The Americans Either Does Or Doesn't End With A New Enemy For The Illegals...Depending On Which You Ask

Fred Timbrook, 1933-1982

While Paige, in Pennsylvania, watches in astonished admiration as Pastor Groovyhair gets arrested for chaining himself to the fence at the military base they're protesting, we cut between her rapture and her parents' anxiety over Fred. See, Philip and Elizabeth gave Fred the special sticky shoes and parked somewhere to wait while he undertook his mission at the paint plant, but Fred had the poor taste to interrupt their not-so-fond memories of their Soviet childhoods -- Elizabeth looking after her mother during her fourteen-month bout of diphtheria; Philip facing off against local toughs who'd rough him up when he was just trying to buy one of the eleven quarts of milk that are available in the Soviet Union at any one time -- with a call from a pay phone, as arranged. Except things didn't quite go according to plan: a guard noticed that Fred didn't have a pass to be on the floor, so Fred freaked out and shot the guy. Oh: and Fred has been shot himself. So although Philip promises that they'll go get him, he actually goes to pick up the shoes from the dumpster where Fred dead-dropped them, and by the time that's done, they can hear on the police scanner that the cops have gotten to Fred and he's not going to make it. Farewell, Fred! Sorry if any of us thought there was anything untoward in your buying all those model kits for Jared. Don't worry too much that you didn't get a chance to give them to him; he...really didn't deserve any presents.

Is There An Echo In Here? Oh, There Is. In That Safe. Awesome.

Who called the meeting? Stan.

What's it about? You know, he's just checking in on possible security risks surrounding Echo, the computer program. Risks he can exploit, but he doesn't say that part!

How'd it go? Swimmingly! The Pentagon dude who shows Stan around (you may recognize him as Ethan Allen from Jack's disastrous furniture sales presentation from 30 Rock) exposits that Echo only exists on three floppy discs in the whole world: one in Cheyenne Mountain, one the dude doesn't even know about, and one that he's about to bust out and show Stan. Either faking dumb or actually dumb, Stan asks what exactly is on the disc, so Ethan Allen pops it into a nearby computer to show him what the code looks like. GEE, STAN SURE SEEMS TO BE LEANING IN CLOSE TO STARE AT SOMETHING HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND!

Parents vs. Paige: The Final Showdown (of the season)

Paige has barely gotten back inside the Jennings house before an innocent question about her protest weekend -- "Was it peaceful? No problems?" -- turns into a whole fucking thing about Pastor Groovyhair's heroic arrest and a lecture about civil disobedience (which, Paige sniffs, she doesn't expect Philip and Elizabeth to understand). Pastor G's willingness to give up his own freedom (for a while) for a cause he believes in is, according to Paige, the whole point of her church, and Jesus' sacrifice inspires her. She stomps off before Philip and Elizabeth can eye-roll themselves into permanent ocular damage.

Winner: Paige, but only because her parents are too exhausted to argue with her much.

Marthie Got A Gun

The Symbol: Martha's tiny wee handgun, "The Ladysmith!"

The Scene: Clark is in search of "your corkscrew" ("our corkscrew," she corrects him) when he comes upon the weapon among her kitchen odds and ends.

The Meaning: Clark is going to have a hard time bossing around an increasingly assertive and proactive Martha in the weeks and months ahead.

Is There An Echo In Here? Well, There Had Better Be Soon.

Who called the meeting? Arkady.

What's it about? Instructions on where Stan should leave the printouts of all the photos of the Echo code he totally took with a tie-pin camera. I KNEW HE WAS LEANING IN SUSPICIOUSLY CLOSE!

How'd it go? I mean, uncomfortable. Stan does not like being in this position. But he doesn't argue when Arkady reminds him that Russians are known for keeping their word, and when Arkady asks where Nina should meet Stan after Stan's dropped off all his treason, Stan answers (the place they first met). Before parting, Arkady has one last word of advice for Stan, chickwise: "Don't tell her 'I love you' so much. A Russian woman doesn't like that. She won't respect you." Arkady = World's First PUA.

A Nightmare On Pennsylvania Avenue NW

The Symbol: Vlad.

The Scene: Stan rolls up at his office at the FBI -- past Martha and the mail robot -- and sees Vlad, in his jogging gear, sitting outside Gaad's office with a bag of American fast food. He then enters (heh) Gaad's office and sees Sandra in there having sex with Vlad.

The Meaning: Everything Stan's life was built on went to shit after he killed Vlad. Also, even if Stan's not aware of it on a conscious level, he knows something's up with Martha and the files on that mail robot....

Surprise Trip Upstate?

So...you hear that Larrick came back to America on some bullshit "family business" and is now AWOL, and your response is to pack up your kids in the dead of night for a surprise trip upstate to check on Jared? Meaning that if Larrick wasn't already on him, you probably just led Larrick to him? But, of course, Larrick's been watching the cabin for at least a couple of days, plus now you've endangered your kids. Good job, Jenningses! No wonder The Centre stuck you with that dumb rookie; you are tarnishing the good name of spycraft.

