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: "I like the cold"/"I remember"

[katiac]

They should change the AV Club commentary to Todd, Genevieve and Sister Magpie...

:)

LOVE THIS!

Elizabeth is now "learning to feel again" but recovering that part of herself isn't going to resurrect the girl or the feelings of the girl she was at 17. She's been changed by experience and age. It's kind of like you said re: Philip--there's stagnation and she has to learn to do it again. With Philip, I don't think there's a core self who's the guy he was when he was 17 either, but it seems like what he's learning to do (or maybe will start to learn to do—he’s not doing it yet) where Elizabeth is learning to feel is to learn to be somewhat authentic, which he maybe doesn't know how to do anymore either. "Authentic" in this case doesn't mean Russian or Misha, but it does incorporate those things in ways he probably hasn't done in a while, except in certain situations.

I really like the way you put this. It's like we're watching both of them put the pieces back together, in one way, except that the pieces aren't the same as they used to be and there's no picture on the box. Like I don't think Philip himself even knows exactly what/who he is and I think thinking about it too long would probably be unnerving for him, which is as you mentioned, a reason Elizabeth would be a huge draw in her personality. She's so sure of who she is. And then the same thing is kind of going on from her end where she's having to figure out how to feel things, and Philip is kind of reassuring in that way. He's never really had a problem feeling and showing emotion, being warm around her and the kids, telling her he loves her. He can be hurt when he's hurt and get past it rather than having to push any feeling down until it explodes like in "Covert War." He's not threatened by the idea of her being "soft" and she doesn't have to hide that side of herself with him. For both of them, it kind of touches on the area that feels safe and secure to them to be reached out to in that way--Elizabeth for that connection to Russia and for the strength of her personality, and Philip for softness and an emotional connection he's always wanted with her.

Writing this now I actually find myself wondering—has Philip even ever agreed with Elizabeth’s desire that the marriage be “real?” I mean, putting it in those words? The one time I remember him talking about it was at the end of D&H when she asked if it could be real and he said “I don’t know.” We know he loves Elizabeth and wants her to love him, but does he have the same concerns about it not being “real” in the context of the “fake” marriage? It doesn’t seem to bother him. Maybe that’s actually a common misunderstanding of that line. People took it as Philip saying he didn’t know if he and Elizabeth could make this work when he really meant that of course they could, but he didn’t know if anything was real, because he maybe doesn’t know if anything can be real or what that means.

That's an interesting question, and certainly in the moment it happened, Philip was in a pretty awful place (a little like this one) forced to question everything he thought to be true. Elizabeth betrayed him with the reporting. Irina betrayed him with a lie one way or another. He slipped back into Misha for a night out of having no other safe port, and had just been physically tortured. He definitely was put through hell, and once again that was kind of glossed over with all the focus on Elizabeth and how was *she* affected by it all. I could see it having both meanings, in a way, the deeper level ones you're saying, and the more basic ones because I do think it seems like Elizabeth's primary motivation in asking was for the sake of making the relationship official and defined, where it hadn't been before, rather than that she was necessarily thinking along the same lines he would've been at that point. I need to think about that some more because it's an interesting thought.

But instead Elizabeth’s thrown for a loop when Martha gives details. Suddenly Elizabeth’s having someone else tell her about her own husband in ways that surprise her. In some ways she’s just as in the dark as Martha!

And I think this is the real crux of it--less about the sex itself and more the uncomfortable punch in the gut that she might not be on the innermost circle, which of course with Philip, might be something she's always going to feel. And maybe she's okay with never being completely at the level of knowing him *he* is as long as she's closer than any other person, but to think Martha might be getting to see something she's walled off from would be the real injury just as it was when it was revealed in reverse about Elizabeth last season.

It’s like what Philip discovers in the ep isn’t his “real self” but the idea that this could be something he could have—or that other people have that he could be missing. His sword fighting memory is less “this is who I am” than “I found a piece of something and I don’t really know what to do with it.” But he keeps it--with Elizabeth's blessing--and it means something, even as he starts another day as Philip. By sharing it he doesn’t just let it go again.

Yes, I like the way you put this. He's kind of just as lost as Elizabeth is trying to figure out who she is beyond just "loyal to Moscow."

It’s not just that Philip isn’t American because he’s Russian, it’s that any time you say anything too definitive about what Philip is you’re likely wrong.

Love this!

Re: "I like the cold"/"I remember"

[alisonx]

They should change the AV Club commentary to Todd, Genevieve and Sister Magpie...
Ahahah that is a brilliant idea!
The things you said about the Duty and Honor scene is very thought provoking. It's like Philip has been so good at compartmentalising, but when he's not expecting it or lets his guard waver, bits of one compartment seeps into the other and its not necessarily good or bad, just more interesting to watch. Not to say everything was clear cut and unambiguous before, only that his fractured selves and multiple identities are kind of diluting each other. Katiac I like your puzzle metaphor!!

With the 'real or not real' (Omg it sounds like the hunger games now), when Elizabeth says she wants it to be real, are they both in the realisation that it will never be truly be real but Elizabeth is content with the 'close enough' and Philip is saying he really doesn't know if anything will ever be real again so he can't promise her that it will be. So it's like Philip is in full realisation that nothing is real, and tries not to deal with it as much, whereas Elizabeth is more stubborn in that even though she knows it's not real, her reality with Philip is enough for her that she accepts that as reality. I think I used to word 'real' in this paragraph 1234927394871 times.

I like what you say about every other character in this episode actively trying to fit the pieces of their identity together, or at least voice their self-confusion, whereas he is avoiding it, or wading through the by himself, at least until the final scene. The more we talk about this episode the more I love it.