Welcome to Season 2 of The Americans, and when it comes to watching the show, the edge of your seat isn't edgy enough.
After witnessing the gruesome murders of her friends and their daughter, Elizabeth has gone into full mother bear mode and can't work, can't sleep, can't do anything, but be on the lookout for bad guys angling to take out her family. The utility worker never looked more suspicious.
While Elizabeth hunkers down, Kevin heads out on his own to investigate Emmett's agent and try and figure out if he was the one who got the family killed. Unfortunately, the agent, Fred, has booby trapped his house and Philip gets a big shock (literally) when he goes snooping. Philip wakes up tied to a dresser and not in a fun kinky way, but in a holy-piroshky-I'm-trapped sort of way. He tries to talk himself out of the situation, but the agent, Fred, isn't handling the stress and the home invasion very well. As he holds a gun to Philip's head, Philip has to convince him that he's not the enemy and simultaneously break the news that Emmett and his family are dead.
Once Fred unties Philip, he tells him that the information he was passing to Emmett was incredibly time sensitive and Philip must act immediately or the whole endeavor would be for naught.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth is forced to ditch her kids at the movies in order to answer a 911 call from another operative. She finds a hysterical young woman drugged out in an alley with a doped-up Congressional aide, who she's worried is dead. Elizabeth fixes the situation and leaves the woman with the words, "Your revolution is beautiful," when, clearly, it is not.
At the Russian embassy, Nina can't escape Oleg, the newcomer at the Russian embassy who likes to make grandiose statements like, "I'm a feminist, Nina -- I only work for Mother Russian." As she fends off his stupidity, she discovers that Stan lied to her and actually did shoot her comrade in the head after flat-out denying it before. While she's not in the mood to help him, she does pass along the information that there was a walk-in to the embassy -- an American willing and able to give the Russians intelligence. The FBI runs with the info, but to what end is still TBD.
Come back later for the full recap, comrades.
After the events of last week's episode -- the brutal murder of a sweet little Soviet spy family -- Philip and Elizabeth are feeling the heat. Well, Elizabeth certainly is. When we last saw her she was double checking the locks on the doors and windows and wishing she had some *ahem* iron curtains to protect her family from the big bad someone who killed a very similar spy family just last night. We return to the show to find Elizabeth dutifully transcribing a secret code broadcast to her from the depths of a fake-out radio that's sending out secrets from the motherland. She is distracted from her diligent transcription (too bad they haven't told the kids about their double lives, because she seriously needs an intern) when a not-at-all suspicious utility vehicle drives by. She studies the comings and goings in the neighborhood and decides they merit a closer look.
Opting to screw country and duty and go scope out the suburbs, she packs away her radio and heads outside to subtly investigate the front porch. She picks up the paper and looks around deeming everything from the kids laughing to the parents chatting completely and totally… uh, let me look up a synonym for suspicious. Ah, here: Dubious and shady. Everyone looks shady. The scene only needed a giant animatronic clown and it would have been just like that scene from Pee-wee's Big Adventure when his bike is stolen and he passes out into a line of bicycles while blowing an air horn. As Elizabeth doesn't have an air horn in her arsenal, she instead retreats inside to a safe world of pancake breakfasts and orange juice.
Meanwhile, Philip is making breakfast for his other wife who is definitely taking her marriage seriously as she rolls over to the breakfast table in curlers and a pink housedress, which a single lady would never do. It's true gentlemen: You put a ring on your fake wife's finger and it's all downhill from there. (Side note: whatever happened to housedresses? I would wear the heck out of a housedress.) Philip serves his beloved bride some eggs and notes that she looks like crap, which is not a commentary on the housedress, because that thing is rockin'. She admits she may be coming down with something. She also mentions that she saw an opening for a better job in a different department. Obviously that won't work for Philip, who needs her to stay in counter intelligence forever and ever, through sickness and health, until death do they part.
He gently talks her down and reminds her how smart she is and how lucky the department is to have her and how she should really try and find a job in counter intelligence because she's good enough, smart enough and gosh darnnit people like her. She agrees and gives her kinds sweet supportive husband a kiss. As she eats her healthy, hearty breakfast, she watches TV, and sees the news about the poor family murdered in their hotel room in Alexandria. Philip assures her it wasn't Charles Manson types and heads out the door for work.
Meanwhile, Philip's kids are watching the same news broadcast until Elizabeth tells them to turn it off. She does it for them and then goes to stand guard outside.
The workers at Russia's Rezidentura must have been watching the local news, too, because the camera cuts to Nina's boss who is reporting to Russia that they still have no leads on the family's killer and they want the motherland's input and information on the matter. He charges out of the room yelling for Nina, but they are waylaid by Oleg, the new recruit, who can't figure out what priorities are and why people have them and is frustrated that his project is being put at the bottom of the list. The boss man doesn't especially care about some kids plans and shuts the door in his face.
