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Remember poor Hotski, a.k.a. Robert, the Directorate S agent who died of a stab wound in the season premiere? Philip ends up getting a coded message that could only have come from Robert in the newspaper, scheduling a meeting. The Jenningses have to figure out what's up, but they can't go themselves, so Elizabeth gets in touch with Gregory, a young black radical she recruited (and fell in love with) some years back. Gregory and his team stake out the meeting -- as do the FBI -- and it turns out, Robert had a secret wife and baby in Philadelphia, unknown to Philip and Elizabeth.
The Feds are assuming the wife -- Joyce Ramirez -- could be Directorate S as well, while the Jenningses need to find out what she knows, and in an exciting little setpiece, Gregory's team engineers a pickup of Joyce and her baby right under the Feds' noses. He brings her to Philip and Elizabeth, who say they're here to protect her. Joyce thought Robert was a drug dealer or something, and she's freaked out to learn he's dead. Privately, Gregory opines to the Jenningses that they can't trust that she doesn't know about them, and they should kill her, if only to tie up the loose end. This consultancy gets complicated by the fact that Gregory outright tells Philip that he should let Elizabeth go, as she doesn't love him. (Elizabeth has already told Gregory she IS developing feelings for Philip, however, so this move is shady as hell.)
Meantime, Philip decodes a message from Robert (a name and a phone number) and takes it to meet his handler, only his old handler, Gabriel, has been replaced by a woman Philip refers to as "Granny." She's played by Margo Martindale, so she's already my favorite. Seems tough as nails, too. She tells Philip that Robert had been working on a lead to get intel on a weapon the Americans are working on that will threaten the Soviet nuclear arsenal. That's what the name and number are about. Philip makes contact and goes to a meeting with a shadowy guy and his two thugs. The two thugs won't stop menacing in Philip's blind spot, so he beats the shit out of them, before exchanging a briefcase of money for a briefcase full of plans for an anti-ballistic missile device.
In the end, Philip and Elizabeth win out and they don't kill Joyce and the baby. They instead hand her over to Granny, who's going to set them up in Cuba, where they can live out the rest of their days on a white sand beach. PSYCH! You idiots. Of course Granny is going to kill Joyce, and indeed, by episode's end, the baby ends up back in Russia with Robert's parents (but of a downgrade from the white sands of Cuba, eh?), and Joyce ends up in a parked car in Philly, dead from a "drug overdose."
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: A whole lotta hoo-ha was put into putting a mic into a clock. Also, a lot of attention is paid to Cuteski's demise, so expect that to be a thing, not to mention the incredibly random choice to include the part about how Agent Stan plays not hockey but racquetball, which I can't imagine would end up being important, unless...
Currently: Stan and Philip are playing racquetball. Certainly glad we got that "previously" clip about this, or else we'd have spent the full hour wondering what this odd game played inside a glass sweatbox is called. All kidding aside, I like the unshowiness of racquetball as a symbol of '80s-ness.Everybody was doing it back then! Coke and racquetball, that was the 1980s. Like any TV show worth its salt, The Americans is not content to simply show two men playing a game. They have to use the game to tell you some very ham-handed truths about our characters. So we get Stan spelling out his strategy of patience and waiting out his opponent until said opponent makes a mistake, while Philip displays an anything-to-win attitude that includes firing a ball into Stan's back and calling for a forfeit win after Stan gets an important page on his beeper (Philip/Anyone Born in the 1980s: "Do you sell drugs? Why do you have a beeper?") and has to leave early. Poor Philip. Hockey doesn't reveal character this way.
That page was to get Stan's ass back to the office, where Agent Chris is waiting to accompany him to meet with his brand new informant from last week, Nina. She tells Stan that the KGB had an agent get killed the same night that Timoshev vanished. This is good info. Of course, Nina already wants to talk extradition plans for her, but Stan tells her to slow her roll quite a bit. That part comes way down the line, after she gives up way more than this. "The day you forced me to work for you," she tells him, "my life got very scary." He's like, "Hey, I didn't tell you to start stealing fancy foodstuffs from your government." He pledges to protect her if she makes herself "worth protecting." So she gives him details: stab wound, died at a local hospital, and he was Directorate S. "I have value," she tells him. "You'll see." Boy, between Nina and Lady Undersecretary last week, this show is really lining up the beautiful young women on the periphery who are basically guaranteed to get killed by season's end.
