hellmouse

So I guess their only hope is that Claudia has not told anyone that Elizabeth has betrayed them. Maybe she assumes that what Elizabeth told her is all true - in which case she herself might not want to contact the Centre, aside from her fellow hardliners, because she doesn't want to be involved in any roundup of conspirators. But Arkady is running (or second in command?) of all of Directorate S, back in Moscow, so he'd be more powerful now than he was when he was in DC 5 years ago. I suppose the local Rezidents could defy his orders and not support the Jenningses. As @Umbelina points out, it's entirely possible that the next KGB person they see would just kill them. They have to assume that the message to Oleg did not go through, that Father Andrei was easily broken, that the FBI knows who they are, that Claudia reported Elizabeth, and that the KGB knows she was the one who killed Tatiana. Assume they are entirely blown and can only trust each other. Maybe Irina left something for Philip in Montreal. She was good at planning ahead, lol.

I guess I don't understand why they wouldn't have any operational support from the KGB at all. Why would the Centre abandon two of their most valuable assets whose cover has been blown? I understand that they may be angry that Elizabeth went against orders and killed a KGB officer to protect Nesterenko. She told Claudia that she had reported the entire coup plot back to the Centre. The KGB might want to imprison and/or kill them back in Russia. But would they really do nothing at all to help the Jenningses get away from the FBI? Wouldn't it be worse for the KGB if they are caught in the US? I would understand if Philip and Elizabeth choose not to contact the KGB via Joan the operator if they don't want to be brought back to Russia and killed. But it's hard for me to picture the KGB abandoning them in enemy territory if they ask for help. Why would Arkady allow his Directorate S officers to be cut adrift like that?

Which also hints at how her grooming of Paige was a sham - I think Claudia never saw Paige as useful either. It's plausible she was grooming Paige as a way to manipulate Elizabeth the whole time.

This is great! I have been thinking about #8 and #10. The editing makes you think they're talking about Oleg, which is possible. Maybe Oleg is supposed to leave a signal saying he got the drop and they wait until nighttime to see if he does, but he doesn't, so they assume he's arrested. It's possible that they're talking about Father Andrei, since that's who Philip was meeting with, in which case it's ironic because they really can't trust him. And of course it's possible they're talking about Henry since New Hampshire is mentioned. But Paige knows Henry - she'd have an opinion on whether he can be trusted. She wouldn't have to ask her parents. I think they are talking about someone who is going to help them along the way - someone like the woman who posed as Aunt Helen or the woman in the cabin where Elizabeth recuperated. It will be someone Paige doesn't know and therefore isn't sure of. Of course, Philip and Elizabeth might not know him either but know that he is a contact between DC and Canada and they will need his help.

I wish we had more of a close up of the car. I can't tell if there is a driver. I remember seeing this in a preview and I assumed it was the FBI going into a suspicious garage and that car just happened to be parked there. But I agree that the angle of the police car does make it seem like it's blocking that car.

Right, but they don't have a surveillance photo. I thought you were referring to the surveillance photos.

I can imagine Father Andrei telling Aderholt all about Philip & Elizabeth's wedding ceremony and marriage issues. "You see, she cares about the whole world. She doesn't trust easily, but she trusts him. He is happier now that he's left this work, but not as happy as he could be." It makes me think about that rabbi in Seinfeld who told everyone what others had told him. "In fact, she thought George was kind of a loser and that she should be the one getting married".

I don't think they have a photo of Elizabeth. I may be wrong!

I know that the hardliners in the KGB are anti-Gorbachev and will be angry that Elizabeth has thwarted their plan. But IMO it seems like it would be in the KGB's best interest to help Philip & Elizabeth escape from the USA. They don't want such long-term, highly valued intelligence officers captured by the FBI. Once they get back to Russia, of course, they may end up being imprisoned and/or killed. However, Arkady is still the Deputy Director of Directorate S and he would want to protect Philip & Elizabeth, assuming the hardliners don't come after him too. IMO even Claudia would want to protect them, at least to get them to Russia. I don't think she's going to call the FBI and turn them in, but I also don't think she's going to put out a hit on them. So the question in my mind is whether Philip & Elizabeth will seek help from the Rezidentura in Ottawa (the season 1 plan) or just try to make it out of the US and then out of Canada on their own. But I don't think you could just buy a plane ticket to Moscow. I think you'd need a visa, and that would have to be requested months in advance. Going to New Hampshire adds several hours to a trip from DC to Ottawa. It would be helpful if they were able to get Henry to meet them somewhere. They could say it's a make-up vacation since they weren't all able to be together at Thanskgiving. If they can get Henry to leave the school, that might lessen Stan and the FBI's chances of taking him in. On the other hand, without a car, there aren't really a lot of places he could easily get to that would be convenient to P&E&p en route from DC. I just don't see all four of them making it out together. I can see P&E making it out but I think they're going to have to go without p&h.

