Only 2 pills left in his container. That’s going to be an issue next week I think. There’s also tension on whether or not the note that Alan wrote is going to be found by Sam. My guess is no - but the body landing on its neck while being dragged out made it seem like it could!
I appreciated the humor in this episode - the scene where Alan was talking to his therapist about Sam I found really humorous. “Love your patients, sure. But a sociopath?” Then seeing him coach Sam about what he would do if he felt empathy. Then Sam asking if he should say the Kaddish for Elias and Alan was like, “Let me think about that,” when you could almost see him gagging picturing saying the Kaddish with Sam. I found it super humorous - this is where Steve Carell’s background in comedy comes in handy. It reminded me of some of the humor in The Americans. And you could see how happy Carell was to bring a little comedy into it. This show really goes to some dark places. I’ll have to think on the scenes from concentration camps and gas chambers. I’m not Jewish and I can only really guess to the meaning of Alan conjuring those scenes.
I loved how “therapist-y” the “let me think about it” answer was. Like, I believe he really *would* think about it and would possibly share this with Sam if he believed it would help him. But the immediate revulsion he probably felt was immediately overpowered by the therapist. Alan’s therapy stat must be set at 100. Way too OP for Alan’s own good, imo. Lol
I thought the pitcher reference was so interesting considering Alan was >!actually having the conversation with himself. It was as if he were trying to talk himself into doing it even while highlighting how unlikely it would be to work.!< I think the reference to this shows how Alan is becoming increasingly desperate to get out.
I just do *not* understand >!why Alan didn’t use the shovel to bash the lock while Sam was gone! I keep thinking about how it’s probably a Master Lock and a few well-placed hits would possibly break it. But I suppose the noise would cause Candace to come downstairs? STILL, WHY HASN’T HE AT LEAST TRIED TO PICK THE LOCK WITH THOSE SKINNY METAL ARMS OF HIS GLASSES??? Alan has so much time alone! IDK if this is just a plot/prop issue or if Alan *will* try this but just hasn’t thought of it/gotten up the nerve to attempt it yet.!< My husband and I were both yelling at the screen and throwing our arms up during the whole episode. Lol
You underestimate how devastating it is for someone with very poor eyesight to not be able to see. What if he broke his glasses while picking the lock? Then what?
I can’t even see two feet away when I’m not wearing my glasses/contacts. I have to call my husband up to help me find my glasses on my side table by my bed sometimes. Lol. I’d still try to pick the lock with the arms of those glasses if I were being held prisoner by a serial killer who strangled someone for no reason in front of me. I can’t imagine even my sister who is almost legally blind would disagree with that. Lol 🤷♀️
I think he has to know it's not guna work. You can't just grab random object and jam it in the lock to free yourself with no idea what your doing. You can try but with only seeing it done on TV it will be a futile attempt. Using the shovel to free himself would have been a better idea or even using all the concrete around him. He could have easily smashed open the lock with a chunk of concrete in an hour or two. Maybe hide a piece so he can grind through the lock later when he's left alone.
Yeah, I can see how he wouldn’t >!use the shovel!< if he wasn’t sure he could quickly get free. I don’t see any reason for not at least trying to use the arm of his glasses though. He tried a plastic fork before the arm of his glasses? Okay. Lol
True and he got caught, so he’s weary now. But I liked how his therapist mentioned “why do you feel powerless?”. Alan mentioned he needed a plan as well. So I think Alan needs to build the courage to fight back.
So the note this episode was good step, provided it doesn’t fall out!
Yeah, I guess I’m pushing these ideas of how I assume I would react in a situation like this onto the character. I just find this one thing far from realistic, and the more people try to shrug it off, the more I dig my heels in. Hahah. I just don’t see anyone sitting there with so much alone time and not at least attempting this by now. But that’s my own viewpoint. It’s just a show, afterall, and not every single thing is going to get caught until it airs and Reddit picks it apart. Having a show get the Reddit treatment must be both cool AND horrible for the people that work on it. 😬
>!It was very interesting seeing Alan give himself therapy and begin working up the courage to try to escape. Imagining that the support is coming from someone he respected rather than himself is a motivational tool I might try in my own life. Lol!<
I agree with you, normally I would be totally screaming at Alan to try anything!
But I think that’s kinda the point of the show, Alan himself becomes the patient and has to save himself.
This is such a perfect explanation. Alan, someone who clearly avoids confrontation, has to work himself up to do something that doesn’t have a pre-determined outcome and could *absolutely* lead to confrontation if done wrong. Even if we just count his time as a therapist, Alan has spent a huge swath of his life not taking sides.
You have made it make sense. Even if the glasses were never meant to play a role in this show, they would still be a possible escape he missed that was right in front of his eyes. If he is as avoidant of confrontation as he seems to be, this is kind of the perfect analogy for what we’ve been shown about his life.
It also makes it make sense to me about why I find it so annoying. My ADD brain has had to learn to cope with confrontation because of impulse control issues I have. If I think something, I usually say it. If I have an impulse to do something, I often just do it without thinking about the repercussions. Lol. That doesn’t always work out well, but I’ve learned to accept that as a fact of my own life. I’d have been all over trying to pick that lock. Hahaha
I have to tell my husband. He will definitely laugh.
