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"It's just hard, this job, this life. It gets to you in ways you didn't think it would. And it isn't easy for me to talk about this, but I sometimes wonder if I'm cut out for this." ― Philip to Martha

Comrades is the premiere of Season Two of The Americans on FX, and the fourteenth episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Elizabeth comes back from her injury and straight into what should have been a routine mission. It goes awry, leaving her and Philip in fear not only for themselves but for their whole network, and family. Paige's suspicions have only grown in her mother's absence. Meanwhile, Stan continues to fall for the Russian agent who has started to play him.

Plot[]

Elizabeth leaves Abigail's secluded cabin, where she has been recuperating from her gun shot wound. She brings her car to a screeching halt as a doe and two fawns cross in front of her. Philip poses as an American agent and in a restaurant meets with an Afghan tribal chief and his translator. They attempt to arrange a weapons deal but Philip shoots them both in the knees under the table. He then fatally shoots the Afghan commander and tells the translator to deliver the message that America can't protect them. He turns to leave, but the translator attacks him. They fight and Philip kills him, then exits through the kitchen where a young bus boy is cowering in the corner. Philip tells him it will be okay and walks away, but thinks the better of it and kills him too. Before driving away in his car, he grasps the steering wheel, breathing heavily, upset. (♫ Lloyd Conger - Beer Bar Blues ♫)



S02E01-American agent
The KGB is everywhere.
Elizabeth arrives home in time for Henry's 11th birthday. Philip gives Stan a refund for the vacation he planned with Sandra that she refused to go on. Henry is disappointed to receive a telescope from Philip, as he'd been hoping for a video game system, and that his parents are going out on a date. They say a babysitter is arriving soon and Paige is visibly glad they're back together. However, the date is a mission with two other Illegals. Elizabeth and another woman, Leanne, have sex with Lockheed employee Roy Oatway in a motel room. Pretending to be Air Force Security, Philip and Emmett enter and kick the women out. They then tell Roy they are going to take apart every detail of his security protocol, and have him switch out the codes to his office safe and briefcase to numbers they will provide.



S02E01-Henry telescope
Tonight? It's my birthday?
Back home, Paige snoops through Elizabeth's suitcase, under the guise of doing her laundry. Philip and Emmett rendezvous with Elizabeth and Leanne, who are drinking beer and discussing their children. Leanne says "Nothing prepares you for them growing up here." Philip says they will be at a carnival all day on Saturday, and the Connors state their intention to go also, in order to surreptitiously see each other's children. They also say Claudia is still in the US, and sends her regards. At home, Paige wakes late at night and, suspecting her parents never came home, creeps down the hallway and slowly opens their door to discover them having sex. The next morning over a very awkward breakfast, Philip and Elizabeth reassure her, but also scold her for opening a closed door, reminding her that respect, privacy and trust are critical. Philip wonders aloud if she's checked up on them before.



S02E01-Paige watches LIz eat
The morning after.
Nina has misinformed Stan that "she died" (meaning Elizabeth) and "he was exfiltrated" (meaning Philip). Although he claims to trust Nina as a source, Stan has difficulty accepting the trail has gone cold. Bernadette notifies him when a gaunt and disheveled Sanford Prince shows up at Stan's office, yelling that he is owed $500,000. When Stan tells him not one of his leads panned out, Sanford insists that everything he told him was the truth. Stan throws him out, but confesses to Agent Gaad that he believes him. Gaad tells him to let it go, and that Stan is already under possible investigation over Vlad's death.



S02E01-Prince and Stan
She's real!
At Dupont Circle Travel, a welcome back party is held for Elizabeth with Stavos offering Philip left-over cake. At the FBI, Gene shows Stan an evidence room with confiscated videos and lends him one. He watches the video with Nina who believes that Stan views her as a possession, like the main character in the video. She informs Stan of a new arrival at the Rezidentura, Oleg Burov, who is in charge of "Line X - Science and Technology." The Jennings and Connors families visit the carnival, with the parents exchanging multiple glances unseen by their children.



