Assuming the spies’ cover is blown, Gabriel advises
Elizabeth and Philip that their espionage is over and they should go back to
the USSR. Things look dire enough that the Jennings family should leave. But can
they?
Even as season four eliminated some of the family’s ties to
the United States, such as Martha, Don and Young-Hee, they are still in very
deep in their adopted country. Philip tells EST (which has lasted a
surprisingly long time on the show) that he would like to quit the job that
makes him so depressed but that he’s made a commitment. Paige is getting in deep
with Matthew (which amuses Stan and horrifies Philip).
This begs the provocative question that’s been hanging in
the air all along: How American have these Russians become? Elizabeth muses as
to what Smolensk looks like now and tries to picture the kids in the Soviet
Union. They know they probably should leave but there’s so much doubt on their
faces. They have good jobs, a house in the suburbs and a nice car. In 20 years
of playacting, have they become the thing they’ve been fighting against?
The Jenningses are lucky, having better-rounded lives than
some of the spies. As William lies dying, he laments that he never had that
good life. In a powerfully moving comment, he confesses that he just wanted to
be “like them, couple of kids, the American dream.”
By contrast, William was invisible and alone. He’s given
everything for the cause and on his deathbed, will give even more, saying
“Everything inside me that matters will have oozed out my orifices.” He wanted
out and seeing his impending capture, did the most good he could, ensuring that
nobody in the world would have to suffer the horrors of lassa hemorrhagic
fever. The tragedy here is that instead of getting a hero’s welcome as Gabriel
promised, William will be assumed incompetent or a traitor, as the USSR
believes he either got captured or defected. (However, why didn’t Philip hear
the helicopters near the drop site and infer that William got captured?)
William’s death was horrible but at least Aderholt finally
made the deadpan spy laugh with that offer of a deathbed Coke.
The season finale upended all sorts of chessboards. Arkady
gets evicted from the United States after being shocked, shocked, that both sides have interest in bioweapons. Oleg, the
good son, goes back to his family after secretly tipping off the FBI about
Directorate S. Tatiana may be going to Nairobi or may be the new head of the
Rezidentura.
Offsetting all these losses is the intro of new character
Mischa, the son of Philip and Irina. Like his father, he secretly opposes the
society he lives in, but his rebellion takes the form of speaking out against
the USSR’s Afghanistan policies. I think his impending journey to the United
States means the Jennings family will be staying in Falls Church because it
would be too clichéd to have father and estranged son pass like ships in the
night.
Paige and Matthew make out through the Super Bowl (missing
the totalitarian overtones of Apple’s “1984” commercial) and exchange hints of
valuable information. Matthew admits his father cheated on his mother and Paige
asks if it might be better to see his parents as real people with flaws. Philip
wants them to stay away from each other and when Paige complains, it’s darkly
humorous for him to warn her “You have no idea.”
I would think Philip could tell from Stan’s joking around
that the FBI is not onto them, and Elizabeth noted they didn’t have a bunch of
agents swarming their house when their neighbor got home. I think that ensures
that the Jennings family is staying for now. At least a trip to Mother Russia
is not imminent, because otherwise Philip wouldn’t have bothered warning Paige
about staying away from Matthew; they would just pack their bags and go and she’s
never see him anyway.
Season four was probably the best season of The Americans yet and it ended not with
car chases but some meaty, subtle questions and developments. I will probably
need some time to re-watch and absorb these episodes, because they need time to
sink in, but for now this was my favorite season, dark and unsettling and
provocative.
I have no idea where the show goes now with so many
characters gone, but I am quite grateful that we will get two more seasons of
this top-notch drama to find out.
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