The Americans 1.13

The Colonel

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.

The Americans 1.12

The Oath

There is an aspect of this show that I find very hard to swallow or believe in. Maybe the audience is just supposed to accept that Elizabeth and Philip are perfect masters of deception (and I'm not talking about their disguises) but I don't see how they are able to do as much as they do and keep it all secret from everyone. These thoughts come to me every time I watch an episode and are part of the reason that I'm not that interested in continuing with this show beyond the end of season 1.

The Americans 1.11

Covert War

The FBI and CIA join forces and strike back at the Russians. They send one of their agents in Moscow to assassinate General Zhukov. Claudia delivers the news to Elizabeth who immediately wants to strike back at the Americans. Claudia orders her not to but Elizabeth has her own ideas. She targets Richard Patterson, a high level agent of the CIA who is responsible for planning missions. Philip is opposed to the idea but goes along with Elizabeth's plans. Elizabeth seduces and sedates Patterson. He catches on at the last minute and fights back but it is too late.

The Americans 1.10

Only You

The search for the killers of FBI agent Chris Amador is on.Stan tries shaking down Nina for information about Amador's death but she doesn't know anything. She asks him about the death of Vlad. He lies to her and tells her he doesn't know anything about it, even though he's the one who killed him.

The FBI locates the vehicle in which Amador was transported after he was stabbed. They know it's the vehicle because they find his ring in the trunk. It was delivered to a scrapyard. The owner of the scrapyard claims to know nothing until Stan roughs him up. It isn't long before the scrapyard owner finds a familiar face in a book of mug shots. The face he finds belongs to the guy that Beeman and Amador chased in Philadephia but lost in 1.03 (Gregory). They locate the guy shake him down. He acts tough at first but eventually gives up Gregory's name.

Philip and Elizabeth are still separated. There's a little bit of drama surrounding their marital issues but most of their time in this episode is spent trying to convince Gregory to go along with their plan to get him out of the country. The KGB gives him two options: move to Moscow or death. They force his hand by planting evidence in his apartment linking him to the murder of Amador. He wants to move to Los Angeles and hopes he can disappear there. That option isn't on the table.

Philip has orders to kill Gregory if he won't go. Gregory acknowledges his situation but he doesn't want to move to Moscow. He wants to go out on his own terms. Philip is reluctant to let him do so but Elizabeth seems to talk him into it. Gregory gets into a gun fight with the Metropolitan Police Department and is killed.

On the whole I thought this was a decent episode, much better than the previous one. It wasn't good enough to sway my feelings on the show as a whole.

The Americans 1.09

Safe House

Philip and Elizabeth separate. Paige and Henry don't take it well. Philip moves out. He continues to romance Martha. He learns from her that the FBI is planning a retaliatory strike on a KGB agent. What Martha doesn't know is that Amador has been keeping an eye on her. He spots Philip leaving Martha's apartment building and confronts him. They get into a fight and Amador winds up with his own knife sticking out of his stomach.

The FBI continue to plan their hit on the head FBI agent, Arkady. They also start to look for Amador. Stan presses Nina for information but she knows nothing about Amador's disappearance. Amador is being hidden by Philip and Elizabeth. They do what they can to deal with his wound and then press him for information. He isn't very cooperative. Before they can get him to talk, Vlad, Arkady's assistant, is picked up by the FBI. They were hoping to grab Arkady but he didn't go jogging like he usually does because he burned his hand.

Amador dies from his wounds before giving up any information. Philip dumps his body in a parking lot. Stan isn't having it. He tried interrogating Vlad before they found Amador's body. He told him some weird story about hunting. Vlad got scared. Stan gets impatient. The episode ends with Stan shooting Vlad in the back of the head, execution style.

The separation part of the story failed to impress me. It felt as though the actors were going through the motions but not hitting the right notes. I didn't buy what they were selling. I also had problem with Stan throughout the episode. I just wasn't impressed by the act he was putting on. I wasn't expecting Amador to die. That surprised me but it wasn't enough to make up for all the other stuff that did not impress me about his episode.

The Americans 1.08

Mutually Assured Destruction

Philip and Elizabeth are tasked with finding and stopping an assassin who was hired by the KGB to kill a scientist. They don't know what he looks like or who his target is. They know he is going to kill one of 14 scientists in the Washington area but that's about all they've got to go on.

