Last Wednesday night, The Americans continued its second season with a all new episode, “Behind the Red Door”. We have reached the middle of the season, and I absolutely loved it. This week episode was a great and clever installment. It had surprises and mostly it focused on Elizabeth and being my favorite character of the show, I had to love the episode.
Elisabeth is such an interesting character. She has so many layers, I love it every time the story centered on her.
This week, we got to see Elizabeth’s reaction to Martha’s revelation last week and also Elizabeth playing teacher spy to Lucia, the Sandinista from the beginning of the season.
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Elizabeth and Philip, following Claudia’s intel, finally met with Larrick the suspect number one in Emmett and Leanne’s killer. It turned out he probably wasn’t the killer, but he did wanted to kill them. The scene was very tense, especially when Elizabeth had her hand on her gun, ready to shot. Larrick is a very clever man, but not trustworthy at all. After betraying his own country for KGB for money, now he has betrayed KGB for his own country. With Regan in place and operation “Martial Eagle”, he believes now Americans will win the cold war.
About the operation “Martial Eagle”, it’s mainly about training Contra troops on US soils and send them back to Nicaragua. Kate (I loved Claudia’s comment about her graduating from high school) informed Philip and Elizabeth they had to expose those camps to the Americans public. It seems like a very dangerous mission. I’m not sure how far Philip and Elizabeth are willing to go after everything that happened. We will see in the next episodes. As Elizabeth said, motherland is concerned about Philip and her safety but they are more worried about other things, like Martial Eagle.
In order to get information on the camp, and about the person in charge, Elizabeth had to contact Lucia. With help of her boyfriend, who is a Congressman’s aid, she could let Elizabeth in the Congressman’s office and get what she needed. And that was what she did. Lucia used sex to make the mission a success. Elizabeth advised her to do so, as she has been used to. But afterwards, Elizabeth told Lucia to tie loose ends. Elizabeth noticed Lucia was starting to get attached to him, and it would put her in risk. Lucia executed her orders and watch her boyfriend overdosed, in her arms. It was quite a pathetic and sad scene. Lucia put more heroin in his fix and right after he invited her to meet his mother. Elizabeth is a great teacher in a way, I love her relationship with Lucia, giving advises, talking about her mistakes, her past. Elizabeth has so much to give, but she is always cold and withholding. Watching and listening to Lucia giving her body for a mission made Elizabeth question about her own relationship with her sexuality.
Since the start of the season, Elizabeth’s rape has been haunted her. It was even more tangible when she talked to Philip about Martha’s comment. She told her Clark was a wild animal in bed but it really affected Elizabeth. First, I thought she was only being jealous, asking Philip some questions and wondering how Clark made love to his wife. But there was something more to it. Elizabeth was a bit obsessed with having sex with Clark. It seems very odd, and quite destructing for any relationship, especially theirs. It’s really complicated enough, Philip playing someone else and being married to another woman, Elizabeth using often sex on her missions, they didn’t need to bring Clark in their bedroom. Philip, despite his costume, couldn’t act different with Elizabeth so she made him angry and he was quite rough with her. Keri Russell was amazing in that scene. It was so disturbing and painful to watch. Philip stopped and she cried. She probably was reminded of her rape, and she finally realized how stupid her idea was. I feared for a moment it could hurt their relationship, they already been through so much, I didn’t want to watch them going apart again but Phillip didn’t hold it against her. He’s such a great guy.
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Even Claudia noticed it. In the last scene of the episode, Claudia was so truthful to Elizabeth. I absolutely loved that scene. It was so powerful, Claudia finally opened up and told Elizabeth why she has been looking so guilty since Emmett and Leanne’s murder. Since Larrick is not the killer, she probably knows who is he. Claudia got involved with a man, she told her the truth about herself. She put everything at risk with that confession, because the guy left. It was so touching to watch Claudia’s confession. She really felt bad about it she made a terrible mistake.
We don’t know yet for sure her ex is responsible. I’ve never imagined Claudia would be so careless about her mission. But I can understand her loneliness, and how finding someone pushed her to uncover her secrets.
I can't to finally discover who really killed Emmett and Leanne and their daughter.
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Stan was very lonely in “Behind the Red Door” as well. His life has been turned upside down since Oleg asked him to give him his security clearance, who and when he is being tracked by the FBI. Stan got rejected from everyone. First, at his family dinner, his wife and son were sharing a great moment, laughing and all and he was totally out of the loop. He didn’t even notice his new red or should I say “tomato tango” front door. He was too concerned about his work and Nina. It felt like he wasn't there.
After, Stan got rejected from his former boss. He visited at his home, nice house BTW, but there wasn’t much of a discussion. He was quite cold to Stan, so Stan quickly left.
And finally, he got rejected by his love, Nina. Annet Mahendru only appeared in that scene but she was so good, I didn’t mind she wasn’t in other parts of the episode. It was so heartbreaking to watch Nina so angry at Stan for asking her to pass a polygraph (I’m pretty she would have passed it anyway). Her words were so harsh and cold, it was so much more than just about the polygraph. And she had to protect herself anyway. So, now they are finished. I can’t wait how this will play out in the next episode.
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The next episode is called ‘ARPANET”, and we first heard of it in “Behind the Red Door”. It’s actually why Oleg is in America. ARPANET is basically the first step to the Internet we use today. Oleg seemed very excited about it, when he told Arkady It was weird watching those two having a normal talk. There was no tension or threat, they just talked. Major improvement for them. They finally accepted their places.
I can’t wait for next episode, to find more about Martial Eagle, how they’re gonna expose this, what will Oleg do with ARPANET. “Behind the Red Door” was an important installment, it’s the start of something big, which I think will be played out in the 7 last episodes. Philip and Elizabeth have so much to deal with right now, their situation is becoming more and more explosive every day.
I like the pacing of this season, it’s really well balanced. Philip and Elizabeth shared much of their time together, at home or in mission. I really appreciate watching them both, more than last season. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys have this perfect chemistry on screen, it’s so bad not to use it.
Spy notes :
· Drinking vodka in the morning, so Russian of you, Kate… Being in a bar isn’t an excuse. Beer is acceptable in the morning.
· Paige quit the volleyball team !!! lol I had no idea she was in it. But I appreciate her scene with Elizabeth, asking her to go to church with her. I can’t wait for that to happen. Paige is being honest and not lying. Does this mean she will stop questioning her parents ? I hope not
· No Henry again this week. He’s a busy boy.
· No Martha either… I hope she will be back next week.
What did you think of “Behind the Red Door” ? Which was your favorite part ? Hit the comments !
