Both sides have important operations underway. The FBI has set a trap for whichever KGB agent comes to pick up a package from a car. The KGB is sending Philip and Elizabeth to meet with a colonel who has top secret knowledge about the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Neither side knows what the other is up to.
Sanford Prince gets interrogated by the FBI about missing child support payments. Philip and Elizabeth know about Prince's trouble with the law. It makes them nervous about their planned meeting with the US Army colonel. Elizabeth tries explaining their concerns to Claudia but she brushes off Elizabeth's worries. Later she goes to Arkady with the same concerns, by that time the meeting is about to happen.
The FBI sets a trap for the KGB. The FBI found out about the clock with the transmitter in it that was planted in Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger's home. They are planning to nab whomever comes to pickup the recording from a parked car. It was a little unclear to me how they figured out that the car is where the recordings are being saved. Stan is very excited about this operation and promises Nina (without telling her exactly what is going on) that if all goes as planned that he will be able to exfiltrate her from the KGB.
Nina has rededicated herself to the Russian cause. She has received her boss's blessing and plans to try and turn Stan. She is a bit distraught when Stan tells her the "good" news. She goes to her boss with the news and explains that she thinks the meeting with the colonel is a setup.
Philip and Stan argue over who should go meet with the colonel. Elizabeth insists that she should be the one. At the last minute Philip pulls a fast one and goes to the meeting in her place. She goes to pick up the recording.
Claudia goes after the agent who killed General Zhukov. She fools him into letting her into his apartment to use his phone. She zaps him with a taser, paralyzes him with an injection, and then slits his throat. Before he dies she explains to him that Zhukov was an old friend.
Philip meets with the colonel who tells him that SDI is a fraud, no where near as impressive as the White House claims it to be. The meeting is broken up by Claudia who has just received word from Arkady's men to abort the mission. Philip panics but then realizes that the FBI aren't watching them and that Elizabeth is about to walk into a trap.
Elizabeth tries to complete her task but Philip shows up in a car just as she is about to reach the car with the recordings. Stan and a dozen other FBI agents are keeping an eye on the car. They are about to swoop in when Philip drives up like a bat out of hell. The FBI swoops when they see what is happening. They shoot and then pursue Elizabeth and Philip's vehicle. The Jennings get away, switch cars and it looks like they are in the clear but something is wrong. Elizabeth was shot in the gut.
Stan returns to Nina crestfallen. There won't be any exfiltratation. She comforts him but secretly she has to be happy that things didn't work out for the FBI. Nina's arc in this season has been one of the pleasant surprises for me.
Philip and Claudia get Elizabeth to a doctor and get the bullet removed from her gut. He calls Stan and tells him that Elizabeth's aunt is sick and they have gone to visit her. He asks Stan and his wife to look after Paige and Henry while they are gone. There is a very moving moment when Elizabeth says something to Philip in Russian. It isn't so much what she said as the fact that she spoke to him in Russian.
Paige, in perhaps the most interesting twist, at the end of the episode, starts to suspect that her mother is up to something. She looks around in the basement, finds nothing, but doesn't seem satisfied.
During the car chase there were a couple streets names and a particular location mentioned that I know very well. I walk right past the intersection almost every week day. They did not film on location and it looked nothing like the actual location. They mentioned a metro station but they didn't even show anything that looked remotely like a metro station. So disappointing.
Despite what I said previously I am now thinking about giving the second season a try. These last two episodes were a big improvement over many of the ones that came before. I'm not sure exactly what changed. I'm still not a big fan of the actor who plays Stan. His performances feel very one-note most of the time. He always seems to have this half grin on his face. I also have problems with the way Keri Russell plays Elizabeth. It sometimes feels like she is just reading her lines.
On the whole this was an exciting and fun episode to watch. I can see the show starting to evolve. It is far from perfect but I like it a little more after watching the last two episodes of the season than I did before.
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