‘The Americans’ Finale Recap: Mother Russia, We Have A Problem

Elizabeth takes Paige with her to visit her dying mother, Philip finds an unlikely friend in Sandra, Stan risks his job at the FBI, and slowly but surely, everything completely unravels in this emotional finale of The Americans.

…previously on The Americans.

After two season finales of back-to-back cliffhangers — The Jennings’ marital fate followed by the Centre’s request for Paige to join the KGB — this tense third season ended not on a shocking note per se, but rather a terrifying one. The secret is out, and Philip and Elizabeth’s (and our) worst fear has come true: Paige spilled the beans. And to Pastor Tim, no less. After returning home from West Germany where she was visiting her dying grandmother, Paige broke down and dialed the one man Philip and Elizabeth might hate more than Reagan. “They’re liars and they’re trying to turn me into one,” she whispered into the phone, before seething, “They’re Russians.”

Though it’s easy to blame Paige (as well as Philip and Elizabeth for trusting their daughter with such dangerous information), it’s not necessarily her God-fearing fault. Philip and Elizabeth built a home on mistrust and made breaking the news to her more about each other rather than treating their eldest like an adult — indirectly forcing Paige to reach her breaking point and confront them directly rather than stand by idly for another fifteen years. Which brings up another dreaded factor: Paige’s youth. After she met, and soon thereafter said goodbye, to her sickly grandmother, Paige retreated to the bathroom to pray. In that moment, she matured — even in her body language — but alas, as soon as their plane touched down in the states, she couldn’t handle the guilt of lying. “I don’t think I can do this, Mom,” she said before being met with a rather predictable KGB sales pitch from Elizabeth. “Everybody lies, Paige. What’s important is that we’re telling each other the truth now.”

Yet, the Jennings have never really come clean with one another. Despite how much closer they’ve become, there’s still an obvious barrier between Philip and Elizabeth, reiterated by Philip’s inability to be honest about his remorse and by Elizabeth’s ignorance to see the larger picture. There’s a schism in their household that directly affects “the Cause,” because, while Elizabeth is turning up the television to hear Reagan’s “March 8, 1983” speech about Soviet intelligence, she’s failing to do what she came here for: protect Mother Russia. In being overly dedicated to the Centre, Elizabeth’s failed to see that the real threat to their safety is how close she and Philip have gotten to those they’ve so desperately tried to control. To varying degrees, Paige, Martha, and Lisa (of Northrup) all know the Jennings are not who they pretend to be, which poses a serious threat if the Centre were to try and protect them (and at this point, after Gabriel’s tiff with Philip, that seems unlikely).

It’s difficult to determine what exactly could happen next season after Philip and Elizabeth find out their daughter betrayed them. The easy assumption is that Pastor Tim will be assassinated, but that’s one surefire way for the Jennings to lose any remaining shred of their daughter’s trust forever. On the other hand, Paige may recant what she disclosed, realizing her mistake and that her words are their nails in the coffin. But like mother, like daughter. Paige has failed to listen or see a larger scope in a way that doesn’t relate to their respective causes — Elizabeth’s dedication to the KGB and Paige’s Bible-backed conscience — putting her family last and her brainwashed beliefs first.

In other news…

1. Philip has been doing some solo soul searching at EST, where he runs into Sandra and has one of the more frightening conversations of the series. “What if during this seminar, you and I agreed to tell each other everything?” she poses. “I don’t think I can do that,” Philip replies, but not in a “I don’t think that’s a good idea because I’m married and should be telling my wife how I feel” way but in a “I want to tell someone who I really am but I can’t” way. Philip says he’ll think about it, which is bonkers considering how many women he’s juggled this season and now he wants another one? Who is his best friend’s ex-wife no less? Philip, we’re begging you: don’t do it.

2. Speaking of all his other women: it was an interesting choice to have Martha absent from the season finale. She played such a major part in these last thirteen episodes, and, in a sense, her work has only just begun. Yet, Philip saved her by killing off a tech engineer who worked for the bureau so Agent Gaad’s office and Walter Taffet will have someone to blame the infamous pen on.

3. Kimmy is still absent. But whatever Philip and Elizabeth did must have worked, according to Yousaf, because the CIA called off one of their operations in Afghanistan. Instead of this news cheering him up, however, Philip blurted out, “I feel like shit everyday.”

4. Stan was able to prove to Gaad that the Soviet defect, Zinaida, is actually a double agent. But when Gaad found out how Stan went about collecting his intel, he was pretty pissed to say the least. The higher-ups at the bureau, however, were not, and they encouraged our favorite FBI agent to keep doing what he’s doing, more or less. The catch: he has to get creative with how they’re going to get Nina back; in exchange for the defect, the government wants the scientist instead.

5. Speaking of Nina: girl is fed up. After a genuine conversation with the scientist, she cracks, “I don’t know if I can keep doing this. Buying back my life. I don’t think it’s worth it.” We don’t necessarily blame you, Nina, but you’re too smart and have made too much progress to give up now.

Until next season, comrades.

Season Three Recaps:
Episode One, “EST Men”
Episode Two, “Baggage”
Episode Three, “Open House”
Episode Four, “Dimebag”
Episode Five, “Salang Pass”
Episode Six, “Born Again”
Episode Seven, “Walter Taffet”
Episode Eight, “Divestment”
Episode Nine, “Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?”
Episode Ten, “Stingers”
Episode Eleven, “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov”
Episode Twelve, “I Am Abassin Zadran”

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Photos: FX