jae: (theamericansgecko)
Jae ([personal profile] jae) wrote in [community profile] 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
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)

Re: Philip not getting tapes from home & Oleg's dad

[personal profile] sistermagpie 2015-01-29 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I should rewatch the Gabriel scenes again before I comment on this because my memory could be warping things, but I really came away with a dynamic where Gabriel was like the grandfather who was very skilled in drawing out the shy grandchild/not grandchild.

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.
Edited 2015-01-29 21:04 (UTC)