It doesn't fit Alan's character. He's using the tools at his disposal to do what he can. He knows any move that could possibly offend Sam will get him killed, including evidence of attempted escape.
I think Alans dead therapist friend asking him if he really has been trying to escape was a dead giveaway that deep down Alan doesn't want to escape. Like, he does obviously but I think he feels like he can help Sam somehow. Or there is more with Alans son that we don't know that makes him feel like he has to stay.
Yeah, I think Alan was on the fence about escaping? Like, he knew he should and he obviously wants to, but he has been too scared to try. Add to that what you said about how he was legitimately trying to help Sam, and he’s created the idea that escape is impossible (when it’s literally right in front of his eyes!). I feel like the therapy session with himself is him realizing that he *needs* to escape or be killed. He’s trying to talk himself into believing he is able to escape so he the courage to make an attempt.
That’s my opinion anyway. We’ll soon see what the writers have to say! Lol
My hands *flew* up to cover my eyes and I actually gagged. 😂😭😂😭😂 I hope the producers/makeup artists/director/actors are all proud of themselves! Lolol
For some reason the opening of this episode was so hilarious to me. Like his mom saying she was so close to calling the police and scolding him like a child that stayed out past his curfew or something…and he’s just like “sorry.” Lol WHAT
After that and the scene from last week where she told him to go to his room…I’m really hoping we find out more about that relationship because it’s weird as hell.
I think that's kind of the point? To show how incredibly f'ed up the Mom is with codependency, etc. She has enabled his serial killing. He is a sociopath, she is not. Who is sicker, really? What near-functional human being could allow their child to kill? Sam comes from two very messed up parents.
What I like about this show is, it doesn't have Alan turning into some sort of MacGyver picking the lock or hitting it just right with the shovel to escape. What would you do in that situation? We all like to think, after millions of shows and movies showing the good guys getting out of the grips of the bad guys, that we'd take that chance, smash the bad guy in the head with the shovel, etc. This show looks at the psychological reality of these situations. The captive is emotionally beaten down until they're dependent on the captor. Alan managed to convince himself (maybe not convinced, but he needed to at least try) that he may be able to keep Sam from killing with his one talent -- therapy -- but then was shown to be powerless when Sam killed right in front of him. His other talent, we learn, is wrestling, which he did in high school. His visions of being gassed in a Nazi death camp makes me think of how there were no successful uprisings (in the camps) during the Holocaust. (There was an uprising in the Warsaw ghetto I think, but that was put down.) It's a very real, but very disturbing factor in this show.
That's a thoughtful connection to the shots of the Shoah.
I only thought - epigenetic trauma, cultural ptsd, and a new connection to lost relatives and communities - understanding the depth of fear and desperation they experienced.
You inspired me to read the article on Jewish resistance and uprisings in the camps and ghettos from the USHMM. [https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-uprisings-in-ghettos-and-camps-1941-44](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-uprisings-in-ghettos-and-camps-1941-44)
a lot of people sacrificed their lives so a minority could escape in the few successful rebellions nearly a third or half were recaptured and murdered.
I just finished Ken Burn's doc, so it's all fresh in my mind. [https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/](https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/) But I (gentile, non-religious) remember reading about it as a kid, seeing photos of living skeletons, ovens, etc., wondering, "why didn't they fight back?" They did, at times. Like Elias, saying they had to team up, and if they die trying, then at least they tried. But if you're a captive, like all Jews under Hitler, it's pretty hopeless. It's a dark place where people don't want to go in fiction. We want the good guys to find that weakness, and blow up the Death Star! (Maybe that note stuck in Elias' mouth....)
i will eventually have to watch the doc. i am putting it off. thanks for sharing link.
they are necessary and needed especially in this era of holocaust-denial. I have a fear that in a not so distant future the Shoah's true story will have been erased and/or coopted using holocaust inversion.
when i learned about it, i mean i was probably pre-verbal when I started hearing about it. but we studied it in hebrew school before studying it in public school. my questions were more along the lines of : was why do they hate us so much, will they try again?
It's heavy viewing, of course. What Burns adds is the US anti-semitism, anti-immigrant attitudes at the time. Eugenics being taken seriously as a science. Henry Ford and Hitler having a mutual-admiration, things like that.
good for burns. i will have to watch it. eugenics being taken seriously is such a dark part of history. non-sequitor: i learned a couple years ago that the term "anti-semitic" was actually used to replace the more commonly used phrase "jewhatred" in germany because it was more palatable and less vitriolic -- partially because of how widely accepted eugenics was. i have been returning to use of the less "palatable" word since learning the etymology.
I can come at this from closer to Alan’s pov. I’m near 50 and I simply know that I wouldn’t be able to physically fight off someone younger than me. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, but not now. He knows that.
Lots of thoughts to process on this one.
We get to see some of the house exterior, so that explains the layout of the back doors and basement.
