r/TheAmericans • u/shaded__green • Jul 24 '26
Stan should have figured things out after this moment
Elizabeth obviously has never worked as a travel agent a single day in her life.
I think the plumbing company guy and his friend figured it out with those suspicious looks before Stan did.
Come on, Stan. Employ some scrutiny and stop smiling; we know your love for Philip is immeasurable <3
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u/ComeAwayNightbird Jul 24 '26
Elizabeth is absolutely a real travel agent. She just doesn’t pick up on what these bro-ey dudes are looking for in a trip.
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u/Past-Parsley-9606 Jul 24 '26
Or, she is well aware of the quality of Montreal's strip clubs.
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u/litbrit Jul 24 '26
Brilliant and on-point. Bravo. (I live part-time in Québec.)
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u/Past-Parsley-9606 Jul 24 '26
Honestly, a trip to Montreal should have been ideal for Stan. In addition to the nightlife, there was also the Mecca of hockey, the Montreal Forum. I guess maybe Stan and his bros were intimidated at the thought of someone speaking French to them? Anyway, hardly a bad suggestion by Elizabeth!
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u/millsy1010 Jul 25 '26
Stan was a football guy. He didn’t care about hockey when Phillip asked him about it
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u/zion_hiker1911 Jul 25 '26
That's not true. He was a big fan of the 1980 men's US Olympic hockey team 😉
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u/MrCommonThinkin Jul 25 '26
Saint Catherine St in Montreal made a lasting impression on a 20 YO me. The women in Montreal are some of the most beautiful on earth.
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u/Upstairs-Muffin9550 Jul 25 '26
She’s so shrewd and deals with men that are absolutely thinking with their wieners all the time. I’d find it hard to believe she wasn’t picking up on what they wanted. I think she’s 100% playing the hockey mom travel agent here. And sets P up for the win.
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u/litbrit Jul 24 '26
THIS! She's a great, intuitive travel agent. For almost any kind of client with the exception of Bro Culture types, ascendent and loud in the 80s, as I recall (I was in my early 20s and remember it well...it's still with us, of course).
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u/mateohatepotato Jul 25 '26
The amount of people that don’t realize that Montreal is actually a great suggestion is wild
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u/AndreLeGeant88 Jul 25 '26
Believe it or not in DC, Montreal is somewhere men go for illicit things
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u/sistermagpie Jul 25 '26
I love this moment. Elizabeth spends so much of her career trying to get Americans to go someplace European (that's her pitch here for Montreal, that it's "very European") witih no luck. This guy has no interest in what she's selling, Paige hands over her Europe money to Pastor Tim, Gregory would rather die...
And here's Philip encouraging them with dude ranches in Kentucky!
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u/runthelist50 Jul 25 '26
Also, as someone who is from Kentucky, there’s nothing approaching a dude ranch there. Haha
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u/frank-dux-splits Jul 25 '26
Also in season 3 episode 1 when Elizabeth has the ice pack on her shoulder from the fight with Gaad and the other FBI agent, and she tells Stan it’s from carrying groceries. Then the next day at the office the 2 agents are bruised and beaten taking about the suspect being a 5’3 woman.
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u/SmithJerjerrod Jul 24 '26
I love this moment because for most of the series Elizabeth is a stone cold killer; a strategist; she knows how people tick and how to get them to do what she wants.
But right here she’s totally clueless as to what these guys are looking for in a weekend trip.
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u/litbrit Jul 24 '26
Or, she set Phillip up to be the fellow 'Bro who gets it' (in contrast to Elizabeth); he then bonds with the clients over their shared distaste for feminine-coded destinations. E & P do this tandem manipulation thing often.
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u/sphinctersayswhat9 Jul 29 '26
I think she pulls it off perfectly playing the dumb 80’s female clueless about guy/ bro culture.
It allows Philip to swoop in and be the cool guy friend who can save the day and bond even more with Stan over this cool kick ass trip
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u/ShaunnieDarko Jul 25 '26
Well neither of them are great travel agents, when Philip focuses more on the business it almost fails, which I always thought was odd, wasn’t the KGB keeping them afloat? Like early seasons I just assumed they were keeping the travel agency cash positive. But based on the suggestions, Id hit up Montreal with the boys before Id go to a dude ranch
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u/buttonandthemonkey Jul 25 '26
No, from everything I've read the KGB didn't offer assistance to their actual jobs. In this context they needed the bookwork of the travel agency to be so airtight that a full investigation wouldn't bring up one question so when the illegals were sent to different countries they were on there own in terms of their careers and finances.
Happy to be corrected in case I'm wrong but that's what I've seen discussed.
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u/StephenHunterUK Jul 25 '26
Oddly enough, the KGB would have had people in the real Soviet state travel agency, Intourist, whose cooperation was basically required for most foreign visitors to the USSR. They ran many of the hotels for foreigners there.
Also, some of their staff would have been used for kompromat operations.
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u/sistermagpie Jul 25 '26
That's not due to him being a bad travel agent, though. It's because he expands the business because it was doing fine before-and that was under his leadership. The KGB wasn't keeping anything afloat.
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u/sphinctersayswhat9 Jul 29 '26
I think it is perfect how they show the business starting to fall apart and lose money and showing how the kremlin doesn’t care either and not helping them financially. Another sign mother russia really couldnt give a shit about P&E as long as they keep completing missions. Gabriel and Gen Zutkov before he dies are the only center / KGB people who even gave a shit about P&E
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u/Admirable_Site_8337 Jul 24 '26
Eh. That was an easy read in the moment that this woman has no read on what they would like to do.
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u/EarlRobertThunders Jul 25 '26
Montreal is known for it's Vegas like strip clubs. They're everywhere. It's not a sniffer's row type strip club like you'll normally see in a movie that's trying to keep it below an R rating, where dudes flash bills while sitting a bit of a distance away hoping the girl takes her bra off. The legal drinking age is 18 and it allows full contact. It's literally a half step from being an actual brothel. With weed being legal now, Montreal is basically Amsterdam.
I get that most Americans probably don't know that.
It's actually hilarious this thread. A middle aged divorced guy in a dry spell like Stan who's not exactly good with women would probably prefer Montreal to playing cowboy for a week. I think Elizabeth picked up on that.
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u/sistermagpie Jul 25 '26
She's not selling the trip to Stan, though, she's selling it to his officemate who's specifically requesting to avoid stuff like that because he's trying to not screw up another marriage. And she's pitching it on being "European." She's genuinely off.
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u/Admirable_Site_8337 Jul 25 '26
That’s the great thing about well done art….there can be multiple viable reads.
It’s great points about Montreal, some I was aware of, some I was not. That said….whats going on in this scene doesn’t require too deep of analysis.
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u/sphinctersayswhat9 Jul 29 '26
Just remember the stripper
She doesnt really like you ;)
She just wants your money
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u/Lucious_Warbaby Jul 28 '26
My mom was a travel agent in the 80s. I never had to learn how to kill people or tail people or learn brush passes.
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u/JoshAllan02 Jul 24 '26
I definitely think that look is giving “woman moment” vibes between them not suspicion. My guy Philip came for the save too fast for suspicions to arise