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[Ristifer]

The KGB lady ordering the pickup only gave instructions for the pathogen sample. Martha has no place in that plane. Make of that what you will.

That's what I thought Tatiana was doing, too. I think she's gotten a pilot simply for her own objectives, and isn't interested in what happens with Martha.

Plus, in her conversation with Oleg, you see him look down at her red folder and the camera pans to it. Then, she starts reading it after Oleg leaves.

Definitely something going on there.

 

[VenomousCoffee]

Man, another excellent episode. I know it won't win the Best Drama Emmy, but it should.

 

[weepingangelz]

That's where I thought they'd go. They still can.

Also I'm glad avclub pointed this out but in an episode filled with terribly sad and touching moments, it was really sad to see the switchboard operators life. You can tell she's always alone there. She finally had company and someone she could talk to. She starts telling the story then the phone cuts her off and Phillip leaves. Back to being alone

What was she saying anyway? Something about something feeling accelerated?

 

[Zaph]

What was she saying anyway? Something about something feeling accelerated?

Yeah, that her deployment to America was suddenly accelerated and she doesn't know why. This put Philip in the (ever increasingly frequent) position of facing the human cost of what he does but being helpless to say or do anything - he knows her predecessor was murdered and an immediate replacement was required.

 

[BTM]

Man, this show takes it up a notch each and every week. Nothing else like it right now

 

[Mr. Saturn]

The Americans keeps delivering one gut punch after another.


The KGB lady ordering the pickup only gave instructions for the pathogen sample. Martha has no place in that plane. Make of that what you will.

Remember what happened to that woman Joyce Ramirez from the first season? The woman who was married to that KGB agent who got stabbed in the pilot, how they were going to put her on a plane to leave the country and was found dead instead? I wonder if we'll see a repeat of that with Martha.

 

[Disgraced]

Remember what happened to that woman Joyce Ramirez from the first season? The woman who was married to that KGB agent who got stabbed in the pilot, how they were going to put her on a plane to leave the country and was found dead instead? I wonder if we'll see a repeat of that with Martha.

Yep. I can totally see it going that way.

However, it was Claudia who coordinated that, right? The point being while the KGB doesn't mess around, she's particularly ruthless. Maybe under different oversight Martha will get the best-case scenario.

Although if I'm being honest I don't see it ending anywhere resembling "well." The way I see it they've been digging the blade in all this time and next they're going to twist it.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I felt bad for the operator woman, glad to see I'm not the only one. I guess she sorta lives vicariously through these people without getting contact herself. It's quite sad.

Poor Martha. There is no way this ends well for her. Even if she gets on that plane, I don't see a happy ending there. But I doubt she makes it, and it might be what finally breaks Philip.

 

[Dan]

The KGB lady ordering the pickup only gave instructions for the pathogen sample. Martha has no place in that plane. Make of that what you will.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays. I don't know why Tatiana, of all the people in the residentura, would feel the need to have her killed at this point. Not sure what the feasible alternative intentions for Martha are either.

 

[Niraj]

My expectations are for Martha to get lost, she is stupid and useless. Wish they found the way to get rid of her swiftly, instead of dragging her plotline for weeks.
I also wish that they focus more on Rezidentura storyline, give them something to do instead of just standing around aimlessly for the entire season.

Other than that, I am perfectly fine with everything, but this Martha crap is getting on my nerves, just toss her from the plane into the ocean next week.

Damn, don't even feel bad for her in the slightest? I find her plight really heartbreaking personally. She's the perfect representation of the consequences that Philip's actions have. I think the actress has been perfect.

I watched the episode again earlier. That scene between Elizabeth and Philip at Gabriel's place was just so damn good. The acting was impeccable.

 

[Androidsleeps]

Devastating episode, made me really feel for Martha. Rhys' and Alison Wright's is really amazing. Someone from this show must win an acting award (though it'll probably be ignored on all fronts...)

 

[tearsintherain]

Maybe I missed something in the embassy scenes, but my understanding was that there were going to be TWO planes for the soviets. One to handle the pathogen, and another to handle Martha. In some ways it makes sense, if one gets busted you want the alternative to still be viable, but on the other hand its simpler to put them together.