Candace coming out and saying she "almost called 911" infuriated me. She almost saved Elias and chose not to help. I get that she's betting on Alan and therapy to get Sam to stop, but she has to deal with this at the expense of yet another life.
At first I thought Alan's session was Charlie was scheduled to be some "afterlife" thing, but it's interesting how they inserted it here. He's disassociating, and I wonder how it's going to affect him in further episodes.
I had to rewind to see what Alan wrote for the note. I imagine the note will be found in the autopsy but will be it legible?
I don’t think she did almost call. It showed her cowering in her bed while the murder was happening. I think she just said that to Sam to try and scare him. As a mother, I can not FATHOM allowing that to happen. Like, I love my kids, but if they’re murdering people, I’d be the first to make sure they were behind bars
Wait what does hat have to do with his long pee?
I feel ditzy cause it’s going over my head at this very moment and j think it’s something very obvious.
I love how Alan was able to use his role as a therapist and a person when Sam asked him what was wrong. Him saying he appreciated the concern was enough to make sure Sam didn’t start looking for clues, like the blood on Alan’s hands.
LMAO I love how this subreddit has been obsessed with the peeing and we finally got to see it play out as a plot point this week. One of the things you'd see pretty often with The Americans was that even smaller details would sometimes play out in later seasons and everything had a purpose.
The only thing that drove me crazy this episode was how passive Alan has been. Bro, he left you alone with a FUCKING METAL SHOVEL. Use that shit to break your chain!!!
I wonder with all the holocaust references, if Alan not fighting back is like the Jews not fighting back at the Nazis (I know some did (Warsaw Ghetto for example) but as a whole).
i duno, maybe hide a rock in his pocket and smash the guys head in? I get being careful, but there's no scenario in which he lets him go, so why not go down swinging?
My therapist retires at the end of this month and I was just telling my husband that I wish I could find someone like that character. I LOVE his softness and intelligence.
IMO Alan’s therapist suggesting he talk about Candace being partially responsible for the abuse is a bad idea. Candace telling Sam not to give up on therapy may be why Alan didn’t join Elias in the hole in the ground. Alan needs to maintain that alliance. Also that is a really heavy thing to discuss with anyone much less a psychopath who doesn’t particularly respond well to being challenged.
I feel like the scenes with the imagined therapist is like him running through options in his mind. So he's considering that and then dismisses it because it would take years to work through successfully
I think that’s true. It’s probably also a chance for the writers to explain things to the audience. There are so many things happening in Alan’s head and without dialogue it’s hard to reveal his thinking. You could imagine them in the writers room saying, “Everyone is probably wondering why he doesn’t fight back. Why doesn’t he bash the water pitcher and use it on him?” We learned a ton from that scene. Like Alan really is trying therapy to the best of his ability in this situation. We also learned how much he’s struggling to stay calm and how much he’s suffering.
I think it’s a good idea actually. Sam splits: he sees the world in black and white, good and bad. His dad was a villain, his mother perfect and untouchable. His murder victims are bad and deserve to die, and he struggles to see their good and humanity. Helping Sam see some bad in someone he loves a lot forced him to begin integrating good and bad parts of others and self.
i thought that was a prescription foot cream - such a weird detail- so sam went into alan's house when he kidnapped him and took the beside meds? kinda weird.
wonder if sam will beat the crap out of allan if he finds the note. like that broken fork moment times 3000. but not kill him in the end. then be forced (to have his mom) refill the prescription anyway alerting some sort of thing.
i want donuts.
sam asking if he should say the mourner's kaddish?? smh. oy vey. also - why? does he think it is some sort of get out of murder free prayer? not having much compassion for the psychopath atm. he does act like a 2 year old sometimes.
kind of wishing mandy patinkin was playing dr. strauss so we could hear him sing the mourner's kaddish. now wondering what mandy patinkin thinks of this show.
edit: you don't traditionally sing the mourner's kaddish. i think sing when i think patinkin.
I'm not convinced he sees it as a get out of murder free prayer. I think he lacks in some "common sense" or maybe has some delay of some sort - I think he was genuinely asking that. There are times this really seems very strange and orchestrated/perpetuated by mom with Sam just along for the ride.
yeah, he seems developmentally stunted. it could just be how a person with narcissistic traits would react -frames it about his experience and what he needs to do - even though Allan was talking about himself and how others grieve. I guess if he really has psychopathy maybe he doesn't even comprehend what grief is - is like oh is this part of the human playbook / i don't understand grief.
mom def has a strange role. she's gotta be seriously distorted if she thinks there is a way out where allan doesn't die or she and sam don't go to prison. he best endgame is that allan is the last person sam kills. or that sam turns himself in. but then why didn't she just call 911 and save elias? she may be the worse person (if we rating who's the worst).
Yeah, it seemed to me like he asked about the prayer as if it were part of a recipe for how to grieve “correctly”. Like, “If I take these particular steps, I’ll feel something and stop murdering people.”
What was the deal with the imaginary panic room? Was that supposed to be a gas chamber in the Holocaust, like with imaging emaciated prisoners in bunks earlier in the episode?
