Episode discussion post: "Open House"
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theamericansAired:
11 February 2015 in the U.S. and Canada
This is a discussion post for episode 303 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 three.)
Original promo trailer
Episode recaps
From The AV Club
From Hitfix
From Slant
From Geeks of Doom
From Movie News Guide
From the International Business Times
11 February 2015 in the U.S. and Canada
This is a discussion post for episode 303 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 three.)
Original promo trailer
Episode recaps
From The AV Club
From Hitfix
From Slant
From Geeks of Doom
From Movie News Guide
From the International Business Times
QR's Weekly Rambliew
Date: 2015-02-12 07:18 am (UTC)- Hm! CIA guys aren't too MICEable (Money/Ideology/Compromise/Ego), except for one dude trying to sell his house in the aftermath of the 1980s recession.
- "Hard for The Center, too" my ass, Gabriel. They're not the ones with any bonds to Paige that could be badly damaged if she doesn't take well to the idea of spying for the Soviets.
- Philip points out Jared killed his entire family. Parenthetically, I note that it was because they banned him from joining the KGB and he was banging the hot recruiter they'd sent to reel him in. Gabriel's rejoinder that Paige is not at the same risk level is a valid point. She's not having her elbow joggled by a recruiter whispering honeyed words in her ear about how McAwesomecakes it's going to be, being a spy just like the 'rents.
- Cutiepants new agent walking around. Wouldn't exactly kick him outta bed for eating crackers. And apparently Hans is a grad student recruited for the KGB.
- Elizabeth quizzes him on who he's seen! Fella has a pretty sharp memory. They start chatting about needs vs wants. Valid points made about the way Western economies have a tendency to overbalance in the direction of creating and satisfying wants, although as a resident of a nation that has, at times, explicitly made a mixed economy a political goal, I gotta point out that the welfare state and other levers do act as a check on the imbalances that could otherwise give us another 1930s-style Depression.
- I wonder if Elizabeth is going to end up being this guy's "Kate". He seems to be attracted to her, but ends up being a bit embarrassed over accidentally saying a bit much.
- Philip is reading a TIME magazine that has Andropov's face on it with "... AFTER BREZHNEV" over top. Useful to get a notion of what the enemy thinks!
- Meanwhile, Paige's birthday. And Philip's being a smartarse over it.
- Although I know the show has shown sex and gore and whatnot it's still always a little disconcerting to see casual nudity. Elizabeth does have a nice bum, though. This provides the cue to segue into more Philip snarkiness, and now we drill down to the real issue: Philip isn't happy about The Center sneaking around with Elizabeth behind his back re: Paige.
- FBI Agent dude with the bruised cheek (Agent Aderholt, as it turns out) is hitting on Martha, it seems. Plus the robot file folder thingy is in the scene, so I'm sure at some point the security issue of misplaced files and the way anyone can walk off with files will be addressed.
- And now P&E do what spies do best in their stock in trade: social engineering by appearing to be a perfectly ordinary individual while they really pursue something else. :) Sneaky Philip is sneaky! :P
- Incidentally the glasses Philip wears to the real estate thingy really seem to add like 5 or 10 pounds to his face.
- Oh crap Paaswell shows up get the hell outta there Philiiiiiiiip. But not before he spots a check written to someone. :O
- Phew, Philip carries off the slighly confused wanderer thingo. And learns that the marriage might be juuuuuust a wee bit on the rocks. M-O-O-N, that spells Affair Waiting To Happen.
- So Philip bugged the CIA phone thingy. Now to find out things.
- ARKADY. Woohoo :)
- He is very srs faced. Apparently dear old Oleg gets to go back to Moskva posthaste. But Arkady figures out how to get Oleg a bit of wriggle room if he wants to hang around the USA for a while longer. Pretty much the trope of Reasonable Authority Figure when he doesn't think the person he's talking to is a jackass. :P (Hello, Season 2 Oleg)
- Oh shitballs P&E got made. DIVE DIVE DIVE and like two hours later they're still trying to dodge the tenacious motherfuckers chasing 'em.
- Nice lil tuck and roll there, keeps anyone from seeing shady shit go down. :)
- Holy crapballs if I made a mess like that in my bedroom at Henry's age I think my mom would've near about killed me.
- And Paige discovers Henry has an issue quite a few boys have when they first start discovering sexual interest in women. A bit unwelcome I imagine. To be fair however, Sandra Beeman *is* fairly attractive and she's the closest non-relative girl/woman he knows of.
- Aw. He's embarrassed over it. :\
- New telephone intercept / relay lady. She loves aerobics it seems.
- Well, looks like P&E sure kicked over an anthill! The FBI are in a tizzy over possibly making one of the illegals :O
- Somehow Liz manages to get one of the FBI/police radios though, so she's one up on them - either that or a radio set to a prearranged frequency for the KGB.
- Aw, Philip tries for some father/daughter bonding time. It doesn't really pan out. :\
- Nice lil prearranged jamming and traffic accident! Elizabeth scarpers! :O Lucky for her. The tension was palpable in these scenes and the sense of relief as she gets home and sees Philip again is also very very real.