S02E01-Stan Nina watch video
Is that what I am to you, a whore?
At the Rezidentura, Arkady orders Oleg to examine his files for information that can be passed to Stan, without giving away anything important. Stan and Gaad visit the home of Colonel Rennhull, who has just killed Sanford Prince in what he claims was self-defense. The agents are doubtful. Emmett motions for Philip to converse with him privately, and says he is unable to makes an exchange, due to tightened surveillance. He then states he has instructed his contact to make the exchange with Philip instead and that he has to wear a blue hat and bring his son. Philip is aghast at using Henry but Emmett counters that it is low risk. He gives Philip the key to his hotel room so he can bring the package later. He also says he may need the Jennings' help to take out his contact's surveillance team. Philip grows angry, citing his children's safety but Emmett replies his are present too.



Comrades Henry Phillip
We don't use our kids.
A visibly agitated Philip takes the blue hat and the key, and tells Henry they're getting ice cream. He makes the brush pass successfully, with Elizabeth observing from a distance. Later, they leave their kids at the carnival and go to the Connors' hotel to discover Emmett, Leanne and Amelia shot to death. Elizabeth leaves to secure Paige and Henry. Philip stays to retrieve a piece of paper with code on it hidden inside the lining of the Connors' briefcase. He then exits the room and passes their son Jared in the hallway. Philip begins to run but is still within earshot when Jared discovers his family and begins screaming.



Connors
Paige and Henry, go!
At home, Philip tells Elizabeth that the code is an address near a naval base and included a sketch of a machine tool. He apologizes for using Henry in the brush pass. Terrified that whoever killed the Connors maybe onto them, Elizabeth still insists that Philip spend the night at Martha's to see if the FBI has mentioned any involvement in the killings. Stan unexpectedly comes home and Sandra invites him to a movie and hugs him. The movie is the same one he watched earlier with Nina which Stan watches with fresh insight. "Clark" spends the night with Martha, and although their marriage is a sham, in a rare moment of honesty with her, he confesses his true feelings about his work and accepts her comfort.



S02E01-Clark and Martha
Just relax. You're home now.

Notes[]

  • First appearance of the Mail Robot, Gene and Oleg Burov.
  • Emmett places his hotel room key on top of a folded newspaper. A headline announces the conviction of "Freeway Killer" William Bonin, which happened first in Los Angeles County in January 1982. However, the text under this headline is about the completely unrelated "Front Wars," and a Seybold Computer Publishing Conference held in San Francisco. This article was published in the October 1, 1989 edition of the New York Times. The newspaper appears to be a false creation, a prop simply used for the show.
  • Henry watches an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati on TV featuring a scene with DJ Dr. Johnny Fever and station salesman Herb Tarlek.
  • Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film starring Mel Gibson as "Mad" Max Rockatansky. The film presents a tale of societal collapse, murder, and revenge set in a future Australia, in which an unhinged policeman becomes embroiled in a violent feud with a savage motorcycle gang.
  • The French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1981 British romantic drama film starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. The film intercuts the stories of two affairs. One is a Victorian period drama involving the gentleman palaeontologist Charles Smithson and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, known as "the French lieutenant's woman." The other story is between the actors Mike and Anna, playing the lead roles in a modern filming of the story. In both segments, Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep play the lead roles. John Fowles' "The French Lieutenant's Woman" had multiple endings, and the two parallel stories in the movie have different outcomes.
  • As Philip dons the blue baseball hat for the brush pass with Fred, Henry says they should get Capitals hats.
  • "Leo" Buscaglia, (March 31, 1924 – June 12, 1998), also known as "Dr. Love," was an American author and motivational speaker. While teaching at the University of Southern California, Buscaglia was moved by a student's suicide to contemplate human disconnectedness and the meaning of life, and began a non-credit class he called Love 1A, which became the basis for his first book. His dynamic speaking style was discovered by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). At one point his talks, always shown during fundraising periods, were the top earners of all PBS programs. This national exposure helped make all of his book titles national Best Sellers. Five were once on the New York Times Best Sellers List simultaneously.
  • "Previously on The Americans" voice: Philip.

Music[]

Song Title Performer(s)
Beer Bar Blues Lloyd Conger

Videos[]


Season Two
#201 "Comrades" #208 "New Car"
#202 "Cardinal" #209 "Martial Eagle"
#203 "The Walk In" #210 "Yousaf"
#204 "A Little Night Music" #211 "Stealth"
#205 "The Deal" #212 "Operation Chronicle"
#206 "Behind the Red Door" #213 "Echo"
#207 "ARPANET"
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