Episode discussion post: "Echo"

[jae]

Aired:
21 May 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
25 May 2014 in Israel
7 June 2014 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode 213 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 thirteen.)

Original promo trailer

"The Americans Season 2 Episode 13 Promo - Echo [HD] The Americans 2x13 Promo" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps

From Grantland
From Time
From the Washington Post
From Rolling Stone
From the AV Club
From Hitfix
From IGN
From the Huffington Post: Karen Fratti, Maureen Ryan
From Vulture
From Variety
From the Tampa Bay Times
From Sound on Sight
From Collider
From Paste Magazine
From Gawker
From the Cloture Club
From tv.com
From tvrage.com
From Headline Planet
From spoilertv.com (in French)
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From GAMbIT Magazine
From showratings.tv
From Comments Enabled
From Boob Tube Dude
From Unreality Primetime (UK)

Comments

Re: I finally watched the finale

[wendelah1]

The two causes have nothing to do with each other except by accident at points.

That's exactly my point. I would say that Christianity and Communism are both belief systems. They don't have anything in common in their specifics, but I do think the show meant to juxtapose the two, otherwise why did they cut between the scenes of non-violent protest at the military base and the scenes of Philip and Elizabeth speeding away while their sacrificial lamb is bleeding to death in a phone booth.

I don't think that being attracted to one belief system in any way predisposes someone to become attached to another, not when those belief systems are so different. Elizabeth is right--Paige is searching for meaning. Her search for it has led her to a church that advocates for nuclear disarmament because they believe that position represents the one that Christ would take. It's a moral and spiritual position. I don't know how committed Paige is to pacifism at this juncture--she's only fourteen after all. But the divide between the kind of sacrifice she is talking about with her parents and what working for the KGB would mean couldn't be vaster. She says to them, "I don't expect you to understand." I don't expect them to understand either--how could they? I guess what I'm wondering is whether the show runners understand and I think the jury is still out on that.

Re: I finally watched the finale

[sistermagpie]

But the show, imo, explicitly said that the juxtaposition of the two things was about the personal desire to do good in the world rather than any similarity between the two belief systems, I thought. It highlighted Paige being inspired by her pastor getting arrested in the service of a good cause, and how Elizabeth identified with while finding the cause a bad one. Also that she thought her pastor was making a big sacrifice by getting arrested and Philip saw that as nothing compared to Fred sacrificing his life for a different cause.

So I thought they really hammered on the common thread being people wanting to believe in something bigger than they were, something worth sacrificing themselves for that would make the world better. Philip said about Fred in an earlier episode that he would have sacrificed himself for Martians if it gave him the same feeling of moral superiority. That particular description was meant to be specific to Fred, imo, but it was still separating out the desire to be part of an important cause from the cause itself.

I don't think that being attracted to one belief system in any way predisposes someone to become attached to another, not when those belief systems are so different.

I think for some people it can be. That is, they might not be attracted to absolutely any cause, but they can be committed to one thing and then committed to something else loudly opposed to that first thing. If the show's holding out the possibility that Paige could be recruited it's not, imo, because of some connection between her church and Soviet Socialism, it's because she's young and still unformed and searching.

It's a moral and spiritual position.

True, but I don't know if we know the details of it yet. I still don't feel like I have much of a clue about Paige's spirituality since the only thing she's said about Jesus is that she admires him sacrificing himself to make the world a better place, which is a human thing to do. She seems to like missionary work because it builds houses and feeds people without saying anything about spreading the gospel. She may have very set negative feelings about Soviet oppression too. I think the show's probably intentionally focused on those things rather than the supernatural aspect to suggest that Paige's concerns are more with the world than with heaven.

So for me it doesn't seem like the showrunners themselves see protesting nuclear arms with a church as a short step to stealing nuclear technology for the Soviets. That's creating more nuclear arms in the world, not less. It's basically working for exactly what Paige was protesting, just substituting the Soviet government for the US one. I think they've intentionally put up tons of barriers between Paige the person and the KGB that they just haven't yet gotten into. They seem to really relish analyzing everyone's personal beliefs and loyalties and how even people ostensibly on the same side will break in different directions on different issues. I think they've intentionally loaded Paige with qualities the KGB might see as exploitable with work if she was a source as well as qualities that would put her beyond their machinations.