After the break, Agent Stan, Agent Chris and various other agents are presenting what they know to Agent John-Boy: they've got a photo of Cuteski's corpse from the hospital; he came in with no identifying information. Stan says they've sent the photo out to police departments across the country, but without any information on the guy, it doesn't sound too promising. Plus, a Directorate S agent isn't going to have a police record, come on. One of the unnamed agents suggests DMV records, but Chris scoffs at the idea. "What are we supposed to do, send his picture out to every DMV in the country?" Agent John-Boy gets pissy at this and says that's exactly what they're going to do. He says to tell the DMVs that overtime is approved and they expect their people to work around the clock until a match is found. Oh, man. Sooooo '80s. "Overtime is approved."
At a diner, Philip is goggling at the Teen Vogue knockoff that Paige is reading (Girls' World, with Nancy McKeon in Facts of Life garb on the cover!). Philip is realizing Paige duped him into buying it for her when she knows her mother won't approve. Paige is like, "You could just not tell," but Philip says she'll know, somehow. "Maternal ESP," says a kindly older lady sitting in a booth over Philip's shoulder. It's Margo Martindale, so we know she's important. She's also wearing stewardess hair and a stewardess scarf tied around her neck, but maybe that's just more '80s stuff. She compliments Philip on his lovely daughter, and he's weirded out but polite about it. He doesn't have time to dwell on it, though, because he spots something in the newspaper that is awfully troubling.
We don't find out what until he meets up with Elizabeth later at the travel agency. It's a coded classified ad -- a signal -- from Robert. Who's Robert? Well, I've been calling him Cuteski, but I guess that's gonna have to stop. R.I.P. Cuteski, again. "He's been dead for two weeks," Elizabeth says, providing the kind of penetrating insight that has kept the Jenningses at the top of the espionage game all these years. Regardless, someone is sending this message, requesting a meet up tomorrow in Philadelphia. He tells her to "put Gregory on it." Guessing that's not a metaphor.
Unless maybe it is? Maybe to "put Gregory on it" means to saunter into a housing project courtyard as the only white lady for three square miles. Everybody's looking at her funny -- like she's a FOREIGNER IN A STRANGE LAND, perhaps -- until she gets to a table where Derek Luke is playing chess against some rando (not Laurence Fishburne, though wouldn't that have been amazing). He knows her. He's Gregory. "Look what the cat dragged in," he says with a smile. "Look at the cat," she returns. A+ banter, comrade! He sends his chess buddy away and offers her a cigarette, which she politely turns down. "I'm trying to be good," she says. "It doesn't suit you," he returns. She suggests they talk inside. Yeah, so the blazing white light of their flirting doesn't attract attention.
Well, well, well. Look what haystack produced a needle. Agent John-Boy comes to Stan and Chris with a printout of a Pennsylvania driver's license for one Robert Owen McKenzie. Chris notes that his address puts him on one of the shittiest blocks in the state. The whole state? Even Lancaster? Even Scranton? Even Erie? Agent John-Boy tells Stan that since he "caught the fish," he now gets to "gut it and cook it." Fun metaphors from Agent John-Boy. Stan says they'll put a surveillance team together.
Inside at Gregory's place, Elizabeth laughs about how little she understands the art he's got hanging on his walls, and he starts playing some music on a reel-to-reel that was probably affectedly low-fi even back in '81. See, because Gregory may live in the hood, but he's cultured and cosmopolitan and crap. Also Communist, judging by the fact that Elizabeth isn't maintaining any aliases with him. Also, judging by the way he kisses her neck, they have a sexual relationship. Make that "had," as Elizabeth finds a way to let him know that things are different. She means at home, with Philip. He thinks she means she's finally leaving him, which is awfully optimistic in Gregory's part. No, she means things are moving in the exact opposite direction with Philip, actually. He scoffs at this, and she protests that people can change. He says not about that they can't. They bicker and split the hair between "cover" and "husband," and Gregory finally gets a bit pissy and tells Elizabeth to just write down the information about the person she wants him and his guys to scope out for her.
