S04.E04: Chloramphenicol

[ElectricBoogaloo]

A devastating flaw during a mission forces Philip, Elizabeth, William and Gabriel to confront the depths of their patriotism... and their mortality. In Russia, in striving to be a better person, has Nina put her life on the line?

 

Promo:

[crgirl412]

I don't get why one of their doctors doesn't come to help.  It isn't airborne so with contact precautions that William talked about (even though he made a big safety error when taking the cylinder out of the freezer and placing it in the case.) the doctor would be safe.  It's not a big risk at all. 

 

I am an RN and have patients in airborne and contact isolation all of the time for MRSA, VRE, C. Diff and Pneumonia not Glanders but I just don't get why there is no real medical intervention. 

[Shriekingeel]

Fuck.

[AimingforYoko]

Dasvidaniya, Nina Sergeevna. It will be interesting to see Stan and Oleg's reaction.

[Maire]

Poor Nina, at least she got to dream of a happy ending.

[ptuscadero]

Damn. I actually gasped out loud.

[Umbelina]

Finally.

 

I thought they were about to completely jump the shark there, but along with something completely unrealistic (not killing Mr. and Mrs. Pastor) they finally killed Nina.

 

Any other ending would have been so unrealistic.

 

I really loved watching him cut the payphone out, so now we finally know why so many pay phones were like that.  Spies!

 

I got a phone call and couldn't tell if Stan found anything in Martha's apartment.  Watching again now, but hope some of you guys know!

[JennyMominFL]

Yup, yelled at the TV at that one, even though I saw it coming as soon as she woke up. Damn. At least it was very quick.

[RedHawk]

What a stunner of an episode. I so love this show.

[Tech Noir]

Fuck.

 

 

I second that emotion, Shriekinggeel.

 

 

Damn. I actually gasped out loud.

 

 

Same. So rare these days that a show can make me do that. Good job show!  But also why you gotta be like that, show? SAD FACE.

[Moose135]

Damn! But I was left wondering if that wasn't a dream too...

[Primetimer]

The Illegals deal with the after-effects of possible Glanders exposure. Across town, Paige tries not to lose her mind with terror and guilt.

Read the story

[Irlandesa]

Why is Stan investigating Martha?  I know he's suspicious but I forgot completely what made him suspcious.

 

I'm a somewhat ambivalent on Nina's death.  It shocked me.  But then I think of the past two years with  Nina in prison and wonder what the point of it all was.  I always thought it would somehow lead to something eventually but it's almost like the show realized they could never reintegrate her with the US so they had to get rid of her.  Maybe her death will lead somewhere story-wise.

 

I hate seeing people throw up on TV without warning but otherwise it was a great episode...again. 

Edited April 7, 2016 by Irlandesa

[soapfaninnc]

Well, that whole Nina storyline drug on forever and for what? We could have been spared the whole scientist thing. I bet he's dead too. I don't think Nina's story could have ended any other way, but I think it should have been ended sooner. 

 

Good for Elizabeth. Glad she's seeing her kids as something other than an extension of herself and her beliefs. And that she's not willing to destroy her daughter - and realizes that killing Pastor Groovy hair would - unless she's exhausted all other options first. 

[Umbelina]

I was only surprised that they didn't make her suffer after the verdict and that they got blood on their floor.  I didn't think they would shoot her in that hallway, but in a way, it was as merciful as it could get.

 

I kind of hate when they put a lead character in jeopardy though, because we all know Elizabeth isn't going to die of Glanders, but it led to a couple of good scenes, and the one I can't buy.  That they are going to risk keeping that Pastor and his wife alive.  Even it the Jennings wanted to, I will never believe the KGB would take that kind of risk.  At all.  So maybe they'll be killed anyway, but we won't hate our lead actors or something?

Edited April 7, 2016 by Umbelina

[TimWil]

Yep. I called it last week. Nina really had no end but this one.

[tennisgurl]

I literally shrieked. I just cannot believe it. Poor Nina. I am so upset. I need a drink.

 

Calling it. Oleg starts giving information to Stan after he finds out about Nina. Out of pure bitterness and anger.

 

I should have known after the cute Jenning Family Bowling Party that something terrible would happen soon. This is why we cant have nice things!

[mrsdalgliesh]

This show. Damn.

