The Americans, Season 6, episode 9, Jennings, Elizabeth

After last week’s “Summit” the only way to go now is down the cliff to crash land into the finale.  This penultimate hour packed in key moments from Elizabeth’s past, which will prove crucial to informing her upcoming choices.  Stan struggles to find the missing pieces that link illegals’ activities to those of his neighbors.  Oleg withstands pressure to betray his country and his secret mission.  And Paige uses her newfound powers of observation to discover new horrifying truths about her mother’s work.  The themes of protocol, jealousy, and betrayal are intertwined throughout the stories of our key characters as they try to make difficult choices.

The opening sequence before the credits occurs without dialogue.  Elizabeth is out in the field in a teased wig and glasses to keep watch on Nesterenko from an inconspicuous spot within a hotel lobby.  The Soviet negotiator was spared last week because Elizabeth felt he was not a traitor.  (She has no such qualms with cold-blooded execution of any American or others who may reveal her identity.)  Philip in a “light disguise” consisting of a baseball hat and glasses drops a coded note for Oleg.

 Stan types Elizabeth’s name into his database at the FBI.  He tries different combinations, including Philip and their travel agency to attempt to discover evidence to support his suspicions.  He gets on hit on a Philip Jennings, but discovers it’s a twenty-three year old African-American man from Florida, not his neighbor.  After failing to get a meaningful hint from the database, Stan leans back in his chair sighing.  Elizabeth watches Nesterenko closely, leaving the hotel lobby when his small group heads up to the presumed safety of their hotel room.   Philip leaves a chalk mark on a blue mailbox to signal Oleg to check for his coded message.

Philip toils away at the travel agency office, looking longingly at Elizabeth’s empty desk.  Stan pays him a visit; Philip gives him a tour of the expanded office.  Philip awkwardly introduces Stan to another colleague, “He’s an FBI agent, be careful what you say!” Philip jokes.  Philip tries to interest Stan in some travel packages for the FBI and the exchange feels forced and uncomfortable for both men.  Out of earshot of others, Philip apologizes for trying to make a sale.  The men speak move into Philip’s office.  Stan asks about Elizabeth’s whereabouts and Philip states they had another fight about the business.  (Which in a way is true.)  Stan reports that Renee is seeking a job at the FBI.  Philip cautions him about that arrangement.  Stan offers Philip a loan but Philip is too proud to accept.  Stan pats his friend on the shoulder.

Elizabeth continues her “stakeout” of Nesterenko; she watches his movements around the State Department.  The group always travels at least three men strong.  In those days it would have been likely to have surveillance on high-ranking Soviet officials.  Nesterenko might know he’s being watched.

Elizabeth smokes and has a flashback to her youth.  She waits alone in a dark apartment.  Oleg sees Philip’s chalk-mark on the blue mailbox, he manages to acknowledge the mark without turning his head like a true professional.

An aerial shot zooms down on Buenos Aires, where Pastor Tim receives a call from Stan.  After a brief re-introduction and a few pleasantries,  the discussion turns serious.  “I’m speaking to you now as an agent of law enforcement.  Is there anything that I should know as an FBI agent about the Jennings family?”  Pastor Tim must be grateful that video calling is decades away because his face betrays a genuine concern and he chooses his words carefully, “I’ve always been impressed with them. Paige has always been a thoughtful and caring young woman.  Her parents weren’t members of the church.”  Stan asks a different way but Pastor Tim replies with “Not really.”  Perhaps he’s suspected that his “relocation” had something to do with his knowledge of their identity. He’s now happy and safe and certainly wouldn’t want to jeopardize his family by speaking to the FBI.   Stan keeps hitting dead ends.

Elizabeth sips coffee from a café near the State department.  She continues to reminisce about an experience from her youth.  She walks down a darkened street alone.  At an intersection, she comes across an accident involving a motorcycle, and a horse.  Two men lie in the street moaning in pain.  One man looks at her and pleads for help; Elizabeth looks at him before hurrying away.  Why did she refuse to help the injured men?  Does she regret her actions now; is she trying to save Nesterenko as an act of redemption?

