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!
sistermagpie Second Watch
Date: 2014-03-15 05:35 pm (UTC)*More than one person has claimed that Leanne and Elizabeth have accents in this scene, just a little, and I'm not hearing a trace of any Russian accent anywhere. I think they just mean Leanne speaks a little weirdly on a few lines. Weird, but not Russian weird, imo.
*Philip says the Centre's going to put someone "on them", a limited...just when they're not here. I heard somebody change this to "The Centre's going to put someone on them. We won't know who it is" just to connect it to Kelli on the bus. (And I doubt Philip and Elizabeth would agree to random people infiltrating their lives that way.)
*For some reason I love Philip's "I think so. Yes," when Elizabeth asks if it's supposed to make them feel better.
*Philip answers a lot of questions with a sigh.
*"Totally awesome" is used in Fast Times in Ridgemont High, which came out in 1982. (Looking for proof of the existence of awesome in 1982. I know it was ubiquitous enough in 1986 that an English person I met said she'd met an American and that was all they said ever.)
*Awww. Elizabeth and Paige being affectionate.
*Oh look, says Sandra, it's the random man who sometimes drops by the house. I'll make him coffee.
*"Have fun." Bonehead.
*There's little I love more than young!Philip and his sad clown hair.
*Take a moment here to appreciate Matthew Rhys showing Philip trying and not yet able to assume an air of serious spy authority. The way he stands up and says "You have to put this out now" he looks like a boy scout trying to sound important reporting on how he heard a sound in the woods and it might be a bear.
*In fact, I'm just going to seriously read for character details here because Elizabeth is already so herself here and moments like that it seems like Philip's still searching for a persona. Like maybe he's trying to copy Elizabeth's seriousness that comes so naturally to her.
* Yet Elizabeth herself was far more hesitant about pop culture references in the scene with Leanne.
*Like, in Philip's early flashbacks he seems to play a lot of shyness and unsureness. That seems pretty significant for somebody who is--or will be--Philip. I wonder if he's already more confident when he's playing a role as a spy, which he must already be doing by this point.
*I really hope this comes out more in his scenes with Emmett if they do any to match Elizabeth's with Leanne.
*Philip's also shy/awkward about giving Elizabeth her assignment, presumably one that involves sex. I think that's setting up that he knows she probably still dislikes those kinds of orders.
*Dying to know what Philip's little laugh in reaction to "You'll make a good father" means. Is it just his reaction to the situation or does he have opinions on fatherhood we don't know about? After all, we started the ep with Elizabeth telling us she never wanted to be a mother.
*It really is so very very not January.
*I wonder how many times just this season these two have had a moment of silence that one of them broke with "You alright?" because the other person actually did have something to say.
*Also I love how their dialogue is always written to show they know what each other means without introducing the subject. It's Jared who's been taken in. "I'm ready" means for kids. Even though they haven't been talking about the subject at all.
*I love that Philip says "Want a soda?" at the soda machine. Like, he isn't just using the soda machine for cover and then asking Elizabeth if she'd actually like one. He's playing the part by asking if she wants a soda before getting one to cover the pick up, because she ignores the question.
*the real question is: do they get a Tab? My mom used to drink that all the time.
*Oh Philip, you totally do know what you mean by "Isn't that how you wanted it?"
*I love love love Elizabeth's impatience with the shiny new badge and rubbing it on the car. This whole convo is amazing for how much it gets in: Jared's situation, marital dynamics, family choices, irritation about work.
*They're talking about everything...except their biggest current problem: Paige.
*When I first watched this I misheard Gaad saying he was in the *war* (not ward) for only a month and didn't get what he meant.
*So Stan's been in the FBI a long time. maybe at the time of the Philip/Elizabeth second flashback? Very interesting collection of snapshots of the late 60s. Gaad and Stan were presumably squares back then.
*It really is smart to give Paige a friend--or anybody she can talk out loud to, because what she's saying really makes sense here. It's not any one thing she can point to, she just *feels* like there's always something going on she doesn't know about.