At the travel agency, Philip bustles in to talk to Elizabeth who admits that she doesn't know the latest from Russia because she got all tweaky and had to go stare at shady shade trees in suburbia in case they were going to kill her children. Philip is kind about it and tells her the intel on his end: Martha knows nothing about the murders and the FBI is definitely not on it or behind it. As they try and figure out their move, the office door swings open and it's Stan, the friendly neighborhood FBI agent who is just popping in to say hi and to help them drum up some additional business. They smile broadly and go to meet his FBI agent friends who are looking for a deal on travel. You know, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys are so good at looking dead-eyed and cold-faced and turning it into a sweet happy welcoming smile. It's always surprising and part of what makes this show work. Stan's friends want to book a bachelor weekend and Elizabeth hilariously suggests they all go to Montreal. The men all stare at her and Philip saves her after a beat and suggests a dude ranch that brews its own moonshine. Their cover is saved!
Back at KGB HQ, Oleg is pestering Nina. When she won't give him a satisfactory answer about what is happening behind closed doors, he settles into her office chair uninvited and explains his deep and abiding love of New Wave music. When she expresses no interest in him or his semi-inept flirting he congratulates her on being the first person he's met who isn't what she seems, which if you parse, is not exactly a nice thing to say to anyone. Nina suggests that perhaps he is wrong about everyone and continues working until he gets a clue and leaves, but not before hitting her with an epic Soviet line: "I'm a feminist. I only work for Mother Russia." She has no response to that, because how could she?
Philip has traveled to the home of Emmett's contact. Along the way he has put on a long-haired wig and mustache and utilitarian jumpsuit. He follows the man from his house to a diner and beyond. He calls his wife (Elizabeth, not Martha) and goes to break into the man's house. He snoops around but doesn't find anything suspicious until, you know, he does. (Although frankly that crystal chess set was pretty shady taste-wise, if you ask me.) He doesn't find anything incriminating aside from a Playboy stash in a locked drawer, until he stumbles on a trap door on the floor of the den. (LOL: dens were so big in the '80s.) He peels back the rug, opens the trap door and reaches for the metal box hidden inside. Then he gets jolted with electricity and passes out cold. Damn bro, you got booby trapped!
Nina and Stan meet up at their love nest. She knows he killed Vlad and is determined to get information out of him that will bring him down. She tells him about the walk-in and he is very interested. Stan wants to run off and start working on the lead, but Nina lures him into bed instead.
Philip -- who, by the way, I always want to call Kevin because of that whole "recapping a million seasons of Brothers & Sisters" thing -- wakes up tied to a dresser, with a sweaty balding portly man yelling into his phone about "'really liking a steak dinner.'" Kevin Philip comes to and focuses on how to resolve the situation. He starts talking to Fred, who is Emmett's contact, and telling him that he's a friend, not a member of the FBI. He assures Fred that he's doing the right thing by calling in that emergency signal. Fred isn't listening, though. He's too busy sweating and panicking. Philip keeps talking while Fred throws money into a bag, grabs a gun and hyperventilates. Philip continues to talk him through the situation: He's not an enemy, he's a friend, he's here to help, Fred's not in trouble, in fact they met before when Philip stood in for Emmett at their brush pass (which is apparently a spy term of art) at the amusement park. Fred isn't buying it.
A phone call interrupts game night for Elizabeth and the kids. It's a coded message that sends Elizabeth running to the window to stare at the utility crew again. One of the workers stares back at her and that's enough to send her running to the newspaper to look at the movie listings. She abandons game night and ushers the kids out of the house ASAP to make the showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Paige argues of course, but Henry is excited enough for both of them and Elizabeth shoves them into the car.
Speaking of ASAP, Philip is struggling to make a connection with Fred as quickly as possible, because Fred is pointing a gun at his head and is going to finish him off as soon as he finds the nerve. Philip finally stumbles on a thin thread: the models he found in the closet were intended for Emmett's son, right? Fred doesn't really want to kill Philip (which explains all the sweating), so he relents. He admits that they were supposed to be presents for Emmett's kid and as soon as Emmett calls him back and confirms that Philip is his friend, Fred will happily untie him from his credenza. That's when Philip realizes that he has to break it the armed, sweaty man that Emmett is dead. He asks Fred if there's any chance that anyone found out about their relationship and Fred swears that it's a complete and total secret. Philip asks him a few more questions about his relationship with Emmett that gets Fred agitated again and with a gun once again trained on his head, Phillip tells him that Emmett was killed. Fred doesn't believe it, because he saw pictures of the hotel victims and Philip explains that Fred always saw him in costume, for his own protection. Philip builds his case and Fred believes him. He drops the gun and sits on the bed and cries for his lost friend.
On their way to the movies, Elizabeth swears. She forgot to finish ticketing a tour package and is going to have to drop the kids off at the movie while she goes to the office. Because she swore, the kids believe it.
Fred is no longer sweating and has untied Philip who is now consoling him. When Fred starts asking about the boy that was with Philip in Alexandria, he gets uncomfortable and goes to leave because the situation has been defused. Fred stops him in his tracks with one final question though: did he get the settings? Philip doesn't know what he's talking about because the operation has been on hold as they all recover from their loss. Fred looks agitated as he explains that the operation can't be on hold. It's very time sensitive. They only have once chance to get into a factory and get some numbers from a machine. If they fail the entire mission is for naught. Philip looks exhausted by the whole idea.
