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theamericans2015-01-28 07:45 pm
jae) wrote in theamericans2015-01-28 07:45 pm
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Episode discussion post: "EST Men"
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
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
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
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
Sistermagpie first watch
I was surprised that the EST scene was really just short and "this is nonsense." It's actually a great set up the way they introduce all these things that some people glom onto and others just think are silly, whether it's Christianity, Communism, or EST. Sandra's "you just don't get it" is apparently an EST thing--"getting it" is the key. And yet in the seminar the guy says that maybe the one time you might be living truly is when your life is in danger so it was kind of great that Philip and Stan were unmoved. From what that guy was saying the two of them often do seem to be living authentically. Philip more than Stan, maybe.
In general, actually, I get that impression about EST. Not anything specific about EST itself but just that it's a self-help movement aimed at ordinary people of leisure. Not lazy people, but people living stable, modern lives. It's answering the same need to be doing something real as the FBI, KGB and the church. But it's doing it through something other than action--it's just kind of looking at things differently. (Though apparently many people would come out of the seminars and change their life to be more active in significant things.) I wonder how Stan came to go to EST-did he think of it or did Philip even suggest it? Obviously Stan filled him in on the importance of EST to Sandra.
There was a real vibe with Stan for me like he was the boy next door whose parents worked a lot so he liked it when Philip invited him over for his mom's brownies. Elizabeth had that indulgent air to her, Stan was kind of puppy-dog happy to be in their house.
Yet I note his conversations with Philip still often involve Philip carefully trying to say what he thinks Stan needs to hear. Not that we saw much of them.
Love Gabriel. That was really fantastic. It's so blatant that Elizabeth gets tapes from home and Philip...doesn't. Special rules for Elizabeth because she's the teacher's pet? Or is Philip especially isolated? Or do some do and some don't get tapes?
My favorite Gabriel moment was his shoving Philip in the face like he was a child. That one gesture really implied a very different Philip than we ever really get to see that Gabriel might be uniquely able to draw out.
Frankly, the Centre often seems really clueless in handling Philip. If Elizabeth has told them he's at risk for US temptations why on earth not work on solidifying *his* ties to the motherland instead of seeming to always preferring to do that with Elizabeth who doesn't need it? I know they can't give him a tape from his mom if he doesn't have one, but this seems part ofa pattern. Somebody just tuning in might think Elizabeth was Russian and Philip her American partner or something.
I also love the idea of Philip liking Scrabble, a vocabulary game that he's playing in his second language. One thing that Jae and I talked about after our set visit (no spoilers involved here) is how Philip is so often shown seeking out and soaking up information of many different types, often in the background. There is a subtle mirror to Henry there, who seems to have the same impulses. Paige is also interested in learning things, but she seems more like Elizabeth in wanting to designate what's important or what's worth learning and having less respect for other things. Like they're a bit more like hawks and P&H are more like magpies.:-)
Also a little parallel to Stan's lonely boy liking parental attention he doesn't get in the form of Scrabble.
Interesting that they chose to put those two Philip sex scenes in the show. They weren't really necessary, but I don't think they were just gratuitous either. I suspect that with Martha they're laying the groundwork for sex not being enough--she's going to need more emotional presence from Clark, plus he's not giving her children. Sex =/= intimacy.
Like Jae, I was impressed by poor Anneleise and the change in her. But I liked that she was also really exactly the same person. Early on she randomly demanded that Scott at least pretend to want to run away with her to Sweden. Of course Yousef won her over when he offered the idea himself. In the end she was always looking for a guy who wanted to sweep her away because he loved her that much--she wanted Edward Cullen. Scott had long since failed to provide that, especially once he turned her on Yousef.
Also another "say what they want to hear" scene when Scott "admits" he's jealous about Yousef. Even then she was still primarily focused on feeling loved by a guy.
All the stuff about sexism was also interesting, especially since it was always more complicated than it seemed. We've got two important women characters introduced here, women with information and expertise that's valuable. We've got the CIA woman--I agree with Jae she was wonderfully drawn in just the one scene! But it's not always so simple. Loved Stan's casual "let your man do that" line along with Gabriel's "be a good American housewife and do the dishes" line--both of which bear no resemblance to the way P&E's marriage work.
Speaking of those lines, I think Stan's was more evidence of his awkwardness around women, like the only way he really knows how to act is to play that male role. Where as Gabriel's seemed much more manipulative, subtly injecting some Soviet superiority into the conversation specifically regarding Elizabeth's alleged reduced status (and therefore Paige's). Claudia hit the same note with her in S1.
Meanwhile he and Philip have a cute little exchange where he asks how Henry's hockey is (Russian sport) and Philip cheerfully says he's concentrating more on BASEBALL these days.
Here's what I feel starting off about the P/E arc here. Elizabeth is *way* more far along than I expected in her recruitment of Paige. I don't think she's completely lying to Philip about just spending time with her, but I think he's absolutely right when he thinks this whole process is what she herself wants. That's the part I think she hasn't dealt with yet. I think at this point she's seeing it in terms of practicality: these are their orders, and she's always been happier when orders or responsibility coincide with what she wants but doesn't want to admit she wants ("they need to feel rooted."). Not that I think Philip's own motives aren't also a mixture of what's best for Paige and what he needs for himself, btw.