*I think any weirdness in what Kelli says that makes her sound like a KGB agent is answered by what I think she is but won't say because kind of speculation.
*A lot of people have said Philip handles the confrontation with Paige "all wrong" but I think if anybody here fails to keep a situation from escalating a little it's Elizabeth. I don't mean she completely bungles it--sometimes things are just going to go this way. It's just interesting to me how many criticisms Philip gets for failing to masterfully make all of Paige's suspicions go away and have her never wanting to snoop again, while Elizabeth's praised for being scary with a crowbar after the guy totally makes her.
*Derek is actually doing a better job thinking on his feet to plead for his life without breaking character.
* Love Paige's sportsac.
* Helen, you're a KGB agent. Maybe lock your door?
* The way Helen comes in it makes me think of an actor rushing on stage fearing she missed her cue.
* Aunt Helen is so awesome.
* I know this case for Stan's been laid out for him, but it's a good thing he's good enough to figure out what this guy was doing to prevent him from murdering somebody. I guess it would have worked for the KGB if Stan was beating himself up over missing the answer too.
*Philip assures Elizabeth Derek will stay quiet. Viola didn't. But then, people who believe in God don't make rational decisions, right Philip?
*Interesting he's reassuring her, actually. I can't help but feel like Philip's keeping a silent tally of things that seem a little off to him about Elizabeth that he's just not saying.
* The previews tried so hard to make us think the guy with the gun was Philip because he had wavy hair. You didn't fool me, previews!
* Seriously, why is this house just sitting there? You'd think it would look like the police were investigating it even if they don't think there's anything weird about Emmett and Leanne. Philip mentioned the police might be watching presumably as reason the KGB haven't swept the place but you'd think the KGB could have gotten someone in to check hiding spots. The police probably wouldn't have found secret stashes of things if they were doing a preliminary look at the house, I guess.
*It's probably not good for Stan that I say "Yuck, Stan" when the scene with Nina starts.
*Stan/Nina makes me think of Philip/Emmett talking to the Lockheed guy about why two babes would suddenly want a threesome with him. Only here it's like...why would this beautiful young woman you were blackmailing and threatening be in love with you?
*Nina knows where to hit American cops in their American pride, telling him that he's single handedly wiped out all those previous impressions of the US by being so heroic and awesome. Every American's dream. We're just doing our job, fighting evil and stuff.
* Philip's immediately totally panicked about Paige and it's hilarious.
* Aunt Helen is, again, awesome.
* Wow, that's an 80s sweater Jared's foster mom is wearing with that turtleneck. It almost looks like it's from the later 80s but maybe this lady is just ahead of the curve. Pink and grey and fuzzy. Nice!
* Jared just wants to feel safe, so I'm planning to tell him his family was probably specifically targeted by unknown assassins because his parents were liars in a dangerous job and his whole life was a lie.
* Love Philip with his coffee cup.
* Watching it again, I'd remembered Henry's lying wrong. He's actually much better at it than I remembered. Paige is not.
* I've read people saying Philip is a big douche here for basically bullying Paige. This always makes me feel like I'm talking to an actual teenager who honestly thinks parents should be cool with everything they do.
* I've also heard all this criticism about how he's being hugely suspicious because why is he talking about his dad and being so controlling and he should be acting sad instead of mad or else talking about how dangerous buses are and it just seems like so much bullshit to me. He's acting completely within character as a suburban dad with no family dealing with a kid who did something bad and is being snotty about it. And is acting really entitled.
*I'm also not seeing Philip acting like KGB agent here rather than father of sassing kid. "Watch it, young lady" can sound scary coming from Dad too.
* Oleg's quite the breath of fresh air in this ep, he's in such a different mood from everyone else.
* But he's still nosy and forward.
* And typical that he's giving Nina something even when she doesn't want it. Very capitalist of him trying to get her enjoying the advantages of knowing Oleg Igoravich even against her will. (If that's his name--I forget it suddenly.) Feeling indebted is a good thing.