When Philip calls Elizabeth he is a wearing a different jacket than he had on when he met Father Andrei. So I'm guessing he has already gone to a safe house or a garage. Hopefully a garage because then he'll have a car. We know from previous episodes that they have cash, guns, passports etc stashed in at least one garage. So if that's where Philip went, he probably grabbed more cash. I think $15,000 was a good amount of money in 1987, probably equivalent to about $30,000 today. Enough to get to Canada, buy plane tickets, and hide until they can leave. But not enough to live on forever.

A bunch of reviews/recaps: TV Insider - Interview with Margo Martindale about the episode Den of Geek - Season 6, episode 9 review Uproxx/Alan Sepinwall - How Close Is Stan To Catching 'The Americans' Before The Series Ends? AV Club - With one episode left, The Americans prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice Vox - The Americans spends its penultimate episode raising lots of very big questions NYT - The Americans On the Run Paste - The Americans Reaches Its Moment of Truth Vulture - The Americans: Topsy Turvy Indiewire - The Americans Brilliantly Keeps Viewers Teetering on the Edge of Chaos

yes, I want Stan to be able to reflect! show some self-awareness. Otherwise he just seems two-dimensional. I used to think he was capable of self-reflection but if he keeps getting caught up in his "I'm the law" persona then he might just feel angry and justified at being angry. I guess it could feel believable but it would be disappointing.

I agree about Stan being capable of nuance. He seemed to have regressed in his conversations with Oleg. It's like he was still giving his Thanksgiving "toast". If he's going to just have some kind of self-righteous anger/gung ho patriotism when dealing with Philip, then I'd rather not see it. I actually liked Stan less after last night's episode. He just seemed boorishly clueless.

We don't see her smoking like a chimney with Gregory. We see him offering her a cigarette and she says no, saying that she's "trying to be good". He says something like "good doesn't suit you". Then in another episode, she asks him for a cigarette and he says something like "I thought you were trying to be good" and she says "old habits are hard to break". So we're supposed to think that with Gregory, Elizabeth smoked cigarettes regularly. Maybe it seemed like a lot to Curtis. At home, she had a pack hidden somewhere in the kitchen or the bedroom and she'd either smoke in the garage or outside. But she was definitely trying to hide it from the kids. As others have said, once the kids were out of the house, there was no reason to hide it. She still did it outside, which is why it did seem like a big deal for her to smoke inside the house in this episode. At the rate she was going, if they hadn't been blown, she probably would have smoked in front of Stan soon. It's funny because it's so different now, but back then, lots of people smoked, in lots of places. The smell of cigarettes wasn't as noticeable because it was so commonplace and hard to avoid. You'd have to be smoking a lot to really stand out (which Philip and Claudia both say she is doing). But I am surprised that Stan never once noticed that Elizabeth smoked. He is really not the most observant person.

At first I was kind of annoyed seeing Paige in the car with Philip and Elizabeth in the preview. I felt cheated that we weren't getting just P&E alone so they could talk. I do think they'll be alone at the end, whether having escaped or been captured. But the drive from DC to NH is a long time and could have provided a chance for them to finally talk. Except Paige is there. But now I'm thinking Paige's recent confirmation about her mother using sex in her work, and discovery that her father does too, might be the thing that actually spurs a conversation. She seemed to think her father was duped into marrying a "whore". Maybe FINALLY she will be curious about how her parents met. Maybe she'll ask how they met and why they got married. And that will lead to them talking to her but really to each other about their marriage. Because Elizabeth is driving, they are in the same positions they were in their real marriage, so it's perfect for a flashback. And then Elizabeth actually has the rings! So the car trip with Paige could be the thing that finally brings them back together.