Claudia tells Elizabeth during a one-on-one meeting that Philip slept with Irina when he was in New York City. She doesn't seem to trust Philip and hopes that Elizabeth will see things the same way that she does. Elizabeth leaves the conversation feeling betrayed by Philip. She doesn't confront him right way but keeps the information to herself.

Elizabeth and Philip go to Baltimore on the basis of information provided by Claudia. They visit an arms dealer who provides them with a picture of what the would-be assassin looks like.

Philip continues to seduce Martha, who works for FBI Agent Frank Gaad, Stan's boss. She thinks Philip works for another intelligence agency. She helps him by photocopying information that Gaad handed to her to file away. FBI Agent Amador tries to rekindle his relationship with Martha but she brushes him off.

Stan Beeman secures a safehouse in the Eastern Market neighborhood of DC. It is a place for he and Nina to meet. The first time they meet there they quickly drop the pretense of professionalism. Later in the episode he finds out that Nina has received a promotion which could mean greater access to secret information.

Philip and Elizabeth find the assassin and kill him. They think they have accomplished their mission but they don't know that he already a planted a bomb in the handheld radio of one of the FBI agent who is tasked guarding a high level scientist. The bomb goes off killing the FBI agent and the scientist.

Elizabeth confronts Philip about the time he spent with Irina. Philip comes clean, finally. He claims that he didn't tell Elizabeth the truth before (when she asked him very directly if anything happened with Irina) because he was afraid of losing Elizabeth.

This isn't the best show ever. I'm enjoying it enough. I'm going to finish watching the first season but I'm not sure if I will continue beyond there. It isn't bad, it just isn't great. I feel as though the show takes too many shortcuts. There are too many things that are explained away much too conveniently or not explained at all. Where do all their disguises come from? How are they able to keep their work for the KGB a secret from their kids? I think my biggest problem with the show is that I don't feel immersed in the world in which the show is supposed to take place. It feels like a thin disguise.

The Americans 1.07

Duty and Honor

Philip goes to New York for a travel conference. There he runs into Irina, an old lover, who also works for the KGB. They work together to take down a Polish political leader who seeks to move his country away from the Soviet Union. She tells Philip she has a son. She tells him that he is the father. She wants him to run away with her. He sleeps with her but he turns down Irina's offer of a life on the run. He questions whether she has a son or if that was just a ruse to get him to run away with her. He returns to DC at the end of the episode.

Elizabeth stays behind in Washington. She looks after their kids and takes care of a little business. One of the subordinates of the man she killed in 1.05 (Comint) has serious gambling debts. He isn't being cooperative so Elizabeth shakes down and pays off his bookie. She meets with Claudia. They talk about their last encounter, when Elizabeth beat Claudia up after learning why she and Philip were being tortured.

Stan Beeman goes out drinking with Amador at the end of the day. He doesn't take Amador's advice when it comes to hitting on a woman who is giving him a look. He does sleep with Nina for the first time, when he should be at home having dinner with his wife and son. He once again expresses his concern about getting Nina out of harm's way to his boss who once again brushes off the request.

The episode ends with Philip and Elizabeth in their bedroom. She apologizes once again for what she told their superiors about him. She wants them to try and be a real couple. He seems to have accepted her apology. She asks him about what happened with Irina. He lies and tells her nothing happened between them.

Not my favorite episode of the season but it is up there. Stan's subplot didn't move me much at all. The parts with Elizabeth were a little on the weak side. The parts with Philip and Irina were more interesting. As always I love watching Elizabeth and Philip's relationship evolve. It is the centerpiece of the season.

The Americans 1.06

Trust Me

Philip is abducted by men who seem to be FBI agents. They torture him. They claim to know who he is. Elizabeth is also abducted and brought to the same location as Philip. In the last episode it was revealed that the KGB knew that there was a mole in their Washington operation. Philip and Elizabeth are being tested to see how loyal they truly are. It goes on for a little while but eventually Claudia shows up and calls an end to the test. Philip and Elizabeth are enraged to learn why they were tested. Elizabeth beats up Claudia until her face is all bloody before they leave.

Nina is having trouble going along with Stan's instructions. She knows that there is a hunt for a mole within the embassy. She is convinced that she will be caught. She wants Beeman to follow through on his promise and help her defect. Stan goes to his boss who isn't interested in Nina's problems. Stan comes up with an alternate plan and frames Vasili Nikolaevich, Nina's boss. Vasili takes the fall and Nina seems safe for now. She clearly planted some of the evidence that gets Vasili shipped back to Russia but does he suspect her?