- OMFG ew, home dentistry DO NOT WANT.
- Christ, doesn't the KGB have even a half-assed washed-out doctor who lost his or her medical licence they can bribe for shit like this? Anesthetics, DO YOU HAVE THEM????
- Hmm. Aderholt seems to be shaping up to be the new Amador.
- I'm not sure it's as simple as what Stan makes it out to be. To be able to act like someone you're not - in an ideology you're not part of - takes work. Look at the amount of resources the Soviet Union put into training their people just right so they'd have the skills and abilities to "pass" as Americans - and even then, they still had an adjustment period as they immersed themselves. Stan having to pass himself off as a right-wing white supremacist must have taken something of an analogous mental effort and he really needs to think about this immersiveness more when he thinks about the "illegals" he's going after.
- And after a tense night, Philip now has to pretend to be boring-ass househusband Clark with his mundane boring-ass life while stealing info by the trainload for the KGB. Wonder how long he can keep this up. Especially as Martha is getting antsy for kids.
- It's interesting how Gabriel and Philip each have different areas where they're not willing to take risks just for the sake of taking those risks.
- Okay Stan you can stop mentally fapping to Zinaida now.
- And yup, bingo, Paaswell might end up banging the babysitter. That's not gonna bite him in the ass or anything there, cause that's his boss's daughter.
- And P&E are all like "HOLY SHITBALLS WE HIT THE JACKPOT"
some general things and Aderholt/poc on TV
Date: 2015-02-12 09:19 am (UTC)But why was Philip on the other side of the bed, where Elizabeth always sleeps (except in the pilot)? That confused me to no end.
- OMFG ew, home dentistry DO NOT WANT.
This scene...I had to put my hands over my ears. Oddly, I was "fine" with the sound in the Annelise scene, though.
- Hmm. Aderholt seems to be shaping up to be the new Amador.
Yeah. How to phrase this correctly? This show is quite white. I know some people were upset when first Amador and then Gregory got killed, because it made the show very, very white. Storywise it made sense that their characters died, but for representation and reality it was a bit not good.
I think it would be an interesting thing to ask the creators of the show, whether it's an unconscious thing or whether they feel it is authentic that so few people of colour worked in the CIA, for example. I can only speak for my own country and say that because we had mostly immigrants from Europe in the 60/70's, a historically correct show set in Sweden wouldn't feature a lot of black people or Asians, unless they were adopted children.
Sidenote, where is the actor playing Aderholt from? I keep hearing these British-ness in his speech, but maybe I'm imagining it.
Side of the bed
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Date: 2015-02-12 10:32 am (UTC)In this case, it's not casual. She's just had someone flirt with her, but Philip is pointedly not interested in her bum.
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Date: 2015-02-12 02:55 pm (UTC)I'm glad to see I'm not the only one thinking Anaholt might be Stan's new partner!
Re: QR's Weekly Rambliew
Date: 2015-02-12 05:03 pm (UTC)But I actually do think that the first blow was learning about his life being a lie that destabilized him to the point where he was potentially violent. He grabbed onto the idea of being a spy with a hot girlfriend, but the fact that he killed Amelia, to me, reads as an act of despair from a kid who saw his family as a lie. His actions just didn't really line up at all with what he was claiming to be and added up perfectly to a kid full of rage and feeling betrayed. That could be partly helped by Philip and Elizabeth telling her the truth themselves, but it won't solve everything.
Recruitment: Jared vs. Paige
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Date: 2015-02-12 09:07 am (UTC)The fact the Gabriel and Philip are playing Scrabble while discussing more important things. They could have just sat down at the table and discussed things without any social interaction. This game seems to symbolise their father-son relationship. It's a time waste, playing games, so it's something you would only do with someone you want to spend extra time with.
But Philip is on edge all through the episode. He is sarcastic and short-tempered with Elizabeth as they talk about Paige's birthday present. (Incidentally, I like the very mundane detail of E undressing in front of him, like normal couples do.) His nerves are tested even more while waiting for E to get back from the car chase. Then of course, the pulling out of the tooth...
Is this going to be the season of cringe-worthy sound effects? ;-)
But more importantly, that scene was filmed in a way that made it much more intimate than any sex scene on the show so far. The director deliberately chose to film it with extreme close-ups, I read in an interview afterwards. That's also very unusual for the show.
Anyway...the parallels.
Gabriel and Philip talking about making decisions.
Oleg and Arkady talking about the letter and who decides to send home someone.
Hans being trained by Elizabeth on how to stalk people.
Philip and Elizabeth being stalked by the CIA. (Or was it the FBI? I got confused there. There seemed to be a conflict between the two, as usual.)
Aderholt asking Stan about his previous mission and Stan saying you have to tell them what they want to hear.
Gabriel saying to Philip: "Tell me what you'd like me to say."
