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: Henry--at the end of The Walk-In

[katiac]

I'm on the fence about Henry. On the one hand, he isn't given a lot of focus in general in the show, probably because Paige is older. In terms of personality, Elizabeth states Henry is "like Philip" and we see examples throughout the first season where that seems to be true in some ways. So I could imagine multiple scenarios that could fit. We sometimes saw Philip be resentful of things like the motel during the separation. But more often we saw him cope by simply switching the channel in his head--watching a hockey game or reading. So Henry might be inclined to do something similar, perhaps be saddened by his dad not having time for him that night, but not necessarily in his room moping either, simply being sad for a moment and then switching the channel to something else.