Thats anyways what I thought when they talked about using the "backup pilot" for the Martha pickup, which implies there is a primary pilot and he is continuing on and the backup pilot will fly a different plane.

The other possibility of course is that the ruski's have decided to infect Martha with the pathogen and use HER to transport the virus, which seems insane (how do you keep the pilot safe? other people who interact with her?) but makes sense in sort of a sick way, see what the virus does in a person and get rid of a problem person at the same time.

 

[Alpende]

Great episode. Martha's helplessness was so good, the actress did a great job portraying that.

 

[Rehynn]

Well, Alison Wright acted the shit out of that episode.

I felt bad for the operator woman, glad to see I'm not the only one. I guess she sorta lives vicariously through these people without getting contact herself. It's quite sad.

Yeah, that was some very understated yet powerful stuff.

 

[Funky Papa]

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays. I don't know why Tatiana, of all the people in the residentura, would feel the need to have her killed at this point. Not sure what the feasible alternative intentions for Martha are either.

It's not like she has a bloodlust or anything. It's just business. Going by how she basically bosses around everybody else, she's somebody shoehorned into the residentura from Moscow so they can keep a closer eye on everybody there and avoid any more embarrassing mistakes.

 

[Ristifer]

It's not like she has a bloodlust or anything. It's just business. Going by how she basically bosses around everybody else, she's somebody shoehorned into the residentura from Moscow so they can keep a closer eye on everybody there and avoid any more embarrassing mistakes.

On top of that, she's a part of Department Twelve, so she's definitely not just there to ensure Martha's safety through extraction.

 

[Zaph]

It's not like she has a bloodlust or anything. It's just business. Going by how she basically bosses around everybody else, she's somebody shoehorned into the residentura from Moscow so they can keep a closer eye on everybody there and avoid any more embarrassing mistakes.

Yup. I think it's becoming increasingly clear that her orders aren't "Get Martha safely to Moscow", but "Make Philip think we got Martha to Mowcow". I hope the show surprises me, but I fear so much time has been devoted to warning Philip that the powers that be are getting tired of him, and he's becoming an agent that needs to be handled rather than given orders.

I originally thought Moscow would genuinely want Martha as a trophy/bargaining chip, but with how much she knows about the agents, there's no chance they'd ever do a prisoner swap.

 

[IronRinn]

I think we all know, deep down, that Martha isn't going to Russia.

 

[Dan]

It's not like she has a bloodlust or anything. It's just business. Going by how she basically bosses around everybody else, she's somebody shoehorned into the residentura from Moscow so they can keep a closer eye on everybody there and avoid any more embarrassing mistakes.

Sure, but I'm a little surprised that only Tatiana seems to want to eliminate Martha period. I'm not sure I'd expect Arkady and Oleg to care about her surviving to live in Russia since they have no connection to her. They don't know her, she's not Russian, she hasn't actually been turned, etc.

 

[Ristifer]

I don't even think Tatiana cares about eliminating Martha. I just think she's focused on what's been recovered by William, Philip, and Elizabeth. Martha is just a side effect of this whole thing to her.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I don't even know why they would want to take Martha to Russia. Any information that she can provide, they'll need to pump from her pretty quickly. And she only knows so much. She's more of a liability. She could easily be a double agent. For all they know she informed the FBI after Philip's big reveal and they got her to go deeper. The risks heavily outweigh the rewards with anything Martha might have.

 

[Disgraced]

Someone made an adorable retro-version of the intro.

Spoiler

So many freeze-frames.

 

[EmpressInYellow]

I don't know what to make of the foreshadowing here. There were two things going on in the telegram with instructions for the flight:

1: The "handle with care" line - having the highly infectious pathogen in a glass jar aboard a tiny plane seems like a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, the show has already done the "accidental infection" storyline, and having Martha die of a biological weapons agent seems a bit too...Hollywood-y for this show.

2: The "Is there anything else?" *long pause* "Send it." bit seems tailored to make us take note of the fact that there's no mention of poor Martha aboard that flight.

There's also Martha's pills and her still-unfired gun, both of which continue to hang there ominously like possible murder weapons in the world's most depressing game of "Clue".

