Previously on The Americans: Philip and Elizabeth are contemplating how to deal with the Pastor Tim problem while they also juggle jealous exes, Stan’s suspicion of Martha, and a dangerous pathogen that could be the next bubonic plague. And Nina is still in a Russian prison doing something…
This episode picks up with Philip and Elizabeth staring down Pastor Tim. When Paige first revealed her parents’ secret back in the season three finale, I thought that Pastor Tim would be dispatched before the end of the season four finale. Now in episode 3, Pastor Tim is still breathing and I must admit that I’m quite surprised by Philip and Elizabeth’s restraint. While they certainly discussed killing him, I like the fact that they have (currently) chosen to let him live because of the effect it could have on Paige. All the same, based on some of Pastor Tim’s actions in this episode, I wouldn’t take him completely off the chopping block quite yet.
Meanwhile at the FBI, tensions are quite high following Gene’s suicide and the apparent lack of any organization (even the mail robot is unhappy). Stan Beeman, AKA the only guy with a clue, can’t shake his suspicion of Martha. Luckily for Stan, Agent Aderholt’s romantic aspirations for Martha may just work in his favor. Depending on how many seasons The Americans will go for, Stan would seem to be getting closer to “Clark” than ever before.
In other news, fan favorite, Claudia, comes back to discuss a potential major change in Philip and Elizabeth’s lives. While Gabriel has proven himself to be Philip and Elizabeth’s closest ally within the Centre, Claudia remains to be more interested in them as spies than as people. Whatever the cost, I think it’s fair to say that Claudia will choose the conservation of the KGB’s work over all else.
Meanwhile, Nina’s storyline has absolutely hit rock bottom. She has a dream sequence in this episode and normally I love dream sequences, but hopes and dreams don't matter if they have no effect on the story or characters. Nina’s actions have ZERO effect on any of the other characters and I just don’t care about her anymore. If anyone disagrees, I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Prediction: Next week, she's going to talk to some other generic Russian official about her trial in an extremely ambiguous way in just the same fashion that she has been for the last full season.
Rating: 9.1/10 - This isn’t the most exciting episode and the Nina stuff is really dragging on, but the last five minutes are quite exciting and set up next week to be a great “bottle” episode of sorts.
Tune in to The Americans on Wednesdays @ 10/9c on FX Network. Be sure to come back here to SpoilerTV to let everyone else know what you thought of the episode.
