In a quiet episode, the
most riveting part of “Immersion” was Elizabeth’s admission to Paige that she
had been raped at 18. Keri Russell played the scene impressively well, staying
silent and tentative just a little past where it became uncomfortable. The
camera lingered on an amazing close-up of her face, suggesting tears that did
not, maybe could not, fall.
Elizabeth is obviously
still affected on some level by the rape but still refused her daughter’s instinctive
hug. For her, it’s a lesson to teach, that she got hurt but was no longer
afraid. (Not revealed: “Your father killed the rapist on the very spot you’re
standing.”) Russell was also great at the walking scene with Paige at the end,
getting across the idea that it never really occurred to her what she would be
if she were not a spy. The seduction of Paige is a slow burn but it needs to
be. If she’s going to work for the USSR or turn against her parents, it
realistically wouldn’t be a snap decision either way.
Claudia returns and she’s
trying to be like Gabriel. They meet at a safe house and Claudia tries to be
personable. But it doesn’t really work, partially because Elizabeth hates her
and partially because as the handler says, “You don’t need anybody in your
heads.” So they go another way. The loss of father figure Gabriel is another
signal that the old beliefs and institutions are falling away.
I was intrigued that the
Center actually let Claudia go home and see her family. The only other time
that happened was Elizabeth visiting her dying mother and they still had to
meet in West Germany and it was over the Center’s strenuous objections. Also,
now I do want to know what Claudia was doing in the USSR decades ago.
Oleg gets his life rumpled
through after seeking some files on his mother. It’s galling that this happens
to a family so highly respected and well off that even the stairwell in their
apartment building is gilded. The father is annoyed and the mother, a former
prisoner, is scared, saying, “They find things even when there is nothing.” It
turns out to be nothing but Oleg has to be disillusioned, since even in
America, nobody every searched his house, but his own country will. It’s
another institution failing another character.
Evgheniya is having an
affair with a CIA guy who is going to Russia (I think that’s what’s happening).
It struck me in this episode that she really looked like Nina, another woman
doomed by an affair with an American, and that can’t be a coincidence. Her son
Pasha is in trouble, with a plan by Tuan to get the boy isolated and miserable
bound to turn pretty dark. Tuan is a shark but he also seems lonely, looking
isolated himself as his fake parents go to work. Asking them to come around
more often was probably as much for him as to keep up appearances.
It was really funny to see
the parallel phone calls with Elizabeth and Philip and their Kansas assets, and
it was especially funny to see affect-free Deirdre dump Philip, saying she
wanted someone more aggressive. His head hasn’t been in the seduction game
since Martha’s life ended up in shambles. But his spy instincts are still on
the ball, with that story about being a married man hilariously piquing Deirdre’s
interest.
Season five of The Americans seems to be taking awhile to
get to the point. It’s probably all setup for the sixth and final season, and
not that I’m not enjoying the emotional development and character stuff (my
favorite part of the show) but I could use a little more action by the end of
this season. I don’t need wall-to-wall car chases but just a little something
would be good. Still, after five seasons, I trust the show to deliver a huge
payoff at the end.
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