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It feels strange to call an episode where so many things happen “slow,” especially on a show like The Americans, where slow is very much the point. But that’s how “Divestment” feels, mostly because it spends its time moving a number of this season’s plots forward just the slightest bit, without much in the way of that fraught tension the show is known for. Nonetheless, the moves made tonight are important ones—all things to add to the powder keg at the end of a very long fuse.

The episode picks up immediately after the end of “Walter Taffet,” with Elizabeth, Phillip, and Reuben taking Eugene Venter and his student accomplice Todd to an abandoned warehouse for interrogation. At first, they’re kind to Venter–Phillip offers him cash and a chance at a new life if he talks. Venter refuses. So he resorts to pain.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth goes to work on Todd—all he does is tell her that Venter had him monitoring campus anti-aparthied groups. She then takes him outside, and sits him in front of Venter. They’re going to make him watch Venter die. But Reuben stops Elizabeth, and refuses to take her gun when he expresses that he wants to do it himself.

“You already have your country,” he says. “You can’t understand.” Continue reading ‘Divestment’ TV Recaps

As we cross the halfway marker in this season of The Americans, the show puts a few of its storylines on hold to spend some time with a few plot threads it has left largely unattended thus far: namely, Martha, and the student that trainee Hans has been suspicious of. But mostly Martha.

The man who this week’s episode of The Americans is named after is barely in it. In fact, if you’re not listening closely (The Americans is not kind about this—it demands that you always listen closely) you might even miss his name entirely. But Walter Taffet’s presence tugs at the thread named Martha, and it could potentially put the Jennings one step closer to being caught.

The trouble starts with Agent Dennis Aderholt. Stan doesn’t like him—over beer and pizza with Phillip, Stan says it might be that he asks too many questions, like he’s trying to show off or something. So when he spots Aderholt in Gaad’s office the next day, he comes up with a bullshit excuse (grabbing a random paper that he says needs Gaad’s signature) to get inside and see what they’re talking about. However, the pen that Gaad uses is out of ink, and after a good shake the cap falls off—with a much heavier thud than a pen cap should have. Continue reading ‘Walter Taffet’ TV Recaps

It starts with a baptism.

Television shows, even good ones, often struggle when it comes to incorporating Christianity into their stories (hi there, Friday Night Lights season 2) because Christianity is deliberately constructed in a way that’s in direct contrast to the way we traditionally build narratives. The sources of tension and conflict are all very different and don’t always sync up. It’s also all too easy for individual characters to lose their unique voice once they take the plunge.

But using Christianity as yet another lens with which we can examine Phillip and Elizabeth, while still being wholly genuine about Paige’s investment in her faith? The Americans is having its cake and eating it, too. In the final moments of the cold open, which takes place during Paige’s baptism, the camera focuses on her parents, trying their best to look pleased. Phillip seems to be having the hardest time of it—which is ironic, given that faith is going to take him some interesting places in this hour.

In fact, the entire episode revolves around characters taking some sort of stand or another, making for one of the most cohesive episodes in the season. In a Moscow prison cell, Nina has made her decision to betray her cellmate, feigning vulnerability and opening up to her so she would admit to being an accomplice to her treasonous boyfriend. Stan decides to try and commit to honesty, admitting to Tori that he still considers Sandra his wife after a dinner at the Jennings home. Since this is in perfect alignment with the radical honesty of EST, Tori is appreciative, and the two sleep together. Continue reading ‘Born Again’ Tv Recaps