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

Henry--at the end of The Walk-In

[wendelah1]

But in general Henry's not really hurting for parental attention as long as the parents are both living in the house. He was annoyed about the star chart, but that wasn't necessarily a silent, unheard rebuke of Philip for not being able to make a cheap comic book purchase actually work, you know? It's possible that Henry's main response to stuff going on is that Paige is being a pain more than Mom and Dad are too distracted to be good parents.

I'm thinking back to the montage at the end of "The Walk-In," to Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood." Philip's in the laundry room, busy developing those photographs he took of the propeller and the measurements. Paige is leaving the house without asking permission to visit the friend she made on her illicit bus trip. There was an image of Elizabeth holding baby Paige that looked like the picture on the wall at "Aunt Helen's". Henry's frustrated because he couldn't find the North Star--because his star chart was a crummy one that fell apart when he tried to make it work. The final image was Elizabeth smoking a cigarette while she watches the letter her friend wrote to give to her son in case of her death turn to ash. Ashes to ashes.

Yes, the single image of Henry getting frustrated with his star chart isn't so disturbing taken out of context. But the music, the rest of the imagery, combined with the symbolism of Henry trying and failing to locate the North Star--a fixed point in the sky that you can navigate by--if you can find it, makes me think we're suppose to feel not all is well with the Jennings family, including Paige and Henry.

Since the focus this season is supposed to be on the effect of the spying mission on their family, if the majority of viewers are concluding that everything is a-okay with Henry and that Paige is just a drama queen--and that does seem to be what most people think here--then there is has to be something going wrong with the scripts. This is obviously a minority view point, but I can't believe that's what the writers intended us to conclude.

Baby Paige

[treonb]

There was an image of Elizabeth holding baby Paige that looked like the picture on the wall at "Aunt Helen's".

I actually compared the two in order to make a point about something, and it's not the same image at all. Which meant whatever point I was trying to make went out the window too..

But, yay show for putting in the effort!

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

[sistermagpie]

Since the focus this season is supposed to be on the effect of the spying mission on their family, if the majority of viewers are concluding that everything is a-okay with Henry and that Paige is just a drama queen--and that does seem to be what most people think here--then there is has to be something going wrong with the scripts. This is obviously a minority view point, but I can't believe that's what the writers intended us to conclude.

Not at all. I think everybody gets that's there's something wrong with the Jennings family. I'm saying that what's wrong with the Jennings family isn't that it doesn't conform to an ideal of how parents are supposed to focus on their children by not having personal issues or having concerns outside their kids. The whole family is currently struggling to find the north star and failing, but in Henry's case it's the most literal because he's actually doing astronomy.

Attitudes about how parents are supposed to relate to children has changed really drastically in the past couple of decades, and I really do feel like part of the appeal of all these prestige dramas is they show parents having competing concerns and identities outside of being parents. Quite often those competing concerns damage the family or hurt the children--the Jennings are by definition an example of this because their children's entire existence is steeped in lies that could shake their entire identity. Or get them killed. That's central to the entire premise. But I think the automatic association with a solitary child disappointed in a comic book purchase or a teenager leaving the house to meet a friend without permission with the parents being busy is not one that people would immediately make in the not so distant past. Parents are assumed to have much more power and responsibility for their kids' emotional states now. A kid dealing with a personal crisis or disappointment on their own often reads as parental neglect where it wouldn't have in the past.

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

[wendelah1]

Parents are assumed to have much more power and responsibility for their kids' emotional states now. A kid dealing with a personal crisis or disappointment on their own often reads as parental neglect where it wouldn't have in the past.

I see. I was raising my kid beginning in the mid-eighties, so a little later than Philip and Elizabeth. I think I'm pretty clear about what constitutes actual neglect. For as long as I can remember, there have been people who made it their business to criticize the way other people raise their kids. It sounds that's been raised now to a whole new level.

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.