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: 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...