Geez, now that you remind me of that episode, how many times are they going to put Paige in danger of being molested? The creepy guy in the mall, the weird serial-killer-ish dude who gave them a ride and took them to that lake; I’m starting to think it may be a kink of the showrunner.
It has to be difficult for the writers to deal with the two kids. They have to include at least one of the kids in most every episode. So, the boy enters a neighbor’s home when they are not home to play a video game. Paige gets into all kinds of trouble in several episodes.
This series must be especially difficult for the writers because the kids know nothing about their parents true activities and so whatever subplots involve the kids will have very little to do with the parents.
It strikes me as a real challenge for the writers.
But Paige has shown a talent for sleuthing. I think she will find out at some point and that will become a major crisis.
Well, she will probably find out **something **. But not necessarily the truth. Then they can spend half a season dealing with that big crisis and in the end, they will find some way to lie to Paige and smooth things over.
If this show lasts a few seasons (and I hope it will) we might see that sort of thing happen a few times - with both kids. Fortunately, a brother and sister of that age rarely spend a lot of time together and rarely share friends or interests. So, it’s very likely any crisis like that will only involve one of the kids - not both.
It should be a lot of fun for the viewers to see how they will handle that.
Wow, Phillip came pretty fucking close to exposing himself; I’m surprised he didn’t kill the minister at the end. :eek:
So… Jesus Fucking Fuck, now that was an hour of television! In a perfect world: Matthew Rhys, here is your well-deserved Emmy. Holy crap.
I loved that episode.
BUT… what the heck is going on with Gaad and Arkady? How does Gaad blackmailing Arkady help Gaad? And who is this Patterson guy? And how would exposing his testimony embarrass Arkady?
Soooo confused.
I was surprised by that scene too. I didn’t expect him to kill the minister. That would have been an extreme over-reaction and Phillip would stand a real good chance of getting caught for that. After all, Paige is not exactly the most reliable person to cover up her father’s crime. At that age, most any youngster can’t really help themselves from blabbing all kinds of stupid shit all the time. As people get older, it seems like most of them don’t really even get much better. LOL.
But it was a very powerful episode. Just yesterday, I posted that it must be hard for the writers to find story lines that involve both the parents and the children. And here they come up with a perfect story line. Paige’s church gets the whole family involved.
I don’t really get the point of the son’s magic trick though. Was Phillip’s bad attitude about that to show us that he was feeling a lot of remorse over killing those 3 people on his mission the night before?
Bottom line though … a stellar episode … maybe the best I’ve seen so far.
I’d like to see Matthew Rhys get an Emmy for that episode as well.
Yes. If I had just killed three innocent people for a morally dubious cause I probably wouldn’t be in the mood for a magic trick either. Philip is feeling a lot of remorse, anger and confusion, and he’s taking it out on those around him. He’s hanging by a thread and I fear what he might do when he snaps.
That was probably the best episode of any show I have seen in ages. Wow.
Fantastic acting from everyone. What the hell is going to happen to
i) Philip’s anger issues
ii) Emmet and Leanne investigation
iii) Beeman’s marriage.
iv) Fuck that was a great episode.
I hope Agents of SHIELD picks up these writers.
NOOOOOOO! What are you doing, trying to send our writers to another (crappy) show? They can’t have them! The Americans’ writers stay with The Americans, preciousssss!
Did anyone catch what happened to the truck driver tied to the tree? I think he was dead (?) but didn’t see what happened to him and couldn’t figure out based on when they were untying him. I might have missed it, though, I was kind of in and out at the beginning.
I got the impression that he was dead because of the way Phillip and Elizabeth reacted. If he was only sleeping, they would have tried to waken him, wouldn’t they?
But when they examined him, they both seem to be very disheartened. So, I think he somehow died. That is pretty strange though. It wasn’t cold enough for him to freeze to death and they weren’t detained so they weren’t gone longer than expected. So, I can’t imagine why he would have died.
In thinking about this some more, I wonder if the plot involving the minister and his wife is done or if there is more to come?
At one point one of the parents asked Paige if she knows how the minister and his wife were spending her donations. Wouldn’t it be interesting if it was learned that they were using the money for something selfish or something that would disgust Paige - like maybe running some kind of 3rd world slavery ring?
We may yet get to see Phillip kill one or both of them. Plus … what a bonus if it is Paige who discovers how they are really spending the money or if she somehow learns how. That could give her a big attitude adjustment re her parents. I really liked Phillip’s line, “You respect Jesus, but you don’t respect us?”
