Sam: This will be somewhat interesting, given that we just watched this episode together a few hours ago. Perhaps it was because I was watching it at your place, but I actually didn’t think the episode was too bad. It was certainly confusing, and it took me a bit to piece things together (that’s perhaps what I get from hating on the show so much that I forget to keep track of who’s who). But, overall, it was an ehh episode. That, on my The Americans rating scale, is pretty good.
To the details: if the KGB director at the Soviet embassy couldn’t talk to his guy at the Defense Department, but Elizabeth could just walk right in and question him (and Elizabeth can connect with the KGB director, I assume), why doesn’t the director just pass a message to the guy through Elizabeth? I suppose, if they did that, we wouldn’t have this episode, would we?
I didn’t feel like that storyline was told or developed very well as far as the Defense Department guy’s wife dying and its impact on him. In hindsight, they did say it clearly, but it got so lost in the confusing details of who’s who that I was left wondering who his wife was and why that was important. This probably betrays my lack of paying close attention to previous episodes, but I was just lost for a few sequences in this episode.
One aspect I particularly enjoy, though, is the costumes Phil and Elizabeth change into when they go on their missions. They’re so clearly fake that it’s funny. Phil’s fake hair is the best. Oh, and as I mentioned when we watched the episode during Elizabeth’s little romp in the hotel room with the encryptor dude, how did her wig not just fall off?
Admittedly, given that this episode confused me a bit because of the details, I read up on it, and I really thought Karen Fratti’s recap was spot on, particularly her very last question (why does Beeman insist on studying Russian instead of going to bed with his wife??). What were your thoughts on this episode? Continue reading Wandering aimlessly with The Americans: Sam Lim and I discuss Episode 5, “COMINT”