Yeah, suddenly Elizabeth is haunted by the ghost of a wounded citizen that she left to die. I'm willing to forgive that. She had a big awakening in the last episode. She may have shut off feelings and memories like the dying police officer back in Moscow before. But now she's changing - shifting like the earth after an earthquake - and things that were hidden are accessible to her now. But I was also surprised to see another Elizabeth flashback, mostly just because we've had Elizabeth flashbacks and I would like to see a Philip flashback.

New Year's was very important, though, and it's basically celebrated like Christmas. Henry and Paige wouldn't have been celebrating religious Christmas until Paige got into the church and even then at home it was probably secular. Of course, Elizabeth seems to consider it a virtue to be anti-fun of any kind sometimes, so she probably grumbled her way through it. It is funny to imagine the Jenningses at Christmas. I'm sure they had a tree and presents once they had children, so they would seem "normal". But Elizabeth would have definitely grumbled. It's religious and materialistic all in one. Everything she's against! Paige and Henry probably knew that their mother didn't really like Christmas. We've been robbed of a Jennings family Christmas!

I can just picture her putting a white mark on a mailbox and then turning to look directly in the camera and wink. And then, fade to credits. That would be the worst ending ever.

Just reading an interview at Entertainment Weekly with Margo Martindale in which she says that tonight's episode is her favorite for Claudia and Elizabeth's relationship. (It's more a slide show than an article and this quote is from third page).: Margo Martindale's favorite episodes of The Americans That makes me think that this episode will be where Claudia's story is wrapped up. Not that she won't be in the finale, just that whatever big moment is going to happen for her will happen in episode 9. I think the final episode will focus on Philip & Elizabeth most, so it would make sense for Claudia to have a big moment tonight. Costa Ronin is also live-tweeting the episode, so maybe this will be a big episode for Oleg too. I'm not ready for it to end!

Maybe the FBI has to recover a body from the water. Maybe it's Claudia!

My guess would be that he comes home for Christmas break. That's the best reason I could think of for him to come home. Alternatively, they go get him in NH. Or it could just be a phone call scene.

I think the most tragic ending for Philip & Elizabeth is if they lose their family. Their children and their marriage is something real that they created together. They may escape to the USSR but I don't think their children will go with them. They waited too late. The kids are older and will say no. So Philip and Elizabeth have to leave them if they want to save themselves. That makes for a sad ending even if they are together. It is the "hell of their own making" that others have talked about; a punishment for all the families they themselves destroyed as part of their jobs. It's possible that one or both children will die. But somehow that feels like too much - like they could achieve the same heartbreak without a death. It's possible that Philip and/or Elizabeth end up in federal custody. Elizabeth could take her cyanide pill and Stan would watch her die and then he'd have to go tell Philip. That would be sad but it also feels kind of melodramatic, and it makes the ending all about Philip & Stan instead of the Jennings' marriage. I don't know what the most tragic ending for Stan is. It might simply be learning that Philip & Elizabeth were KGB. It might be that something he does leads to Oleg's death. It might be that Paige and Henry hate him his part in destroying their family. It's possible that somehow Stan will be discredited in the investigation - maybe he gets desperate to prove his hunch and ends up doing something wildly wrong. He may end up having to leave the FBI. (Renee will also quit and go work wherever he goes next because that's just how she rolls!) It's also possible that Stan will be proven right but he will not survive whatever happens. I could see Stan dying and Philip & Elizabeth escaping. That would feel bleak.

Looking at the credits for the finale,

And she did say that Elizabeth needed to take care of him "today or tomorrow". So she may be thinking, okay it wasn't today, but we still have tomorrow. Maybe if Elizabeth still won't do it, Claudia will go after him herself the way she did back in Season 1 when Elizabeth kidnapped but didn't kill Patterson.

The show runners have always said that they see the show as ultimately about a marriage. Yes they are spies and it's the 80's, but what they are most interested in is the marriage. So I expect the marriage, and by extension the family, to be the heart of whatever happens at the end. For better or worse. It's possible the FBI will take them down, but what will be most important to the story is what it means to these two people and their marriage. I agree, and I think executives thinking about hiring them for future jobs would respect it too. It would be weird if they suddenly changed the tone of the show in the last two episodes.