# The Americans Season 3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097 "2015-01-28T09:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 49
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/961 "2015-04-23T06:48:30Z")
I expect Pastor Tim to have been put down by the center PDQ next season. Maybe Mrs Tim as well. They tell P & E, which is used by them to impress upon Paige that “actions have consequences” in the most brutal way possible. I think Paige’s formal training will begin next season. Philip is getting more and more annoyed with the center…and he is losing his connection to Gabriel, which is dangerous. Philip trusted Gabriel implicitly, and now thats damaged. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/962 "2015-04-23T07:22:40Z")
Paige, you stupid, stupid girl. > [@AK84](#): > > I expect Pastor Tim to have been put down by the center PDQ next season. Maybe Mrs Tim as well. > > They tell P & E, which is used by them to impress upon Paige that “actions have consequences” in the most brutal way possible. I think Paige’s formal training will begin next season. I agree. Pastor Tim has to die. And she is the one who got him killed. I don’t understand at all what she was thinking. Common sense must tell her that this cannot end well, that either her parents will be imprisoned and/or someone will need to stop Tim from talking. But no matter what, by telling, she’s made the situation worse than it was before and has added to the list of secrets & lies she’s got to keep track of. Stupid, stupid, stupid girl. ---
**Author:** ![twuest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@twuest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twuest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/963 "2015-04-23T09:32:30Z")
While it may be a tactical mistake, I don’t think Paige is stupid for having told the pastor. What else is she going to do…drive herself crazy by not confiding in anyone? I also don’t think Pastor Tim is going to die, at least not right away. Remember, it was logical for Martha to die, and that hasn’t happened. As for the good pastor…first, if he is any kind of ethical pastor, then he is sworn to confidentiality. He cannot tell a soul. Confidentiality is the bedrock of any relationship between a pastor and his/her flock, so telling anyone…much less P or E, would be out of the question. Second, how are they going to get Paige on their side to train her if they kill Pastor Tim? He’s the one person in the world Paige trusts more than anyone. She confides in him, then he suddenly dies. Do you think if that happens, Paige–knowing what she knows— will think it’s just a wild coincidence? If so, she’s not as smart as we thought she was. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/964 "2015-04-23T09:53:40Z")
I think Paige said they were liars, they weren’t Americans and they are Russians. That’s quite a long way from “spies” and P&E have never used that language anyway (they “help their people”). I doubt Paige even thinks of them as ‘spies’ given what she actually understands at the moment. I guess the idea is the position (Paige’s phone call) is salvageable i.e. the man of God doesn’t yet have to meet his boss, that it can be explained away - as long as Paige agrees to how her parents interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/965 "2015-04-23T10:43:39Z")
> [@twuest](#): > > I felt it was a fairly ordinary episode, until the final moments. The editing of the activities of the four members of the Jennings family was superb, depicting the four lives of the family members and how they appear to be splitting into four different directions. > > It is now impossible for this family to remain intact. Something has to give. > \ I’m so confused. I have omitted your predictions because I feel that I am far away from being ready to comment on them. But, once again, your analysis of events - of the editing showing how the family is being pulled apart in 4 directions is really very amazing. **Very Well done!** As far as your next post goes in regards to the Pastor, you are - of course - quite right about how the pastor is not permitted to breathe a word of what Paige has told him. My experiences with Christian clergy is very poor however. I have found most of them to be complete frauds and thieves and I wouldn’t trust one - not one inch. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim’s first move is to tell someone. I wouldn’t be surprised if immediately after Paige hangs up the phone, Tim calls her parents and tells them Paige has gone crazy and needs a psychiatrist. I don’t expect him to do that. But I wouldn’t be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/966 "2015-04-23T11:29:39Z")
So what exactly do we think Philip was trying to say before Reagan came on and interrupted? I know what his feelings are, generally (“I feel like shit all the time”); but the way he was phrasing it with Elizabeth was odd and hard to follow. Maybe a sign he is completely cracking up (instead of just partially, as in the past)? > [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > well it’s still only a guess… Based on information you knew was spoiler-y (“Finally, there is an image going around from next week which isn’t clear but may suggest Clark kills someone and that takes the pressure off Martha as a suspect for the bugging”), which is why you put it in a spoiler box originally. It’s the “fruit of the poisonous tree”. Pretty bad form IMO. I participate in discussions of “Survivor” on PreviouslyTV. They have a strict policy against spoilers on