The Americans
Season 3, Episode 12 – “I Am Abassin Zadran”
Directed by Christopher Misiano
Written by Peter Ackerman & Stuart Zicherman
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, Costa Ronin, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor, Richard Thomas, Alison Wright, Noah Emmerich, and Frank Langella
FX
Air date: Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 10pm

Secrets and lies are two intrinsically linked elements, as it’s impossible to have one without the other. The Americans is a show that’s lived in the area between those places and this season has really focused on the emotional weight of what it means to have secrets, to keep secrets, and what it is to tell lies to keep those secrets.

“I Am Abassin Zadran” refers to the titular mujahideen commander Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip (Matthew Rhys) speak to in the episode, but for Martha (Alison Wright) this could have easily been the name behind the man she’s known as Clark. Identity is at the heart of this episode, as we continue to see Paige (Holly Taylor) struggle with her changed circumstances and question who she’s been all her life. These are weighty questions to posit as the show heads into its season finale, but they’re questions this show is capable of not only asking, but providing the answers to as well.

Spoilers for the latest episode of The Americans will be discussed below.

The Americans
Season 3, Episode 11 – “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov”
Directed by Andrew Bernstein
Written by Stephen Schiff & Tracey Scott Wilson
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, Costa Ronin, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor, Richard Thomas, Alison Wright, Noah Emmerich, and Frank Langella
FX
Air date: Wednesday, April 8, 2015, 10pm

The Americans Episode 3.11 “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov” ends with an open door that subsequently closed. It functions as a good symbol for this episode as the majority of the Jennings family struggles with this newfound openness between them all. There’s a desperate attempt to keep that door open, but who’s to say how long that will be the case?

Continuing the fallout of last week, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip (Matthew Rhys) are rightfully still on edge about just where Paige’s (Holly Turner) head is currently at. In fact, the entire Jennings household (save for Henry, who is still running around doing the world’s best worst Eddie Murphy “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood” impression) seems to be adrift, searching for some sort of answer within themselves in the larger world.

The Americans
Season 3, Episode 10 – “Stingers”
Directed by Larysa Kondracki
Written by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, Costa Ronin, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor, Richard Thomas, Alison Wright, Noah Emmerich, and Frank Langella
FX
Air date: Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 10pm

At what point did you realize that your parents weren’t as infallible as you’d once thought?

There’s a moment in every person’s life where this moment occurs. Comics writer Matt Fraction described it (in one of my favorite interviews of all time I might add) as the feeling of “…angst that comes from realizing you’re standing on a plateau with the people you looked up to. There are moments when any kind of role model that you have in your life, be it parental or educational””teachers””or even just, you know, professional mentors, can kind of invariably disappoint you.” It is different for everyone, but we all have it – the people who raise us have their own secrets, their own lives even, and we start to view them in a different light.

I don’t think Paige Jennings (Holly Taylor) expected her moment to be quite so painful.

Potential spoilers below.

The Americans
Season 3, Episode 9 – “Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?”
Directed by Stephen Williams
Written by Joshua Brand
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, Costa Ronin, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor, Richard Thomas, Alison Wright, Noah Emmerich, and Frank Langella
FX
Air date: Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 10pm

“This is not how I expected it to end, the story. I’m not afraid of leaving the world. I don’t know why, but I’m not. It’s better than falling down in the street, like a drunk, and waiting for some stranger to pass by.”

“Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?” not only gives us one of the best titled episodes of The Americans, but also the closest thing we’ve gotten to a bottle episode on the show.

Spoilers below.

The Americans
Season 3, Episode 8 – “Divestment”
Directed by Dan Attias
Written by Joshua Brand
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, Costa Ronin, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor, Richard Thomas, Alison Wright, Noah Emmerich, and Frank Langella
FX
Air date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 10pm

The latest episode of The Americans, titled “Divestment,” aired this week on FX. Continue reading for my thoughts on the episode.

Fair warning: there will be spoilers below, so continue only if you’re caught up.