This week’s episode finds me on the road so it will not be my usual scene by scene recap but rather a summary of themes featured in this week’s episode. The quality of the acting and storytelling continues to impress, The Americans is the best show on television at the moment. This hour features lots of awkward sex scenes as Phillip and Elizabeth “hit their marks” in Kansas. The family discovers something new about Henry. (The forgotten son.) Mischa reaches out to meet Phillip but is thwarted by the Centre. Stan and Renee grow closer but Phillip starts to have serious questions about her past. Oleg continues to try avoiding the CIA as he settles into his new job battling Communist Party corruption. The hour concludes with a startling realization about their current mission regarding grain and agriculture.
Phillip and Deidre have a “working date” at a Topeka restaurant. Phillip complains about the manual system where he works in the V.A. Deidre promises she can help him with the new system they are using, Lotus. Later in their apartment, Phillip makes passionless love to her. During the act, he has another flashback to his father bringing home dinner, which consisted of barely edible looking roots, or potatoes. Young Phillip looks at his father with affection, his father looks prematurely old and haunted. Quickly after the “passion”, Deidre offers to show him the Lotus system.
Elizabeth has a more interesting experience with Ben. He cooks her “Egyptian peasant” food, serves wine and divulges his experiences in the Peace Corps. It seems difficult for Elizabeth to reconcile his caring persona with someone seeking to sabotage the grain supply. During their “passionate time”, Elizabeth looks around his home at mundane objects as if trying to keep her mind out of what is happening to her body.
Once Phillip and Elizabeth are home in D.C., they meet with Henry’s math teacher. He shocks them by suggesting that Henry has shown great aptitude in class and he recommends Henry for a higher math level. The Jennings look relieved and dumbfounded, Henry is the only one not privy to the family secret business. He seems the most “American” of them yet still he has untapped potential.
Meanwhile, Paige continues to feel the full weight of the family secret weighing on her and her relationship with Matthew. She despairs that she may always have to be alone. She shares her unhappiness with Phillip but he doesn’t really know how to comfort her. (He’s lucky to always have Elizabeth to share their chaotic lifestyle.) Later in the hour, Matthew can sense Paige is pulling away from him emotionally. He asks if she wants to break up with him. Paige implements the “finger” technique her parents taught her before answering. She tells him she doesn’t really know how to be a girlfriend but Matthew seems unsatisfied with her explanation.
Stan and Renee continue to see a great deal of each other. They attend “Romancing the Stone” with Matthew and double date with the Jennings’. During their intimate time, Renee asks Stan if he can talk about work “in a vague way.” She can tell he’s stressed about it. Stan feels he and Aderholt have been busy doing “grunt work” after he spoke to the higher-ups at the Bureau. Wolfe, Stan’s boss assures him this work keeps the KGB busy but it seems tedious and unproductive. He doesn’t divulge this much to Renee. Is Renee concerned as his girlfriend or is her relationship with him a sham? Phillip looks out the window and notices her Jeep is over there much of the time. Phillip wonders if the intel he gave the Centre about Stan has prompted them to send a woman who’s “just his type.” From the start, her relationship with Stan has appeared almost been too good to be true.
Elizabeth visits with Evegena, Pasha’s mother. She gives her “American” tips on how to save time with meal preparation, like using store bought tomato sauce! Evegena states she feels like she needs to work and her husband has helped her find a job. She will be teaching Russian to “special agricultural agents who study in Moscow.” Later when Elizabeth relays this information to Phillip, they seem to understand that Evegena will be teaching Russian to CIA operatives under the guise of the Department of Agriculture.
Oleg continues to work with Ruslan in their anti-corruption investigation concerning supermarket suppliers. They approach a man in a warehouse and Ruslan begins to put pressure on him to talk. The man refuses to be intimidated, even when they note he drives a “very nice Volga.” (The Volga was an infamous lemon but the only all Soviet-made car.) Ruslan brings up the fact the man has a son fighting in Afghanistan, “We have a lot to say about what goes on there.” Oleg visibly winces at his superior’s dirty tactics. The man calls him a son-of-a-bitch, “If you’re going to arrest me, arrest me!” He walks away.
Oleg comes home from work to find his parents have arranged a “dating game” night. Seated at the table are three young women who know the family or Oleg. Oleg asks to speak to his father privately. He chastises the old man for interfering with his personal life. The last thing Oleg wants is for another person to be drawn into his problem with the CIA. After the dinner, Oleg studies the map of the park he was handed by the American. He sets out into the night, perhaps to meet with the enemy.
Mischa makes a phone call to the Centre. He says in a very thick accent, “This is Stacy McAllister and I need to make an appointment with Dr. Patterson.” The woman at the call center looks rapidly into her codebooks and tells him to call back tomorrow. The next day, she gives him a time and place for the “doctor’s appointment.”
Mischa waits on a park bench, hoping to meet Phillip for the first time. Instead, Gabriel meets the bewildered young man. After chastising him for speaking Russian, Gabriel explains it’s impossible for Phillip to meet him and he must return “home.” Mischa is disappointed. Last season, he was placed in a mental hospital for speaking out against the Afghan war. Mischa had probably dreamed of reuniting with his father and creating a new life in the United States. He may not realize that unlike his mother, Phillip is still an active agent. Gabriel and Claudia discussed the meeting beforehand; the only reason for Phillip to meet Phillip may have been to groom him as another agent. But like his father, Mischa is sensitive and vulnerable. Perhaps Gabriel fears if Phillip meets his eldest son he would be inclined to quit. It seems cruel to both Phillip and Mischa to not let them make their own decisions about their relationship.
After another romantic evening, Elizabeth pushes Ben to talk about his work. He explains that they are trying to genetically modify the crops to withstand pests and disease. Elizabeth realizes that they have been dead wrong about the operation from the beginning. (Pardon the pun.) The Centre had assumed the Americans were trying to sabotage the grain when in fact they were working to solve the problem of world hunger in a way the Soviet’s could not imagine.
Elizabeth tells Phillip about this startling revelation at the Tuan decoy home. Phillip looks mortified when he realizes he has killed another innocent man. He resolves to never do such a thing again. It dawns on them the whole operation must likely be scrapped, including Tuan, Pasha, and Alexei. Stan realized that much of his work is tedious “fishing” but the Jennings are used to a higher level of “success” with their operations.
Next week will be a likely clash between the Centre and the Jennings regarding the grain mission. I hope we haven’t seen the last of Mischa; his story is heartbreaking and may lead Phillip to act. Paige continues to despair about her inability, to be honest with Matthew. Can she find a way to make peace with her burden of secrecy? How will Phillip confirm his suspicions about Renee? (Whisper Russian in her ear?) Oleg and Stan seem to be on parallel trajectories regarding their organizations. What would cause the men to quit or in Stan’s case, go to the press with the truth?
It’s hard to believe we are already nearly halfway through the penultimate season but it’s been thoroughly enjoyable.
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