Re: Nina/scientist plot... I saw it as an important piece of the whole and more real, in a way than other shows are willing to be. I expected, based on tv conventions, that when Nina was sent back home, she'd be written off the show, 'cause who has patience to follow an isolated character? But Nina represents a unique part of the world they're showing us and by following her, we saw more of the despair of it.

The other "gasp worthy" moment I this ep, for me, was Elizabeth acknowledging to Philip that he -- Philip -- really just wants to be an American and let the kids be fully American. I have always hoped that this show would move towards one or both of them becoming double agents (though not veering from the tragedy that's inevitable). An open acknowledgement that one of them might have the motivation...

[Tech Noir]

Good interview about this with the showrunners here, for those interested.

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/06/americans-nina-dead

[sistermagpie]

That they are going to risk keeping that Pastor and his wife alive.  Even it the Jennings wanted to, I will never believe the KGB would take that kind of risk.  At all.  So maybe they'll be killed anyway, but we won't hate our lead actors or something?

 

 

Show-wise, though, they really have no choice. Having Philip and Elizabeth bump them off really ends their relationship with Paige in a real way. Which at least does make problems for the Centre--Gabriel's plan of saying it's about not making her un-recruitable kept that in play and made it another bad bargain.  I don't think they're worried about us hating them. Pastor Tim's hardly a super popular character among fans.

 

I wonder if Stan will decide to make things up with Philip telling him Henry says he's away a lot and advising him not to let that go in since his own relationship with Matthew deteriorated so much. But this is Stan so he'll probably just use it to get more suspicious. I know Philip's the bad guy here but without the Soviet Spy thing (which in a weird way doesn't have much bearing on their relationship) Philip's been a way better friend to Stan than vice versa!

[rhys]

Floved Stan's facial expression upon finding Martha's kama sugar.

Eta: Damn auto correct! Kama Sutra

Edited April 7, 2016 by rhys

[La Tortuga]

Nina. *sniffle* It was honest storytelling, struck me as completely realistic for her to get the ending she got, but my heart ached for her. I really hope Annet Mahendru gets more work on other shows, because she's awesome.

[RedHawk]

To quote Scarlett O'Hara, "What a cool liar you are Melanie", I mean, Martha.

Her "affair with a married man" story fits perfectly with Stan finding the Kama Sutra (with page corners turned down, ha!) in her drawer. When I saw him in her apartment my first thought was, "You asshole!" and then he went searching and rifling through her lingerie. Dammit, Stan, you make it hard for me to remember you're the "good guy" and your actions are actually justified.

[shura]

Is it me or did Nina's dream look a lot like the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back?

 

Speaking of optics, why is Gabriel's apartment so grayish-green? To remind him of the Motherland?

[RedHawk]

Is it me or did Nina's dream look a lot like the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back?

Speaking of optics, why is Gabriel's apartment so grayish-green? To remind him of the Motherland?

Hehe, maybe production had to borrow some background frames from Lucasfilm.

"Remind him of the Motherland" -- good one! Add to that, why is Gabriel's apartment so filthy? The bathroom sink looked like something you'd see in a flophouse. Can't they find some babushka to go in once a week and clean it?

Edited April 7, 2016 by RedHawk

[Umbelina]

Good interview about this with the showrunners here, for those interested.

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/06/americans-nina-dead

Thank you so much for that!

 

It was a wonderful read.  Highly recommend it to everyone.  So much detail, and this is just a tiny taste of that interview.

 

As he’s speaking, even though she’s having this strong emotional reaction — she knows what’s up — you’re thinking, “Okay now she’s going to be put on some variation of death row, and there will be some attempt to rescue her, or something.” And before you’ve even fully formed that thought, the idea is cut off right in your mind as she gets shot.

WEISBERG: One of the most powerful things is that [historically the actual executions] were choreographed and staged by the execution team. Because they did it quite a number of times, they learned once the person heard what was going to happen to them, invariably their knees buckled. And so they learned to place a person on each side of them to catch them by their elbows, because they wanted to shoot the person in the back of the head — so they couldn’t have the person fall. That was our staging, but also their staging. Also, the person read the verdict then stepped out of the way at the same time to not get blood on themselves. In was interesting to follow their actual staging, and to think about something like that being choreographed.

 

Edited April 7, 2016 by Umbelina

[DrSpaceman73]

Wow......he really meant shortly.