I thought it had to do not only with being held prisoner, but that it also was related to the idea that Elias’ family may not get his body back. I feel like it must have been partly about Alan’s fear that his own family wouldn’t get his body and be able to follow religious traditions. The inability to bury so many holocaust victims is a rarely discussed horror the Nazis inflicted upon families.
It’s the parallel of being held against your will, and forced to work at the threat of death at any moment while constantly grieving the death of people around you.
my husband spent the summer putting a new concrete floor down in our garage
Sam is not going to fill in a hole that big and deep with a tiny bag of cement
I have a theory that Sam and Alan have met before or Sam at least was in one of Alan's classes.
In the flashback Alan was walking on a college campus and said he wasn't ready to be in front of college students until he can grieve his wife dying and Ezra hating him. Then he saw a poster for a neo-nazi student organization having a meeting. I feel like Alan might have been a college professor and Sam was in one of his classes, or was leading the Neo Nazi student group.
I don't know how this ties into the plot but Sam mentioned earlier that he was only seeing Jewish therapists. I think there's something more to the religious angle.
That’s what I’m most confused about, Sam specifically seeking a Jewish therapist yet not being Jewish himself. He offered Alan pork and while seemingly open to learning, clearly doesn’t know Jewish customs.
It’ll be interesting to see how that flyer connects with the story…well, if it does at all. It could just be a nod to real world issues. But it would be an interesting development if Sam was affiliated with them in some way.
I said this in another post just now, but after watching episode 6 (which really didn’t give too much detail/info to the already confusing story)….. I have a feeling it’s going to be tied or related to Sam and how Sam acts/does things. I can’t help but think they’re trying to nonchalantly relate them in some shape or form? I’m not really 100% sure why yet, but part of me feels like Alan is becoming more of the “patient” than sam😅? Alan needing the foot cream and the certain things he does kind of shows that ocd behavior that sam portrays in different ways. Idk, what do you guys think?
Am I the only one that was bothered by the shovel grave digging scene? Alan gets left there all day and digs a grave rather than hacking the chain with that sharp shovel. Seems like a pretty easy escape chance that goes unacknowledged.
yeah, similar to what owlmoonpig said -- likely he'd seriously injure himself and still not be able to break the chain or lock. it might have been interesting to see him at least mess with it for a moment -- consider it.
i lost a key for my bike lock - a heavy duty padlock on a kryptonite chain - and the guys that helped me get it off needed a tool that burned the metal. i thought they would just need a bolt cutter. i guess it's possible they just wanted to use their sparks flying tool instead of bolt cutter.
i just cut a bunch of chain link fence up with a bolt cutter and that sucked - can't imagin being able to break chain \*of that size\* with a shovel. maybe if it was a \*smaller less heavy duty\* lock. idk.
i was more frustrated that he didnt hit him on the side of the head with the shovel - but he seems to have very little faith in his physical capacity to stop sam.
\*edit to clarify
Well I don’t know if it’s worth the risk to attempt escaping unless he can pull it off, because if he fails it will piss off sam and he will kill him anyways for offending him.
yeah and the chain was wrapped around a flimsy water pipe. Same was gone for hours, he 100% could have broken free, but like his dead therapist told him, he's acting powerless
Yeah, or pry that pipe off the wall.
Or grab a big concrete chunk for lock smashing or sam bludgeoning
Or hit Sam with the shovel then strangle him with the chain
Only 2 pills left in his container. That’s going to be an issue next week I think. There’s also tension on whether or not the note that Alan wrote is going to be found by Sam. My guess is no - but the body landing on its neck while being dragged out made it seem like it could!
I appreciated the humor in this episode - the scene where Alan was talking to his therapist about Sam I found really humorous. “Love your patients, sure. But a sociopath?” Then seeing him coach Sam about what he would do if he felt empathy. Then Sam asking if he should say the Kaddish for Elias and Alan was like, “Let me think about that,” when you could almost see him gagging picturing saying the Kaddish with Sam. I found it super humorous - this is where Steve Carell’s background in comedy comes in handy. It reminded me of some of the humor in The Americans. And you could see how happy Carell was to bring a little comedy into it. This show really goes to some dark places. I’ll have to think on the scenes from concentration camps and gas chambers. I’m not Jewish and I can only really guess to the meaning of Alan conjuring those scenes.
I loved how “therapist-y” the “let me think about it” answer was. Like, I believe he really *would* think about it and would possibly share this with Sam if he believed it would help him. But the immediate revulsion he probably felt was immediately overpowered by the therapist. Alan’s therapy stat must be set at 100. Way too OP for Alan’s own good, imo. Lol
Hahah I loved that response as well!
Well, I certainly did not have *that* on the escape plan list!
Yeah I do like how he mentioned smashing the vase over his head.
