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: est, Werner Erhard, etc.

[jae]

I had an aunt who did est back in the day, and my sister did the Landmark Forum. Neither of them acted like a cult member, but they did both (temporarily) lose the ability to relate to the people around them on anything but the respective movements' terms (and more importantly, using the movements' lingo). It's like they were speaking in code. That's what has me going "eek" for Stan.

-J

Re: est, Werner Erhard, etc.

[wendelah1]

Stan's in deep waters and was even before the series began. His wife's involvement with est is the least of his problems, wouldn't you say? By his own admission, they barely interact and are essentially leading separate lives. By whatever path she can find, I'm hoping Sandra can find a way out of this mess, for herself and her son.

I'm afraid Stan has about as much insight into his wife as Elizabeth has with what's going on with her daughter.

Re: est, Werner Erhard, etc.

[quantumreality]

That being said, he and his wife are already having communication problems in their marriage. Overlaying a cult-lingo paradigm on top of that, in which Sandra starts to lose the ability to communicate except through their specific language - that's a recipe for disaster of some type down the road when it finally all blows up.

Re: est, Werner Erhard, etc.

[wendelah1]

As I've already explained, est was not a cult. There is no evidence that I'm aware of that est graduates in general lose the ability to communicate with their loved ones in ordinary English. I didn't. In fact, my relationships with everyone, friends and family alike, actually improved.

Sandra can't fix the marriage. She can't fix Stan. He's withdrawn and in pain and he won't let anyone in. His response to feeling this pain was to fall into bed with Nina. I don't think we can hold Werner Erhard responsible for that, at least. Sandra's response was seek answers for herself in the human potential movement. I don't know how the writers are going to have it play out but in the Real World, as opposed to TV Land, Sandra's self-exploration could be a very positive thing, for her and for Stan. Certainly I would recommend that over starting an affair--with anyone--let alone a Soviet agent.