It would make for a great series adjustment if Paige finds out the minister and his wife are actually terrible scumbags and she winds up with a much improved attitude towards her parents. I would like that very much.
I thought it was very informative when two US agents had the conversation where they said, “When we kill someone, we leave evidence. When the Russians kill someone they don’t leave any evidence. They are better at this then we are.”
That seems like it may be an important point and that it may return again and will affect future episode plots.
After all, in a conflict like this, if one side has more resources, more support and has the home field advantage, the other side has to be better skilled. They have to be better not only in killing people, but more importantly, in exploiting weaknesses of enemy agents and citizens. I’m guessing we may see that point come into future plots more often in the future. At least, I’m hoping that we will. It will be a good way for us to learn more about some of the things they do. I’d really like to see different ways they find victims and then go about exploiting them.
I believe the consensus view of analysts looking back in retrospect to the Cold War, was that the Soviets were indeed better on average at human intelligence than any of the NATO countries. They didn’t always make the best use of said intelligence due to ideological blinders among other factors ( nicely illustrated in the first season when Philip virtually alone understands that a coup is extremely unlikely to result from Reagan being shot ), but they were quite good at penetrating Western intelligence.
By contrast the U.S. agencies, especially after the early 1960’s, for internal cultural reasons of their own increasingly began to rely on electronic/technical intelligence at the expense of HUMINT. To this day some analysts still criticize American intelligence agencies for their lack of focus on HUMINT. One example.
Eh… seems like that would require an awfully bizarre coincidence. Of course, Philip and Elizabeth did have an FBI counterintelligence officer move in right across the street from them. But still, what are the odds that their daughter happens to find a church that is involved in child slavery or something? It’s a more dramatic conflict if it’s Philip and Elizabeth vs Evil Church, but I think it’s a more unique and interesting one if it’s Philip and Elizabeth vs some genuinely decent human beings who just happen to subscribe to a very very different belief system.
Yeah, I was momentarily distracted, when just as they look at the tree he’s tied to, the credits say: Story by: Oliver North & Tracey Scott Wilson. Yes, that Oliver North.
[QUOTE=MaxTheVol]
And who is this Patterson guy?
[/quote]
I had to look that up. It was from last season, the US agent who ordered the hit on the Soviet colonel at his home; Phillip and Elizabeth kidnapped him, but eventually released him (blindfolded, sitting in a chair on a sidewalk). Grandma agent got her revenge on him by bluffing her way into his apartment and letting him bleed to death. I was puzzled, though, at at Gaad saying Patterson “disappeared”; I had always assumed Grandma left him there in his living room to be found, on purpose.
Regarding the encounter with the minister and Phillip’s backing off, I have two theories of why he backed off (outside of just the fear of getting caught):
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he sees that the minister truly believes in what he professes, and - as a “true believer” himself, decides to give someone of conviction (even if opposite his own) a free-pass; or
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with all the apparent remorse and second thoughts we’re being shown by Phillip, maybe the promise of a spiritual redemption is something he wants to keep available.
Yeah, I am familiar with all the backstory about Patterson, but I didn’t think Gaad’s threat (or bluff) was very strong. Nothing about Patterson’s testimony would relate in any way to the Soviet embassy…so, why should it cause “heads to roll” as Gaad claimed?
Ha, agreed. Not sure what that was about–an assumption that the show will be cancelled? Sorry, Charlie: it’s been renewed for at least one more season (yay).
I was assuming that he did indeed die of hypothermia. We don’t know exactly how cold it was, and you can become hypothermic in above-freezing temps.
I wouldn’t have minded a storyline like this, and early in the episode I thought maybe they *were *scumbags. But I think it’s pretty clear from the end of the episode that this is not what the writers intended.
Is anyone surprised that the girl from the bus who brought Paige to the youth group originally hasn’t been played of a supporting role since then? Have we even seen her since?
I think that would be too risky, especially given that IIRC they were going after Patterson as a freelance thing, without the knowledge of the Kremlin (or whatever group it is they refer to as their bosses; there’s some term they repeatedly use but I can’t recall it).
I think it’s more the latter. I’m an atheist myself, so I don’t really thrill to this development; but I just think there are a lot of subtle, nonverbal cues in the last couple minutes of the episode to indicate that Philip was moved by, and attracted to, the notion of spiritual redemption the pastor was so sure was available to anyone. I think we may see him actually begin to furtively explore that avenue, perhaps along with Paige; I’d prefer not, but it seems like something they may be setting up.