Episode discussion post: "The Deal"

[jae]

Aired:
26 March 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
30 March 2014 in Israel
12 April 2014 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode 205 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 you should also 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 five.)

Original promo trailers

"Next On: The Deal" (Watch on YouTube)

"The Americans: Exclusive Scene from Episode 5" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps

From Grantland
From The New York Times
From Time
From Vulture
From The Washington Post
From Rolling Stone
From The AV Club
From Hitfix
From the Huffington Post
From Collider
From Sound on Sight
From IGN
From Television Without Pity
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From Geekbinge
From showratings.tv
From screenrant.com
From GAMbIT Magazine
From Crave Online
From spoilertv.com
From tv.com
From Unreality Primetime
From Newsmanone

Comments

Re: Philip and his memories

[sistermagpie]

Yes! (I'm rewatching now and will wind up posting a looooong comment paying particular attention to that whole thread I'm sure.) To me it seemed like a complication of the Pilot idea rather than a continuation. Because back then, interestingly, he put it in terms of just being who they've pretended to be. Which was a practical solution and in some ways very do-able but in some ways frankly not. Because Philip Jennings, as much as he's becoming a full human being, is not the complete human being and he's not who this guy is, in total. There are no doubt times when he's fine being just Philip, but at other times those other parts will be important. And I think that was part of what Yossi pointed out to him, was that that other person didn't go away, and as long as he was hidden he actually wasn't totally himself. Even if he realizes this is his home now, he can't just leave that behind completely.

And what I love about it is that this isn't where he wants to escape some shameful past but he has to reconcile it. It's more that there are parts of that life and his home that he genuinely loves and loved them. Elizabeth has that living connection with her mother, but we don't know the forms it takes with Philip. But I'm really glad that there's somebody who seems to be representing just love of the place because foreign countries really are different!