Cut to Philadelphia on Thursday, where a hella-nervous woman sits on a bench on a crowded street, with a baby in her arms. At this point, the local news traffic copter could tell you she's the one who arranged the meeting. On the ground, Gregory's team is watching her. On the ground, Gregory looks to the surrounding buildings, and it's like JFK up in here, with every open window and man with an umbrella looking sinister. Our girl remains incredibly skittish, more so when her baby starts fussing. Having waited long enough, she gets up to leave, and Gregory makes note of who heads to their car to follow her.
At the travel agency, Elizabeth relays the news to Philip about the woman: Robert's wife. Whom he never told them about. He wasn't supposed to have a wife, per orders, so that's not good. Philip shuts the door and turns on some music so they can talk for real. (Outside the office, I bet their co-workers are rolling their eyes all, "Another fight?") She tells him that Gregory said the woman had an FBI team following her. Philip's like, "Working with her or watching her?" Gregory said it didn't look like she had any idea, and Philip is willing to trust Gregory on that account, but -- his thought is interrupted by a co-worker barging into the office, looking for TWA vouchers that "Barb" lost track of. GAH, BARB! You're fucking everything up, Barb. Alone again, Philip and Elizabeth decide that they have to find out what, if anything, Robert told this woman. Looks like another job for Gregory. And another job for Elizabeth's guilty, shifty-eyed gaze.
Looks like the FBI is ahead of the game on this one, though. Stan gives a presentation on what they know about Robert's wife: name is Joyce Ramirez, moved to New York from Puerto Rico at age 6, moved to Philly at age 11, by all indications seems legit. Agent John-Boy doesn't truck with "seems," however. He wants them to find yearbook photos, talk to her elementary school teachers. The KGB is obviously getting better at cover identities, is his reasoning, which, okay, fair enough. But after Stan suggests bringing her in, and Chris backs up the idea, Agent John-Boy snaps at only Chris that it's a stupid idea, since they can bring her in any time, and they'll probably get better information by seeing where she leads them. I have decided that Agent John-Boy is racist, so we'll see how that theory pans out.
Elizabeth is back at Gregory's, asking him to help them get a meeting with Joyce. He says it's possible, but super risky, and it's tough to tell whether he's at least partly being obstinate because he's annoyed at her. He passes her his joint, remarking that it usually makes her horny. She takes the joint and stubs it out, which might be the most gangster thing she's done in three episodes. She needs him sober. He says she needs to check herself. None of the domestic life she's set up for herself is real. He says he knows her, clearly implying he knows that she never wanted that. She's like, "Get your shit together" and stomps out.
After the break, Agent John-Boy runs down the case so far to his bosses. It's literally nothing that we don't already know, except maybe that the baby's name is Oscar. They think she might be a fellow KGB agent, though, which is obviously wrong. While he talks, we see Joyce walking around Philly with her baby in her arms, clearly being tailed by the Feds AND Gregory's people. Follow, follow, follow. The show is trying to make some stylistic statement by cutting between Joyce walking and the slides on John-Boy's slideshow, but there's no meaning to it. Finally, in a nifty bit of choreography, one of Gregory's guys hops into a produce truck, drives it about ten yards before causing a traffic jam, with vehicles obstructing the FBI's view just long enough for Gregory to spirit Joyce into a nearby pet store. He assures her he's with the people she was trying to contact. He then rushes her out the back and into a waiting car, and they drive away. The Feds are stymied.
He brings Joyce to a safehouse, where Philip and Elizabeth are waiting. This week's Insane and Yet Also Laughably Ineffectual For Disguise Purposes disguises: stringy amber hair for Elizabeth; glasses and a knit cap for Philip. They might as well be different people! Gregory lurks in the kitchen. She tells them what they probably already know: that she contacted them because that's what Robert told her to do if he was ever gone for longer than two weeks. He said she could trust them. She suspects Robert is dead. Philip confirms. She suspects Robert was a drug dealer. Philip kind of looks at Elizabeth, maybe wondering if letting her believe it's drugs would be better for everyone. She asks if he left money to take care of her and baby Oscar. Elizabeth finally sits down to her and says, "We're going to take care of you." Philip, all business, says first they need to know what he told her, about his business and about them. She tells them that Robert was a quiet guy, didn't say much. She pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Philip -- Robert said to give it to them. There's a phone number on it, though she says she never called it.
