Episode discussion post: "EST Men"

[jae]

Aired:
28 January 2015 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 301 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 three, episode one.)

Original promo trailer

"The Americans Season 3 First Promo (HD) NEW FOOTAGE" (Watch on YouTube)

"The Americans Season 3 Full Promo (HD) NEW FOOTAGE" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps (including some early-season generalities)

From Grantland
From Vox 1 and 2
From Vulture
From Hitfix
From the Washington Post
From TIME
From the New York Times
From Slate
From Hollywood Reporter
From Slant
From Salon
From the Washington Post
From the New Republic
From Yahoo 1 and 2
From the AV Club
From the Atlantic
From the Boston Globe
From Entertainment Weekly
From TV Guide
From Spoiler TV
From theworkprint.com
From IndieWire 1 and 2
From Slant
From Variety
From thedailynews.com
From Geeks of Doom
From Starpulse
From TV Equals
From Screenrant
From We Got This Covered

Comments

[sistermagpie]

Yes, Frusen glädje was a real thing that existed for 5 minutes in the 80s attempting to capitalize on people liking Haagen Daaz. Like HG, it had a foreign-sounding name, but it was actually gibberish. Frusen glädje was not Swedish. It was made in the Bronx or something. Elizabeth would probably kick herself for falling for it!

ETA: Actually, more accurately, I think the name was not gibberish, but there was a mistake in it. Perhaps one of the accents, I think. So it looks like Swedish but by people who in no way speak Swedish.

(Gabriel's comment about her being a good American housewife...)

I thought that was really fascinating because we've so often *seen* Philip and Elizabeth doing dishes together, or even just Philip washing one. They don't have a completely progressive marriage or anything but especially last season they seemed to use the kitchen showing them doing that chore together. I'd wondered if taking care of the kids on his own just made Philip much more used to doing housework. So Gabriel saying that to Elizabeth was really a comedown from her real domestic life, and not really accurate about "American housewives" either--but it was probably meant to inspire her anti-US feeling just a bit.

[theplatonicnonyeah]

"Frusen glädje" is correct Swedish and means "frozen joy". Haägen Dazs however, is gibberish. I'm Swedish, btw. :-)

[sistermagpie]

Isn't there an accent or something there that's wrong? That was the thing I was remember. You're right, it's Haagen Daaz that means nothing at all. I love that both exist.

I love that there are people here from all over! Do you have any thoughts on Philip's Swedish spy name being Scott?

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Yes, I mentioned it in a comment to someone else (?) further down in the thread. So many comments here!

Scott is not a Swedish name at all. Annelise is a very old-fashioned name, more likely to be something her mother or even grandmother would be called. It would have made more sense to call him Lars/Kennet/Hans and her Ann-Kristin/Charlotte/Susanne. I was a little bit unimpressed by the lack of research there. It would have been so easy to just check online what baby names were popular during the 40/50s in Sweden.

Scott the Swede

[jae]

I've actually always assumed that he was posing as Sweden's version of an illegal (which doesn't exist, but Annelise wouldn't know that)! Or in other words, Annelise knows that his name isn't really Scott, that it's something Swedish, but he's not allowed to give her his real name.

-J

Re: Scott the Swede

[theplatonicnonyeah]

I honestly never got the hang of what Scott was supposed to be. "A Swedish intelligent agent"? Whatever the h*ll would we be wanting with one of those? It's not as if we ever were a nation with aspirations of world domination.

Sweden has always been this neutral zone that both the US and the former USSR had interests in, but mostly to keep as a buffer between each other.

Sidetrack: one of our most famous spies for the USSR, Stig Bergling, died the other day. He was convicted in 1979, escaped prison in 1987 and fled to the USSR with his then wife, only to return a few years later.

Re: Scott the Swede

[sistermagpie]

Here's my fanwank. Maybe Philip met her as Scott Peterson in some other capacity--say, he was working somebody else and met her at a party of something--and then realized what a good asset she would make because of her husband and her personality, so then adjusted "Scott's" backstory to give him some ties to Sweden. Because she herself is supposed to have some ties to the country, but I don't think she's supposed to actually be from there. That in itself was a common thing, I think, to pretend to be from a country the person felt positively about.

Because it's just so weird and blatant that they haven't tried in the least to actually pass off this character as Swedish.