Category The Americans

After weeks of tension, it’s now even more grueling that Philip and Elizabeth are back on the same side. “Harvest” may be one of the most tense episodes of the entire series, and with only a handful left, it sets the stage for a truly dark finale.

Philip has pledged to join Elizabeth and her accomplice Marilyn in Chicago, where they are seeking to extricate a fellow undercover Russian who has been detected and is under constant surveillance by the FBI under their operation codename “Harvest.”

But the job is overwhelming, and they can’t do it with just the two of them. They don’t think they’ll save their target. They’re not even sure they’ll survive themselves.

So Philip volunteers to rejoin the cause and help. The episode begins with him asking Stan to look after Henry until the boy returns to school when Thanksgiving Break ends.
Continue reading The Americans recap: A rescue mission ends in a bloody mess

The world is collapsing around Philip and Elizabeth and they are too busy warring with each other to even realize it. The deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Teacup has ignited a counter-espionage wildfire in the FBI, and they’ve connected more dots than ever before about the covert Soviet operation in the United States.

Philip and Elizabeth are tearing their relationship apart just when they need each other the most.

We begin with Philip dropping a heaping helping of judgment on Elizabeth. “Stan came by. He was very upset about the couple murdered right in front of their 7-year-old kid.”

“I didn’t do it in front of their kid. He was in another room. I didn’t see him,” Elizabeth shoots back.

“He saw them. Covered in blood.”

“What do you want me to say?” Continue reading The Americans recap: Rififi

We’re close to the halfway mark on the final season of The Americans, and the title of this episode gives you some idea where we’re heading: “The Great Patriotic War.”

As Paige learns during her Russian Immersion Training from her mother and fairy spymother Claudia, this is what Soviets call World War II, where they lost (by Claudia’s estimate) 27 million people to the Americans’ 400,000.

There has always been a body count on this show, but it’s usually strangers who meet untimely ends. Chances are, we’re going to start losing people we know very soon.

That brings us to Sofia and Gennadi, the Russian defectors nicknamed Mr. and Mrs. Teacup by the FBI. Stan helped recruit and manage them, but now their cover has been blown and they are in protective custody.

This humiliation cannot be allowed, so The Center has dispatched Elizabeth and her team to eliminate Mr. and Mrs. Teacup. We open with them using Stan as the trail of breadcrumbs that will lead to them. Continue reading The Americans recap: The Great Patriotic War