As for the rest of the episode, seriously, we spent that many episodes and he killed a man over trying to smuggle a "deadly" bacteria/virus out of the country, and it can be cured by 36 hours of Chloramphenicol, without even being in a hospital, and will pretty minimal symptoms other than a cough and some swelling of the mouth?

Lame.

[NitneLiun]

It was like an episode of South Park. Oh my god, they killed Nina. You bastards!

 

In Russia, when they say "shortly", they really mean shortly.

[RedHawk]

Wow......he really meant shortly.

As for the rest of the episode, seriously, we spent that many episodes and he killed a man over trying to smuggle a "deadly" bacteria/virus out of the country, and it can be cured by 36 hours of Chloramphenicol, without even being in a hospital, and will pretty minimal symptoms other than a cough and some swelling of the mouth?

Lame.

I kind of felt that way also, but did Gabriel actually have Glanders? Or did he also have a bad reaction to the antibiotic, the one he gave himself and P&E, and being an old man maybe he suffered more than Elizabeth?

ETA: Now that I think of it, but that theory doesn't work. Could it be that that Gabriel's attempt to kill the bio weapon in the oven weakened it enough so that, with the shots, it wasn't strong enough to kill him? I can buy that. Or perhaps it just wasn't as deadly as the people who created thought it would be.

Edited April 7, 2016 by RedHawk

[sistermagpie]

The other "gasp worthy" moment I this ep, for me, was Elizabeth acknowledging to Philip that he -- Philip -- really just wants to be an American and let the kids be fully American. I have always hoped that this show would move towards one or both of them becoming double agents (though not veering from the tragedy that's inevitable). An open acknowledgement that one of them might have the motivation...

 

 

Being a double agent would keep them in the same job with possibly even more danger, though. I think Philip mostly wants to not be a spy. Being American is the most obvious way to do that because it lets the kids be who they really are while Philip just disappears into the Philip Jennings persona and gets a rest.

 

But really, I thought Elizabeth's line about him being American was just a punch in the gut to him. First because without meaning to, it's kind of wounding---"At least if I die you can get what YOU want." That's not her intention, but it's still the way it's phrased. And it's just not true. Philip doesn't want to "be American" like it's his dream to celebrate fourth of July, he wants the whole family to be safe and with him, especially Elizabeth.

 

Many people have made predictions about Philip running away with the kids or killing Elizabeth or running off with Martha (not on these boards, but elsewhere) because they're most important to him, but I think he really does need Elizabeth to not be totally lonely. He loves the kids, but knows they're meant to grow up and have their own lives. They don't understand him. He wants to be normal...but WITH Elizabeth. If she's not there it's just exile.

 

And luckily in the end, they moved more together. Elizabeth wasn't sailing off into death like Nina and leaving Philip "free" to turn the family to the FBI for protection. She was staying, and trying to work with Philip to make the family more connected, finding their own way that wasn't the FBI or the Centre.

 

I kind of felt that way also, but did Gabriel actually have Glanders? Or did he also have a bad reaction to the antibiotic, and being an old man maybe he suffered more than Elizabeth?

 

 

Gabriel got sick before the antibiotic.

Edited April 7, 2016 by sistermagpie

[DrSpaceman73]

Not only that, just how contagious could Glanders be? They were all exposed to someone with it and one of them had a huge blood borne exposure, not one of the other 3 got the disease?

Just kill it and tell the center it's a failure. A simple culture and sensitivity test will give any physician the answer on how to cure it based on this episode and its prospects as a biologic weapon or any other nefarious use seem pretty poor

I kind of felt that way also, but did Gabriel actually have Glanders? Or did he also have a bad reaction to the antibiotic, and being an old man maybe he suffered more than Elizabeth?

Well they found him on the floor bleeding and the scientist guy seemed to indicate whatever method he was using for keeping it safe (a fancy thermos?) had failed, so I assumed he had it.

[shura]

According to Wikipedia, it was never virulent enough to be developed into an actual weapon. Shows what William knows.

[RedHawk]

I love how the show gives us grim little laughs now and then. Outside the restaurant where Aderholt took Martha there was a fallout shelter sign on the wall. Heh!

[AGuyToo]

For the most part I have a lot of respect for and confidence in the writers of this show, especially Weisberg and Fields.

