Episode Report Card Joe R: B+ | 29 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT It's a Trap
By Joe R | Season 1 | Aired on 05.01.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Just as Elizabeth feared, Prince is being swiftly broken by the Feds while they prepare for not only a meeting with the defecting Colonel, but also an FBI-engineered meeting between Caspar Weinberger and James Bakker that is purely a trap. Elizabeth and Philip haggle over who gets to fall on their sword, not knowing they suspect the wrong meeting of being a set-up.
Meanwhile, Nina gets orders from Arkady to not only inform on the Americans, but that her endgame will be to eventually turn Stan. Hello, Season 2 arc.
Grannie Claudia takes an extracurricular mission to kill Patterson in retaliation for Zhukov's murder. Later, she learns that the Centre is indeed re-assigning her, per the Jennings' request. Loyal as ever to the mission, she informs Arkady that she thinks the Colonel meet is every bit the setup that Philip and Elizabeth do.
Stan informs Nina that he expects good news today, after which he will be able to get her exfiltrated. This, of course, isn't the good news that it would have been for Nina, say, two weeks ago. She goes right back to Arkady and tells him about this expectation of big news, which she has to believe indicated that the Colonel meeting is a trap.
And while Prince has indeed agreed to talk in exchange for immunity and $500,000, the Feds aren't onto the Colonel yet. They're all over the Weinberger thing, though, waiting to snatch up the Directorate S agent(s) who come to retrieve the recording device. That turns out to be Elizabeth, because Philip decides to play the chivalrous husband and take the "more dangerous" Colonel meeting himself. He's already at the meet when Claudia sees the makeshift abort signal that Arkady sends. She busts up the meeting, but she and Philip soon realize this isn't the set-up. Philip races to Elizabeth, snatching her up in time to make a thorny and dangerous getaway from FBI barricades. Elizabeth is shot in the process, but Philip is able to get her to a black-site hospital in time to save her.
In the meantime, Philip asks Stan to watch the kids while he and Elizabeth travel to take care of Elizabeth's ailing great aunt. Paige ends up back in her empty home for a moment and begins snooping in the basement, where her mother had previously been suspiciously "folding laundry" the other night. We don't see Paige finding anything yet, but she's clearly on her way. Good, because the more narrative weight we can lay on Paige, the better.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Twelve episodes worth of insanely horrendous disguises and repetitive marital strife that somehow got called the best American debut season since Homeland, which, fine, but Homeland was like a minute and a half ago. Also: Elizabeth and Philip were super-duper suspicious of a meeting their supposed to have with a U.S. colonel looking to flip, particularly after the source for that meeting ended up getting arrested for failure to pay child support.
Currently: that very source, our old pal Sanford Prince, is being questioned by Agent Stan. Stan's playing the good cop and Prince isn't being overtly suspicious about anything, but still, Stan's spidey sense detects that he's "holding something back." Outside the interrogation room, Stan shares this suspicion with Special Agent John-Boy. They decide to leave Prince alone for a long while to see if he starts cracking. You know, screaming at the walls and such.
SPEAKING OF WHICH OH GOD MARTHA IS ORGASMING LOUDLY. Yes, newlyweds Clark and Martha are engaging in the kind of consensual sexual act that most people don't associate with married couples. Clark is still submerged under the covers as Martha's cries of pleasure echo through her tackily-appointed apartment. His legs, however, are sticking out past the bottom of the covers, making Martha look like some ecstatic frog creature. If any one character on this show best represents the series as a whole, it's got to be Martha: gooberishly straightforward and enthusiastic, despite myriad flaws that her top suitor appears completely blind to. Clark's impenetrable wig isn't even slightly askance. The blue garter on Martha's leg tells me this is still their wedding night. She downshifts pretty seamlessly into asking Clark for his input on possible decorating changes. You know, so he feels like the place is his too. Clark is like, "This is place is great just as it is!" Distance, man. Distance.
Elsewhere, Elizabeth shows up to meet Claudia at a cute little breakfast restaurant, an oddly normalized location considering their recent trend of meeting at video arcades, fancy weddings and rock-climbing classes. Elizabeth refuses the plate of eggs Florentine that Claudia ordered for her, probably suspecting they're poisoned. We go through a light rehash of matters with the Colonel -- Elizabeth thinks the whole thing adds up to a set-up; Claudia says Elizabeth is probably right to be wary -- Prince is in Federal custody after all -- but the Centre wants it done, and besides, their job involves taking these risks sometimes. Elizabeth is once again amused at the idea of Claudia sitting in her cushy position, putting her and Philip into danger on a whim. Claudia also brings up another task necessitated by a meeting that's supposedly going to happen between Caspar Weinberger and James Bakker. There's a lot of something-something about Reagan planning an attack on someone-someones in Nicaragua, but the important thing is that Elizabeth accepts the meeting without even a bitchy remark, all the while we smartasses in the audience know that the Feds are all over Weinberger's house and THIS is a trap.