With one episode left to go in the series, we know one thing for sure aboutThe Americans.
As Soviet agent Elizabeth Jennings, Keri Russell is giving a performance for the ages.
Elizabeth hasn’t lost her knack for shapeshifting.
Credit: Patrick Harbron/FX
and the dangling promise of a glamorous new life in the private sector.
But her exhaustion is palpable.
She’s a soldier near the end of a very long war, juggling battles on many fronts.
Some of the best moments on TV recently have been Elizabeth quietly smoking cigarettes.
(WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
Read at your own risk!)
Having uncovered the hidden KGB plot to toss out liberalizer Gorbachev, Elizabeth trails Nesterenko (Alex Feldman).
She’s anticipating that Claudia (Margo Martindale) will send another assassin in her place.
It’s one ofAmericans relentless-tension slow-burns.
Things boil over when Elizabeth sees a woman approach Nesterenko.
One stealth assassin is killed by another; R.I.P.
Vera Cherny’s Tatiana, you really should’ve gotten that gig in Nairobi.
It’s an exciting sequence, and I didn’t really buy it.
I don’t want to quibble over the authenticity of the scene, per se.
(The history of Cold War spying reads more surreal than real, anyhow.)
But the lead-up to this moment felt unconvincing.
We saw flashbacks to Elizabeth’s younger self, pre-Americanized Nadezhda in the training-wheels days.
The motorcyclist reached out to Elizabeth, body twisted in baggage-fit directions, begging “Help Me.”
Lesson Learned: There are rules above the rules, higher directives to obey.
Russell’s performance as Young Elizabeth was a quiet marvel, magnificently communicating youthful inexperience.
Was this all necessary, though?
No one’s a pure hero, everyone’s some kind of traitor.
But this season has introduced a trope peculiar to even the best morally ambiguous TV: TheReallyBad Guys.
The Americans variation on the theme feels least convincing.
But it feels a bit simple, too, especially viewed from our privileged 2018 perspective.
Like,duh, Elizabeth is gonna do everything within her power to avoid the Gorbachev coup.
The noble Glasnost-enabling rightness of her actions feels explicit, likeThe Americanshas never been.
Russell ruled this episode, made me believe even the broad-daylight assassination.
Her final scene with Claudia was an actors' showcase.
“You never really understood what you were fighting for,” Claudia tells her.
“What’s left for you now?
Your American kids?”
Was this what Elizabeth was fighting for?
I assume Elizabeth would say, confidently, “Yes.”
We know, from history, that the Communist society she believes in will radically transform.
More interesting, I think, was the night’sothershowdown.
“We were proud to dowhateverwe could,” she said.
“What wassex?”
This felt dangerous in a way this season’s whole Summit plot never really has.
Has Elizabeth lost Paige?
Wasthiswhat she was fighting for?
Elizabeth Jennings saved history, but can she save her family?
The Americansseries finale airs next Wednesday at 10 p.m.
