On their own this week, John and Danielle are ready to tackle The Americans Season 5 Episode 12 “The World Council of Churches.” Will Danielle’s dream of the end (of a sort) of Pastor Tim finally come true? It looks like it! Organizing their conversation around the concept of resignation, your hosts take up what Oleg, Stan and Aderholt, Paige, Philip and Elizabeth, and even Tuan are resigned to in their situations, missions, and lives more generally. They consider how Pastor Tim’s new assignment shines a light on what the different members of the Jennings family are resigned to, and how Henry complicates their potential options. Before moving on to the segments, they take up Tuan’s behavior and the cliffhanger end of the episode. In the Dossier, Danielle offers some thoughts on Pasha, the return to Russia, and Oleg before Glas sees a brief chat on Mischa, among some further thoughts on Henry as well as Pastor Tim (Danielle cannot wait for this to be done). In the Cave, John offers some solid takes on The Civil War in France, the latest entry for Marx SZN, and your hosts give you some solid TheoryShips. Come for (Danielle hopes) the last Pastor Tim sighting, stay for John’s stellar TheoryShips.

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Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Danielle and John are joined by friend of the pod Michaela Rife to discuss The Americans Season 5 Episode 11, “Dyatkovo” (a word Danielle is definitely great at pronouncing, and a word John is actually great at pronouncing). Michaela offers up homecoming and the relationship to home as a banger of a theme, and together your hosts consider Henry’s HOMEwork, Philip’s reveries of home, the question of defending a homeland, and what it really means to have a home to go back to - a recurring question for MANY of our characters. Danielle offers some Stan-centric tinfoil hat theories in the Dossier, and in Glas, your hosts give Michaela some runway to give her thoughts on the wedding from the previous episode, and to show off her art historian expertise at breaking down the tableaux of the dramatic final scene. They also check in on Tuan’s sad McDonalds scene and ask whether Henry’s "investigative" "journalism" "skills" are priming a future FBI career. After a few comments on different 80s ‘fits and Henry’s handwritten report, it’s time to descend back into the Cave for more Marx SZN - this time with (drumroll please) The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Come for the solid thematic discussion but stay for the Theoryships and another installment of everyone’s favorite, Marx SZN!

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Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Back on their own this week, Danielle and John descend into the basement to talk about The Americans Season 5 Episode 10, “Darkroom,” and BOY, is THIS an EPISODE!?! Your hosts unpack a series of scenes that center Paige, from her snooping to her interactions with her parents to the final darkroom scene. Don’t worry, it’s not all-Paige-all-the-time - they sprinkle in time to chat about the orthodox marriage ceremony and the Morozovs. From there, Danielle offers some wild tinfoil hat theories in the Dossier, including reflecting on whether or not anyone actually got Pastor Tim a job (!). In Glas, John reflects on some of the smaller choices including the handwriting situation over at EST, and of course some camerawork quips. Your hosts touch on what’s going on with Oleg as well as what Stan and Aderholt are up to with regards to Sofia before lightening the mood by talking about the 80s fits that we get in this episode. And of course, the episode ends with a descent into the Cave for more Marx SZN - this time, featuring Class Struggles in France. It’s a double-descent kind of episode.

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Music by Lesfm from Pixabay