SPOILER ALERT
The Americans is indeed getting better and better as the episodes are getting more and more complicated. As usual, the Jennings are very busy with everything that is going on with their lives.
It appears that they have two handlers now, Kate for their real Mother Russia missions, and Granny Claudia for their side mission.
I’d like to talk about their side missions first because I truly believe that their target/previous suspect Andrew Laric is a really dangerous guy. Although he said he didn’t kill Emmett and Leanne, he did confess that he wanted to kill them which prompted Philip and Elizabeth not to kill him, yet. The hunt for the killer is still not over but the side mission produced very useful information about the US training Nicaraguan Contras.
Mr. and Mrs. Jennings were hoping to use this information to fortify their family’s safety but it instead it produced another mission. They’re now tasked to kill a Contra field commander who’s travelling to America and expose the whole thing to the American public. The thing is, the center doesn’t know where the camp is located and the whereabouts of the field commander is “yet to be determined”. So Elizabeth had to tap Lucia to gain access to a Congressman’s vault using the aide Lucia is dating.
The mission was successful and Elizabeth got what she needed. The thing is, everything will be traced back to Lucia eventually so Elizabeth instructed her to kill her boyfriend, which she had some feelings for. This too, was successful and we could see the new spy becoming more and more effective after every mission.
Stan Beeman is also preoccupied with his life at the moment. He is being blackmailed by Oleg, using Nina’s safety as a bargaining chip of sorts. Obviously, Stan is torn between his love for Nina and his loyalty to the FBI. He tried telling Agent Gaad about it but he was kind of a bit of a prick on the episode. Basically he told Beeman not to tell him anything important and that he must get out because he and his wife are going out.
The whole episode was really great. It highlights the struggles that happen inside the heads of the characters. Philip, Elizabeth, Beeman, and even Lucia showed that being a spy is indeed very self-destructive.
There were a lot of sex scenes and Keri Russell showed a lot of skin. As I said, the internal struggle thing really messes up the characters in this show. They know that they’re using their bodies as tools to get the job done but it also chips at their soul bit by bit. Elizabeth, for the past couple of episodes, has been struggling with it but Red Door showed that Philip is not that too happy about it too. Lucia, who’s just starting, is really determined to prove herself but she’s also not 100% into it either.
Again, The Americans gives another solid episode. May the next ones be as good as this one, hopefully even better.
