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: Paige's "Crazy Life"

[katiac]

Still for example with the fact that Philip had to keep up his relationship with Martha during the 2 months that Elizabeth was away, we are still supposed to suspend our disbelief because if Paige had realised her dad left every other night and didn't come back till morning, I couldn't believe that she has stayed silent - to her brother, to her father and to her mother about it...

My guess would be that it wasn't quite that often and that on nights he had to be gone, Philip would be sure to leave after they were asleep and come back before morning. When Elizabeth was gone I think he probably couldn't spend the full evening/morning there unless he claimed to be going on a business trip and got Sandra to watch the kids... and I think that starts getting suspicious fast.

I think with Paige the word "crazy" may just be early teenage years and the way that lends itself to exaggeration. That's the age of statements like, "You're the worst mom EVEEEERRRRRR!!!!!" and slamming doors and tears and "My life is RUINED." And it's not just spoiled teens who act that way. Kids that age kind of see the world as revolving all around them instead of viewing themselves as a part of it. So even though adult viewers can watch Paige and just kind of laugh a little, to her it may actually seem like that.

It's interesting because in one way Paige's reaction isn't entirely unlike Elizabeth's. Paige was blindsided by something that was traumatic to her. She had no power to stop or influence it. She had no voice in what came next. Paige tried to get answers from Elizabeth about the separation and assuage her feelings that something wasn't quite right, but Elizabeth shut her down every time. A few days before Elizabeth disappeared, she finally gave her one semi-honest answer in their conversation in the kitchen, but then there was the weirdness of her "doing laundry" in the middle of the night... and then the next day she disappeared without even saying goodbye, and so did their dad. And then it had to be weird when dad returned a few days later and things were all patched up with him and mom, but mom hadn't even called. And then like wendelah said, mom is 3 hours away and they can't even visit? There's a lot of strange things.

Elizabeth doesn't take being lied to very well (to put it mildly.) I think Paige has that trait too. She's demanding truth. When Elizabeth is forced into something and has no recourse, she pushes back, much like she shut out Philip when he was forced on her by the Center. Paige has no recourse against some of the things being done to her (no answer from her parents that can explain the above peculiarities to her satisfaction, no she's not allowed to read the bible, no she can't have privacy) and so she's pushing back in any way she can trying to regain some sense of control (much like Elizabeth did.)