- Events in Moscow strike a personal chord for Elizabeth, leading her to take on a dangerous mission she can't complete without Philip's help, and placing the couple on a collision course with both Grannie and the FBI.
- Philip's single alter-ego meets his "bride's" devout parents. failing to talk Elizabeth out of gruesome revenge for the murder of her mentor, KGB general Zhykov, he helps her kidnap FBI director Richard Patterson who ordered it, despite Moskow's refusal to indulge in revenge, but they ultimately release him in one piece. FBI agent Beeman's wife bitterly tells him and consoling neighbor Elisabeth she no longer believes he always works late, suspecting infidelity. His KGB lover Nina is meanwhile promoted. *—KGF Vissers
- Previously on 'The Americans:' FBI Special Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) has begun having an affair with Nina (Annet Mahendru), his Russian informant, while his wife wonders why their relationship has become distant. A couple of U.S. scientists were assassinated by a Russian-backed hit man before Phillip and Elizabeth could stop him. Stan's partner, Agent Chris Amador, was killed and Stan avenged his death by murdering a KGB agent, Nina's friend, Vlad. She's asked him who killed Vlad and he says he doesn't know. Phillip and Elizabeth are separated.
'Covert War:' Special Agent ib Charge Gaad (Richard Thomas) briefs his team that three high-level KGB officers are being targeted in Moscow, including Viktor Zhukov (Olek Krupa), the head of Directorate S. We see Zhukov at home when someone shows up unexpected. The intruder kills Zhukov's guard and, after a brief struggles, shoots Zhukov twice, dead.
Elizabeth and Stan's wife Sandra (Susan Misner) go out for a girl's night. They're drinking at a bar when Sandra asks Elizabeth if she's ever dated anyone from a foreign country. Elizabeth says no. Sandra says she dated a visiting professor from Finland in college. She says the professor was the first of two she's ever slept with. Sandra then asks Elizabeth if she's ever thought about cheating.
Phillip, meanwhile, has the kids for the night and they watch "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (1963)."
Elizabeth and Sandra are dancing at the bar when Sandra slips away to call home. She checks on her son, who tells her that Stan is working late.
Phillip and the kids go out to the vending machines at the motel and see a guy urinating in the parking lot. Phillip suggests to him that he "pack it up," and the guy obliges while the kids giggle.
Later that night, Stan gets home and finds Sandra crying and drunk. She tells him she called headquarters and they said he'd left hours earlier. He says they were mistaken and she calls "BS" on him. She calls him a liar and goes off on him about how he's become "the opposite of the man that I married." She tells him she's sick of kidding herself about him and their marriage.
Claudia (Margo Martindale) gives Elizabeth the news that Zhukov is dead. She demands to know who did it. Claudia says the CIA Director of Planning for the Soviet Union Richard Patterson (Paul Fitzgerald) was the architect of the operation and Elizabeth says, "He has to die." Claudia says there will be no retribution from them, per Moscow's orders. They don't want to let it spiral out of control. Elizabeth says Moscow is wrong. Claudia says she doesn't agree or disagree, "I follow orders." Claudia warns Elizabeth not to disobey orders and tells her that Zhukov would want Elizabeth to do the right thing.
Elizabeth flashes back to 1964, when then-Colonel Zhukov gave her a pep talk about the chances she was dealing with and about Phillip, and love.
Elizabeth tells Phillip the news about Zhukov and says she's going to find the man responsible and kill him. Phillip asks if those are the orders, but she doesn't say yes. She says she's going to make sure "they" know they can't get away with such an action.
Elizabeth has been doing research on Patterson and his routines. She gives Phillip all the info and he encourages her to let it go. She realizes that Patterson's weakness is women and she can grab him at a place called The Wheelhouse. Phillip tells her they shouldn't disobey orders again. He tells her that if she wants to kill him, she should put a scope on a rifle and take him out. She makes it clear, though, that she wants to look him in the eyes before she kills him.
Stan is home when his son, Matt, gets back from seeing "The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)." Stan is surprised to see Matt is wearing makeup, but Matt tells him it's a drag show and everyone wears makeup, "and, no, it doesn't mean I'm gay."
Arkady (Lev Gorn) finds Nina with her feet up on her desk in her new office. She's now a senior lieutenant. He tells her that he's planted a bug at the house of Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. He wants her to scour FBI communications for any meetings at Weinberger's library because he wants to know anything that is said about the hits in Russia.
Phillip gets to Martha's (Alison Wright) house and she wants to introduce him to her parents (Peggy J. Scott and Richard Kline). He stays to chat for a bit, but leaves quickly while claiming he has work stuff to do. He leaves but first tells her that her parents are lovely and kisses her.