While her kids watch Harrison Ford play a dashing archaeologist rescuing artifacts from Nazis, Elizabeth is off on her own secret rescue mission. The message she received was an SOS from an agent in distress. She puts on a baseball cap as an ersatz costume and heads down a dark alley, where a girl with a gun is crying behind a dumpster. Elizabeth addresses her looking for a code phrase, but the girl is too freaked out to deliver the words in the right order. When she gets close enough, Elizabeth relents and goes to help her. The girl is stressed and sobbing and Elizabeth demands she hand over the gun. The girl happily hands it to her and explains the situation to Elizabeth: She's a Soviet asset posing as a grad student and dating a Congressional aide in order to pump him for information. She and the aide were out partying when they smoked just a little too much cocaine on top of all the other pills and alcohol and the aide passed out cold. She thinks he's dead, but she took too many drugs to know for sure. Elizabeth checks the guy's pulse, assures the girl that he is not dead and tells her to chill until she returns. The girl doesn't chill very well.
At FBI HQ, the agents are working Nina's tip, trying to track down the man who walked into the Russian embassy. Their surveillance cameras picked up everyone who went in or out of the embassy and they printed out some glamour shots to try and figure out who may be willing to give information to the great Russian cause. The boss comes in to apply some pressure reminding them that the last time someone walked into the Russian embassy he gave them all the information they needed to make nukes to 'splode America.
Back in the alley, instead of handing over nuclear trigger designs, Elizabeth gives the drugged out frantic chick a candy bar and a giant pop. She tells the girl to eat and drink up, because sugar is the cure for drug use. The Russians have known it all along, but kept that Truth Bomb out of the American knowledge bank so we will implode in a sea of easily solved drug abuse. Elizabeth gives the girl some advice: Tell the aide that she saved his life and by not taking him to the hospital, she saved his job, too. Then she should work on being his girlfriend, not his party buddy. That's where the really good information comes from. She tells her she is going to be okay and then turns back to tell her, "Your revolution is beautiful. A foothold for us in South America. Call anytime." The girl smiles in appreciation of the fact that they are all in it together. That's the true spirit of Communism that is.
The FBI has found their man. Out of the four suspects they had on camera entering the embassy during the time frame specified by Nina, they were able to eliminate three leaving one man -- Bruce Dameran -- as the walk in. Bruce is a Purple Heart vet who just started working at the World Bank. The FBI is now *very* interested in whatever information he may be handing to the Russians. Meanwhile the Rezidentura is still trying to verify that Bruce is who he says he is and is asking the Kremlin to assign a code name and an operation name to the matter.
Now that Philip is free from Fred's captivity, he calls Elizabeth. However, she is distracted on the phone and barely notices when he says his other wife, Martha, has a fever. What's so distracting? That the utility crew has packed up and gone home leaving no trace behind at all. She's confused by the apparent lack of threat and seems to be reeling from the realization that maybe she is just being paranoid. She eventually snaps to attention and tells Philip to go to Martha's, but he hears something in her voice that gives him pause. He hangs up with Elizabeth and calls Martha. She is very sick but did manage to get herself on the list for any future openings in counter intelligence. He's happy that she is staying in the right department, but then breaks the news to her that his flight got cancelled. She's bummed, but understanding. She makes his heart skip a beat, though, by telling him that she overheard talk at the office about the murders. While Philip thinks she is going to tell him something useful about how the FBI caught the killers or realized that the victims were Soviet spies, instead she just tells him that she heard crime is at an all time high and that she wants to get a gun. He rolls his eyes and hangs up on her. Not literally, but more or less. This is why you can't find a real husband, Martha!
Lest you forget that Paige is a pain-in-the-butt snooping tween, back at her house, she pulls a post card from the fridge and grabs the phone. She calls the operator and asks for the area code for a city in Pennsylvania. She then asks for the number for a woman named Helen, which I believe is the name of the aunt that Elizabeth was supposedly taking care of while she was away recuperating from her gun shot. Oh Paige, can't you just be boy crazy and making shrines to Ricky Schroder like the rest of the teenage girls in the world? Paige's advanced placement snooping is interrupted by the unexpected return of Philip. Elizabeth is happy to see him, but confused, too. He sweetly explains that he heard her voice on the phone and wanted to come home and make sure she was okay.
Later that night, Stan is creepily sitting in his car staring at Bruce who is airing his dirty laundry where it belongs , namely, the Laundromat. Being an FBI agent seems to involve a lot of creeping, at least where Stan is concerned.
Philip fills Elizabeth in on his day and she lets it all soak in. Elizabeth tells Philip that she never worried about Paige and Henry being safe before. Now that she saw what happened to the Connors was overwhelming. She asks him, "How are we supposed to live like this?" He glumly assures her that they'll get used to it just like they've gotten used to everything else. Being a spy sure looks sucky.
That's all for now, comrades.