hellmouse

Very interesting! But I don't think it's Martha, for no particular reason. I guess I don't think they'd put her in a communal apartment. I think it could be either another flashback (Nadezhda and Mom, maybe?), or maybe related to the episode title (Persona Non Grata) - maybe someone is sent back to Russia and we see them in their communal apartment? I could see William sitting miserably in a place full of people and things triggering his allergies. I love the production design on this show. They do a good job.

Those disguises were from when Philip meets with William after their "vacation", when William tells him about whatever virus they are trying to get now (lassa?). Elizabeth and Hans are doing surveillance. I like that disguise on Elizabeth - maybe she will wear it again sometime.

I love it. At first, it confused me, but once I realized that they consistently use old clips in the previews, it didn't bother me. It would bother me on other shows, but here I feel like they are communicating the tone while not spoiling the contents. I like to be as surprised as possible!

I just spent a silly amount of time looking at previous episodes to try to figure out the handoff at around .09. I'm 99% sure it's Philip handing the object to the other person. As far as I can tell, he and Stan wear their watches on their right wrists, while Oleg and William wear them on the left. But Stan's watch has a leather band. Philip's watch is metal and looks exactly like the watch in that snippet of scene. You get a good view of it in S4 ep 4, when they're stuck in the safe house with William and Gabriel. Of course people can change watches. And it could be from a different episode altogether! But I don't think it's Oleg handing something to Stan - that seems to happen in the car. Apologies if this should be in the spoiler or speculation threads - I wasn't sure.

We don't know yet that it didn't work - they did copy all his files, so that might still yield results.

My first thought on the tunnel was that it was part of Philip's Mischa flashback, but looking again, I don't think so. Maybe it's Hans and Philip running?

It has to come up, if only in his thoughts. I'm sure Paige will ask if he's killed people too. The nice Philip we see meeting Elizabeth for the first time doesn't look like someone who killed a lot of people, but appearances can be deceiving. There is so much we will probably never know about Philip.

Good article in the NYT about the show ending. The last sentence cracked me up. 'The Americans' Finished? Thank You For Killing My Favorite Show Good news, everybody! The best drama currently on television is going off the air! FX announced Wednesday that “The Americans,” its resonant Soviet spy drama set in 1980s suburban Washington, has signed a deal for two additional and final seasons. If you love the show like I do, this is — like so many things on “The Americans” — sad but perfect, because it will have the chance to end well.

She did have on gloves.

Yes, that is a good point. I also thought that maybe he could get away with it because he is in an office, not an actual lab. They were just lucky there were no security cameras in his office.

Maybe there was a delay in getting the mail robot back because of the death? Or maybe an enterprising assistant looked up any other police matters that happened on that day? That was what Martha did when she told Stan about the murders in Alexandria - he hadn't been considering them as part of his investigation until she raised it. But I don't think there's a description of Elizabeth. I think what will happen is they'll find the bug in the mail robot. And the new boss will freak out. And over at the Rezidentura, Arkady will no longer have to have people transcribe the beeps and chitchat from it.

Great point about Oleg and Stan. I totally read the scene as Stan being honest and saying farewell, but you're right, how did he get there from "they're animals". Maybe he just wants to play it straight and not resort to subterfuge (which is a little odd for an investigator, but then as Nina pointed out, he thinks like a cop not a spy). And in fact, writing that makes me think of how Nina gave up on subterfuge near the end of her life. Would the show kill Stan? It would be huge. But it's not inconceivable. I thought the same thing about Paige. The creepy guy in season 1 even asked the same thing "how old are you?". Maybe this is setting up a scenario where Paige has to protect herself, or one of her family members.They need to get her some self defense lessons!

It's slightly hilarious how many groceries they have in front of Keri Russell in that kitchen scene. If the season went on much longer they'd soon only show her behind bushes or in a bubble bath. That's the only hilarious thing. The rest is tense. I can't wait.

At the start of the dinner scene, I loved how Stan rubbed his hands together after hanging up his jacket and heading in to the dining room. He really was happy to be there for dinner. If we think it's painful to watch the long con on Young-Hee and Don play out, imagine how painful it will be to see Stan's realization about the Jenningses someday. I will need some anti anxiety medication before that! I also keep thinking about how Philip will react when he hears that Stan had dinner with Martha's father. Will he ask Gabriel if the Centre has contacted her parents? Will he decide to contact them on his own, as Clark? And if they haven't contacted the parents, on top of them possibly using his report to target Gaad, will it increase his distrust of Gabriel?

I think Stan earned some respect from Oleg in that scene. I loved the way Costa Ronin was positioned at the end of the scene. He looked like the hero of some film noir detective movie.

Yes, that's what Patty told Young-Hee. In this episode, the woman was introduced as the step-mother.

I actually think it wasn't that close to the church. Pastor Tim mentions a van, so it sounds like there is a group that takes a van from the Falls Church suburb into the city to work at the soup kitchen. Elizabeth was there to pick up Paige instead of her taking the van. Still, it is not good.

It all kind of reinforced his role at that dinner as being the friend Henry invited to join. He seemed socially inept for an adult. Of course, he is a mess right now, so it makes sense. I think that his conversation with Oleg was the first step for Stan to start getting to a better place in his life, which should make him more clued in.

It really seems like a bad move to kill him. Won't Pastor Tim hear about a murder near the food bank? Will Paige have to pretend she didn't know about it? Or was a murder in that area commonplace enough that it wouldn't attract notice?

It seems really bad that the other mugger got away. He saw both Elizabeth and Paige. I don't think he's going to the police, but if he did, it would be very bad for Elizabeth. I think Paige would be impressed with how bad-ass Elizabeth was, except for the fact that she killed him. She didn't just punch him. But Paige had to find out about this at some point. They can certainly explain it as training they've had, and Elizabeth's protective instincts kicking in, but I don't think Paige will be convinced.

I thought that she told Paige it was okay for them to keep the tape because she doesn't think there is a tape, but she doesn't want to tell Paige that they have bugged Pastor Tim's office and/or phone.

All I kept thinking in the first scene was that it was the start of the redemption of Pastor Tim - he admitted he was stupid for getting lost and his hair looked better! I do think Elizabeth is working him. She and Philip know that Paige is not really able to handle either Tim or Alice, so it makes sense to have one of them do it. Tim's visit to them provided an opening - he may be ripe for handling especially if Elizabeth seems in need of spiritual guidance. But I think that everything she is asking him is actually very real to her. She'd probably ask it all anyway, but she truly is searching for guidance so I think she's interested in his answers.

The NYT article about The Americans' renewal includes a photo that seems spoilery. It looks like Philip, Gabriel and another woman all in disguise with badges with the letter V on them - perhaps visitor badges?. Maybe the woman is the librarian Gabriel mentioned, and he's playing the old man and they are in William's lab? http://nyti.ms/1WTQAWi From left, Marceline Hugot, Frank Langella and Matthew Rhys in “The Americans.” CreditEric Liebowitz/FX

I'm so excited. I'm so excited! I'm so scared. I'm pleased that next season won't be the last. Given their attention to every tiny detail, I had no idea how they could wrap everything up in 13 episodes. If they are getting 23, I bet it's because that's how many they wanted, so I trust that it will be sufficient to tell the story they want to tell. I can't remember ever having such positive feelings about a TV network before, but thank you FX and John Landgraf!

Elizabeth says she was 22 when she came to the US, which was in 1965, so she was born in 1943. I assume Philip is meant to be the same age as Elizabeth. ETA: The battle of Stalingrad was '42-'43, so it doesn't really fit with her being 2 years old when he died. But it's possible he died after the main fighting had ended.