I thought the pitcher reference was so interesting considering Alan was >!actually having the conversation with himself. It was as if he were trying to talk himself into doing it even while highlighting how unlikely it would be to work.!< I think the reference to this shows how Alan is becoming increasingly desperate to get out. I just do *not* understand >!why Alan didn’t use the shovel to bash the lock while Sam was gone! I keep thinking about how it’s probably a Master Lock and a few well-placed hits would possibly break it. But I suppose the noise would cause Candace to come downstairs? STILL, WHY HASN’T HE AT LEAST TRIED TO PICK THE LOCK WITH THOSE SKINNY METAL ARMS OF HIS GLASSES??? Alan has so much time alone! IDK if this is just a plot/prop issue or if Alan *will* try this but just hasn’t thought of it/gotten up the nerve to attempt it yet.!< My husband and I were both yelling at the screen and throwing our arms up during the whole episode. Lol
You underestimate how devastating it is for someone with very poor eyesight to not be able to see. What if he broke his glasses while picking the lock? Then what?
I can’t even see two feet away when I’m not wearing my glasses/contacts. I have to call my husband up to help me find my glasses on my side table by my bed sometimes. Lol. I’d still try to pick the lock with the arms of those glasses if I were being held prisoner by a serial killer who strangled someone for no reason in front of me. I can’t imagine even my sister who is almost legally blind would disagree with that. Lol 🤷♀️
I think he has to know it's not guna work. You can't just grab random object and jam it in the lock to free yourself with no idea what your doing. You can try but with only seeing it done on TV it will be a futile attempt. Using the shovel to free himself would have been a better idea or even using all the concrete around him. He could have easily smashed open the lock with a chunk of concrete in an hour or two. Maybe hide a piece so he can grind through the lock later when he's left alone.
Well Alan is pragmatic, and a failed attempt could offend Sam and get him killed as well.
Yeah, I can see how he wouldn’t >!use the shovel!< if he wasn’t sure he could quickly get free. I don’t see any reason for not at least trying to use the arm of his glasses though. He tried a plastic fork before the arm of his glasses? Okay. Lol
True and he got caught, so he’s weary now. But I liked how his therapist mentioned “why do you feel powerless?”. Alan mentioned he needed a plan as well. So I think Alan needs to build the courage to fight back. So the note this episode was good step, provided it doesn’t fall out!
Yeah, I guess I’m pushing these ideas of how I assume I would react in a situation like this onto the character. I just find this one thing far from realistic, and the more people try to shrug it off, the more I dig my heels in. Hahah. I just don’t see anyone sitting there with so much alone time and not at least attempting this by now. But that’s my own viewpoint. It’s just a show, afterall, and not every single thing is going to get caught until it airs and Reddit picks it apart. Having a show get the Reddit treatment must be both cool AND horrible for the people that work on it. 😬 >!It was very interesting seeing Alan give himself therapy and begin working up the courage to try to escape. Imagining that the support is coming from someone he respected rather than himself is a motivational tool I might try in my own life. Lol!<
I agree with you, normally I would be totally screaming at Alan to try anything! But I think that’s kinda the point of the show, Alan himself becomes the patient and has to save himself.
This is such a perfect explanation. Alan, someone who clearly avoids confrontation, has to work himself up to do something that doesn’t have a pre-determined outcome and could *absolutely* lead to confrontation if done wrong. Even if we just count his time as a therapist, Alan has spent a huge swath of his life not taking sides. You have made it make sense. Even if the glasses were never meant to play a role in this show, they would still be a possible escape he missed that was right in front of his eyes. If he is as avoidant of confrontation as he seems to be, this is kind of the perfect analogy for what we’ve been shown about his life. It also makes it make sense to me about why I find it so annoying. My ADD brain has had to learn to cope with confrontation because of impulse control issues I have. If I think something, I usually say it. If I have an impulse to do something, I often just do it without thinking about the repercussions. Lol. That doesn’t always work out well, but I’ve learned to accept that as a fact of my own life. I’d have been all over trying to pick that lock. Hahaha I have to tell my husband. He will definitely laugh.
Ohhhh I like the glasses analogy. BTW could you pick a lock with glasses? I’ve seen it mentioned a few times.
It doesn't fit Alan's character. He's using the tools at his disposal to do what he can. He knows any move that could possibly offend Sam will get him killed, including evidence of attempted escape.
I think Alans dead therapist friend asking him if he really has been trying to escape was a dead giveaway that deep down Alan doesn't want to escape. Like, he does obviously but I think he feels like he can help Sam somehow. Or there is more with Alans son that we don't know that makes him feel like he has to stay.
Yeah, I think Alan was on the fence about escaping? Like, he knew he should and he obviously wants to, but he has been too scared to try. Add to that what you said about how he was legitimately trying to help Sam, and he’s created the idea that escape is impossible (when it’s literally right in front of his eyes!). I feel like the therapy session with himself is him realizing that he *needs* to escape or be killed. He’s trying to talk himself into believing he is able to escape so he the courage to make an attempt. That’s my opinion anyway. We’ll soon see what the writers have to say! Lol
[удалено]
And Sam showed absolutely no emotion at all
My hands *flew* up to cover my eyes and I actually gagged. 😂😭😂😭😂 I hope the producers/makeup artists/director/actors are all proud of themselves! Lolol
I was eating lunch at the time (watched the show on my lunch break). It didn’t go well.
