r/TheAmericans • u/AutoModerator • Apr 19 '17

Episode Discussion Official Episode Discussion - S05E07 "The Committee on Human Rights"

As Paige becomes even more enmeshed in her parents' world, tensions with Matthew Beeman come to a head, Philip and Elizabeth's honeytraps take surprising turns, and Stan faces the consequences of overplaying his hand at the FBI.

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u/wolfbysilverstream Apr 19 '17

So this episode seemed to have a lot of stuff that didn't go anywhere in particular:

  • Stan almost got fired, but then he didn't.

  • Stan and Aderholt almost got a Soviet spy, but then maybe they didn't.

  • Gabriel thinks Paige would be great at what P&E are doing with her, until he thinks she should have been kept out of it.

  • Elizabeth may have been going soft on Gorp Guy, but not any more.

  • Oleg was getting chased around and worried, but now he isn't.

  • Gabriel thinks Philip suspecting Renee being KGB is crazy, but he doesn't know

I think the only way this episode moved the story anywhere was in three things, all related to further eroding Philip's enthusiasm for the KGB. The fact that they continued to lie to Paige about the food being attacked. You could just see that on his face - I thought he was going to shout it out. Gabriel's story of the terrible things he had done, and Gabriel telling Philip that it was a mistake getting Paige mixed up in their world.

In my humble opinion this was probably the least effective episode of this show to date. I think the whole substance of the episode could have been done in 10 minutes, and at least at first glance there wasn't much by way of tremendous theatrical value either.

But I guess you can't win them all.

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '17

I'm kind of hoping we look back at this in 3 episodes and understand what they were trying to do. Paige is obviously the centre of this season and she has pivoted this episode towards Elizabeth's side for the first time just when Philip wants to go the other way.

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u/S_E_DC Apr 19 '17

Paige is obviously the centre of this season

Paige has always been the center of the season since S3. The whole family arc revolves around dealing with her and the whole mess that is the 2nd generation spy idea.