(Btw, that was most definitely Matthew Rhys saying "Sh*t!" as Philip ran out the door. A little language lapse... ;-)
And finally, Stan looking at Duluth, who is always saying what the American audience wants to hear. Dunn dunn!
Questions arising:
What is the purpose of Hans?
Is Aderholt working Martha for information to see if she is a leak or is he really flirting with her?
Is Aderholt indeed checking on Stan also?
When is Martha going to do something potentially dangerous/bad (again) without asking Clark first?
More intimate than any sex scene
Date: 2015-02-12 10:27 am (UTC)Saying what they want to hear
Date: 2015-02-12 04:16 pm (UTC)OOOOOH, good CATCH, you! This episode was so cleverly written...
-J
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Date: 2015-02-12 09:27 am (UTC)1) I think Elizabeth (and Phillip) are asking the wrong questions, so to speak. Their debate is about if Paige will be ok in this line of work or if she can handle it. Hey guys, have you ever considered she MIGHT NOT WANT TO DO IT? And how much this could ruin your relationship with her?
2) I wonder if this isn't them being cocky but the show setting us up for Paige-the-spy. Which....I really, really hope not. Let's leave it at that.
I know we're not SUPPOSED to cheer for the FBI in this show, but I still can't help it a bit, lol.
There was just something...wrong - in a kinda cool way - about Phillip and Elizabeth kissing to the US anthem in the background.
I think that teeth pulling scene was worse than the body in a suitcase scene from last episode.
I'm pretty sure my OPT in this show is Stan/happiness. I really hope they get together eventually...
Re: things that came to watch after watching
Date: 2015-02-12 05:11 pm (UTC)I don't think I could stand a Paige the spy story. But the fact that they're all ignoring this issue so much--even Philip--seems like it's got to be part of what Paige herself brings to the table. It doesn't seem like Philip would miss this part, but it's also possible that he'd avoid making that argument to Gabriel because it gets a little too close to being pro-American.
Paige is obviously already comfortable with having her own values that are independent of her parents.
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Date: 2015-02-12 10:21 am (UTC)You'd have thought the KGB could afford a turntable for their Scrabble boards. 20 is not a particularly good score with that board - look at the letters near unused triple word scores! JO and XIS would both be better - and someone knew to do BOON.
Ha, at the dental ouch. More training. He did mean it like that.
Oooh, a 'not argument argument' between Philip & Elizabeth. And a bum, which Philip pointedly doesn't look at. And it becomes more of an argument, complete with facing away in bed.
Oooh, another bit of attempted flirting. He still has facial bruises, but his arm is much, much better.
Is that a very early mobile phone? Ha at the ironic conversation about taking work home.
Ooh, is Mrs Expert at being spotting being followed being followed? Yes, she's spotted it. That's a long drive.
That bedroom looks far too tidy :)
Oooh, more coded voice messages. 'Arrange an accident then and there'?
Oooh, danger. This is one big reason why it's Elizabeth who's driving: she was the one in the fight with Gaad etc. Someone's going to jump a red light. Ha, it was an accident being arranged...
A sign of the times - TV shuts down for the night.
Shot of pliers = some DIY dentistry coming up? And with some alcohol... ah yes. I'd have thought a quick trip to Canada would be a better idea. Good job Paige is in bed. What an interesting scene in terms of the trust and relationship between the two of them - this is the counterpoint to the Behind the Red Door sex scene.
If only Stan had used that technique in his marriage...
Is that real work he's doing at Martha's? Ha at the 'relationship with a young person' bit.
She'd be going 'ow' or be showing other signs of that dental work - significant swelling at least.
'Her life has been easy' - this is the nearest we are going to get to Philip's back story this episode :)
A more relaxed discussion because of the stress. "Shit, he's..." what? If they're are people looking out for suspicious people, photographing like that is very suspicious.
Hmm, not as dramatic an episode, but no less interesting.
questions, questions
Date: 2015-02-12 10:45 am (UTC)Can we play WWF? :-)
A sign of the times - TV shuts down for the night.
We're old, right, if we remember this? *sigh*
Is that real work he's doing at Martha's? Ha at the 'relationship with a young person' bit.
Another parallel! The babysitter, remember? Is it a premonition?
'Her life has been easy' - this is the nearest we are going to get to Philip's back story this episode :)
Wait, what? How did I miss this? When was this said and by whom?
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Date: 2015-02-12 05:13 pm (UTC)He's copying the files that Martha keeps bringing home.
LOL!
no subject
Date: 2015-02-12 12:59 pm (UTC)Claudia had most of her interactions with Elizabeth, Kate had most of hers with Philip, but Gabriel seems to evenly divide his attention. I love, love, love the detail of them playing Scrabble while having that mixture of professional update and Paige related conflict, because that says such a lot about their relationship. It occurs to me that since what very little we know about Philip's childhood points to him having been half or completely an orphan, Gabriel is subconsciously or consciously the role model he's had as a young man on how to be a father. Frank Langella continues to be great in the part.