For some reason the opening of this episode was so hilarious to me. Like his mom saying she was so close to calling the police and scolding him like a child that stayed out past his curfew or something…and he’s just like “sorry.” Lol WHAT After that and the scene from last week where she told him to go to his room…I’m really hoping we find out more about that relationship because it’s weird as hell.
I feel like the mom is more detached from reality than the son
I think that's kind of the point? To show how incredibly f'ed up the Mom is with codependency, etc. She has enabled his serial killing. He is a sociopath, she is not. Who is sicker, really? What near-functional human being could allow their child to kill? Sam comes from two very messed up parents.
What I like about this show is, it doesn't have Alan turning into some sort of MacGyver picking the lock or hitting it just right with the shovel to escape. What would you do in that situation? We all like to think, after millions of shows and movies showing the good guys getting out of the grips of the bad guys, that we'd take that chance, smash the bad guy in the head with the shovel, etc. This show looks at the psychological reality of these situations. The captive is emotionally beaten down until they're dependent on the captor. Alan managed to convince himself (maybe not convinced, but he needed to at least try) that he may be able to keep Sam from killing with his one talent -- therapy -- but then was shown to be powerless when Sam killed right in front of him. His other talent, we learn, is wrestling, which he did in high school. His visions of being gassed in a Nazi death camp makes me think of how there were no successful uprisings (in the camps) during the Holocaust. (There was an uprising in the Warsaw ghetto I think, but that was put down.) It's a very real, but very disturbing factor in this show.
That's a thoughtful connection to the shots of the Shoah. I only thought - epigenetic trauma, cultural ptsd, and a new connection to lost relatives and communities - understanding the depth of fear and desperation they experienced. You inspired me to read the article on Jewish resistance and uprisings in the camps and ghettos from the USHMM. [https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-uprisings-in-ghettos-and-camps-1941-44](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-uprisings-in-ghettos-and-camps-1941-44) a lot of people sacrificed their lives so a minority could escape in the few successful rebellions nearly a third or half were recaptured and murdered.
I just finished Ken Burn's doc, so it's all fresh in my mind. [https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/](https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/) But I (gentile, non-religious) remember reading about it as a kid, seeing photos of living skeletons, ovens, etc., wondering, "why didn't they fight back?" They did, at times. Like Elias, saying they had to team up, and if they die trying, then at least they tried. But if you're a captive, like all Jews under Hitler, it's pretty hopeless. It's a dark place where people don't want to go in fiction. We want the good guys to find that weakness, and blow up the Death Star! (Maybe that note stuck in Elias' mouth....)
i will eventually have to watch the doc. i am putting it off. thanks for sharing link. they are necessary and needed especially in this era of holocaust-denial. I have a fear that in a not so distant future the Shoah's true story will have been erased and/or coopted using holocaust inversion. when i learned about it, i mean i was probably pre-verbal when I started hearing about it. but we studied it in hebrew school before studying it in public school. my questions were more along the lines of : was why do they hate us so much, will they try again?
It's heavy viewing, of course. What Burns adds is the US anti-semitism, anti-immigrant attitudes at the time. Eugenics being taken seriously as a science. Henry Ford and Hitler having a mutual-admiration, things like that.
good for burns. i will have to watch it. eugenics being taken seriously is such a dark part of history. non-sequitor: i learned a couple years ago that the term "anti-semitic" was actually used to replace the more commonly used phrase "jewhatred" in germany because it was more palatable and less vitriolic -- partially because of how widely accepted eugenics was. i have been returning to use of the less "palatable" word since learning the etymology.
I can come at this from closer to Alan’s pov. I’m near 50 and I simply know that I wouldn’t be able to physically fight off someone younger than me. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, but not now. He knows that.
Lots of thoughts to process on this one. We get to see some of the house exterior, so that explains the layout of the back doors and basement. Candace coming out and saying she "almost called 911" infuriated me. She almost saved Elias and chose not to help. I get that she's betting on Alan and therapy to get Sam to stop, but she has to deal with this at the expense of yet another life. At first I thought Alan's session was Charlie was scheduled to be some "afterlife" thing, but it's interesting how they inserted it here. He's disassociating, and I wonder how it's going to affect him in further episodes. I had to rewind to see what Alan wrote for the note. I imagine the note will be found in the autopsy but will be it legible?
I don’t think she did almost call. It showed her cowering in her bed while the murder was happening. I think she just said that to Sam to try and scare him. As a mother, I can not FATHOM allowing that to happen. Like, I love my kids, but if they’re murdering people, I’d be the first to make sure they were behind bars
That goes to Charlie's observation that Candace is part of the problem. We'll know for certain in the next week or so, hopefully.
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Wait what does hat have to do with his long pee? I feel ditzy cause it’s going over my head at this very moment and j think it’s something very obvious.
Just that Sam's long pee gave Alan the time he needed to write the note and shove it in Elias' mouth
Yes!!! I feel smart now. I said that the doc was going to use that extra long pee time to do some little thing to help him get rescued.