who is going to win (or make it to the final four, etc.) in the regular threads. They do have a special thread that is a spoiler zone. If someone came into the regular thread where people were speculating on who was going to win and said “I was just reading the spoiler thread, and now my hunch is that it will be Jane Smith”, it would hardly be a defense to argue that they hadn’t actually revealed the details of the spoilers (like some leaked screenshot or whatever). **Charlie Wayne** , hopefully this clears up any misapprehension that pure speculation (that is, based only on what you saw on the show, not on a leaked script or screenshot, etc.) would count as a spoiler. **Octarine** , I agree that it would have been nice to see Martha, and to finish the scene when “Clark” was unmasked. Although oddly enough, I forgot all about that scene and Martha more generally until Philip was in the computer guy’s apartment. > [@terentii](#): > > Vision TV (Canada) shows _ **Columbo** _ episodes broken into halves four nights a week at 8:00 pm. The one that was on Wednesday night was the late (2003) “Columbo Loves the Nightlife,” in which Matthew Rhys is the villain who kills a guy by hanging him and then leaves a suicide note on his computer. > > Two hours later on _ **The Americans** _, Matthew Rhys is the villain who kills a guy by hanging him and then leaves a suicide note on his computer… > > Weird, or what?!? :eek: :dubious: Definitely weird! > [@E-DUB](#): > > Phillip feels lousy over killing the computer guy to keep Martha’s butt out of the sling. Maybe that’s why he’s doing the EST thing because, at some level, it’s working for him. Yes, that’s how I took it. And I didn’t think the stuff we heard this week was so bad. Actually seemed insightful, like it could be helpful. > [@AK84](#): > > Could be a KGB rest house? Bringing a cancer afflicted woman halfway across Europe to sneak her into a hotel at the crack of dawn would raise suspicion. I get the feeling that quite a bit was cut. Huh, I had assumed that it was in West Germany, but if they had to cut a lot, you could be right. Too bad if so; they should have just let them go overtime. > [@twuest](#): > > As one poster put it, the Jennings’s phones **must** be being monitored, especially now that P and E have told someone that Paige knows. There’s not a chance that the Centre won’t have someone listening in on their conversations. I wouldn’t be so sure. I am no expert in telephony; but it seems like running a continuous tap on their phone might risk the tap being discovered–which could then throw suspicion on Philip and Elizabeth. > [@twuest](#): > > Second, how are they going to get Paige on their side to train her if they kill Pastor Tim? He’s the one person in the world Paige trusts more than anyone. She confides in him, then he suddenly dies. Do you think if that happens, Paige–knowing what she knows— will think it’s just a wild coincidence? It’s possible they could make it look accidental enough that she’s not sure. But even if she suspects, their primary mission is not to make Paige a second-gen agent. That’s an important mission, but not the primary one. The primary one is not to get caught. Thus Pastor Tim has to go, IMO (if they learn he knows). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/967 "2015-04-23T12:02:10Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Huh, I had assumed that it was in West Germany, but if they had to cut a lot, you could be right. Too bad if so; they should have just let them go overtime. I think it was in Germany. It looked like a room in a typical European three-star hotel to me. (And it had a bidet!) > [@](#): > > I wouldn’t be so sure. I am no expert in telephony; but it seems like running a continuous tap on their phone might risk the tap being discovered–which could then throw suspicion on Philip and Elizabeth. Discovery was a lot less likely back in 1983, I think. In one episode, didn’t the KGB have a complete basement dedicated to running phone taps? Or am I thinking of another series entirely? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/968 "2015-04-23T12:05:56Z")
Pretty sure it was intended to represent West Germany, and presumably West Berlin. Of course it was a low budget scene where the bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom. Was it me or did praying whilst sitting on the toilet seat seem … unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/969 "2015-04-23T12:47:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Discovery was a lot less likely back in 1983, I think. In one episode, didn’t the KGB have a complete basement dedicated to running phone taps? Or am I thinking of another series entirely? 😕 They have shown that basement in multiple episodes, and it became a plot point with that rogue Navy SEAL who was after them. But I was not under the impression that the basement in question involved phone _taps_. Rather, it was kind of an answering service and coded alert system. So for instance, “Clark” gave Martha a number which actually went to a machine in that basement. So when Martha called to say she was going to turn in a job application with Clark’s name on it, the KGB operative in the basement heard this and made a coded call to Elizabeth to warn her (thus she went over to Martha’s in the guise of being Clark’s sister, and managed to dissuade her). In another episode, Elizabeth was pretending to be someone working for the vice president’s office, and she gave out a card with a number on it that was supposedly a direct line to the VP’s office, but it actually