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: Clark in the third person

[katiac]

I see it differently. I feel like Brad embodies many of the qualities that are what draws her to Philip. He's "soft" and not afraid to have an emotional side. He immediately wanted to come to her defense and aid once he found out about the rape--exactly what Philip did with Timoshev. I think interacting with Brad both had the effect of her for the first time seeing a target as not only a person as opposed to someone she sneers at, but someone who is genuinely a GOOD person. It's not completely unlike how she just decided to close her mind to Philip from the start and then was floored to discover he wasn't what she'd assumed all along. And I think in walking through the steps she did with Brad for the purposes of work, she verbalized and finally came to understand some of the things that had been there all along in her reactions to Philip.

Re: Clark in the third person

[lovingboth]

Yes.