The Americans S3 E2: Baggage

If there was a theme to this week’s episode, it was women in boxes. One was shipped from the USSR in a crate, one was stuck in a KGB prison and one ended up posthumously contorted in a suitcase.

We need to talk about that suitcase scene. Watching and listening to Elizabeth and Philip break Annelise’s bones and dispose of her body was probably the most viscerally horrifying thing I’ve ever seen on TV and I almost had to leave the room. Between that and the rampant nudity on The Americans, it’s surprising what basic cable can get away with these days. The chilling part was how the Jenningses wordlessly and efficiently went about making all those bones go ways they weren’t supposed to. It’s clear that they’ve done this before in fine hotels across America.

To show he’s a team player, Yousaf joined in and snapped a few fibula. I don’t know what his deal is or what will come of his meeting with those people (CIA?) in the bar. I assume he got the message that Philip and Elizabeth sent him when disposing of the body: We are not people you want to mess with.

I don’t know what I expected to come out of that crate but a Soviet defector wearing an oxygen mask was not it. I’m not sure where this is going.

In another box we have a miserable Nina, trading in her 1982-stylish office wear for a communist sweat suit. As she found out, the only thing worse than being in a KGB prison alone is having an annoying roommate. The scene between these two reminded me of Piper and her motormouth cellmate on Orange Is the New Black. Nina was so beaten down that I barely recognized her but there is hope as Oleg’s father can pull some strings and get her out of there.

Speaking of beaten down, this is the lowest point we’ve ever seen Stan, following his near-shooting by Oleg in a dark alley. He’s going to Sandra because he doesn’t have anyone left to confide in. I don’t think he would have minded getting shot because his life is such a disaster.

The “Baggage” of the title, aside from referring to that unusually heavy suitcase, had a resonance with Elizabeth and her relationship with her dying mother. She argues that her own mother was supportive of her joining the KGB, so she should support Paige’s recruitment into the illegals program. There’s a flaw in that logic: Elizabeth already knew her true heritage but Paige does not and when she finds out, when they pull the rug from under her, it could destroy her. I read an interview where the creators said they purposely write the characters as not being psychologically attuned and that’s Elizabeth in this scene. She’s so indoctrinated that she misses some truths.

However, it is getting clear that something needs to be done about Paige. She’s getting suspicious that all Philip’s late nights mean he is cheating on her mother. This is a realistic development since Clark can only spend so many nights at Martha’s before his kids get suspicious. Something is going to come to a head soon because the one person they can’t deceive with wigs or shaky explanations is their daughter.