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: Elizabeth and Brad

[sistermagpie]

Personally, I think "I'm ready" was definitely both sex and pregnancy. There's just nothing about their relationship that says to me that they'd have any reason to have sex before then.

Even Philip, who we've seen backing off (or positively being rejected) when Elizabeth doesn't want to be sexual with him, clearly - to me - resents not being sexual with Elizabeth as much as and in the ways that he'd like. Remember his reactions to her relationship with Gregory?

I didn't get even the slightest hint that Philip resented Elizabeth for not getting the sex he'd like for its own sake. His hurt regarding Gregory seemed very specifically shown to be all about her sharing her feelings with him rather than having sex with the guy. Philip she treated as "a strange man."

Philip was just as respectful as Brad when it came to sex with Elizabeth. I mean, remember Brad had a very different interaction with her. She fooled around with him, then stopped. Then she gave him a hand job and said good-bye.

Philip was assigned to live with her as a married couple and lived with her for years not demanding any sex because with him because with him she could honestly say she didn't want to have sex and there was no reason for her to pretend she did. There was no explanation of trauma like she gave to Brad, it was just: no, don't want to (and there's no reason she was required to give anything more). Then when she decided she was ready for kids she just announced they were having sex now and he didn't get a particular say in that either, even though he didn't look to pleased about it.

So while there's obviously a connection between wanting someone sexually and emotionally, I think Philip's always felt the emotional rejection more than the sexual one. He does resent when she treats him like an intruder and like he's wrong to touch her etc., like in the pilot, but again that's after what seems to be years of a marriage. She seems to be treating him more like an intruder again there because of Timoshev. Brad at best should be compared to the Philip she met in Moscow and he's not any more demanding than Brad is.

I don't know what he'd get out of holding out on bursting in on the threesome. I don't know how much Emmett and Philip knew about exactly what positions everybody was in by that point. Philip might have been holding out on Leanne instead of Elizabeth, and he wouldn't have wanted to come in too soon.