Philip exits to the kitchen to clean off his glasses where Joyce can't see him out of his disguise, lest she glean his secret identity as Superman. "How's she doing?" Gregory asks him. Philip starts to answer about Joyce, but of course Gregory meant Elizabeth. He shuts the door, so you know it's time for some man-conversation. "Do you love her?" Gregory asks. Up until now, Philip has been quite friendly with Gregory. I think it's taken him entirely by surprise that Gregory is interested in her. He stares Gregory down and doesn't answer, so Gregory goes into a long story about how he and Elizabeth met while rabble-rousing for civil rights causes. "We just clicked," he says, which has gotta be tough for Philip to hear, since his biggest sin with Elizabeth is that they never clicked.
Anyway, after Gregory actually says out loud "She was recruiting me for the KGB," thus catching up the slower viewers (he also calls the KGB "America's number-one enemy," so now we're REALLY caught up), he says that it used to be him and her against the world, willing to sacrifice their lives and families for a cause. Having been giving a fat softball right over the plate, Philip clenches that Gregory doesn't have a family to give up. "Family" being Philip's trump card in this situation. Philip grabs some hot water, some vinegar, maybe some baking soda, whatever ingredients necessary to treat the paper with the phone number so its hidden message will reveal.
Meanwhile, Gregory tells about how Elizabeth came to visit him just before Paige was born, crying and saying she can't go back to live a lie with Philip. Heartbroken Philip keeps decoding his message, as Gregory asks him again: does he love Elizabeth? "If you don't," he says, "leave her be. And if you do ... leave her be." Everything's coming up Gregory in this scenario. Except that newsboy cap he's wearing. In fact, between that thing, Philip's skullie, and Elizabeth's dead fox of a wig, nobody's faring too well with what's atop their heads in this mission. Anyway, things just got weird in the kitchen, and Philip has decoded the paper into what appears to be a grid with some symbols, and maybe it's time to take a break from these guys.
Back at the FBI, Agent John-Boy is fuming about how Joyce just up and vanished, right out from under their noses. Angry enough to reference formerly notable magician Doug Henning, is how mad he is. Stan thinks the skill it must've taken to slip their cover makes it even more likely she's Directorate S. John-Boy has to phone this news upstairs now, and Chris steps forward and assures him that they all thought continuing surveillance (i.e. not bringing Joyce in) was the right call. Chris means this as support, but John-Boy knows that Chris and Stan advocated bringing her in, and he doesn't much like having to think on that, so he totally chews Chris out, concluding by saying that of Joyce thinks slipping one lousy tail buys her a ticket back to mother Russia, then she's "as soft as you are." Poor Chris, man.
At the safe house, while Joyce sleeps, Philip tells Elizabeth that the decoded message gave him another number to call, and he's going to take it back to the Centre and get further instructions. What to do about Joyce in the meantime? She puts her hand on his as she reminds him that the longer they're here, with Joyce, the more they're at risk. Philip reacts coldly to her efforts at intimacy, still pissy about what Gregory told him. He snottily asks Gregory's opinion on how to proceed, and Gregory's like, "Oh, well, I'd kill her." Philip isn't having it for a second. For one thing, Robert was a friend, and Philip trusts that he wouldn't have blabbed his secrets. Gregory says obviously Robert didn't trust him so much, what with the secret wife and kid. Philip says he's stepping out, but if Gregory hurts Joyce, Philip will kill him. He stomps out. Elizabeth's hair is greatly troubled by the way things are going.
