theamericans | Episode discussion post: "Baggage"

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episode discussion

Episode discussion post: "Baggage"

Aired:
4 February 2015 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 302 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 two.)

Original promo trailer

"The Americans 3x02 Promo "Baggage" / This Season on The Americans" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps

From Hitfix
From The AV Club
From The Atlantic
From the LA Times
From Slant Magazine
From IGN
From TV.com
From Sound on Sight
From Geeks of Doom
From TVEquals
From examiner.com
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From the International Business Times
From Uproxx
From MovieNewsGuide
From MStarz
From Starpulse
From Romance at Random
From SpoilerTV

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In bullet point form:

• This is the second time we've seen a character on a toilet in this show (and both were in a suboptimal situation)! I feel like this should be a trivia question on a game show at some point: "which two characters on The Americans were seen during the biological process of excretion?"

• I loved the line "Paige, don't worry, your dad is not having an affair." He just has another wife--and it's fine with me, honest. Most of the time, anyway.

• I was shocked when Philip-as-Scott actually came right out and told Yousaf that he was KGB-affiliated. He must have done a quick calculation and figured he had a better chance of getting what he needed out of Yousaf if he told the truth on that front? I'm still not sure exactly where Philip is planning on going with this surprise new agent of his, but something tells me it's going to be an interesting ride.

• As a couple of others noted, the notion of coming to the U.S. in a box is pretty hardcore. I wonder how accurate that is--is that something Joe Weisberg dreamed up, or something that actually happened?

• I was spoiled in advance that the hardest-to-stomach part about the suitcase scene would be the sounds, and let me just say that I'm so glad I was. It helped me stay with the characters more rather than just getting grossed out and distancing myself.

• So exciting to see Katja Herbers--my favourite thing about my second-favourite currently airing show--on my very favourite show! I loved her thicker accent (she actually has almost no trace of a Dutch accent in English in real life) and the Belgian particulars she added. I kind of want to hear her character speak Dutch now, though. :)

• A number of things in this episode suggest that Elizabeth is really struggling with how Philip is reacting to the Paige thing, and really feels that it's driving them apart rather than just a spat they're having. First, the fact that she doesn't tell him about the memory she had of her mother referring to her father as a deserter. Second, the fact that she tells Gabriel that the two of them were different from the last time he saw them, rather than are. And then the fact that in the final scene, she broaches the subject with him while at the office, like it's something she wants to fix but doesn't know how to.

• This isn't about the show directly, but it felt like the very definition of irony when a Canadian Forces ad aired during this episode, which dealt so heavily with the fallout from the Soviet war in Afghanistan....

• The Stan and Oleg scene was so fantastic. Terrific acting all around. And I too got a little "aww!" at Stan's answering maching message--he was just so at a loss what to say, but he had to say something ("and Arthur, I guess"). And later, seeing him crying, with Sandra--it's all really touching. At the same time, though, I have to cheer Sandra on for making him work for it a bit.

• I think we've talked before on this comm about the fact that the real-life illegals actually were sent back to the Soviet Union sometimes, but it was good to get confirmation that this is considered out of the ordinary in this show's version of real-life events. I actually really like that tweak: it's far more poignant if they never see the motherland again until their time in the field is up.

• Any thoughts on why Stan didn't tell the defector that they had in fact personally dealt with another defector who'd gotten killed on U.S. soil? Is that confidential, or was he trying not to scare her?

Any thoughts on why Stan didn't tell the defector that they had in fact personally dealt with another defector who'd gotten killed on U.S. soil? Is that confidential, or was he trying not to scare her?

I think he must have been trying not to scare her. "Don't worry, you're safe, it's just this other guy we couldn't keep safe" is not reassuring.

re: Elizabeth, I think when she says to Philip the thing with Paige won't go away, she is aware this also applies to Philip's pov. Earlier, she may have hoped he'd change his mind, but by now it's obvious this is really deep set within him, and if there is compromise, it's not going to be Philip agreeing the spy life could in any way be good for Paige.

Another thing about the "deserter" reveal: it also adds to Elizabeth's reaction in the pilot when Philip considers defection. And to her hesitation when Lucia asked her who her father had been - Elizabeth let several moments pass before replying "he was a worker" back then.

Katja Herbers is so not!Helen as the Belgian!

Good catch ! Your memory is so good :) I totally forgot about that Lucia moment.

I think he must have been trying not to scare her. "Don't worry, you're safe, it's just this other guy we couldn't keep safe" is not reassuring.

The thing that has me shying away from that interpretation is that he was actually TRYING to scare her a little. She was all: "it's over, they won't try to kill me here," and Stan was like: "its NOT over, though." Maybe he thought saying something would scare her TOO much, though? I don't know! :)

-J

But there's a difference between scaring her and admitting FBI incompetence, maybe. So he wants her to know people will be trying to kill her, but also make her trust in the security they have.