Speaking of parenting, Martha's continued wish for a child is shaping up as a major problem for Philip. Not least because if Clark were real, he'd definitely give in at this point and try having a child as well. But Philip the Russian spy knows, aside from all emotional complications (which are gigantic, since Philip really doesn't want another child and definitely not with Martha), bringing a child - who does notice things - into such a situation is bound to get his cover blown sky high. (If nothing else, wouldn't any organisation providing adoption or a similar arrangement check out "Clark"'s background first?)
Agent Anaholt asking Stan about Stan's time undercover with the White Supremacists: I don't know, I think Stan would have had to do more than just mouthing the ideology back at these guys. He'd probably have had to share in racist violence as well at some point. Currently my suspicion is he just didn't want to say this to Anahold but both of them were aware that it happened/must have happened. But maybe I'm wrong and the scene's main function was to remind Stan he does have some insight in what it feels like to live in another identity.
Continuity: hello again, Charles Duluth, interviewing Zinaida the Defector! This unfortunately rather tells me Zinaida won't be long of this world. And/or will get discredited soon, given what happened the last time Charles interviewed a dissident.
The "Philip and Elizabeth get marked" sequence until Elizabeth's last moment exit was wonderfully suspenseful. But what will stay in my mind even longer is the aftermath. This is the main reason why I'm rooting for P & E as a couple: even when they're having problems and/or are angry at each other (in this case, Philip being angry at Elizabeth because of the Paige-KGB matter), they absolutely have each other's back as partners. The whole intense silent sequence of Philip pulling Elizabeth's damaged tooth - btw, thanks, show for earlier including that short FBI scene where we learn they actually do check out dentists eveywhere to find out whether their unknown female illegal has shown up - with only Stan's whiskey as an anaesthetic was fantastic, with the eyecontact between them throughout and that complete faith shown.
Poor Henry. Being caught out by older sister for crushing on the neighbour's wife (who has now moved away) has to be ultra embarrassing. And speaking of young males with crushes, I wonder where the storyline with Elizabeth's young trainee Hans is going.
So Oleg's father wants him back in Moscow (makes sense), but Arkady offers him an out, which speaks volumes on how much Oleg must have grown on him, considering Influential Dad won't be pleased with Arkady now.
Clark and Martha adopting
Date: 2015-02-12 01:16 pm (UTC)Re: Clark and Martha adopting
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From:Apolla's Thoughts: Oh gross!! I may throw up!!
Date: 2015-02-12 02:44 pm (UTC)It's been that way for the entire season so far. I thought I saw it on 3x01, and I've been trying to find a way to screencap it ever since.
This is the first time I've ever come close to throwing up while watching TV. The whole tooth thing? Teeth and eyes - nope, nope, nope, I cannot cope with that. When I got wisdom teeth pulled (I still have two) I had to keep my eyes shut the whole time. The dentist offered to let me take them home and I was like, "oh hell no!" (I can't even look at dental x-rays, it's just too much) so this whole scene was just me going, "Don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up"
I love how the new agent was checking Beeman out. "You were with the white supremacists...what'd you have to do to convince them?" It was just...real. Like, here's a man of color working with a guy whose previous assignment was white supremacy. How much of it rubbed off on the guy? How much of it did he believe before? I just thought it was a really, really good scene.
Hans has a nice voice, but I thought he was British? His accent is...off? It sounded German and Hans is a German name. I'm face blind, so did I get him mixed up with another guy?
When Oleg told Arkady he was staying, I shrieked, "YES!" :)
(Loved the picture change too!)
Hans's accent
Date: 2015-02-12 02:54 pm (UTC)-J
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Date: 2015-02-12 02:45 pm (UTC)From no words to playing with words, literally. Philip and Gabriel play Scrabble (in English of course) while they talk about their current assignment, when all the time Philip really wants to talk about Paige. I was surprised when Philip just completely lost his cool and stormed out after yelling that Paige is not equipped to deal with 'this shit'. It's probably not wise to tell your spy boss that you think what you do is shit.
Has anyone ever played Scrabble in a foreign language? It's hard. I took Russian in college years ago and we played Russian Scrabble in class. It's one thing to memorize words and grammar, but having to pull words together in another language out of random letters really forces you to immerse yourself in the other language. I can see why these spies would get a kick out of playing Scrabble in English.
Martha is not going to stop pushing Clark until she gets a child, one way or another. Clark/Philip seems like he's not going to go along with the notion of adopting a foster child until Martha says it would be a way of sharing what they have with a child who has nothing. Then he capitulates. Is this a clue that Philip himself was an orphan, and that perhaps he joined the KGB simply to get some sort of 'home' and support? I think so.
Speaking without really saying anything: Once again Stan dodges questions about the time he spent undercover with the white supremacists. All he'll say is that he was successful because he told them what they wanted to hear, over and over and over. Now Stan knows, Agent Anahalt knows, and we certainly know that there was more to what Stan did than merely 'talk' like a white supremacist when he went undercover with this group, but Stan doesn't want to reveal what that was.