After the break, Philip skulks around an underpass, looking for the meeting point. We see our old pal Margo Martindale is following him, but Philip gets a jump on her and shoves her up against a stone column. Who is she, why is she following him, and why should he not snap her neck? Her answer is pretty simple: "I'm Gabriel's replacement." Gabriel being their last point of contact with the Centre. Seems the changes at the KGB are trickling down to staffing decisions. She's more of a "hands-on" sort than Gabriel was, is her explanation for why she's been shadowing him. He warns her to never go near his kids again; she warms him never to put his hands on her again. I think we have an understanding here, people! "Just think of me as Gabriel, but prettier," she says. Will do! She asks if Robert left him something. You can tell he's way of giving up too much information to this new entity, but he knows he won't get anything further about the message if he doesn't share, so he tells her about Joyce and the kid and the FBI tail. He doesn't think Robert told her about them, "as far as I know." That's last part's as troubling to Margo as you'd expect. Quid pro quo dictates that she now spill, so she tells Philip that Robert was onto some new American technology that will put the Soviet arsenal at risk. He was about to buy intel from an agent when he died; the KGB was looking all over Boston for the contact, but it seems now that this guy is in Philly. "Don't go getting a secret wife on us," she tells Philip, wryly. "You see how it complicates things." Yeah, just the one wife is complication enough so far."
Back at the Safe House, Elizabeth and Joyce are none too happy watching a news report about Joyce's disappearance. This would be part of Agent John-Boy's plan to shine a spotlight on her and make it difficult, if not impossible, for her to get out of town. Elizabeth turns the TV off, but Joyce works herself up into a freakout. She talks herself through her thought process, how she used to think Robert was a drug dealer, but now, after the classified ad and the safe house (AND YOUR INCREDIBLY FAKE AND UNNECESSARY WIG, ELIZABETH), she remembers one time how she came home unbeknownst to him and saw him writing down messages from a radio. So she's come to a different conclusion: they're all spies, aren't they? One more conclusion: "You're gonna kill me and the baby. Is that why he had me place that ad, so you could kill us?" It's nice that Joyce added that second part, so Elizabeth can say "No" and still be truthful. She promises that Robert would have wanted them to protect her. The look on Elizabeth's face says she wants that too.
Agents Stan and Chris are stuck working the streets of Philly at night because that's what happens when a mission gets fucked up. They walk through the events of earlier today, when Joyce gave their agents the slip. They conclude that she's either highly trained or had lots of help. And after Stan spots some shifty looking dude trying not to look like he's keeping his eye on him, Stan strongly begins to suspect the latter. Chris has a lead on the produce truck that cut the Feds off, so they go follow that thread.
Philip is now looking at a briefcase full of money and a gun, compliments of "Granny" for use in purchasing the aforementioned intel. Elizbeth is like, "...Granny?" Philip's rationale for the nickname he apparently decided on unilaterally: "Yeah, she seemed kinda old." Suddenly, the disguises make so much more sense. Elizabeth wants to come with him, but he shuts her down and says they're expecting only him. He also bemoans the fact that they'll have to update Granny with the news that Joyce has made them. He stomps outside. She follows him. "Maybe right now would be the perfect time to talk about the revelations of the day?" Elizabeth must think to herself, because she asks Philip if he wants to talk. He doesn't, but he ends up blowing up at her about Gregory anyway, about how she's been lying to him for 15 years while telling her innermost feelings to Gregory. Well, when he puts it that way. Elizabeth objects to the "secrets" accusation, which seems silly to her given what they do. He hisses that he's never lied to her, not once. She tells him that she ended things with Gregory -- that's why Gregory even brought this up, to hurt him. Cutting his nose off to spite his face, Philip tells her not to stop seeing Gregory on his account. "Don't do me any favors," he says. They'll just go back to living the way they have been, stable and functional and loveless. "See him whenever you need," he spits. "Whenever you need." Ouch, though.
The fun don't stop for Philip! He's in some kind of darkened warehouse space, getting frisked by two goons in anticipation of making his exchange. He volunteers the knife strapped to his ankle and is led to a back room, with the goons about two paces behind him. He's met in the back by a bearded guy who WAIT HOLD UP PHILIP'S "DISGUISE" INCLUDES AN EARRING. AAAAHHH! Best news ever. I can't wait to see what he comes up with . (Don't worry, ladies, it's not in the gay ear.) Beardo sits down and an agitated Philip asks the guys behind him to please step out of his blind spot. They oblige, momentarily, but when Philip steps forward to hand over the briefcase, they step right back into formation. "Please," Philip asks again. This time he really seems like he doesn't want the trouble. But when he moves to place the case on the table, they move for him, so he has no choice but to wreck shit on the both of them. Not exactly looking forward to the episode when the show decides it doesn't have to keep reminding us what a badass Philip is at hand-to-hand combat. These scenes are great. And then when he's done, to Beardo: "I did warn them. Twice." Beardo chuckles at this and is impressed. Philip says he can either start a war or give him what he came for and keep all this cash that's now strewn about the room after Philip used the briefcase as a bludgeon. So Beardo hands over the plans. Are you ready for this? They're plans for "Nuclear X Later Anti-Ballistic Missile Ray." A laser cannon to shoot down nukes! You guys! This show might make it yet.