Paige and Henry get stranded after school when Elizabeth doesn't show up to drive them home. They wind up hitchhiking, Paige's idea, and get a ride from a stranger, Nick. He offers to drive them home but along the way he stops at a pond and hands Paige a beer. His intentions go from benevolent to malevolent fairly quickly. Henry saves his sister by smashing a beer bottle over the Nick's head. The siblings run off and make their way home on foot. They vow never to tell their parents about what happened that day.

Elizabeth and Philip get into a fight after their escape. Philip suspects that something is up when he learns that Elizabeth was not tortured. She grudgingly admits that she told their bosses that he felt like he fit in as an American. Philip feels betrayed by Elizabeth. He lets it show throughout the rest of the episode.

I love the emotional tension between Philip and Elizabeth in this episode. Just as it seemed like they were finally starting to feel like a couple something happens to push them apart. I wasn't too taken by the Paige and Henry part of the episode until the end of it. Them keeping secrets from their parents got me excited for what else might happen with these two. The Stan and Nina story was the weakest of the three stories.

This was an excellent episode, possibly my favorite since the pilot. The pacing was good. The story didn't bog down at all. Their were some very nice character moments.

The Americans 1.05

Comint

A valuable spy for the KGB, an American who works for a defense contractor, gets a case of the jitters. His handler hasn't been able to contact him since the FBI got some new encryption devices. It has made it impossible for the KGB to keep tabs on the FBI. The KGB is concerned that if his handler does meet with the spy that the FBI will show up and discover who the spy is. Elizabeth and Philip are tasked with getting the key to the encryption devices.

Nina learns about the spy with the jitters and passes it along to FBI Agent Beeman. He pushes her to get more information. She does so by getting cozy with her boss. Beeman is happy to have the information but (for once) seems a bit sad when he learns what she did to get the intel. Noah Emmerich who plays Beeman almost always look likes he about to start grinning ear to ear. I was glad to see that he actually managed to change his facial expression for that scene.

Philip freaks out when he sees a mark on Elizabeth's back. It came from a guy whom she was pressing for information. They were intimate and he started to beat her with first his hand and then his belt. Philip is ready to deal with the guy but Elizabeth manages to say the right thing and gets him to reconsider. His reaction seemed very defensive and egotistical, not to mention sexist. He seemed to take personal offense at something that happened to Elizabeth. Based on what he said it sounded like he was ready to deal with the guy because according to him that's what men do for their wives. Based on the show up to this point Elizabeth has proven herself to be very capable of dealing with threats.

Stan's wife confronts him once again. It's the same issue as last episode: she feels as if she is losing him to his job. He spends little to no time with her or their son. He can't see the damage he is doing to their relationship because he is too focused on his job.

This episode seems a little more like a Stan and Nina episode than the usual Elizabeth and Philip episode. It isn't a bad episode but it's not even close to being my favorite.

The Americans 1.04

In Control

On March 30, 1981 an American citizen attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. The KGB and FBI are forced to scramble. The KGB's concern is Al Haig, the US Secretary of State and retired US Army general who goes on TV and claims to be in charge. The exact words he uses are, "in control." They think that a coup is in process. It may only be a matter of hours before the US launches nuclear missiles at the Soviet Union. Elizabeth and Philip are tasked with learning what is going on in the White House.

The FBI's concern is that John Hinckley, Jr., the would be assassin, might be working for the Soviet Union. Stan is told to meet with Nina Krilova, his contact inside the Russian embassy, and learn what he can. She is reluctant to meet with him. She has a hard time getting away from the embassy but she finally does. She is followed. Her boss is concerned about her loyalty. It isn't clear if the KGB agents tailing her see Krilova meet with Beeman or know what she is up to. She reassures Stan that the Russians had nothing to do with Hinckley or the assassination attempt.

Philip and Elizabeth get orders from Claudia, their handler, to prepare for Operation Kristopher. Elizabeth retrieves the equipment from a box buried in the woods. She has a flashback as she retrieves it to her youth, just after her father died. A man who was interested in her mother brought a similar looking box that was filled with food. The box Elizabeth digs up is filled with explosives and sniper rifles. She and Philip are to prepare to wreck some serious mayhem when they get the word from Moscow. They start to stake out targets. They are spotted by a security guard in the neighborhood where Secretary of Defense Caspar Weingburger lives. Elizabeth tries to talk him out of calling the local police department and when he insists that he has to she kills him.