Speaking of Stan, it was fascinating to watch him watch Zinaida on the tv. I could see little alarm bells going off in his head while he watched her. He got right up to the tv so that he would look at her eyes and her expression. He SO doesn't trust her, IMO. He wasn't listening to what she was saying, he was studying how she was saying it. Stan might be a total mess in his personal life but as an agent, trained in undercover and counter-espionage, I trust his instincts. It's like he said to Martha when he was teaching her how to shoot: it doesn't matter if the target is fuzzy. What matters is how you look and aim. Stan knows how to look for signs that someone is not who they seem. I suspect that Zinaida is not what she seems to be.
The "dentistry" scene as a fucked-up love scene
Date: 2015-02-12 02:58 pm (UTC)See, I'd agree with this if it weren't for "Behind The Red Door." :D
But seriously...yes, that's exactly what it was: a fucked-up love scene (apparently the director told the actors "this is your sex scene for this episode"). On Twitter people seemed to be divided between people who thought it was excruciating and awful and people who thought it was a particularly poignant love scene. (I was in the latter category.)
-J
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Date: 2015-02-12 02:47 pm (UTC)• The Scrabble game at the beginning was delightful. These are two Russian men who both pass as Americans, so they're clearly extremely linguistically gifted and on top of that have worked very very hard to get where they are. Apparently part of that hard work--for both of them--is about trying to develop ridiculously large vocabularies in their foreign language of choice, vocabularies that they aren't ever even going to need in their jobs. I find this so incredibly charming, I can't even say. I also love that Gabriel runs rings around Philip, too, because my headcanon for Philip is that he's got truly ridiculous linguistic talents, and he probably isn't used to being "beaten" on any language-related front by anyone.
• Hans is being trained as "the new Gregory," so you've got to especially love the whole "sorry, man, you don't get to be the new Gregory in all respects" subplot. Hee.
• The Elizabeth/Philip scene with the nudity in it is the one that was filmed later in the day that
• From that same scene: LOVED Philip's line "maybe you think she'd like it because you like it." Man, he sure has her pegged, doesn't he?
• Just a general observation, too: I love the way that Philip and Elizabeth's fighting is so obviously emotionally different from in first season. It's not even really about the stakes being higher now, because the stakes were pretty high when they were first starting out with their new relationship, too, but more about the stakes being different. Now they can fight and trust that they won't break up over it, but oddly enough that doesn't make it less painful. And their work doesn't suffer either way--it never did.
• I love that Arkady was ordered to sign Oleg's transfer papers but instead left it up to him. He's going to take some flack for that for sure. It says so much about him as a person, and as a leader. We're getting to know Arkady little by little as a quiet background presence, and it is one of the wonderful little things about this show.
• The FBI scenes this season are so great. I don't know how sustainable this new trend of the FBI actually being a genuine threat is if the show really does go for another two years (at least), but I'm certainly enjoying it now.
• I watched the slow-speed car chase once while it aired, with commercials, and a second time this morning while I worked out, and it was so much more suspenseful without breaking in between. I'm a little bit afraid that the power of that plotline might have been lost on the more casual viewer as a result. (Sad!)
• I take back what I said last week about Directorate S and dentistry--they apparently did equip their illegals with rudimentary dental training on top of the rudimentary medical training. (VERY rudimentary, but still.)
• I'm not sure whether the conversation between Stan and Aderholt about Stan having worked with the white supremacists was meant as a "remember this? this is going to be important later!" sort of moment, or as a character detail between the two men. Maybe both? That would be cool.
• I have to say, I am so very much on Clark's side about the kids thing. "How do you know what it is what you want" really pissed me off on Philip's (and Clark's!) behalf--you just don't DO that, Martha. But on the other hand, it made it very clear that if Martha ever finds out that Philip had kids, that's going to be the part that hurts the most.
• It is really noticeable the way Gabriel "directs" Philip and Elizabeth. That bit about "I want you to cool things for a while" came from HIM, not from the Center (and he wasn't even trying to PRETEND it came from the Center), and that is not his role at ALL. The point of illegals is that they're cunning and can get a mission and use their smarts to figure out for themselves which risks are worth taking. Another way in which he's a surrogate parent (this time in an inappropriate way).
• The ironic commentary on Afghanistan continues! I would think it was too on the nose if it weren't for the fact that these lines actually could have said by Americans and U.S.-sympathizers about how ridiculous the Soviets were being.
-J
Re: Jae's thoughts on second watch
Date: 2015-02-12 03:19 pm (UTC)Now they can fight and trust that they won't break up over it, but oddly enough that doesn't make it less painful.
Yet another way in which the show explores what marriage means/can mean.
Another way in which he's a surrogate parent (this time in an inappropriate way).
I wonder whether this is why Moscow replaced him with Claudia to begin with? I.e. they thought he was acting too much like P & E's parent? (Now of course they need to reestablish their Illegals' ties to the KGB and Gabriel's emotional relationship with them is a plus to do this with.)
I do love the Afghanistan commentary as the running theme of the season. And yes, what's actually said is never unlikely for the 80s.