Flash back to Geneva in 1971 when Elizabeth told Zhukov that she was pregnant with her second child. She hadn't yet told Phillip. Zhukov told Elizabeth about his dog dying.
Phillip meets up with Elizabeth as she prepares to make her move to grab Patterson. He says he'll give her 20 minutes before pulling the car around to the alley. She leaves.
Inside The Wheelhouse, the bar Patterson frequents, Elizabeth flirts with Patterson about his choice on the jukebox. She says she just broke up with her boyfriend. She toasts "to being free and easy," but he says he isn't "easy." She teases him with some crossword puzzle clues and lures him to the restroom to have sex. She tries to jam a syringe in his leg while he's groping her, but he notices and they tussle for a bit. He starts to choke against a wall, but knees him in the groin to push him off, then knocks him out with a blow to the head using the paper towel dispenser. She opens the bathroom window and Phillip is there to help drag Patterson through it.
Stan meets Nina at their safe house and she asks him again to tell her the story of who murdered Vlad. He says they might never really know what happened. "It's frustrating," he says, but she suggests a different word and asks him what he wants from her. He tells her "this part of things should stop," referring to their affair. He starts to say it's not what he wants, but says "it's the right thing to do." She says, "Okay." She tells him she no longer has anything... no country or family to go back to. "I only have fear and you," she says. He tells her that his wife knows about the affair and Nina says, "Family is everything."
She steps away and slips off her robe, putting her bra back on, but Stan comes up behind her and takes it off again. It doesn't look like "this part of things" is stopping.
Patterson is blindfolded and chained to a chair in an empty warehouse space as Elizabeth walks around him playing mind games with him. She asks him, "How does it feel to be alive, but knowing you're going to die, you just don't know exactly when?"
He offers information and money, but she declines both. She says she wants to know how it feels to order the deaths of innocent people. He tells her those Soviet generals were not innocent, "they knew the risks," and that he is just a bureaucrat who executes orders. He decides nothing, he says, before telling her that she is just a killer with "no heart, no soul, no conscience." He asks her if she cares about anything or loves anyone, and she screams at him to stop talking. She fires the gun away from his head and walks out of the room where she breaks down crying. Phillip comes in and asks what happened. He takes the gun and says he'll kill Patterson, but she says it's "not about him."
"I was out of control," she says.
Phillip comforts her and tells her, "It's okay. It happens." She says nothing and walks out.
We next see Patterson still blindfolded and seated on a public bench. Elizabeth is watching from her car across the street before driving away.
Patterson is debriefed by Gaad, Stan and others at the FBI. He tells them about where he was taken and Gaad asked what he was doing in the restroom. Patterson says he was going to have sex with her, but she was attacked and had help. He says her intent to kill him "was personal" and based on the killing of the agents in Russia. He can't figure out why she let him go.
"So," Gaad recounts. "A woman and a man?"
"Yes," Patterson confirms. "A couple."
Flash back to Rome in 1976, where Zhukov is telling Elizabeth how much he loves it there. He asks about Phillip and she says things are the "same." He told her she was chosen for America because of her fear of surrender. He told her he had no more stories to tell her, that he lost his way a long time ago and has lived for his work and "now I miss what I never had."
Elizabeth shows up at Phillip's motel room to tell him "thanks a lot." She brought beer. He invites her in. He has some things packed up and he says he can't stay there anymore. He doesn't want to bring the kids back there. They start to agree that the kids need to feel more rooted. Elizabeth says the separation was the right thing to do, but she's clearly upset when Phillip tells her he got an apartment. She leaves in a hurry and leaves her car with him (his battery was dead), rushing off to take the bus home.
Elizabeth meets Claudia in her car and asks Claudia why she told her about Patterson and then told her not to act on it. Elizabeth knows Claudia wanted her to kill him, but tells Claudia that she let him go. Claudia tells Elizabeth she wasn't the only one who loved Zhukov. Claudia claims she and Zhukov were in love, but Elizabeth doesn't believe her. She thinks Claudia was trying to set her up to disobey orders so she could be shipped back to Moscow. Claudia tells Elizabeth that her job is to help her and Phillip, but Elizabeth insists that she's only acted to hurt them. She wonders why Claudia hates them.
"Because we're better at this than you ever were?" Elizabeth asks. "Because I beat your face in?"
"You're still new at this, my dear," Claudia says, stone faced. "So much to learn."
"This isn't going to go well for you, old lady," Elizabeth says, looking Claudia squarely in the eyes before getting out of the car and walking away.
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