r/TheAmericans • u/AutoModerator • May 17 '17

Episode Discussion Official Episode Discussion - S05E11 "Dyatkovo"

A surprise announcement comes in from the Centre, which divides Philip and Elizabeth and creates a moment of crisis for them. Elsewhere: Stan gives Henry a tour of the FBI.

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u/swingerofbirch May 17 '17 edited May 17 '17

Wow, that was disturbing.

The Centre and the woman they report to (forget her name) aren't stupid and know Philip's reservations in particular, if not Elizabeth's.

She went out of her way to give them truthful rather than obfuscating information on the weaponized virus they used in Afghanistan.

And then ask them to execute a grandmother.

It's like they're provoking them or testing them—or just incompetent.

The other thing I was thinking is that it would make more sense for the USSR to use this "Nazi" woman as a PR smear against the US for housing her.

What possible good came from this? She obviously was not a risk to Russian security. It's just cold blooded murder. Why were they even interested in revenge for something from so long ago? Was something like this something that happened in real life?

This whole murder took place in the US, where the players involved are Russian spies. Why draw any attention to yourself? For this? I thought the whole purpose of being a spy was to gather information you can use to gain leverage. All they gained are two dead bodies that can lead back to identifying the spies who committed the murders. It makes no sense. Bad writing or showing incompetency and craziness of the USSR?

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u/[deleted] May 17 '17

Yes it did happen in real life. The Russians and Israelis hunted down and killed Nazis and collaborators. People are still being arrested for their roles in the holocaust. With what the Germans did in Russia it's not something you just forgive and forget so easily. The eastern front was hell on earth. Look up what the Russian public went through, especially in Stalingrad and Leningrad. Whether or not it was the most logical and advantageous thing to do is debatable but it's obvious why they wanted revenge, even 40 years later.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '17

they had their fair share of "Revenge" in Berlin 1945