Stan seeks out Dennis at the office.  Dennis is up to his ears with work but the two old partners always seem to take time for each other.  Dennis finally agrees to attempt to grab lunch so that they can talk.  On the way to the elevator, they discuss Renee’s upcoming interview. Dennis senses something is troubling his friend.  Stan spills, “I know this sounds crazy, but I can’t get this thing out of my head. You know Philip and Elizabeth, when I first meet them I was working on the Timoshev thing.  Philip and Elizabeth drove the same make and model of car that was seen where he was kidnapped.  Different license, but you know… It’s stupid.”  Dennis looks at Stan intently.  Stan continues to whisper, airing his suspicions about Elizabeth’s departure on Thanksgiving and Philip following her the next day.  It seems beyond coincidental that is preciously when all the bad events were taking place in Chicago.

The men pause when the elevator arrives; they continue the whispered conversation in a nearby alcove.  Stan discusses the Gregory Thomas case, and how Elizabeth may fit the description of Gregory’s girlfriend at the time.  He admits to looking around the Jennings’ home in their absence.  Stan admits, “I couldn’t get it out of my mind, what if?”  Dennis looks incredulous, how could Elizabeth have been Gregory Thomas’s girlfriend?  Dennis concludes, “Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are not Russian spies.”  Stan affirms, “I know it sounds crazy but, remember what William Crandall said before he died, ‘pretty wife, a couple of kids…’”  Dennis scoffs, that description is far too vague to be useful.  Dennis receives word that his boss needs to speak with him immediately.  Stan leaves his old friend who despite his dismissive words knows that Stan is a good agent whom he trusts.  Dennis will undoubtedly be looking for more evidence of Stan’s theory.

Oleg picks up the message from Philip.  At the FBI, Agent Wolfe and Dennis speak to the Russian Orthodox priest Father Viktor.  Wolfe makes it clear that he’s not being harassed because of his faith but they do have questions about the church’s hierarchy.  Fr. Viktor is savvy; he knows that the FBI is looking into how the KGB and the faith interact. The priest is upset with those who use their “contacts back home” in order to secure promotions within the church.  Fr. Viktor is ready to name the priests he finds corrupt.  He names Father Andrei, he’s about to name another priest when Dennis is summoned with an urgent message.  “The team on Acrobat just radioed in, it looks like he pulled himself into the black for several minutes," Dennis orders them to search him and bring him in for questioning immediately.

Oleg strolls down the street, Philip’s note in his pocket.  FBI agents roll up in a car, say his name and handcuff him upon retrieving the evidence from his coat pocket. Oleg is silent during his arrest and looks resigned to his fate.

Elizabeth continues to watch Nesterenko; she’s now outside on a park bench.  She continues to think about this incident from her youth.  She answers the door in the dark apartment to greet another woman.  Elizabeth says in stilted English, “I got the signal, I picked up the package but something went wrong. On the way back there was an accident, a policemen was dead, another man hurt very bad, a horse.  I didn’t know if I should help him, we are not supposed to stop on an operational run.  If police would have arrived they could have questioned me while I still had it…” The older woman looks at her with concern.  She explains that if Elizabeth had been in America that her behavior would have been justified but “You don’t leave a comrade to die on the streets of Moscow.”  From this memory we get insight into how seriously Elizabeth has always been towards her work.  It also recalls how Elizabeth reprimanded Paige harshly earlier in the season at the scene of Renhull’s murder.  Elizabeth’s training was very strict, but she was even cold by her mentor’s standards.  Back in the present time, Elizabeth watches the doors of the State Department.

Stan is given the first interview with Oleg with Dennis and Agent Wolfe watching in the next room.  Oleg states he can’t cooperate.  Stan cautions him to think about his wife and son; he could face up to twenty to thirty years in prison.  Stan recounts the series of events, which coincides with Oleg’s arrival in the U.S.; two agents were murdered in Chicago, Renhull’s “suicide” and the deaths at the defense contractor’s warehouse.  Stan wants to know what the message says and who sent it.  Oleg looks at him fiercely but remains quiet.

Elizabeth smokes and approaches the State Department entrance when she sees the negotiators on the move.  She scans the scene around the men and focuses on a woman in a blonde wig and overcoat carrying a newspaper.  (Perhaps she recognizes the wig?)  The woman attempts to uncover the weapon hidden in the paper as she nears the trio of men.  But Elizabeth pulls out a silenced weapon and shoots the woman in the back.  The men stop in shock.  The woman’s wig falls off to reveal dark brown hair.  (It looks like Tatiana but it’s hard to be sure.  Who would have been able to complete this mission is not clear.)  Nesterenko checks the assassin’s pulse.  He looks around nervously; probably certain that he just avoided being assassinated.  Elizabeth runs off briskly.  It’s a bold move for Elizabeth to have saved Nesterenko.  It’s likely the next assassin will be coming for her.  The men look around in disbelief.

