the actor’s gone, there’s only you and me

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At the end of this week’s episode of The Americans, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) burns a piece of the truth. There’s no room for this truth in the real world anymore; assumed identities have been inhabited for so long that they’ve resulted in things that have become more real than the truth they replaced. 

Peter Gabriel’s song “Here Comes the Flood” plays during the montage, the original 1977 version in keeping with the show’s 1980s setting.

When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You’re a thousand minds within a flash
Don’t be afraid to cry at what you see
The actor’s gone, there’s only you and me
And if we break before the dawn,
they’ll use up what we used to be.

“I had had an apocalyptic dream in which the psychic barriers which normally prevent us from seeing into each others’ thoughts had been completely eroded producing a mental flood. Those that had been used to having their innermost thoughts exposed would handle this torrent and those inclined to concealment would drown in it.”
–Peter Gabriel on writing “Here Comes the Flood”

That’s about as perfect as you can get for a show that’s all about the complications and consequences of concealing ourselves from ourselves and each other.