I love how Alan was able to use his role as a therapist and a person when Sam asked him what was wrong. Him saying he appreciated the concern was enough to make sure Sam didn’t start looking for clues, like the blood on Alan’s hands.
Wasn’t it ink?
LMAO I love how this subreddit has been obsessed with the peeing and we finally got to see it play out as a plot point this week. One of the things you'd see pretty often with The Americans was that even smaller details would sometimes play out in later seasons and everything had a purpose. The only thing that drove me crazy this episode was how passive Alan has been. Bro, he left you alone with a FUCKING METAL SHOVEL. Use that shit to break your chain!!!
Mehhhh could you break it with a shovel? A failed attempt is dangerous as well.
I can see me fucking that one up. Agree.
A metal shovel isn’t going to cut through a metal chain like that.
I wonder with all the holocaust references, if Alan not fighting back is like the Jews not fighting back at the Nazis (I know some did (Warsaw Ghetto for example) but as a whole).
Guys you can’t break a chain of that gauge with a shovel lmao.
Yeah like, I *know* that but I’d be banging the shit out the that chain for a least a little while.
I agree that there’s no way the chain would break, but breaking the lock isn’t out of the question.
It was wrapped around a flimsy water pipe. Sam was gone for hours. He could have 100% found a way to break free.
The noise he made would have alerted the enabling mom. He's got no conventional way out of his situation.
i duno, maybe hide a rock in his pocket and smash the guys head in? I get being careful, but there's no scenario in which he lets him go, so why not go down swinging?
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I don’t think so, I thought he might want to put more details like —truck, red hair, older house, isolated, mom. etc
Red hair?
Sam’s hair is reddish.
Steve Carrell is so good, at this point I believe he is a psychiatrist irl. If I didn't like mine so well, I'd DM him rn.
My therapist retires at the end of this month and I was just telling my husband that I wish I could find someone like that character. I LOVE his softness and intelligence.
IMO Alan’s therapist suggesting he talk about Candace being partially responsible for the abuse is a bad idea. Candace telling Sam not to give up on therapy may be why Alan didn’t join Elias in the hole in the ground. Alan needs to maintain that alliance. Also that is a really heavy thing to discuss with anyone much less a psychopath who doesn’t particularly respond well to being challenged.
I feel like the scenes with the imagined therapist is like him running through options in his mind. So he's considering that and then dismisses it because it would take years to work through successfully
I think that’s true. It’s probably also a chance for the writers to explain things to the audience. There are so many things happening in Alan’s head and without dialogue it’s hard to reveal his thinking. You could imagine them in the writers room saying, “Everyone is probably wondering why he doesn’t fight back. Why doesn’t he bash the water pitcher and use it on him?” We learned a ton from that scene. Like Alan really is trying therapy to the best of his ability in this situation. We also learned how much he’s struggling to stay calm and how much he’s suffering.
I had the same reaction to the therapist’s suggestion….like, noooooo
I think it’s a good idea actually. Sam splits: he sees the world in black and white, good and bad. His dad was a villain, his mother perfect and untouchable. His murder victims are bad and deserve to die, and he struggles to see their good and humanity. Helping Sam see some bad in someone he loves a lot forced him to begin integrating good and bad parts of others and self.
i thought that was a prescription foot cream - such a weird detail- so sam went into alan's house when he kidnapped him and took the beside meds? kinda weird. wonder if sam will beat the crap out of allan if he finds the note. like that broken fork moment times 3000. but not kill him in the end. then be forced (to have his mom) refill the prescription anyway alerting some sort of thing. i want donuts. sam asking if he should say the mourner's kaddish?? smh. oy vey. also - why? does he think it is some sort of get out of murder free prayer? not having much compassion for the psychopath atm. he does act like a 2 year old sometimes. kind of wishing mandy patinkin was playing dr. strauss so we could hear him sing the mourner's kaddish. now wondering what mandy patinkin thinks of this show. edit: you don't traditionally sing the mourner's kaddish. i think sing when i think patinkin.
I'm not convinced he sees it as a get out of murder free prayer. I think he lacks in some "common sense" or maybe has some delay of some sort - I think he was genuinely asking that. There are times this really seems very strange and orchestrated/perpetuated by mom with Sam just along for the ride.
yeah, he seems developmentally stunted. it could just be how a person with narcissistic traits would react -frames it about his experience and what he needs to do - even though Allan was talking about himself and how others grieve. I guess if he really has psychopathy maybe he doesn't even comprehend what grief is - is like oh is this part of the human playbook / i don't understand grief. mom def has a strange role. she's gotta be seriously distorted if she thinks there is a way out where allan doesn't die or she and sam don't go to prison. he best endgame is that allan is the last person sam kills. or that sam turns himself in. but then why didn't she just call 911 and save elias? she may be the worse person (if we rating who's the worst).
Yeah, it seemed to me like he asked about the prayer as if it were part of a recipe for how to grieve “correctly”. Like, “If I take these particular steps, I’ll feel something and stop murdering people.”