Ooh, good point. He just wants her not to be reckless. So maybe it's not outright forbidden/classified to talk about Timoshev, but making the comparison wouldn't be prudent.

-J

Ah-HA! I knew where I'd seen her before. She was Helen Prins in Manhattan :D

The sounds? eek. So glad I usually watch with the sound turned off and the subtitles on.

I'm just glad I watched with all the LIGHTS on. ;)

-J

I skipped it - even without being spoiled for it, I saw where it was heading and could not stomach it.

In retrospect I should've skipped it too D-X

There was the guy who was snatched in S2, of course, but hasn't there been at least one men's urinal scene?

Possibly, but I couldn't point to where. That's less memorable, though--other shows have done that sort of thing.

-J

I was shocked when Philip-as-Scott actually came right out and told Yousaf that he was KGB-affiliated. He must have done a quick calculation and figured he had a better chance of getting what he needed out of Yousaf if he told the truth on that front?

Though I love that he doesn't do it directly. "My people are dying in Afghanistan. I'll give you a moment to process what I'm actually saying."

First, the fact that she doesn't tell him about the memory she had of her mother referring to her father as a deserter.

That particular one I think she wouldn't have told him about anyway. She knew he was a deserter back in the pilot, yet she basically told him he was a hero. I think this is just something that Elizabeth's ashamed about and doesn't tell people. But also I like the idea that even though Elizabeth was remembering that scene which to us was obviously about her father's desertion, in her mind she really was remembering the blue dress, because that's what she was focusing on. Memories do tend to work that way, and Elizabeth, we've been told, is less than self-aware.

I love the interpretation in your last paragraph!

-J

Any thoughts on why Stan didn't tell the defector that they had in fact personally dealt with another defector who'd gotten killed on U.S. soil? Is that confidential, or was he trying not to scare her?

I assumed he wasn't allowed to talk about other similar situations, for security reasons of the "it's bad enough if one defector dies/goes back on arrangements, but worse if they then also have lots of insider info on other missions too" type.

• So exciting to see Katja Herbers--my favourite thing about my second-favourite currently airing show--on my very favourite show! I loved her thicker accent (she actually has almost no trace of a Dutch accent in English in real life) and the Belgian particulars she added. I kind of want to hear her character speak Dutch now, though. :)

I didn't realize who the actress was - but if she's Dutch, I wonder why she's playing a French-speaking Belgian.

I also wondered why she spoke English to the guards and not French. Not the smartest move there.

'Evi' could be either, I suppose, but I'm 99.9% positive that she's playing a Dutch-speaking Belgian, actually. That is very definitely the accent that Herbers is doing, and the casting call that

sistermagpie posted last fall clearly conceived the character as a speaker of either Dutch or a Scandinavian language.

-J

Hm... so why did she ask Nina if she speaks French? And if she speaks both languages, why not ask about Flemish/Dutch as well?

She might be assuming nobody else in the world knows Dutch, but if you want to connect to somebody you've just met at this dungeon, it's really not the time to start making such assumptions.

A Dutch speaker would never, ever, in a million years ask anyone in a foreign country whether they speak Dutch. (If you were trapped in a Chinese prison, talking to your Chinese-looking cellmate, but you didn't speak a word of Chinese, would you try addressing her in Hebrew first, or would you go straight to English?)

The real question is why she started with French rather than English, but I actually buy it--it's 1982, and English is just starting to become the international language it will eventually be, so English or French is six of one, half dozen of the other as a lingua franca. And her French is probably better than her English.

-J

Hm... good question. I would like to think I'd cycle through every language I know, and especially with Hebrew, you never know who speaks the language. In China probably not, though in Russia, who knows.

Besides, I'm pretty sure Chinese don't really know English either, so if I ever get stuck in a Chinese prison, it's going to be very lonely :-(

That's a point, that there are always going to be surprising people who speak Hebrew. That's less likely with Dutch, though. :)

Seriously, it just wouldn't happen.

-J

I was just writing my reply when yours came in... I was thinking about it, and your'e right. Putting it into a more actual context, I'd never think of asking a random person on the street in any other country if they knew Hebrew.

And in a Russian prison, I wouldn't dare.

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Episode discussion post: "Baggage"

Jae's thoughts on second watch

Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch

Deserter Reveal

Different Soviet defectors and the FBI

Re: Different Soviet defectors and the FBI

Re: Different Soviet defectors and the FBI

Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch

Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch

Sounds

Re: Sounds

Re: Sounds

Toilet scenes

Re: Toilet scenes

Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch

Elizabeth's father as a deserter

Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch

Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch

Evi

Re: Evi

Re: Evi

Re: Evi

Re: Evi

Re: Evi