 

But not when it comes to the Nina storyline.

 

In keeping her alive after Season 2, they made a big mistake. It made for some interesting scenes between her and Anton, but there was always this sense that these scenes didn't belong, that they were disconnected from the rest of the show. I couldn't understand how they would ever tie the Nina storyline back into the main one.

 

Apparently Weisberg, Fields, and the other writers didn't know how to do that either. Hence tonight's final scene.

 

It was dramatic. It was shocking. But, as storytelling, it was cheap and amateurish.

[Umbelina]

One thing jumped out at me as maybe being significant. 

 

Martha's excuse.  She's seeing a married man.  Now, to her, that seems reasonable and smart, because she has no idea that Clark/Philip IS married. 

 

He is though, and Stan knows him.  If Stan should somehow get another glimpse, given that he's already got Philip on his mind as a cheater with his ex wife, could that trigger something in Stan somehow?

[izabella]

I got a phone call and couldn't tell if Stan found anything in Martha's apartment.  Watching again now, but hope some of you guys know!

 

 

Stan found Martha's gun hidden in her drawer.   Different drawer than the Kama Sutra.

[numbnut]

RIP Nina. That idyllic dream was a dead giveaway, just like with Harrow on Boardwalk Empire. I would be surprised if Oleg finds out about Nina and his father's handiwork to keep him in Russia. Maybe his storyline is done too? I wonder if Stan bugged Martha's phone or apartment and starts sniffing the trail to find her Kama Sutra lover. I think Phillip sharing his personal thoughts about his family to William will bite him in the ass. What was that strange look William had while Elizabeth hugged Phillip?

[snakehissken]

I wonder if we're supposed to get the impression that it was the aggressive treatment that killed Glanders right away (36 hours of a big shot of chloramphenicol every two hours) and it would be more deadly if released to the public, or we're supposed to get the impression that William deliberately tried to pass off Glanders as more deadly than it really was because he thinks this work is insane.

[Conan Troutman]

Well, that whole Nina storyline drug on forever and for what? We could have been spared the whole scientist thing. I bet he's dead too. I don't think Nina's story could have ended any other way, but I think it should have been ended sooner.

 

Yeah, I really liked the character (and Annet Mahendru more than held her own in a show just filled with excellent performances), but not the story line. I had faith that it would amount to something important, but at least plot wise, that didn't happen. They really should've killed her off last season.

 

Joe Weisberg: We would have been happy for that to happen at the end of last season. That would have been a perfectly good plan. We just didn't get there.

Would have been a much better gut punch back then. Oh, here's the link from the interview with Sepinwall:

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/the-americans-producers-explain-why-they-did-that-in-tonights-episode

 

I'm still totally torn about whether they kill Pastor Tim or not. They can't really do it, but on the other hand, they can't really not do it. Maybe some kind of third option?

 

Lovely scene at the bowling alley though, great contrast to what was about to come after that. Or Elizabeth telling Philip to take the kids and be "The Americans". Damn, Kerri Russel was on fire tonight.

[Knuckles]

RIP Nina. You did your best with what you had to work with, but everything was against you. Anton is too valuable still to kill...was probably told that Nina was moved to another facility, and that his continued cooperation would ensure that she survives. 

 

Watching Philip watch Elizabeth, who was fever-soaked, you get the sense that he is so done with this life. It's not the killings that bug him, it's the possible loss of his children and Elizabeth. It's why I am never on the Philip train, and root for Stan, even though I dislike him. Philip has killed so many times, and it doesn't impact him, he can compartmentalize his brutality.  And he is a brutal killer. As is Elizabeth. As for EST causing his first kill to resurface in his memory...that is all about Philip. No thought about his other killings of the inconvenient, or even Anton, whom he shipped off to Russia, separating him forever from his children. 

 

I love the show, but I have zero sympathy for either Elizabeth or Philip...I have no sympathy for cartel killers or contract murderers either...or their family feelings.

Gabriel can rot and die. And William, who traffics in deadly toxins, richly deserves his lonely, desperate existence. 

 

Hot damn, Martha can lie with the best of them. Is Aldershot buying it? You see the wheels turning in his head, totally reevaluating old Martha. But perhaps not in the way she intends. He's shrewder that Stan, and he may be piecing together Stan's suspicions with this new info.