went to that basement. But I never saw any evidence that they had anyone’s line \*tapped \*on an ongoing basis. To my memory, the only time they have shown phones being tapped (as opposed to bugs hidden in briefcases or clocks or pens) was very temporarily, like we saw in the hotel last episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/970 "2015-04-23T13:09:42Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > To my memory, the only time they have shown phones being tapped (as opposed to bugs hidden in briefcases or clocks or pens) was very temporarily, like we saw in the hotel last episode. I wonder if intelligence agencies back in 1983 had the capability of remote phonetaps, the way they do today. By that I mean wiretapping by computer, without having to physically install some sort of device in the other party’s phone box or splice into their wires. I suppose it would have been more difficult when dealing with landlines, rather than mobile transmissions. Whatever. Here is the abovementioned episode of _ **Columbo** _, timed to start at the beginning of the murder sequence: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIxeJpLa2lU&t=989) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/971 "2015-04-23T13:18:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Wasn’t he the guy in the FBI office who told her he’d been grilled for three hours? And didn’t Phillip plant the remote receiver from the bug in his apartment? 😕 Yes. They will think that it was him and close the investigation. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/972 "2015-04-23T14:11:51Z")
Closing the investigation is part of it. It also means Gaad was wrong to investigate Stan and Dennis the Menace was wrong to urge Gaad to investigate Stan. Coupled with id’ing Zineida and bagging Ollie as a potential double agent, Stan had a good epi. Fwiw, I still think he has Gaad’s job. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/973 "2015-04-23T14:58:46Z")
Slacker inc. Good analysis on the way the phone relay system works. As I recall all the “coded communications” are disguised as sales calls of one sort or another. So that if communications are monitored it’s not suspect. ---
**Author:** ![twuest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@twuest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twuest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/974 "2015-04-23T15:20:10Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **I doubt Paige even thinks of them as spies** _ IIRC, during the conversation, Paige specifically uses the word “spies” during the Big Reveal scene. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like “…you guys…are…spies”? It came after Phillip says something to the effect that they “get information you can’t get in normal ways”. In addition, if she just thought they were Russians, I don’t think P or E would have warned her that the consequences of talking would mean, as P put it, “us going to jail for good”. Paige knows they are spies. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/975 "2015-04-23T15:36:42Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Slacker inc. Good analysis on the way the phone relay system works. As I recall all the “coded communications” are disguised as sales calls of one sort or another. So that if communications are monitored it’s not suspect. Yes, but… Don’t you think that with a call center like the one in the basement, wouldn’t the KGB use it to monitor the communications of their illegals? I mean, it would hardly be surprising to learn that the Centre ordered the Jennings’ phone to be tapped. Spies keep an eye on their fellow spies, I would think. How difficult would it be for the Feds to detect such a system? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/976 "2015-04-23T16:20:31Z")
> [@twuest](#): > > IIRC, during the conversation, Paige specifically uses the word “spies” during the Big Reveal scene. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like “…you guys…are…spies”? It came after Phillip says something to the effect that they “get information you can’t get in normal ways”. > > In addition, if she just thought they were Russians, I don’t think P or E would have warned her that the consequences of talking would mean, as P put it, “us going to jail for good”. > > Paige knows they are spies. I know. And then Philip responded. They help with information they couldn’t otherwise get. He doesn’t use ‘spies’ and no one does after that. And certainly Paige doesn’t in either phone call to the Pastor. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/977 "2015-04-23T16:52:55Z")
If the hotel scene was in Germany, how did the Soviets waltz in and out of West Berlin with Elizabeth’s mother? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/978 "2015-04-23T17:06:42Z")
Through a checkpoint on diplomatic plates. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/979 "2015-04-23T18:00:23Z")
That easy? Without any surveillance? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/980 "2015-04-23T19:16:22Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > That easy? Without any surveillance? I doubt they’d go directly from the checkpoint to the hotel. Anyway, I think back then you could still travel from one sector of Berlin on the E-Bahn, provided you had the right documents (with the KGB, no problem!). IIRC, this was a major plot point in at least one spy novel/movie (_ **A Dandy in Aspic** _? 😕 ). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=48) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=50)