TV Review: FX’s The Americans 3×5, “Salang Pass”

There is a scene in this week’s episode of The Americans, “Salang Pass”, which has FBI Agent Stan Beeman and KGB officer Oleg Igorevich meet on opposite sides of a bridge.  One is dressed in white and the other in black.  This is not a show that has ever made choices as simple as that from a morality perspective, but it is a neat image nonetheless.  I am sure Philip wishes things could be that simple for him, as this week also finds him juggling the various women he must deal with in his spy and personal life, but he does not live an easy life nor was an easy life setup for him, as evidenced by the flashes of his training towards the end of this episode.

I have been quite clear about my thoughts on Philip in the past.  While Elizabeth may take the results of certain situations hard, Philip is the more emotional of the two Jennings.  He has the deeper conscience and holds more of the weight on his shoulders, when it comes to dealing with the implications and results of his actions that are done to serve his true country.  Surely this will have a big payoff at some pivotal point in the series, as a whole, but for the time being, we just get to see Matthew Rhys do tremendous work in emoting and explaining himself, whether in disguise or as his regular character.

The episode begins by already putting him in an awkward position, as he must deal with poor Martha and her desire to have a child, even if it means taking in a foster child to contend with her mysterious husband.  I do not have a child and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to portray a character that has kids, knows what it means to raise them, seems to really take pride in being father, and also have to play the role of a man denying children to someone else.  Martha has not been given much to do so far this season (or last), but this new development is an interesting one in a show that has plenty to work with already.  It certainly has Philip going to all new extremes to keep his people under control.

With extremes and control in mind, much of the episode revolves around Philip’s continued involvement with the 15-year-old Kimberly.  Building a level of trust and having the help of Afghani weed provided by Gabriel (oh this show is fun), Philip manages to get inside Kimmy’s house this week and engage in enough activities to tire her out, but not push her too far (yet).  This gives him the opportunity to check out the rest of the house and do his spy thing.  We are still working on what will happen with knowledge of the CIA Afghan group, something a meet with Yousef also helped shed light upon, but the importance is the relationship between Philip and Kim.

It is still a tough battleground between Philip and Elizabeth, when it comes to Paige, who has now gotten an expensive new dress for her baptism.  It has not been made any easier for Philip, who currently has the youngest girl he has ever had to seduce in his pocket, while dealing with the stress of handling how his own young daughter.  Yes, I am repeating myself and the show is doing plenty to really build up the tension in regards to this important storyline, but I have no doubts in how effective the results are going to be.  I do like to compare The Americans to chess, as it is a great show that does plenty of work on a weekly basis to setup all of the pieces and make big moves infrequently, but very effectively.  All of this stuff with Paige and Kim is no different, but when some major move does happen, it will lead to some very interesting results.

Elizabeth has her own mission to work on, as we continue to see her working on her friend from AA and how far she is going to both help her and herself.  While Elizabeth is presenting herself in fine form, she is also doing some coldblooded work to position her friend into a new job.  We see some recon work that leads to a pretty harsh murder of a man working for Northrop.  I apologize if I am missing some detail as far as what this is all leading to, but the sort of ruthlessness involved in moving this plot forward is another thing I am very curious about in regards to the eventual payoff.

Even with the Jennings on their own missions and having their own thoughts in regards to what to do with Paige, seeing them together at the end of this episode is what really brought things together for me this week.  Yes, I do like what Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell bring to the series on their own, but getting these two together for a period of reflection paid off big as far as getting them to be very revealing with what goes on in their minds.  While The Americans is not a show that tries to be overly explicit, when it comes to the actions of these spies, hearing a discussion and seeing some images involving what it is to train for this sort of work leaves an impact.  Elizabeth asking, “Do you have to make it real with me?” allows for more development as well.  Some time being straight and direct is the right path for such complex characters and ideally, they will find a way to get on the same page about Paige.

Aside from one brutal death, this was another episode that took its time and focused on our characters and their involvements, rather than their big actions.  Next week’s episode is titled “Born Again”, and I can only imagine what double meanings can be taken from that.  With that in mind though, there should be some interesting occurrences, which may or may not amp up the tensions and action this show is good at making happen.  This does not mean “Salang Pass” was boring or filler though.  Quite the contrary, as The Americans is great enough to sustain itself quite easily on just having these characters live, whether it is in fact the American way or not.

Other Things Behind The Red Curtain:

• I mentioned Stan and Oleg in the opening, but there is not much else to talk about with them.  They both want Nina back, but neither has anything to present about Zinaida, the possible Russian spy that could maybe help their cause.
• Henry report:  He’s hip to his day’s lingo – “I’ll be it.”
• Stan has been asked out by Tori, because he realizes women are doing that now. What an age he lives in.
• Liz is not a fan of the stinky cheeses.
• Phil is a fan of Rocky Road and ice creams that have a crunch.
• RIP Northrop employee, hopefully that car will get a good home.