Episode discussion post: "In Control"

[jae]

Aired:
20 February 2013 in the U.S. and Canada
17 June 2013 in Australia
20 June 2013 in Ireland
22 June 2013 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode #4 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the Australian/Irish/UK schedule. Please do dive in even if you've seen subsequent episodes, but take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season one, episode four.

FX's original promo trailer:

FX's official three-minute recap:

FX's official "Go Undercover" replay with commentary from the actors and producers:

New reviews/recaps:
From The Guardian (UK)
From Unreality Primetime (UK)

Reviews/recaps from first airing:
From Vulture
From Think Progress
From Hitfix
From the Huffington Post
From the AV Club
From Collider
From Television Without Pity
From We Might Just Love TV More Than You
From jessenigma at dreamwidth
From jae at dreamwidth

Comments

[jae]

I haven't rewatched this one in a long time, but I remember loving it. In retrospect, what sticks with me about this episode most is how well it portrays the Soviet perspective of what was going on with Haig and the "in control" speech, and really forces the (largely American) audience to think about how the goings-on of their country might look to people from a different cultural background. You really get why they thought there was a coup going on, and that's just awesome.

At the time it aired, though, I was admittedly alllll about the romantic hotel rendezvous at the beginning. ;)

-J

[treonb]

That hotel meet was pretty cool, for once they had to sneak around the kids for non-spy reasons ;-)

[treonb]

It's actually amazing, looking back, how much happened in every episode.

Two things stick in my mind from this ep:
1. Elizabeth shooting the guard. I think it was the first time we saw Elizabeth kill somebody. And the guy was completely innocent - just the wrong guy at the wrong time. It's interesting that's the scene they chose for the 'snapshot' clip.

2. The kitchen scene. I just loved how in the end it all came down to Stan having a drink with his neighbors. If he'd handled things differently, history would have been much different. I was so impressed I made a graphic out of it ;-)

[jae]

Oh, man, that graphic! That's awesome.

And yeah, that kitchen scene is mind-boggling to think about. I mean, it didn't happen like that, of course, but who knows how many weird things like that really did happen!

-J

[treonb]

I mean, it didn't happen like that, of course

Are you sure? I saw it on TV ;-)

I remember reading a review saying that this is a show thing - they want to show that history comes down to the personal level and whether you do X or Y.

And I guess that's another thing that's different about The Americans. All other shows I watch are in their very own timeline. They might refer to events here or there, but they're not fully in our history.