Last season, The Americans had another fantastic amazing filled with family drama, spy drama, and (on the down side) Stan's romantic drama. Following a short trip to Russia for Elizabeth and Paige, the season finale ended on a high note after Paige revealed to Pastor Tim that her parents were Russian spies. Additionally, in order to save Martha, Philip/Clark was forced to supply the FBI with a patsy in the form of Martha's coworker, Gene Craft.
The first episode of this season picks up with a rare flashback into the early life of Philip, or as he was known at the time, Misha. While we have seen a lot of Elizabeth’s mother and Philip’s ex-girlfriend Irina, we have not learned a great amount about Philip’s upbringing. We know that he lived a rough childhood in Tobolsk, Russia, but not much else. This first scene shows us young Philip’s first foray into a world of brutality, and it isn’t pretty.
Back in the present, Philip’s biggest priority is the Martha situation. Last season he contemplated telling Martha that he was responsible for Gene’s death. While Elizabeth was practically insistent that he include Martha, Philip wasn’t quite so keen on filling Martha in on the details. Whether she would ever admit it or not, Martha has become entirely complacent in the work that Philip and Elizabeth do. She doesn’t want to do anything illegal or harmful, and yet, because she is so infatuated with “Clark”, she is unable to actually do anything about her currently pitiful situation. In this episode, Martha comes to the realization that bad things are going to happen to her and the people that she cares about if she continues on her current path. As usual, Alison Wright does a fantastic job portraying Martha’s mix of emotions in the season premiere.
Meanwhile, Paige is truly struggling with her choice at the end of last season. In this regard, Paige is having every bit of the same mixed emotions that Martha is currently feeling. She loves her parents, but she questions the motives behind everything they say. She loves Pastor Tim, but can she trust him with such a dangerous secret? She loves America, but is she really an American? She loves Christianity, but if she’s really from the Soviet Union, is she an atheist? With all these questions on her mind, Paige probably won't be prepare for the main question she should be asking: What happens when her parents find out?
On the other side of the world, Nina is busy trying to get as much information from Anton as possible in order secure her release from prison. When I interviewed Annet Mahendru at the beginning of last season, she said that Nina would be spending a lot of time in isolation. I thought I understood that as half a season or so. However, a whole season later, Nina is still trying to work her way out of the same mess. While I applaud the ability of the writers to realistically string out a potentially short lived story to whole season long arc (Martha is easily the greatest example of this on television), Nina simply has to do more on this show to retain interest in her character. I’ve thought for a long time that Nina factored into the endgame with the main characters somehow, but, in my opinion, she has to do something more in the meantime.
The last thing I want to tease about this episode is the fantastic ending scene. Though not directly obvious, tension has been building between two characters on this show for quite awhile and it explodes in a big way at a really bad time.
Other Teasers:
It wouldn’t be a season premiere of The Americans, without a great new set of wigs and disguises.
Philip, much to the chagrin of a main cast member, spends time with another main cast member who has been criminally underused for the past four seasons.
Rating: 8.9/10 - The Americans continues to be the single most underrated show on television. The season premiere does an extraordinary job of balancing story, action, and drama. Amidst this great balancing act, it even finds time to introduce compelling storylines that will have major effects in the next three episodes.
Tune in to the season premiere of The Americans on Wednesday, March 16th. Be sure to come back here to SpoilerTV to let everyone else know what you thought of the episode.
