was against the rules, Leanne herself didn't introduce the subject that way. And Philip didn't bring that up later. That part of it just feels like an oversight on the part of the writers.

-J