Why Moscow replaced Gabriel with Claudia
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From:Oleg and Arkady
From:Ironic commentary on Afghanistan
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From:"Fostering" relationships
Date: 2015-02-12 03:44 pm (UTC)A) Martha's discussion with Clark about the benefits of shaping the life of a young child in foster care---I couldn't help but think that Martha's discussion evoked Philip's feelings about his own youth. Specifically, how "the cause" shaped his own life at such a young, impressionable age and how it probably functioned like a de facto parent for him. Concomitantly, Philip probably thought of how the Centre would shape Paige's life.
B) Elizabeth's relationship with Hans--a mentorship relationship between "The Experienced & The Newbie." Interestingly, Elizabeth could have played off of Hans' little crush on her to further secure his "obedience" (for lack of a better word). Instead, Elizabeth clearly defined the boundaries to Hans and gave him sound advice--i.e., never mix business with pleasure; never dip your pen in the company ink, [insert any other colloquial platitude]. Moreover, when Elizabeth stated that she had someone important in her life, she showed an understanding that sex for professional reasons should be used sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. She clearly wants to diminish any potential conflict between her professional and personal life.
C) CIA operative (sorry, I forgot his name) and the babysitter--clearly, this isn't a positive mentorship relationship. But I think it relates to the theme of "The Experienced vs. The Inexperienced" dynamic. We don't know too much about this relationship. The storyline reminded me of this 18-year-old woman I once spoke to: she said she had an affair with the father of the kids she was babysitting, because he basically reminded her of the father she never had and felt safe with him. I don't know how much we'll learn about the CIA operative's and the babysitter's mind-set for a full understanding of what transpired this affair, but I am certainly interested in knowing. Undoubtedly, this affair with the CIA operative will shape the young babysitter's future life, in one way or another.
Re: "Fostering" relationships
Date: 2015-02-12 04:18 pm (UTC)You could maybe even add Stan and the "new Amador" to this list, though it doesn't quite fit in the same way, as they're technically colleagues.
-J
Re: "Fostering" relationships
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From:Sistermagpie first watch Open House
Date: 2015-02-12 06:28 pm (UTC)And lots of parallels on that score. Lisa mentioned the fostering relationship. Also lots of parenting scenes that played on the idea of giving kids responsibility:
Elizabeth left us last week with an example of a parent who thought being a parent meant pushing your kid out into the world to take on adult responsibilities before they were full grown.
Oleg tells us his dad's been telling him to "grow up" his whole life (God, how great is all the stuff we're getting on Oleg's backstory? LOVE HIM!)
Philip's now really trying to pull back on Paige's growing up, insisting she's only 14 (even though she's almost 15 as was brought up in the ep), not equipped to deal with this shit. Asking her if she really doesn't mind taking on adult responsibilities like being home alone on Saturday after 10pm--he even asks about her still being up during Fantasy Island which any 14 year old would be.
But Paige asks for the opposite--she doesn't want her parents to keep worrying about her. Henry's collecting jerk off material of the neighbor. Most importantly, the babysitter wants a real man to give her hot sex, something I suspect Philip will be contemplating providing...unlike Elizabeth who turns Hans down (while still taking Philip's snarky advice a little bit by suggesting she's tempted when she's not).
Also Elizabeth's no doubt disgusted at the CIA mother's suggestion that "we" give our kids everything they want as evidenced by a roomful of toys--shades of the "useful things" that create "useful people" (but in reverse--Americans have both useful things and useless ones).
But then Martha offers the other side of that--parenting isn't about making your kids tough so they can get to work. It's about wanting to share what you have when you have so much. And that's the line that gets Clark to smile, whether truthfully or not. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it maybe is a view of parenting that he'd like--and of course, it's perfectly in line with Communist thinking.
Plus Oleg, remember, is the rich kid who gets both sides of this. He didn't get to go to camp and gets seen as the product of nepotism, but would like to be more, and the very source of that nepotism criticizes him for it. He's got the worst of both sides. (As Jae knows, this is such a favorite character trope of mine!)
The tooth scene, as everybody has said, was possibly the most romantic thing ever on the show. And you couldn't ask for a better encapsulation of this relationship. In the end, as Paige has noted, Philip and Elizabeth are the central unit here.
In the past Elizabeth may have depended on her mother to tell her what to do and feel she should do the same for Paige, but the most important relationship in her life is with this person who's an equal, someone who will argue with her without manipulating her or pulling rank (because he can't do either very well). Elizabeth would have sat still for anybody pulling her tooth because of course she would, but she would have kept her eyes shut with anyone else. With Philip she looks into his face the whole time.
Interesting, actually, that the tooth pulling scene totally mimics the position of their most intimate love scenes, though here for the first time they've switched positions. Usually it's Philip sitting down and looking up at Elizabeth. But the switch doesn't indicate any change of dynamic. It's more just the flipside of the scene in Yousef. Then Philip was hurting and needed comfort; here it's Elizabeth. (So it's kind of Yousef AND BtrD!) There is no top and bottom here--which is why they chose that 69 scene back in S2.