 

[Funky Papa]

Sure, but I'm a little surprised that only Tatiana seems to want to eliminate Martha period. I'm not sure I'd expect Arkady and Oleg to care about her surviving to live in Russia since they have no connection to her. They don't know her, she's not Russian, she hasn't actually been turned, etc.

Well, I think Oleg and Arkady may be trying to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. They already suffered some painful loses and not everybody in the Soviet Union was as ruthless as Tatiana seems to be or the people who handled Nina in Russia. With that said, your chances of survival decrease very, very quickly as soon as your future depends on some high ranking army official.

I can see Oleg and Arkady making a sincere effort to get Martha out of the country unless she endangered their own status. Meanwhile, Tatiana doesn't care. She is not even tangentially related to Martha and her only concern is WMD development. From her point of view, Martha is a nuissance at best and a liability at worst. Getting Martha and the pathogen in the same plane is quite probably too much of a risk for her to accept.

 

[EmpressInYellow]

Well, I think Oleg and Arkady may be trying to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. They already suffered some painful loses and not everybody in the Soviet Union was as ruthless as Tatiana seems to be or the people who handled Nina in Russia. With that said, your chances of survival decrease very, very quickly as soon as your future depends on some high ranking army official.

Also, they probably still want to keep their Directorate S agents happy. Having Martha actually alive gives them something to use down the road, whereas killing her and making up a cover story just means possible problems later on.

And it's not as if real-life espionage agencies didn't go to significant lengths to extract agents who'd been blown. It seems to be one of those things you do. After all, if it somehow gets to be known that standard practice is to kill off agents once they've outlived their usefulness, it makes recruiting new agents (or even getting the handlers to recruit new agents) that much harder.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Guys, I miss old Clark.

 

[Cornballer]

- Collider: TV Performer of the Week: Alison Wright, ‘The Americans’

 

[-griffy-]

Critics already hyping up tomorrows episode on Twitter.

 

[Cornballer]

Critics already hyping up tomorrows episode on Twitter.

I was restraining myself from posting quotes for Ratsky's sake.

 

[Cornballer]

Slightly longer episode tomorrow night that will run 12 minutes past the hour.

 

[CoolOff]

Slightly longer episode tomorrow night that will run 12 minutes past the hour.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I was restraining myself from posting quotes for Ratsky's sake.

TOMORROW'S EPISODE OF THE AMERICANS WAS WAY BETTER THAN IT NEEDED TO BE #PeakTV

 

[Mifune]

Is tomorrow night's the Matthew Rhys-directed one?

 

[A Serious Man]

I assume tomorrow's episode is titled Martha's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

 

[Dominican Power]

The KGB's mishandling of Martha is what's gonna send Phillip over the edge.

 

[Cornballer]

TOMORROW'S EPISODE OF THE AMERICANS WAS WAY BETTER THAN IT NEEDED TO BE #PeakTV

lols

Is tomorrow night's the Matthew Rhys-directed one?

yes!

 

[Funky Papa]

I had no idea Matthew Rhys was to direct an episode. Neat.

 

[Cornballer]

New episode tonight:

The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears

Spoiler

Elizabeth and Philip must both handle loyal agents.

 

[IvanJ]

Hyped!
Anything short of Martha taking a 10.000 foot dive without a parachute will be a major disappointment.

 

[IronRinn]

New episode tonight:

That's not ominous at all!

Hyped!
Anything short of Martha taking a 10.000 foot dive without a parachute will be a major disappointment.

When did everyone get so sadistic regarding Martha? Damn!

 

[-griffy-]

They're gonna David Copperfield Martha.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

That might be the best episode title I've ever seen. And longer than usual?! Shit is going down.

 

[Cornballer]

- Matthew Rhys interview with Assignment X
- The Toast: How to Help Your Friend Who Recently Discovered The Americans

 

[RatskyWatsky]

When did everyone get so sadistic regarding Martha? Damn!

I blame Game of Thrones.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

My bet is that they'll make Martha as the virus sample somehow and that will destroy Phillip.

 

[Ristifer]

Alright, let's goooo!

 

[-griffy-]

Time for magic.

 

[IronRinn]

Here we go. Fuck, I am nervous.

 

[-griffy-]

This shits already tense.

 

[IronRinn]

Keep up that creepy ass smile, Gabriel.