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

Treon's thoughts

[treonb]

Ok.. I'm very late to the party. It will take me a while to get through all the comments, but here's mine for now.

Based on the promo I thought we'll have a KGB-FBI showdown, so it was a bit disappointing when there wasn't :-( and whatever action there was, fizzled really fast.

1. Poor walk-in guy. Set up by the Arkady/Nina duo in order to get to a juicier target. Very nicely played.

2. The letter - I guess that was expected. For Jared's sake, it was also the more compassionate move. I can't even imagine how he would respond now to having his entire life turned upside down and sideways again. And he so much looks up to his parents.

3. 4 loads of laundry - sorry if that was already mentioned, but I figured he was wasting time in the laundromat (across the street from the hotel) to do surveillance.

4. Matthew - at least he got an honorable mention, but are we ever going to see him again?

5. Gaad is all the patriotic American, volunteering for service even when he didn't have to. Poor Stan.

6. Paige is really stepping over the line, going on an unsupervised trip on her own. It's a bit too much for me, because I don't see how they'll resolve this. Paige is getting used to lying to her parents. I'm on the "Kelli is KGB" camp, btw. Aunt Helen knew who was coming.

Was Philip just skulking there with his coffee cup? I wonder how many times he's had to refill waiting for his wayward daughter to come home. And then Philip and Paige both lying to each other about where they (or Elizabeth) were.

They let Philip handle things this time, but I wonder how Elizabeth will respond, and whether we're going to see any repercussions to Paige leaving home for the second time.

7. That factory worker taking out his kid's photos - ouch. Very smart move, though. I was sure he was gonna end up dead.

8. Nina, of course, was right about waiting for Stan to say "I love you". And she didn't say it back yet. I was waiting for the follow-up Arkady/Nina scene where they discuss that.

9. Love Oleg - and I'm sure Nina knows how to scalp tickets.

Nina and scalping

[jae]

Love Oleg - and I'm sure Nina knows how to scalp tickets.

Yeah, given how Nina was caught by Stan to begin with, she could probably teach him a thing or two about that sort of illicit activity.

Someone above (I don't remember who) actually said that wording was probably deliberate, though, and an indication that he's either fishing, or knows more than he's letting on.

-J

Re: Nina and scalping

[treonb]

Someone above (I don't remember who) actually said that wording was probably deliberate, though, and an indication that he's either fishing, or knows more than he's letting on.

Ooh. Maybe he's there to spy on the rest of the Rezidentura?

I'm actually not sure what I prefer, though. I kind of like his char as-is.

'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[lovingboth]

Yes. It was either staggeringly good acting, or she knew. And while I don't rule out the writers playing with us by not showing someone else following Paige, who else knew exactly where she was going?

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[katiac]

Or did she? If she's their cover aunt, enough that she has a picture of Elizabeth up, I would think they would keep her generally apprised of what's going on with the family, what the kids look like, etc.

(Or watch me be TOTALLY wrong.)

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[lovingboth]

There's a difference between keeping a picture up and wandering around the house plotting the overthrow of capitalism or whatever she was doing, then suddenly being confronted by someone and instantly switching into 'Aunt Helen' mode.

If she can do that, she's a very, very good actress.

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[sistermagpie]

A good enough actress to be a KGB spy!

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[lovingboth]

:)

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[sistermagpie]

I'm not clear where there was staggeringly good acting. She could have gotten a heads up from someone we didn't see since Philip specifically said Paige and Henry would be followed by unseen people, but in terms of acting, Helen didn't really need to know who was coming. She would recognize Paige because she'd have been briefed on who she's supposed to be. If she couldn't immediately switch into Aunt Helen mode when confronted with one of the people whose Great Great Aunt she's supposed to be, she wouldn't be a very good spy.

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[treonb]

I think what made me say that was the fact that the door was open, as if she knew there was nothing incriminating in the house and anybody could come snooping around. It wouldn't have looked at all suspicious if the door would have been locked and Paige would have met Aunt Helen at the door.

How far does the acting go? If an FBI agent would have shown up, would he have noticed anything suspicious? Do the neighbors also think they have a demented old lady living next door? I suppose if she lives a normal life and just believes her 'dead daughter' will show up some day it wouldn't require too much, but how much of her life is lived differently just on the off chance that one of the Jennings kids might show up one day?

As for the dead daughter, I didn't get the point of that story. What if Henry would have shown up? Does she also think she has a son who died?

Re: 'Aunt Helen knew who was coming'

[sistermagpie]

I think if Henry showed up (unlikely at 11, but if he did) she'd just react to him the way Aunt Helen would. The Aunt Helen character presumably has her own backstory that the woman would play at all times. She wouldn't have to always mistake the kid for her own kid, she would just have to do something to indicate that she was a little senile to put off Henry expecting to have a detailed conversation about things.

The door being open was strange and unnecessary, but I'm not sure if that wasn't an oversight on Aunt Helen's part/dramatic set up on the showrunner's part to make it more fun that Paige simply meeting the woman at the door. I don't think her life has to be lived particularly differently at all. They just make sure that whatever she's doing can jibe with whatever they need for the story. Like she's probably living out in the boondocks for a reason, so she has few neighbors who really know her.

Re: Treon's thoughts

[treonb]

A couple more points:

- Leanne and Elizabeth talking about the letter - while literally washing their hands of blood.

- Philip talking to Aunt Helen - also didn't bother saying goodbye. Wonder what Henry thought of that.

- In the flashback - Philip doesn't need to worry about anybody barging in on him and finding him listening to the radio. He's in the bathroom, but the door's open. Life has changed with the kids around.