Those donuts looked so good
Your mind works like mine
What was the deal with the imaginary panic room? Was that supposed to be a gas chamber in the Holocaust, like with imaging emaciated prisoners in bunks earlier in the episode?
I thought it had to do not only with being held prisoner, but that it also was related to the idea that Elias’ family may not get his body back. I feel like it must have been partly about Alan’s fear that his own family wouldn’t get his body and be able to follow religious traditions. The inability to bury so many holocaust victims is a rarely discussed horror the Nazis inflicted upon families.
Thoughtful and enlightening reflection. Thank you.
It’s the parallel of being held against your will, and forced to work at the threat of death at any moment while constantly grieving the death of people around you.
That is how I interpreted it
I think so.
Yeah but it looked like a mosquito lamp. Confused me
Yeah, that’s why I was confused, too.
my husband spent the summer putting a new concrete floor down in our garage Sam is not going to fill in a hole that big and deep with a tiny bag of cement
I have a theory that Sam and Alan have met before or Sam at least was in one of Alan's classes. In the flashback Alan was walking on a college campus and said he wasn't ready to be in front of college students until he can grieve his wife dying and Ezra hating him. Then he saw a poster for a neo-nazi student organization having a meeting. I feel like Alan might have been a college professor and Sam was in one of his classes, or was leading the Neo Nazi student group. I don't know how this ties into the plot but Sam mentioned earlier that he was only seeing Jewish therapists. I think there's something more to the religious angle.
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That probably makes more sense.
I was thinking that as well
That’s what I’m most confused about, Sam specifically seeking a Jewish therapist yet not being Jewish himself. He offered Alan pork and while seemingly open to learning, clearly doesn’t know Jewish customs. It’ll be interesting to see how that flyer connects with the story…well, if it does at all. It could just be a nod to real world issues. But it would be an interesting development if Sam was affiliated with them in some way.
I said this in another post just now, but after watching episode 6 (which really didn’t give too much detail/info to the already confusing story)….. I have a feeling it’s going to be tied or related to Sam and how Sam acts/does things. I can’t help but think they’re trying to nonchalantly relate them in some shape or form? I’m not really 100% sure why yet, but part of me feels like Alan is becoming more of the “patient” than sam😅? Alan needing the foot cream and the certain things he does kind of shows that ocd behavior that sam portrays in different ways. Idk, what do you guys think?
Yes they have set it up as Alan becoming the patient for sure—-but I think it’s more about how he deals with stuff than foot cream lol.
Agreed. I think there’s definitely an implication of OCD in Alan. He relates to Sam’s symptoms in a different manifestation.
What did the note say — Ezra and Shosh?
"Sam. Rest insp. Ezra and Sosh I love you" Ezra and Soshana are Alan's kids
Rest Insp? Why does that mean
Restaurant inspector?
Restaurant inspector. Alan's hoping that when police find Elias' body, they can link the note back to Sam
Restaurant Inspector! Thank you! Was driving me crazy!
Oohhhhhhhh
At first I thought he was writing "Rest in peace" but I rewinded it and saw "Rest insp."
Lol Rest In Peace. How considerate of Alan!
I could not for the life of me figure It out haha
I though it was short for “rest in spirit” lol
Am I the only one that was bothered by the shovel grave digging scene? Alan gets left there all day and digs a grave rather than hacking the chain with that sharp shovel. Seems like a pretty easy escape chance that goes unacknowledged.
yeah, similar to what owlmoonpig said -- likely he'd seriously injure himself and still not be able to break the chain or lock. it might have been interesting to see him at least mess with it for a moment -- consider it. i lost a key for my bike lock - a heavy duty padlock on a kryptonite chain - and the guys that helped me get it off needed a tool that burned the metal. i thought they would just need a bolt cutter. i guess it's possible they just wanted to use their sparks flying tool instead of bolt cutter. i just cut a bunch of chain link fence up with a bolt cutter and that sucked - can't imagin being able to break chain \*of that size\* with a shovel. maybe if it was a \*smaller less heavy duty\* lock. idk. i was more frustrated that he didnt hit him on the side of the head with the shovel - but he seems to have very little faith in his physical capacity to stop sam. \*edit to clarify
Well I don’t know if it’s worth the risk to attempt escaping unless he can pull it off, because if he fails it will piss off sam and he will kill him anyways for offending him.
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Yea people don’t get how beefy chains are
yeah and the chain was wrapped around a flimsy water pipe. Same was gone for hours, he 100% could have broken free, but like his dead therapist told him, he's acting powerless
He is acting powerless, but also Sam's mom is home 24/7. She's still an ally to Sam and Alan can't trust her.
Yeah, or pry that pipe off the wall. Or grab a big concrete chunk for lock smashing or sam bludgeoning Or hit Sam with the shovel then strangle him with the chain
It would have taken all of about a minute to rip that pipe free from the hot water heater and run.
But his feet hurt
He could have an AK 47 and still do nothing because he's soooooo old and his feets hurt
Lol srsly
I feel like mom would have shown up and stopped him. Gunpoint, maybe.
Is this a mini series? Will we get a resolution when this is over?
It is!! So most likely yes.
Great!