Take It From Me, You Just Don't Understand Parents

Jared Connors, 1965-1982

After Larrick leads Jared and Elizabeth, at gunpoint (and handcuffed, in her case), back to the cabin, it quickly becomes clear how bad this all is: Abigail is dead on the lawn, and Philip is handcuffed in the trunk of Larrick's car. Larrick says he's turning them in: he doesn't care what happens to him anymore. Elizabeth distracts Larrick by accusing him of killing Jared's whole family (which Larrick denies, again), which gives Jared time to get a gun out of his jacket pocket. Before Larrick can force Elizabeth into the trunk along with Philip, Jared shoots Larrick. It's a non-fatal wound, but Larrick is a better shot, and gets Jared in the neck. After some hand-to-hand-to-knee-to-balls combat, Larrick falls back into the trunk, whereupon Philip is able to grab Larrick's gun and shoot him a few times through the back. Those shots are fatal. And then there's some business around the corpse and the handcuff keys...

...but once her hands are free, Elizabeth goes straight to Jared, of course. He knows he's dying, but he wants Elizabeth to tell Kate he's sorry, and tell The Centre that he saved Elizabeth. And then he uses his dying declaration to lay out all the stuff we didn't know (but that a bunch of people on the forums suspected): JARED killed his family. He and Kate were going to work together -- she recruited him, and also, he loved her. He tried to tell his parents, but they didn't understand, and he became convinced that they didn't love him: "My family was a lie. My whole life was a lie." After Kate told Jared who he really was, Jared decided he had to kill his parents; he also killed Amelia because she would have gone to the police: "I had to protect my cover. What we do -- it's for something greater than ourselves." After some death-related stuttering, he manages to add, "Kate always said, the work, the cause: that's what matters." He's about to reiterate his request that they tell Kate what a hero he is...and then he dies. Goodnight forever, Jared. I guess your training hadn't incorporated the gun range yet, because you really had a pretty good shot at Larrick. And: maybe they'll cut your hair at the funeral parlor.

The Americans: The Next Generation

Who called the meeting? Claudia.

What's it about? Now that everyone's dead, Philip and Elizabeth can hear what's actually been going on this whole season.

How'd it go? Well, here's the sitch, in case you didn't fully get it from Jared's grunty final remarks: The Centre has a cool new program where they try to recruit the children of their illegals. See, people like Emmett and Leanne and Philip and Elizabeth could never get high-placed jobs at the CIA or FBI because they wouldn't pass the background checks. But! Their American-born kids totally could. The Centre wanted to recruit Jared; when Emmett and Leanne refused, The Centre sent Kate, and that completely worked. Guess what else? The Centre has its collective eye on Paige as its next target! Elizabeth and Philip are horrified, but Claudia is firm: "Those are your orders." First, they're going to have to tell Paige their real story. And then it'll be up to them to develop her until she's ready to get her full spy on. "She belongs to the cause, and to the world. We all do. You haven't forgotten that, have you?" So I would say this meeting ends poorly for Philip and Elizabeth the generally loving parents, but kind of intriguingly for the viewer! Also maybe if they do tell Paige everything she'll shut the fuck up for two minutes.

Nina having already been marched out of the Rezidentura by a heartsick-looking Oleg (who I guess wasn't such a bad guy after all), she emerges from the front door, while Stan, parked nearby, watches like the creeper he is! He has regrets! Especially when Nina's car pulls away and she turns around and watches him right through the back window, piercing his soul with her eyes! It's okay, Stan, you can just go home to your wife. OH WAIT.

Arkady browses magazines in a bookstore, NOT A LIBRARY, BY THE WAY, when a disguised Philip rolls up and introduces himself! Arkady warns him, "I am often under surveillance"! Philip knows! So Arkady should appreciate how much Philip means what he's about to say: "If our organization ever gets anywhere near our daughter without our permission, my wife and I are finished"! Okay...except, how would that actually work?

Philip comes home and tells Elizabeth, "I don't think they'll go near her"! Except...apparently Elizabeth's been spending this whole time he was gone thinking that Paige's becoming a Soviet spy hiding in plain sight might not be such a bad idea! "She does need something! She's looking for something in her life! What if-- what if this is it?" Philip can't believe she's talking so fucking crazy: "We swore! We swore we would never-- It would destroy her!" "To be like us?" she asks. Philip realizes she's serious and looks like he might actually puke -- which is bad timing because Elizabeth ends the conversation by calling the kids down for dinner! And everyone sits down together like a totally normal average American family! BUT FOR HOW LONG?!?!? WE WILL FIND OUT NEXT YEAAAAAAAAAAR!