The Americans: New Car

The Americans is firing on all cylinders.  Holy crap this was another great episode, even as it seems each of the characters are getting increasingly screwed in different ways.  There wasn't much positive happening on the KGB front as the lone positive of the night came at the cost of Lucia and Andrew Larrick's freedom.

Let's talk about that scene when Elizabeth is forced to watch her protege get strangled by a man she hates for the good of the country.  I really hate watching strangling scenes as it's not exactly pleasant to watch a character slowly lose their life.  And it lasts forever.  Especially if the person is someone you want to live.  This scene certainly didn't help my feelings on strangling scenes.  Each second that passed was more painful than before.

I said in last episode's recap that I thought Lucia would either die this season or become a regular next season, but I think I was being purposefully blind to her fate.  She was going to die as soon as she said she planned to kill Larrick and ignored the orders.  But the show decided to kill her in the worst way imaginable.  She's getting slowly strangled by her nemesis while her comrade simply lets her die.  It's ironic that this action is for the good of the country since it appears to only benefit Larrick.

And I guess it's saying something when that wasn't the worst news for the Jennings.  No - apparently plans they stole were fake and were responsible for the death of 160 people.  Oleg later helpfully tells us that the people back home rushed it through development and are more responsible.  But Phillip and Elizabeth don't know this.  Can you even imagine the weight of having 160 people's death on your mind?  (The answer is of course no.)

That bit of news made Phillip ashamed at his taste for American consumerism.  He bought a Camaro, which seemed harmless enough.  He takes a look at it, wipes off a smudge on the car, and admires his car.  He comes back with the news of the submarine crash and looks at the car with shame.  He fell for American consumerism and he bought into their trap.  He probably felt like he had betrayed his country.

I'm betting Phillip wishes he took back his argument for materialism to Elizabeth as well.  Elizabeth is extremely reluctant to admit that this life may have some perks and outright refuses to say that it is better.  Phillip seems to disagree, but his feelings have probably changed since the news of the crash.  That coupled with Reagan's plea to devote more sources to defense looks to have reinforced their feelings of patriotism for Mother Russia.

Back home at Mother Russia, they show Anton - the scientist who was unfortunately separated from his family for more important measures.  He looks despondent and a helpful man encourages him that his situation could be worse.  That he knows what he's going through.  It seems to work as he looks at the ARPANET with intrigue.  It seems like his role will become important later.

On the American side, it seems Stan is resorting to empty threats.  His declaration to Oleg was downright pathetic.  And Nina is perfectly playing into Stan's clear want to rescue a woman.  Nina is not a woman to be rescued.  But she knows that is what Stan likes to think of himself as.  I'm struggling to find different ways to write about how much Stan is getting played.  (And did he possibly get through to that high-ranking official - probably more important next week)

Meanwhile I think Stan was looking at the lie detector test at home.  It was either that or the files he gave to Oleg.  I couldn't tell.  And he's still ignoring his wife, who seriously has gotten nothing to do.  I have no idea why they gave her a season credits, because she has done almost nothing this entire season except be ignored by Stan.

In other domestic news, Martha says she wants to stop secretly recording for her friends.  So Phillip decides to distort an already mean tape and play it to her, but thank god he didn't.  Poor Alison Wright, the actress who plays Martha.  Martha's too loving and dedicated a wife at this point to need to hate her colleagues.  I mean that tape was just brutal.

Lastly, Henry gets caught playing video games in his friend's house.  This storyline becomes clearer when Henry goes on a long tirade about how he's a good person.  It's pretty heartbreaking actually.  Yes, Henry is a good person.  But the real purpose of that speech was: Are Phillip and Elizabeth?

(Note: I forgot to mention that Phillip and Elizabeth spared that poor truck diver's life.  It's a nice touch to help us sympathize with them.  Phillip is just tired of killing innocent people.)