Oleg waits in a bleak holding cell.  Stan is allowed to speak with him again.  Oleg looks up at the speaker in the room.  He whispers over Stan’s shoulder, “People in the KGB are trying to get rid of Gorbachev.  This is what I’m doing here; we have reason to believe that they are trying to make a move around the Summit.  The message, the dead drop, I don’t know what it says but it’s probably about that, if it is, they need to get it, you need to help me get it there.”  Stan absorbs this request but he refuses to send a coded signal back to the Soviet Union.  Stan asks for Oleg to decode it but he states he can’t because it would reveal the sender’s identity.  Stan says the FBI is looking for illegals in the D.C. area, if Oleg helps he will be able to walk free.  Oleg looks at his old nemesis and replies, “I can’t.”  Stan brings out a picture of Philip and Elizabeth but Oleg responds only with a nod of “no.”  Oleg is a well-trained officer; he will not betray his comrades.  
Stan says, “Let me tell you something Oleg, “Your old buddies in the KGB want to get rid of Gorbachev? I could give a shit.”  Oleg nods, he replies, “I can spend the rest of my life here.  I don’t know, but think about it, I have friends, a family, a father a mother, a brother who died in the war and all of us want a better future, just like you.  Peace, food to eat, all the same things, do you think it doesn’t matter who are leader is?”  Oleg explains this is the reason he was willing to risk everything, for the future of his country.  “Can you get that through your thick head?”  The two men sit together for a moment in uncomfortable silence.  Oleg’s words seem very prophetic. While Gorbachev was in power, things were improving but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin was unable to keep corruption out and now Putin's regime resembles the old Soviet days. 

Elizabeth has changed out of her assassin clothes to visit Claudia. Claudia, not knowing anything is amiss offers her some home cooking. Elizabeth declines the food and continues to stand.  “Nesterneko is alive, I stopped it.  I also contacted Gorbachev’s people, I told him all the things you were planning.  It’s over.”  Claudia sits up and gazes intently at Elizabeth.  “Do you realize what you’ve done?  They’ll take apart the Centre’s leadership.  The people who’ve supported you all these years, they’ll put them in jail. All of us.“  Elizabeth looks steely, “There is still time for you to get out.  I imagine that you could get by anywhere.” Claudia looks at her with distain, “Do you think you are doing me a favor?  I had so much faith in you.  I never lost faith in you, you always reminded me of women I fought with during the war, the way you put country over self.  But now I see you never really understood what you were fighting for.”  Elizabeth seethes, “I’m still fighting for those things.” Claudia wonders if Elizabeth “started to young.”  Strangely, this is the same argument Elizabeth used when discussing why Philip quit the business to Paige.  Claudia delivers another verbal blow, “I thought I knew you…” Elizabeth counters, “You thought you knew me, if you really knew me you’d know never to lie to me!”  Claudia recounts the work, sacrifices, and time with Paige.  “It was all for nothing, the damage you’ve done today is indescribable.  Far worse then all the good you’ve done all these years.”  Elizabeth seems to ignore this deep wounding statement and asks where Claudia will go.  Claudia responds, “Back home to fight for what’s left of our country. We took it back from our enemies before and we’ll do it again.”  (Implying here that Elizabeth and Gorbachev are the “enemy.”)  Claudia asks condescendingly, “What’s left for you now, your house, your American kids, Phillip?”  Elizabeth stares at this sad older woman eating alone.  She leaves without another word.

Philip meets with Father Andrei in a light disguise of hat, glasses and a moustache.  When the priest asks Philip how he is he states he’s better in some ways having left the work behind.  Father Andrei replies, “Quitting was never an option for me.”  The men begin to walk, he asks about their marriage.  Philip explains Elizabeth has accused him of breaking some of his vows, of not being completely honest with her. Father Andrei notes that Elizabeth isn’t someone who trusts easily, that if she trusts him that something worth fighting for.  Philip notes that Elizabeth “cares about the whole world.”  He asks what the priest what he planned to discuss with Elizabeth that day.  Father Andrei explains that he heard a rumor that Father Viktor was going to speak to the authorities about him because he’s always been jealous and suspicious of the connections he had to the people back home.  Philip is horrified to learn that the “authorities” mean the FBI, and Father Viktor is speaking with them today.  Father Andrei asks if he’s in trouble, noting that he’s always very careful.  Philip quickly scans his surroundings, looking for anyone who could be an undercover agent.  He tells Fr. Andrei that they could be under surveillance at the moment.  Philip tells the priest that he should consider buying a plan ticket home and leaving the U.S. as soon as possible.  The men part ways after Philip says quickly, “Take care Father!”

