The Americans has returned and it second season premiere, “Comrades,” is just another example of what a quality show it is. The plotting and pacing are near perfect and the performances are vibrant and complex. “Comrades” has all the espionage thrills and familial intrigue that is expected of the show.
“Comrades” immediately focuses on showing the changes the show’s central couple, Elizabeth and Philip, have undergone since last season’s finale in which Elizabeth was shot. Elizabeth leaving a cabin in the woods fully recovered from her gunshot wound. At least physically. As she drives off she is startled by some deer in the middle of the road, much more startled than the emotional rock of season one should be. At the same time Philip is posing as a Texas oil tycoon while he talks to some Afghanis about defeating the Soviets who are invading. The meeting ends poorly as Philip kills the two he is talking to and is forced to kill the kitchen worker who overheard the entire conversation and fight. Their roles are reversed and neither are comfortable with it.
It also seems as though neither are completely comfortable with each other again either. After Elizabeth tells Philip to come home at the end of last season’s finale it is clear the two still have some things to work out as both feel a little tentative around each other. The moment when Philip tells Elizabeth about the failed Afhani operation she puts her hand on his while he is driving but it feels equal parts going through the motions and equal parts genuine comfort. This isn’t to say that the two aren’t on firmer ground than where they spent much of last season – even Paige could attest to that after catching them in the act – but the two still don’t feel completely reconciled.
It also looks as though Paige will be following in her parents’ footsteps as she remains suspicious of Elizabeth after catching her “doing laundry” in the middle of the night. Her suspicion is the entire reason she finds her parents in the midst of some lurid behavior and why she does Elizabeth’s laundry. Whether Philip and Elizabeth know that Paige is suspicious of them, Philip sort of hints at it, remains to be seen but it should be interesting to see if Paige does find something out and how her search affects Philip and Elizabeth.
For those more interested in the more usual style of espionage “Comrades” also delivered. In addition to the failed Afghani mission, Philip and Elizabeth are almost immediately pressed into duty after she arrives back home as they are placed with another KGB couple to gain some security information from a Lockheed Martin employee. This scene may take more time to explain than to actually watch but it certainly showed Elizabeth hadn’t missed a beat while recuperating and that sometimes missions are a very slick success.
Later on in the episode, after the two KGB couples agree to bring their families to an amusement park so that they can see how much each others’ children have grown, another mission is thrust upon Philip. The KGB couple tells Philip he must accept a handoff in the middle of the park and that the informant will be looking for him and his son. Despite Elizabeth and Philip agreeing to never include their children in missions Philip goes along with it anyway as he only has two minutes before the window closes. He gets the handoff and everything goes to plan until he goes to the KGB couple’s hotel room drop off the information, only to find them and their daughter recently slain. Philip quickly extracts the number cypher and leaves the room just in time to pass the KGB couple’s son in the hallway. By the end of the episode Philip has decoded the message as an address in Northern Virginia where he will find whatever the drawing attached to the message is depicting.
This scene reinforces the hanging dread that the show always seems to have. Unlike other shows, The Americans does a very good job of suspending disbelief when it comes to the tension derived from the always possible threat to the two leads. It is scenes like the amusement park scene that serve as active reminders in the viewer that everything could end swiftly, no matter how little sense it may make to kill off one of the leads of the show.
What also plays a part in the tension is that this is historical fiction so the audience knows how close the Soviet Union is to dissolving. Knowing that the Soviet Union is on the brink only makes it that much more engrossing when rooting for Philip and Elizabeth – the closer it gets to the USSR ending the more tense the espionage missions get. The variety of missions they undertake as well as the variety of complications that could happen further engrosses the viewer into the tension.
Unfortunately for Stan his life continues to spiral down. It is revealed that the trail to catch two Soviet spies they were chasing after, which are Philip and Elizabeth, has gone cold. He also must deal, albeit for just a short time as he is killed later in the episode, with the informant Sanford who believes he should be paid for the information he gave the FBI that didn’t result in anything. His asset and girlfriend on the side, Nina, is not only playing him for the Soviets but also now actively seems to be enjoying it as evidenced by her devilish smirk after deceiving him. And, despite their hug at the end of the episode, he and Sandra, his wife, feel even farther apart than they were at the end of last season. At least Philip refunded all his money for the trip to Jamaica Stan never took.
It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly makes The Americans such an engrossing watch. Perhaps it’s the equal importance given to both the espionage aspects and the familial aspects of the show. Or maybe it’s the ability to always surprise and keep things tense. Whatever it may be it sure is good to have The Americans back.