Somewhere else there was an interesting note about how P&E's silence in that scene is all about honesty where as Clark's eventual silence in the scene with Martha is the opposite--he's just letting her read whatever she wants into his grin. Which reflects back on Stan's notes about telling people what they want to hear, something Zinaida is certainly doing on Charles' show. (We know Charles is lying...is Zinaida?)
Which makes me think again about how Philip doesn't really do this as much as he could with Stan. I mean, Philip does always seem to be feeling his way with Stan in choosing the right thing to say, but he's not simply telling Stan what he wants to hear when they're together. He doesn't want to say the *wrong* thing, but he's never taking what Stan says and agreeing with it to ingratiate himself.
Also, it is cool how much pushback we're seeing on the KGB side. Oleg's father orders him to come home and Arkady (more the Philip parent) thinks Oleg should decide for himself. Sure Oleg makes the decision Arkady probably wanted, but Arkady let him make it either way. Arkady himself defies orders by letting him do that. So while Philip is alone in his fight against the Centre he's clearly not the only person in the KGB who thinks for himself. That left me feeling for the first time that people like Elizabeth and possibly Gabriel are the dinosaurs here.
Remember Nina's description of herself back in S1 saying how people of her generation weren't so hardline about a lot of things. These are the last years of Soviet control. I don't think it's meant as a big metaphor about Russia or anything, but the people of the KGB are being presented as quite vibrant and creative rather than the old-fashioned drone stereotype.
Oh, and finally I have to say that I really like the way that Philip is being presented as passionate about his feelings about Paige joining but also passionate about his job, wanting to take risks to get that info. This, too, seems to be a pattern on the KGB side--it's not all or nothing. Despite his feelings about Paige, he's still owning his choice of career. He's even a little open to Gabriel's rational arguments--and maybe isn't so sure of his own arguments beyond how wrong this seems to him.
So basically Philip's feelings on the issue, like Elizabeth's, aren't as solid and black and white as they first appear. She's not the KGB robot and he's not the American Dad pressured by enemy forces. She is also a real mother and he's also a real agent.
Re: Sistermagpie first watch Open House
Date: 2015-02-12 07:43 pm (UTC)"There's chemistry" might have made Hans' day. :) Presumably Elizabeth was the one to recruit him in the first place, too. However unlike Kate with Jared she doesn't present herself as a romantic object as part of the "work for the KGB" deal and makes it clear what's not in the cards.
Now that P & E know the babysitter is the daughter of the CIA Afghan Group boss: will they try to recruit/blackmail this girl or use her as leverage against the hapless CIA agent? Because of the thematic relevance with Paige, I'm guessing the former, and I wonder how Philip will maintain his "proud to be a good agent"/"concerned father" selves in such a scenario.
He doesn't want to say the *wrong* thing, but he's never taking what Stan says and agreeing with it to ingratiate himself.
And he beats him at racket ball. :) I agree, and I think Philip is past pretending he's just hanging out with Stan for the potential information value now, see his bringing up that the whiskey was a gift from Stan to Elizabeth.
Re: Arkady thinking for himself, it occurs to me that Arkady is also of the Gorbachev and Shevardnaze generation, and could be representative of this - the type of Soviet official who of course doesn't want an end of the Soviet Union and on the contrary sees himself as patriotic, but also doesn't buy into the "this is how it's always been done, thus is must continue" doctrine and does see the need for more flexibility.
re: Zinaida potentially lying: this would explain why, as opposed to what's his name the Polish dissident and to Anton Baklanov, where P & E were alerted quickly by their superiors, nobody (yet?) has told them to do something about Zinaida. Nor is anyone at the Rezidentura showing interest. It would have been easy to give us a moment of, say, Oleg and Arkady watching that tv interview, since P & E are otherwise occupied by plot in this episode, but no - none of our Washington based Russian regulars has shown any interest in Zinaida, and this is her second press outing already.
Re: Sistermagpie first watch Open House
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From:And after the spanking... the oral sex
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From:Treon's thoughts
Date: 2015-02-12 10:46 pm (UTC)My favorite scene was when "I'm all out of love" started playing, with P&E joking in the background. I had to rewatch on the spot.
The kids are growing. I wonder how long they have to pass off as early teens.
Re: Treon's thoughts
Date: 2015-02-13 01:56 am (UTC)And it'll be a while, I mean, some actors are in their forties and passed off as high schoolers.
Re: Treon's thoughts
From:Treon - various other thoughts
Date: 2015-02-13 10:16 am (UTC)* Where did Henry pick up Sandra's picture?
* I hope we see more of the new 'George' (and get a name, at least)
* Hermann was a real KGB informant, and the KGB were grooming his 15 year old son as an agent. Ahem. So Aderholt has serious experience with this.
Here's a news story from 1980: http://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0923/092342.html
* I love Philip waiting up for Elizabeth, all concerned. And then Elizabeth coming home to the American anthem (which coincidentally happens to be all about waiting up all night to see something. They're both still around in the land of the free.)