Safe House. Elizabeth and Gregory bicker over whether to kill Joyce. She tells him their people can relocate her. "What planet are you thinking of?" he scoffs. "Cuba, most likely," she returns. Well played. He accuses her of being sentimental and wanting her to live. She doesn't deny it, and why should she? Robert was their friend and trusted Joyce to them. "He was not your friend, he was your husband's friend," Gregory tells her. "You're starting to feel guilty and it's starting to cloud your judgment." She makes like Mikhail Gorbachev's two best friends and is all "Screw You," and he's like, "Not anymore apparently, and then she SLAPS him, which was deserved. He backs down and says he was just trying to do right by her. He says he loves her then walks away all sad-puppy. "You want to be married to him, fine," he says, "but you can't do it on a lie." Oh, so he outed them to Philip so she and Philip could have a foundation of truth! Got it!
Elsewhere, Stan and Chris have managed to find the van that was used in the Joyce-grab. Stan once again expresses his thought that the operation is too vast for her to have pulled it all off herself. He then takes a knee to tie his shoe, in one of the more bald-faced contrivances the show has gifted us with this year, and spots someone on the other side of the truck, tailing them. Stan gives chase and it's INTO THE PROJECTS we go!
Stan is probably a little too old and a little too slow to keep up, so pretty soon, the guy is lost in the interiors of the project. Or else maybe Stan is one of those people who can't tell black people apart? Chris is all, "Forget it, it's Chinatown," about it. The camera goes for a few 360-degree turns around Stan as he wonders why some hood rat is mixed up with KGB spies. Looks like Gregory's crew (who are not KGB, we heard earlier, but just think Gregory's working a drug deal) is the weak link for Stan to target.
The Jenningses drive out of the city to a clearing, with Joyce and Oscar in the back seat. Elizabeth says "they" have passports, new identities, et cetera, all set for her. They take her out to meet Granny, who's waiting by a van. The music is WAY too serene and happy right now. Likewise, Granny is way too kindly, to both Joyce and the Jenningses. This girl is toast, and I become more convinced of it the more Granny goes on and on about the white beaches of Havana. Elizabeth's hair has just about had it for the day, but it manages a kind nod Joyce's way as she disappears into the van oblivion. Still, though. Nothing bad is happening yet. No gunshot from inside the car. No screams. No explosion. Maybe she'll get out after all ... ?
Granny at least snaps out of Fairy Godmother mode when she comes to retrieve the plans from Philip. She passes on some regards from General Zhukov and then drives off.
The morning, neither Philip nor Elizabeth has been to bed, and with the kids up in an hour, they're not going to try. Philip ices the superficial stab wound he got in his fight and tries to keep Elizabeth from seeing. Elizabeth then launches into a rather lengthy monologue, starting with how she was recruited by the KGB at 17, sent to America at 22, married off to Philip without ever having a boyfriend, and basically didn't know shit about shit. Then she met Gregory, who was passionate about what she was passionate about and was the first person she could talk to about things. "It just ... happened," she says. She's not saying it to downplay her connection with Gregory. She's talking about how easy it was. It just happened. It never happened that way for her and Philip, "did it?" He shakes his head no. He'll probably start crying if he has to talk. She tells him how sorry she is that it never happened between them. But -- but! -- " I feel like it's happening now." A ray of hope. I have to say, the nature of Philip and Elizabeth's relationship -- what it is, what it isn't, what they'd like it to be, what they have to struggle for it to become -- is one of the truly compelling things about this show. It's not going to come easy, I don't think. She reaches her hand to touch his, and this time he doesn't pull away.