Philip walks briskly continuing to look around for a tail and then crosses the street.  After a minute, he breaks out into a run.  A man in a vest barks into a walk-talkie, noting that they have a suspect on the move.  Several men chase after Philip but he manages to evade them and removes his jacket, glasses and changes his driving cap for a knitted beanie.  On another street, Philip manages to hail a cab and avoid capture.  It’s a very close call.

Elizabeth rinses her face with water from the kitchen sink.  Paige arrives.  Elizabeth tries to act casual despite her worsening situation. Paige explains that she was with her friend Brian the previous night. “The one that you thought I slept with to get information, turns out we really like each other,”  Brian told Paige he was at a party with other Congressional interns and a young man named Jackson was very drunk.  Jackson discussed how he had slept with an “older woman” and how he felt she tricked him and he ruined his life.  “Now he’s quitting and going home.  He works for Sam Nunn, this happened in the middle of the Summit.  Was it you?”  Elizabeth denies it but Paige persists.  “It was all in that book, that’s why you were so weird about Brian,” Elizabeth swears that she didn’t sleep with Jackson.  Paige says, “Looking back I’ve always known, every time, every lie, my whole life!” Elizabeth denies she had “anything to do with that boy”.  Paige accuses her about lying about everything, her whole life, “No wonder Dad can’t stand to be in the same room with you, how many times, how many men? Were you doing this when I was a baby?  You’re a whore!  Does Dad know he married a whore?”  Elizabeth tells Paige to stop it but she persists. “That moment you told me who you really are I should have done what Henry did and get as far a way from you as possible.” Elizabeth counters that the sex never meant anything to her and that “I wasn’t brought up like you were. I had to fight always, for everything. I had to give everything!  If I had to fight so that my country would survive, I would do it gladly!  We were proud to do whatever we could! Sex?  What was sex? Nobody cared, including your father!”  Paige leaves the house.
In this scene and in the flashbacks, the viewer finally gets more insight into the bleak post-war Soviet Union Elizabeth was brought up in.  Both Philip and Elizabeth suffered the horrors of the war and perhaps believed that through working in the KGB they could prevent another great tragedy in their country.  Claudia also referenced the war in her final conversation with Elizabeth, the women who fought in the war were considered heroes and patriots. Claudia dismissing Elizabeth as not as patriotic as her comrades in arms was a huge insult. 

Dennis is working in the vault with his team to try to find the unknown man who met with Father Andrei. (Philip)  They are going to search all the warehouses and safe houses they have uncovered.  Stan asks Dennis, “Are we assuming if he’s running that’s where he’ll go?”  Earlier in the hour, it was noted that the garage surveillance has yet to yield any leads.  Stan is hoping to get the surveillance photos of the incident. Father Andrei is on his way to the FBI for questioning.

Elizabeth smokes and has one final flashback of her mentor.  “The most important thing is to not lose who you are over there.”  Elizabeth might be pondering her “American” kids as she tries to formulate her next move.  The phone rings. Philip is calling in from a payphone, “I was hoping to make it home for dinner but things are very topsy-turvy at the office.”  It’s a code about the danger he’s in.  Elizabeth runs downstairs to obtain her “bug-out” bag.  Inside the electric panel, she grabs various passports, currency and her wedding rings.  She turns out the light, closing the door on Elizabeth Jennings.

The preview for the finale shows Stan attempting to call Philip and Elizabeth at home but only reaching their answering machine.   Philip and Elizabeth decide to get Paige and flee to New Hampshire, from there they are likely to catch a ferry to Canada.  Paige asks if they can trust Oleg, Philip responds “Yes.”  Stan is shown looking sketches which are clearly of Philip and Elizabeth saying, “All this time, I’m gonna kill them!”

I really am not sure what would constituet a satifying finale.  The series has focused on Philip and Elizabeth, both deeply flawed protagonists. Do we want to see Stan capture them or see them get away free to start a new life? It would seem plausible that Elizabeth and Philip would have to look over their shoulders for the rest of their lives, even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. What will Oleg's role be in bringing them in? Will Henry ever discover who his parents are and where they went? Will Renee's role finally be revealed?  I look forward to an intense and bittersweet ending.