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: Second generation illegals

[katiac]

Yeah, sending Kate to P/E seems very random.

It's interesting with Jared because at the point he was at, he was just an all-around disaster, but then from the KGB's perspective they might've also looked at him and seen someone who would eventually come out of the instability and harden into a devoted KGB killer who would push everything else from their life--sort of like Elizabeth. I'm sure looking back they weren't thrilled with how it went down with the loss of Emmett and Leanne, but since that was done with and couldn't be fixed, salvaging Jared (if possible) was kind of the only move left.

Re: Second generation illegals

[sistermagpie]

To me, it seems like while they could very well have had this opinion of him before he killed his parents, after he did it he would have to be dropped. The KGB has proved able to make bad decisions, but that would just go beyond the pale for me. There's no second chance after you flip out and kill valuable agents in an adolescent rage because you can't see your girlfriend. Jared did more damage to the Illegals program than Larrick and Stan combined and he doesn't even really regret it because he's still clinging to the idea that he's the real agent here.