Elizabeth and Philip argue over the orders they have been given so far. She insists that they have to follow orders. He has his doubts about what is really going on. He thinks he knows America better than she and doesn't believe that a coup has happened. He insists that they handle the situation his way even though some of the intelligence they have gathered seems to suggest that Haig is in charge. They visit their neighbors across the street and get some reassurance from Stan that the US is not about to start a war with the Soviet Union. The tension between loyalty to family and one another on the one hand and their loyalty to the Soviet Union on the other hand is the point on which this series seems to turn.

The episode winds down with Sandra Beeman confronting Stan about his lack of communication. Prior to them moving to the Washington DC area, they lived in St. Louis. Stan was working undercover for years. He now claims that something has changed with the implication being that it was his years away working undercover that changed him. Hopefully this scene is the beginning of a subplot that will help to make Stan seem a little more well-rounded.

Philip sends the message to Moscow that there is no coup and the Americans are not planning to attack Russia. He goes home to Elizabeth and lets her know it has been taken care of. They have withheld information from their superiors. They acknowledge the fact to one another and promise to never mention it to anyone.

Another very good episode. This is not perfect TV but I like it a lot. I enjoy seeing how the two teams (KGB, FBI) mirror one another in some ways and don't in others. The tension in the Elizabeth's and Philip's relationship continues to be the heart and soul of this series. I feel as though the show could be better or tighter but I'm not sure exactly where it is lacking. I'm very happy with the show so far.

...

I was in 5th grade when I heard that President Reagan had been shot. I was on the school bus. Someone on the bus had a radio and we listened to the news coverage as the bus drove us home. I lived in the DC area and the school bus usually would pass right by the hotel where the President was shot. The bus driver insisted on taking a different route that day. Everyone else on the bus wanted to go past the hotel but the driver wouldn't be swayed. In retrospect he was right. The traffic would have been crazy down there. The Cold War was a reality that I was aware of back then but I don't recall any concern over the possibility of war specifically as a result of the assassination attempt.

The Americans 1.03

Gregory

Robert's body is found by the FBI, with some help from the operative within the Russian embassy who is now passing them information. They send out an alert and are able to match his picture to one from a Pennsylvania drivers license. Robert is the KGB operative who was killed in 1.01 (Pilot). The FBI sends a surveillance team to Philly and discover that he had a wife. This is where it really starts to get interesting.

The wife recently put an ad in a newspaper. It is a signal to Philip and Elizabeth which perplexes them because they know that Robert is dead. Elizabeth sends Gregory, a longtime associate of their's to Philadelphia to attempt contact with whomever left the message. He sees the FBI surveillance team and holds off on making contact.

There's another angle to this episode. Elizabeth and Philip are married, they have children together, they have been living together, they are a couple but up until the beginning of the series it has just been a job. In the first couple episodes there are hints that some sort of spark has been kindled between them.

That spark could develop into something warmer, hotter but there's something Elizabeth has been keeping from Philip: she's been seeing Gregory on the side for well over a decade. Gregory has been her confidant. Now she's having second thoughts about her relationship with Gregory and is starting to feel a bond with Philip that she never felt before. She tries to break it off with Gregory but it isn't that simple.

Gregory arranges for Joyce Ramirez, Robert's widow, and her baby to evade FBI surveillance. The are picked up and brought to a safe house. Robert told her very little other than what to do if he disappeared. She hands over a name and phone number which Robert gave to her to give to them. They try to decide what to do. Gregory doesn't make things any easier when he has a private chat with Philip and reveals his long term intimate relationship with Elizabeth.

FBI agents Beeman and Amador try to figure out what happened to Joyce Ramirez. They investigate the area where she disappeared. They puzzle over how the FBI team lost Ramirez. They spot some one following them around, one of Gregory's crew. They give chase but he eludes them.

Philip goes for a walk and catches wind of the fact that someone is tailing him. That someone turns out to be Claudia, General Zhukov's replacement. He tells her about Joyce and what she knows. Elizabeth and Philip end up bringing Joyce and the baby to Claudia who promises to relocate them to Cuba. Something didn't feel right about the hand off. Claudia was acting too sweet for a KGB handler. By the end of the episode my suspicions proved to be correct.

Philip calls and arranges a meeting with the person on the piece of paper that Joyce gave them. He brings money and in return gets what look like plans to machinery. Philip doesn't know what the plans are for but it seems logical that they are for Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) technology.