But it seems starting out that Elizabeth really considers this a done deal that will start without Philip and then he'll catch up. And that makes me think that she'll come to doubt her position--otherwise there's just no movement. I don't think it'll be a case of her deciding Philip is right--she'll be partly right too at least. But this seems like she's in such a strong place here, already humming along with Paige and with Gabriel and the Centre firmly in her corner, that she's got to be derailed internally. Philip's continued resistance may only be one factor here--I'm remembering S1 where he gave her what she wanted and then simply refused to undo it for her while continuing to be a partner/friend. I don't think we're going to get a complete rehash of that, but there's just nothing interesting about Elizabeth being "right" for 13 eps.
With Philip there's obvious potential conflict from other sources. Where Elizabeth is firmly allied with the Centre and Gabriel here--and possibly even Paige, who currently thinks Mom's come around and joined *her* cause as everyone should (I'm not reading a breakdown of Philip's relationship with Paige here, but that kitchen scene was clearly meant to leave him out church potluck funtimes and drive home to him how he's missed troop movements)--Philip is David to their Goliath here.
He's got no real practical way of keeping the Centre away from Paige, and he seems to have spent the last couple of months with the covers pulled over his head. But he wakes up fast and angry when Elizabeth casts a new light on her church activities. So it seems like there's another path laid out for Philip here. One that will also involve questioning of his opening position. Part of it will be fighting with Elizabeth, but it can't just be that, and it can't, imo, just be Philip being right but opposed for 13 eps any more than it can be with Elizabeth. I think they'll both evolve, but in slightly different ways.
It's not, after all, like Philip can't relate at all to some of Elizabeth's feelings. On one hand he doesn't want Paige to know who he really is--the murderer. But being happy with Paige thinking he's a kind of shallow, lazy travel agent wouldn't be a dream either, I imagine. Not when he sees what that really looks like to her. (Again, he may not realize just how things stand until he's confronted with it.)
No idea how they're going to keep Stan from figuring them out thanks to this injury. But he certainly has reason to *want* them to be innocent now, just as he did with Nina.
Loved Oleg and Arkady--including the stuff about his father. (I thought to myself "Oleg has officially far more backstory than Philip now!) I can see a man who didn't believe in favoritism pulling strings when Oleg felt it was important to his job and not for personal reasons. It also explains how Oleg is both a child of privilege and very competent and devoted. He's the rich kid with the dad who with holds approval. I love those!
Re: Sistermagpie first watch
Of course 'getting it' is a big EST thing: it's emperor's new clothes time and you have to, or you'll have wasted your money and have people say you're not really living. Stan and Philip are probably the only two in the room who have lived for an extended time with their lives in danger.
Re: Sistermagpie first watch
Yes, Annalise was addicted to (dangerous) romance rather than to sex. Scott by turning her on Yousaf disqualified himself as a romantic hero truly deeply in love with her.
Great points that neither Elizabeth nor Philip can be right for 13 episodes. They both will have to go through some changes of their current emotional state re: Paige.
Re: Sistermagpie first watch
Philip not getting tapes from home & Oleg's dad
My read is that it's normal to get tapes, but Philip doesn't because he either has no living relatives in the Soviet Union (as
He's the rich kid with the dad who withholds approval. I love those!
I actually thought of you when this became clear... :D
-J
Philip in the USSR
I think it was fairly common to recruit young men (and probably also women) from orphanages, because they would be much easier to manipulate into good little soldiers. Although, Philip having grown up in an orphanage slightly contradicts his happy (?) memory of having played swords with icicles as a child. I don't know, he has never mentioned his parents and we've only seen him in flashbacks as a young man with Irina. His background is possibly darker and more lonely than Elizabeth's.
Re: Philip in the USSR
-J
Re: Philip in the USSR
Re: Philip in the USSR
Re: Philip in the USSR
The other view is people who mistakenly think we've been told Philip's past and that Elizabeth's was rougher. This one always fascinates me because it's such an illusion. Like Philip's given the impression of having told all and it was comforting when he's said nothing.
On the orphan side, it just seems really based in what we do know of the guy. Psychologically it really fits with his personality in multiple ways. Plus it certainly explains the lack of any family back in the USSR. Of course it's possible his family died after he left and he used to get tapes, I guess. But it's just weird that they never come up if he had a normal relationship with a family until he entered training at 17 or so. Or left the US at 22.
Re: Philip not getting tapes from home & Oleg's dad
Like as I remember it Elizabeth just comes in and hugs him. Philip hangs back, but Gabriel reaches out to push his face--which is not only adorable but a way of reaching out to him himself physically without going full hug. Then later he sends Elizabeth out of the room for her "present" hidden in the kitchen and brings out Scrabble. I could just so see this with an adult who knows the ways to deal with the kid who won't ask for attention but wants it. Philip wouldn't ask for Scrabble and he wouldn't expect it, but really would appreciate the thing that *he* does with grandpa. It's hard to think they weren't very aware of that in the whole scene where Philip and Elizabeth are SO SO set up as the children to Gabriel's grandfather.
Maybe part of it too is that it's such a change from Zhukov and Claudia where they allowed Philip to just be in the background.