The Americans: Yousaf

This was a solid episode of The Americans, but I think it ends the streak of amazing episodes.  It wasn't a letdown, but it definitely seemed more like a place setter.  I mean that most of the events in this episode are simply set-ups for what will happen later.  Serialized television requires episodes such as this.  It makes for a less exciting episode than we would normally get, but the payoff is usually greater when it's more set-up.

After last week's chaos, Phillip is back to normal and calmed down.  He looks exhausted when the episode begins and Elizabeth comforts him.  It's a touching scene and reminds us of the relationship at the core of the show.  If the first season was about them finding love after many years of marriage, this one is less an examination of their marriage and more about their tight bond.

It's also an examination into the relationship between them and their kids, specifically Paige.  Paige wants to go in a summer camp with her youth group.  Phillip's not happy about it, but he's smart.  He knows that he needs to allow her to go to make her own choices or she'll rebel in other, possibly worse ways.  Elizabeth on the other hand, not so much.  This is hardly surprising.  This is perfectly in line with what we would expect to happen.  Phillip is the one who better understands how to navigate in America while Elizabeth seems more in line with Russian values.

She discovers Paige forged her signature, but then she threw it away.  This is a fact that she left out to Phillip because it shows that she DIDN'T end up doing it.  Elizabeth seems strict in her views, and it probably won't lead to anything good between Paige and the two of them.  While I don't think Paige is likely to go into drugs, this clearly is shown to be a poor idea.

Meanwhile - and this honestly may play a part in my very mild disappointment in this episode - Andrew Larrick comes back to avenge his compatriots' death.  But the teaser at the beginning of the episode rings false when Larrick barely makes any ground.  I expected him to meet the Jennings in this very episode.  And while it's perfectly realistic that it would take him some time to track them down, nonetheless when you expect a showdown and it doesn't happen, it's hard not to let that affect your view of the episode.  (Although I will note usually that's because it seems delayed in a contrived way, while the delay of Larrick seems realistic)

But Larrick doesn't exactly make NO ground.  He discovers the secret telephone message location and shoots him down.  The guy does manage to press the button to destroy the phone lines, but somehow Larrick still manages to figure out how to call Kate.  This is one of those situations where my complete lack of knowledge of the technology helps the show.  Do I think it'd be that easy just to figure out a way to call some person?  Not really.  But this is something that I can at least accept without it ruining anything.

While Larrick searches for the Jennings, the Jennings have a case of their own.  (This really should have been my first clue that Larrick wasn't finding them this episode).  They need to convert a Pakistani government official to their side, or deceive him into becoming a contact.  The most susceptible, Yousaf, seems to have a weakness for women.  Elizabeth seems like the natural choice, but Phillip doesn't seem all that interested in using her when he could use Annelise.

If you were wondering who Annelise was, you had good reason.  She has appeared on the show before, but it hasn't been since "The Clock," the second episode of the first season.  The show sure is giving its fans a lot of credit in remembering a character in only one season way back on the second episode.  I thankfully had an inkling of who she was and figured it out quickly enough.  I believe Annelise was a bit wild and unpredictable - so much so that I think I remember thinking she would be killed quickly, but she never appeared in another episode.

Anyway, Phillip uses her to get close to Yousaf.  She does her job well enough, but she seems pretty hurt by her experience.  I wonder if there will be consequences to using Annelise instead of Elizabeth.  (Though Annelise's background seemed to factor in Phillip's reasoning not to use Elizabeth).  They also killed his boss so that Yousaf would be the #1 and Annelise would have the inside track to information.

On the American side, Frank Gaad gets reinstated.  His conversation with the Arkady produced positive results.  They seem to have a tentative, cautious relationship that understands they need to do something that benefits both of them, so neither side will fire or get hurt.  So basically their relationship is a perfect representation of the Cold War itself.

And Frank is just in time to help Stan discover who murdered the family.  They make a little ground in this episode.  They figure out they were likely secret agents with national security capable briefcases.  They interview their son, who Stan realizes knows nothing about it, but the son likely recognizes the portraits of Elizabeth and Phillip.  It appears that Elizabeth's decision not to tell Jared Connors about his parent's secret identity was a good one.  (Stan also stops in with Nina to be an asshole and tell him how his wife left him and it hurt and boo hoo)

Nina meanwhile gets new hair - I think?  Her hair is huge in this episode.  Anyway, her and Oleg have a bonding moment where it turns out Oleg is an idealist and wants to help his country.  When Nina learns this, she looks envious as she is clearly just trying to get out of this in the best situation possible.  Not to say that she doesn't have feelings for Oleg, but she's also probably playing him a little.  Nina reflects back on the simpler times when she wasn't simply doing anything to survive and instead was at a fun camp.  It was sad, but makes sense that she would reminisce about it.

It was a good episode of The Americans.  It isn't quite as good as past episodes, but that's inherent in an episode that is mostly set-up for what will happen later.