The episode ends with a tender moment between Philip and Elizabeth. She explains to him what Gregory has meant to her and that she tried to end it with him. She feels for Philip now what she felt for Gregory at the beginning of that relationship. She wants Philip now.

This show has yet to disappoint me. Not every moment works but I like the mix of character moments and plot developments. Damn good episode.

The Americans 1.02

The Clock

Philip and Elizabeth are tasked with getting a microphone planted in the home of US Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger's home. They don't like it. They think it is too risky but they find a way to make it work: they blackmail the Weinbergers' cleaning lady into doing it for them by poisoning her son. They tell her they want her to steal a clock from Weinberger's study and bring it back to them. Philip places the transmitting device in the clock and gives it back to the cleaning lady. She is supposed to put it back in the Weinberger home the next day but she starts having second thoughts even though she knows that only they have the antidote to the poison coursing through her son's veins.

FBI agents Beeman and Amador catch a woman who works at the Russian embassy exchanging expensive caviar for stereo equipment. She has been shipping the stereo equipment back to Russia. It is all for personal gain. They convince her to start working for them, by threatening to tell her boss what she was up to.

Philip has a little problem on the side. He has been pumping a US government official's wife for information. She's tired of her husband and wants to run away with Philip. Nothing too dramatic happens in this episode but she has Philip worried that she might tell her husband or some else about him. This thread is left dangling but I'm sure it won't dangle for too long.

Elizabeth faces a bit of drama of her own with Paige, her 13-year-old daughter. She's having trouble connecting with Paige. It seems like she's afraid that she's losing Paige. Elizabeth also expresses a fear that if something happened to them (such as they were killed or captured) that she doubts that Paige would be able to handle whatever came next.

In the end everything seems to work out. The maid comes returns the clock to the Weinbergers' residence. Elizabeth administers the antidote. The FBI and the Attorney General of the United States are pleased to have a mole inside the Russian Embassy.

I wasn't sucked in by this episode from the opening scenes. It started a little slower than the previous episode. As it progressed the momentum built. The layering of the different story lines was handled quite well. Music was used very effectively to heighten tension at key moments. I like that both sides of the Jennings lives factored into the story. I liked that both Elizabeth and Philip have their own emotional hurdles to navigate. I like the quiet moments that they share. Overall I am very impressed with this series so far. I hope that the quality of the show remains high.

The Americans 1.01

Pilot

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are Russian spies. They have two children and live near Washington, DC. They have been living in the United States for about 16 years, since 1965. They track down a defector, Nikolai Timoshev, a former KGB officer and capture him. They are supposed to get him to a ship which will take him back to Russia. They make a stop to drop off one of their collegaues who was stabbed during the pursuit of the defector. They arrive at the dock in time to see the ship leaving but not in time to get the defector on board.

Philip and Elizabeth aren't sure what to do with Timoshev. In the meanwhile, they keep him tied up and locked up in the trunk of their car. They use a ball gag to keep him quiet. Elizabeth has a past with Timoshev, an unpleasant one. He raped her when she was a trainee 20 years ago. She never told Philip. She seems eager to kill Timoshev now that their best chance to get him out of the country has set sail. Philip tries contacting other KGB operatives but everyone is laying low because the FBI is out and about searching for the missing defector

Philip is swayed by Timoshev to consider turning himself in. Timoshev tells Philip about the money he will get if he does, millions. Philip tries bringing it up to Elizabeth but she is adamant that they will not defect and will not betray Russia. I get the impression that she is the senior member of their team although it isn't explicitly stated.

Stan Beeman plus his wife and son move in across the street from the Jennings. Stan is an FBI agent. He starts to sense that something is off about Philip but can't quite put his finger on what it is. He comes dangerously close to spotting Timoshev in the trunk when he comes over to borrow some jumper cables.

Things get increasingly tense for Elizabeth and Philip. He is about ready to let Timoshev go and turn himself into Stan Beeman when Elizabeth finds out what he is up to. She's disgusted. Timoshev halfheartedly apologizes for what he did to her 20 years earlier. She's ready to kill him but doesn't. Philip does instead, after hearing about what Timoshev did to her. They dispose of the body together and make love in their car afterwards.

I'm hooked. I loved this episode. There's a lot to like about it. I like the setup and the way the plot unfolds. It kept me on my toes and wasn't as forced or predictable as I feared it might be. There are some powerful character moments for both lead characters. I really liked the way music was used in this episode to help set the scene and ratchet up the tension. I'm very eager to see where the show goes from here.