* What on earth would have happened if Elizabeth gave Jared the letter? He would have probably broken down immediately. And that's the best case scenario. The worst is he immediately mumbles the whole contents of the letter into a comforting fuzzy pink and grey sweater.
*Honestly, it's not only weird that they don't talk about this being against the rules, but that they don't talk about how she's setting off a bomb.
* Does Elizabeth have a different quilt hanging behind her bed in her earlier apartment where she's looking out the window with Paige?
Re: sistermagpie Second Watch
Date: 2014-03-15 05:56 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm not hearing a foreign accent, either (and I don't mean to get all "I know better" on folks but I would hear it if it were there--this sort of thing is my real-life job). Also, it just doesn't make sense. They wouldn't have been sent over if they still had noticeable Russian accents, you know? I mean, okay, there were real-life illegals with detectable accents, but their covers were always that they were foreigners from some other country; they weren't trying to play American anyway. And in this a-little-bit-fantasy version of the KGB, clearly we're meant to understand that their training does manage to get all of them completely to native-level.
*"Totally awesome" is used in Fast Times in Ridgemont High, which came out in 1982.
Noted! :) (For what it's worth, my partner also said that it was definitely used in the early 80s, not just later.)
My new little beef is that Paige uses 'like' more frequently than was common back then (it did exist, and her age group would have been the ones to use it, but probably not yet in suburban D.C., and not as many times in one conversational turn). But I'm more noticing than complaining, I swear--I actually think this show does a very, very good job with the 80s setting.
They're talking about everything...except their biggest current problem: Paige.
This will totally change next week. It kind of has to, after Paige's latest maneuver. They've been distracted, but Philip's eyes are trained right on her now, and he knows the danger she is.
The previews tried so hard to make us think the guy with the gun was Philip because he had wavy hair.
Yeah, that was just dumb. A throwback to the stupid!previews of early season one.
-J
Re: sistermagpie Second Watch
Date: 2014-03-15 06:12 pm (UTC)I almost feel disappointed that we won't see Philip actually delivering the report on Paige because OMG, what a giant thing for them to go over. I would just love to see her face: so here's what we missed.
'Like' (in the sense of 'that was like four years ago')
Date: 2014-03-15 06:30 pm (UTC)It is true that there are different ways of using 'like' (one is what we call a 'discourse marker', that's in the sense of "that was like four years ago", and one is what we call a 'quotative', that's in the sense of "and he was like 'oh my god!'"). The latter version grew out of the former version and is much newer. That's not really what I was talking about, though--if Paige were using 'like' as a quotative, it would definitely be too soon for the time period--but I haven't heard the quotative from either of the kids yet, just the discourse marker. So my niggling concern really is just about frequency, and in part the region ('like' started in California, so the changes in its use would have been more advanced there than other parts of the U.S.).
All of which is to say that I completely believe you when you say that people were bugging you and your classmates about using too much 'like' back when you were a kid, but what you have to keep in mind is that what counts as "too much" changes over time, especially during a language change that's happening as quickly as this one is (for what it's worth, we're talking about the fastest language change I've ever heard of). There is measurably more 'like' usage now than there was back then, so when people complain about frequency now, what they're complaining about is still more frequent than what they were complaining about then. Basically, people register "that person says 'like' too much" whenever people (usually people younger than they are) use it more than they themselves do, however much that is.
Not that ANY of this has ANYTHING to do with The Americans, really. Ahem. Sorry for the digression...! *Jae takes off her work hat*
-J
Re: 'Like' (in the sense of 'that was like four years ago')
Date: 2014-03-15 06:36 pm (UTC)Feel free to now write a post about the use of "you know" in a similar vein...
'You know'
Date: 2014-03-15 11:30 pm (UTC)(And now I really WILL stop. Bad host, going all off-topic...)
-J
Like totally!
Date: 2014-03-15 11:43 pm (UTC)Still, any excuse to see it again.