* Philip's reading the Time issue from Nov 22, 1982
http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19821122,00.html
*And Andropov was formerly the KGB head. I wonder how that will play out with the Rezidentura.
Re: Treon - various other thoughts
Date: 2015-02-13 04:52 pm (UTC)Paige in Open House
Date: 2015-02-14 04:11 pm (UTC)Elsewhere I was talking about the Paige/Philip scene and thinking about some things about her. A friend of mine said the oddest thing to her about the scene with Paige wasn't that she was up at that time watching FA, which she probably would be, but that she was fully dressed. Which obviously shows that she wasn't up because she found she couldn't sleep. (We both also agreed that we probably never watched FA in anything other than sweats or pjs.) I think she stayed awake until at least one parent came home because whatever she says, she's still actually very anxious about them and fears them not coming home.
But at the same time, I think she's dealing with that by trying to find in her church family what she doesn't have at home. Many people have noted that they're lucky she's not out doing drugs as a rebellion, and yes, that helps them cover their tracks that Paige has gone in the other direction. But it really fits with Paige that rather than do that she's embraced an idea of herself as the responsible, good girl Christian who's stepping in to run the house when her parents fall short.
Elizabeth is very judgmental and Paige can be too. I think she's shown that her instinct is to be disapproving of her "lunatic" parents for their odd hours etc. Her church might be liberal politically but it seems very much a place that encourages conservative behavior in many ways. This isn't one of those church groups where the kids are all expected to be there and get up to all sorts of terrible things. This is the place for kids with "messed up" lives like Kelly's parents with their fighting and divorce. A place for kids who like to hang out by having juice and cookies and sing hymns and it's an extra treat when your mom comes with you. (All of which makes Paige potentially not interested in the dangerous, sexy world of espionage and not necessarily like her mother.)
I've in the past chalked up Paige's ideas about affairs to be the most obvious thing a suburban couple would be up to, but I think it's also got more significance the way she keeps focusing on sexual immorality--something that perhaps broke up the homes of other kids in the group. Seeing her parents having sex didn't make her less likely to think they were having an affair. Now that Elizabeth's at church Paige has adjusted her scenario to make her the naive victim of Philip's affair etc. I think we can play with that as a contrast to her parents marriage which breaks all conservative rules about marriage and yet works. Paige might be in a lefty church but I'm not sure she's completely different from the "family values" voters of the future--or that she won't be voting with them.
Philip in this ep echoes Elizabeth's thoughts about Paige's upbringing being soft, yet he's still apologetic about her bearing the relative light burden of her parents working late. There's a number of references in the ep to relationships as commodities--like Clark referring to foster care as "like leasing a car" in terms of trying out kids. Paige's attitude about her parents has a little bit of that consumer quality to it in terms of her not getting what she wants from them and so seeking out that thing elsewhere. Where as Elizabeth is so the opposite with her mother, acting more like it's her duty to adjust her feelings to what her mother says/gives. Philip, as always, is a bit harder to gauge in terms of his past but he's had some issues about family loyalty as well with Elizabeth. (And I suppose even Paige with his hurt over "you respect Jesus but not us?")
It kind of comes back to the idea of choice vs. duty in a way. Others have said that the KGB maybe doesn't totally fathom the importance of the individual in the US, and how that plays into a kid's expectations for their parents/themselves.
Re: Paige in Open House
Date: 2015-02-14 05:14 pm (UTC)This hadn't occurred to me, but I think that must be right. It's probably not something she's even admitted to herself, though.
And you're right that she does keep focusing on sexual immorality--likely because she's picked up that there's SOMETHING sexually off about her parents, but she has no way to put together the various pieces that would have occurred to her and make a complete picture of them.
-J
Re: Paige in Open House
From:Paige's intuitions
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From:Clark in Open House
Date: 2015-02-14 06:02 pm (UTC)Re: Clark in Open House
Date: 2015-02-14 07:00 pm (UTC)-J
My Thought
Date: 2022-06-29 11:27 am (UTC)how the show creates an atmosphere, in this case of big tension.
And it succeeds without screaming, thanks to the perfect writing, direction, and amazing acting of MR and KR.
Some scenes:
1) The chase in the car: no crazy race, no hectic action scene, but a distressing dripping that wears out in about 10 minutes, and then flows, like a sort of outburst for the accumulated tension, into one of the strongest sequences of the entire show: Tooth extraction
2) Tooth extraction
Sara, I totally agree!!!
The MR and KR chemistry is superlative!
All scene was perfect!!! One word, a different POV would have fall down everything!!
The simple gesture of her when she clings to him before he tries a second time says a lot: Fear, trust, love.
Yes this was a really love scene. It rightfully belongs to the history of TV.
3) P&E in their room.
Beh… just read the threads “Disconcerting to see casual nudity”
above o below mine… I don’t know.
There are all what I think.
Let me joke for a while: I can't understand how Philip may have been insensitive to the sight of Elizabeth's naked B-side. I could be as angry as you want but I would never have succeeded!!