This show keeps delivering!
The whole thing was very well done, from the writing, acting, and the camera work at the end showing so effectively how her world has completely changed. I can even forgive them for getting a little too cute in the office scene (“Are you trying to make me into a travel agent?”). I am glad we have three more episodes this season to unravel this thread further. Many shows would have dropped that bomb in a season finale and then left viewers out in the breeze for 6-8 months.
I didn’t follow what was up with the whole hotel business and Elizabeth’s flirtation with the concierge.
They know the CIA is meeting someone (1 or 2 rooms) in that hotel. They don’t know who. Some sort of groundwork to obtain access later?
What I wonder is Pastor Tim. After seeing what happened to the University student, his fate can’t be happy. Which is okay by me, he’s kinda creepy.
The recapper on ew.com has a theory about Pastor Tim that is intriguing and consistent with his behavior so for.
Actually, that theory about Pastor Tim is a pretty good one, and it hadn’t occurred to me.
I don’t think they filled in the details. All we know is that the CIA will have some very important meetings in that hotel, with the mujahideen IIRC, and they are laying the groundwork for it.
Okay, I found what you’re referring to. EW keeps calling it “The Organization” which confused me for a second. It’s always referred to as the Center, isn’t it?
Yeah, they didn’t tell us what the plan was. All we know is she reports that she’s “halfway” in with the hotel manager.
I’m not laying any bets on their speculation of Pastor Tim thought. Man, I’m not looking forward to the season ending. So many balls in play that will fall in bad ways:
Martha.
Stan’s suspicions on Zeneida (he’s got some good instincts!)
Paige’s indoctrination/training. Spy Junior?
Pakistani agent so really seems very dangerous to Phillip + company. He’s playing along but you suspect he’ll bite back when he can.
I suspect Kimmy’s plot is out now, seems her purpose was served already.
After tonight’s episode, I’m thinking poor Martha isn’t long for the world.
Me too. That ending was absolutely chilling. And the little glimpses in the preview for next week’s season finale (DAMN IT!) suggest that Phillip may be taking more than one extreme action.
Another great show. I do feel it’s better binge-watched than week to week though. Cable TV is not long for this world in my house because i’m feeling that way about most shows I watch, and now I can get HBO w/o it.
Aargh, what a season finale tonight. Hell of a cliffhanger for next season.
I normally complain when the direction becomes apparent because I like suprises. However, I think what occurred is going to set the tone for the whole of the next season. Somebody is likely listening in on that line, after all.
Did anybody catch what actually happened to Martha? I didn’t quite hear what Phillip said to Elizabeth near the end of the episode. Last week it looked like she was about to have an unhappy ending, but you would think if she had been the victim of foul play the FBI office would be in a frenzy over it.
It was something like she’s figuring out what to do, but yeah, I was confused by the almost total omission of that plot from the finale. This was a good episode, but it didn’t feel like a season finale.
They’ve been talking about Elizabeth’s mother all season, so the trip to Russia didn’t come out of nowhere, but making it a reality and bringing Paige all happened in the space of the end of last week’s episode and then this episode. It’s not that it felt particularly rushed, but it dominated the episode while lots of other plot threads that felt more prominent throughout the season got no closure (Martha, Phillip’s relationship with that girl, Nina’s life and work in Russia), only the same incremental progress they had all season long.
I guess the trip to Russia was a necessary catalyst for Paige’s big breakdown/confession, and that certainly felt like a big season finale moment, but like I said, it mostly didn’t feel like a season finale.
And maybe that’s a good thing, I don’t know.
I was unclear about a couple of things: first–who the hell was the guy that Phillip killed and typed his “suicide note” on the Commodore 64? From the conversation at the end with Elizabeth, it sounded like he was somehow related to the Martha situation, and that Martha was still alive, but I’m in the dark.
Also, I was unclear on whether Elizabeth/Nadyezhda and Paige had actually made it to Russia. The establishing shot before the meeting scene made it look like they were still in West Germany, and that the crazy Soviets had spirited her ailing mother into West Germany (from who knows where in the Soviet Union) to see them rather than the other way around. Also, the car parked in front of the sedan the people were helping her mother into looked like a beige VW Squareback from the 1960’s, which I find an unlikely vehicle to find in the early 1980’s Soviet Union.
He was some kind of tech or IT guy around the office. In last week’s episode (or maybe a week prior) he’s another coworker Martha discusses Taffet’s interviews with in passing, he says something like how they’re very thorough. He didn’t do anything else in particular, but they put that exchange in this week’s “Previously on The Americans…” just to remind us basically that he’s a coworker at the office.
Oh yeah, I kept saying they went to Russia, but you’re right, I don’t think they ever literally went to Russia.
Holy shit, that cliffhanger.
Pretty sure the meeting was in West Germany - it’s just safer for their identities.
Either Pastor Tim reports them, and the whole show changes, or, somehow they have to find out about Pastor Tim and silence him - which would only happen if Paige opens her mouth AGAIN.
Pastor Tim organizes protests against nuclear stockpiles, he probably hates Reagan, so he might not be so opposed to them politically. At least as long as he was unaware of them casually murdering innocent bystanders.
Philip planted a recording gizmo in the IT guy’s apartment to frame him for bugging John Boy’s pen and take the heat off Martha.
Seeing Elizabeth in work mode with Paige was very effective. Her expressions and demeanor were very different, making her seem like a different person from how she normally is with Paige, which is exactly how Paige sees her now. As a different person. Meeting Grandma was a huge dose of reality and finally cracked Paige. It’s gonna be a looooong wait until next season.
Plus Philip trying to open up to Elizabeth, and she just cannot relate. So many good little acting beats in this episode, including Stan getting pwned by John Boy. Doh!