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

Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[jae]

Oh, wow, I didn't even think about that! I guess I had been assuming that Jared hadn't told anyone until he told Elizabeth, but now I don't know why I assumed that. You're right that it would be strange for him to keep it from Kate when his assumption is that they have a great love story going and will be together forever. Huh.

What do you think?

-J

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[alisonx]

The thought literally only occurred to me as I was writing the second to last reply....

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[treonb]

That's how I understood it. That Jared had told Kate, and that's why the Center did not want any investigation into the matter. Claudia wasn't told and therefore teamed up with P&E for their own investigation.

Btw, I wonder what happened to that boyfriend Claudia had blamed.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[jae]

Wow, you're right that that would explain why the Center initially abandoned their investigation. So yeah, that must be how it happened. I don't know why that didn't even occur to me!

As for the boyfriend, if she was having Philip and Elizabeth secretly doing the investigation, I can't imagine she was passing those suspicions on to the Center. And if she'd killed him herself, she would have mentioned that to Philip and Elizabeth for the sake of their investigation. So the boyfriend is probably still safe (although she probably slipped out of his life once she realized she'd told him too much).

-J

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[alisonx]

But if that is the case, I find it kind of laughable.

Because Kate would tell the KGB "hey guys my asset i'm honey trapping killed his parents who were loyal kgb illegals and gathering great intel." Then the KGB covers up their murders, or at least hushes it all up and doesn't investigate or tell anyone else. Then they get the bright idea they want to continue this with Paige. So then they send Kate, to be p/e's handlers. And they protect both Kate and Jared's covers even though Jared is pretty much dead as a source of information goes, and Kate's incompetence as a handler goes unchecked. And they send her to their two of their best illegals in DC.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[jae]

Yeah, you're right. What it boils down to is "protect the second-generation programme at all costs, even if it means endangering existing illegals." Risking imperfect but excellent agents for the potential of a silver bullet someday, in other words. And in light of all that, there has got to be controversy in the ranks of Directorate S right now on whether this is the right way to handle things. Hasn't there? I mean, really.

-J

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[alisonx]

But even then, surely they'd see the absolute DEBACLE the Jared thing was (assuming Jared told Kate who told KGB) and send somebody OTHER than Kate to Philip and Elizabeth ? Given that they sent Kate some time after the murders. Was this supposed to be Kate's chance to redeem herself?

Why keep Jared alive if he was so volatile. Why was he even still valuable to them at this point when they realised how psychotic he was (he wasn't a psychopath I just like using this word to express just the disaster this was).

I agree there must be controversy, but I don't mind them wanting to try again. I do mind them using Kate for Jared and Paige....

The first generation illegals are so meticulously trained and so pinpoint perfect, and they're really willing to risk it all without taking time to workshop the ideas or collaborate - yeah there must definitely be some internal argy-bargy going on in those Directorate S offices

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[quantumreality]

I re-watched Jared's confession, but I still wonder if he isn't obscuring or changing details. He claims he got his father's gun, but why would he need it for an ordinary day at the fair? He also says he got into an argument with his dad, they tussled, he somehow got the gun out and his mom tried to stop him, after which he killed them both - and then his sister as well.

That's three unsilenced shots. Where did Jared stash the gun that Philip didn't find it? Anyone experienced with firearms would probably have known how to check if one has been fired recently, which would have raised Philip's suspicions almost immediately.

I still wonder if an experienced assassin didn't happen to be there that day, telling Emmett and Leanne that the KGB would take his son, and they had no say in the matter, and when they refused to accede, blam, blam, blam - and then Jared, wearing his game face, went to the pool.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[sistermagpie]

I wonder if Jared was really being protected or if they had their own plans to deal with him and Kate was just stringing him along. Because surely they saw Jared as simply defective and were happy to exfiltrate him (though frankly, they should have killed him since he totally showed the potential to attack them in one way or another).

But I get the impression their focus on continuing the program is a case of them simply not seeing the risk. I was talking to someone on another board who had the same attitude, saying that the only reason Jared went off was because the parents weren't in on it, so they weren't taking the same risk. It's a case of not really understanding how delicate it is to do this sort of thing.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[alisonx]

I reckon if Jared wasn't being protected, they would have taken him out straight after the hotel murder to look like a hitman had targeted their whole family. I think this was their least preferred option - having to make Jared disappear, because that would rouse the FBI's suspicion.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[jae]

If true, then that is a HUGE blind spot on their part.

-J

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[sistermagpie]

Huge--but one that would reflect their distance, judging things from on high instead of listening to those on the ground (and maybe putting people on the ground likely to agree with them).

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[katiac]

Yes, I think the issue is that the people directing the program simply can't understand the risk. I think they're looking at the 2nd gen's like this huge boon for the program, which they totally are, and possibly recruitable, which they totally are, but no one back in Moscow can possibly understand how these kids would feel having grown up in the US as US citizen children who believe they have US parents. They can't possibly understand the feelings of betrayal and anger and fear and hurt these kids are going to have, or if they do on some level understand them, I suspect the upper echelons are filled with more Claudia types, diehards who put the party over everything else and are more focused on the aspect of "they're children of this world and it could give their lives meaning..." blah blah blah than on how that kid is going to feel finding out they've been lied to their entire lives, and by the people they're supposed to be able to trust most.

It's not that it's impossible to do, it's just that it's this HUGE, extremely difficult, extremely delicate thing that's maybe harder than any other agent they've ever had to recruit. It's not something you can clumsily stab at by sending someone to honeytrap the kid and keeping the parents out of the loop without disastrous results.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[lovingboth]

Yep.

If I were wanting to start a 'second generation'-type programme, I'd open an adoption agency. Find some kids who are 100% American with traceable real parents and back stories, then place them with some KGB or sympathisers and get to work on them. Such kids are likely to have reasons to dislike the US system too.

I would not start risking some of my main existing assets.

[wendelah1]

I like this plan.

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[alisonx]

So why wasn't Claudia told even though she was their handler?

Re: Did Jared ever tell Kate about the murders?

[katiac]

Yeah, that would explain why they put someone guarding Henry and Paige in the 3rd episode and then randomly pulled them. Those first three episodes were back to back timing wise, and that's about right for Kate to make contact again, meet with Jared, find out the truth and get back to the Centre. If Claudia is kept out of the loop, she keeps assuming it's Larrick, or worse case, her boyfriend, and pursues that lead.

Putting someone on Henry and Paige and then pulling them

[jae]

Ooh, right! I had completely forgotten that we still hadn't had an explanation for that.

-J