 

Actors one and all are killing it...top work all hands.

[Umbelina]

I'm hoping this means we don't lose Oleg, no need to keep that promise to dad now.  I wonder if he will just defect?  That would be bad news all the way around for Philip and Elizabeth though.  Maybe Nina's execution will keep him on the straight and narrow with the KGB?

 

Killing Nina was the only realistic thing they could do, and I've pretty much said that since she was abducted and sent home.  I don't feel that they wasted time with her story apart from the others, but had it lasted much longer, it would have been.  Beautifully done show.

 

I feel the same way about the Pastor and his wife.  Yes, Philip and Elizabeth are valuable to them, but they've already stepped out of line with the whole jaunt to Berlin.  I have a very hard time believing the KGB is going to put up with them making their own decision about this.  What possible value does some rinky dink pastor and his blabbermouth wife have to the KGB?  What possible harm can come with keeping them alive?  Oh hell, just blowing a 20+ year operation, and an active asset (Martha) that is providing them a direct link to the FBI files and goings on.

 

Please.  I said last week, "Nina's a dead woman walking."  I say it again about the Pastor and his wife.  What's more?  If the Jennings give the KGB any lip about it, something tells me they will have consequences of their own to deal with, or at the very least, the threat of  them.  How would P & E take that smack down?  Could be interesting...

Edited April 7, 2016 by Umbelina

[chocolatine]

I had a bad feeling throughout the episode, and knew Nina was toast when the dream sequence came on, but I still gasped at how "shortly" the execution happened. I'll miss Annet Mahendru, but it would have been unrealistic if she had been kept alive after the letter smuggling. Oleg's going to go scorched earth when he finds out.

 

I don't know what it is, but I'm just not invested in Philip and Elizabeth this season. I didn't care if Elizabeth died from the virus - I knew she wouldn't - don't care if Pastor GroovyHair rats them out, don't care if Paige and Henry never speak to them again, don't care whether they get out of spying or not. At this point, I keep watching for Stan, Martha, Oleg, and Arkady.

[Valmarmar]

Wow - didn't want to see that happen !!!  

 

Stan seemed to get suspicious about Martha after the "follow the rules of the copier" speech.  Was there anything in previous seasons to make him suspicious of her? I can't remember.

 

Love this show !!  Draws me in even without fanfare!! 

[Umbelina]

I don't remember the specifics, but I do know he was suspicious of her last season, I think she was acting squirrley, before they killed the innocent guy and blamed it all on him.  He never seemed to buy that suicide either.

Edited April 7, 2016 by Umbelina

[dramachick]

Stan still sucks.

 

I can never forgive him for the coercive sex he had with Nina. 

 

Yes, Nina did a stupid thing with the caviar and put herself in a position to be turned by the FBI, but Stan pressured her into sex for his own personal gratification.  Even though she was able to "work" Stan somewhat through that sexual relationship, it always felt dirty to me and not just part of the job like it is for Philip and Elizabeth.

 

So sad that Oleg couldn't help her in time.

 

RIP Nina.

[VCRTracking]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!

 

RIP Nina.

 

I go bowling after I get sick too.

[Bcharmer]

I had "Nina is going to die" vibes the whole episode. So, I guess it came as no surprise. Like others have said, it was time.

 

I thought for sure that Stan would find a photo of Martha and Phillip in her apartment. Didn't she have a wedding photo, or something, in a frame on a shelf? I kept waiting for that. 

 

Irlandesa: "I hate seeing people throw up on TV without warning"  

I was having dinner at that moment, so I could have done without it, as well. Last night it was Robert Kardashian, tonight, Elizabeth. Do we really need to see stuff coming out of their mouths to know they are vomiting? Just the noise is good enough for me, thank you.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Bcharmer

[Umbelina]

No one makes better vomiting sounds than John Hamm. 

 

Philip took the photo to his place.

[VCRTracking]

At first I wondered "Did they really have executions like THAT in the Soviet Union?" until I read part of the EW.com interview showrunners:

 

FIELDS: But by the beginning of season 3, we had [planned] her death. Because we came upon [The Americans consultant Sergie Kostin’s book Farewell: The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth Century], which gave the details of how these prisoners were executed. We expected it to happen by the end of season 3.

WEISBERG: Right, although it wasn’t reading about the deaths in the book that motivated us to have her die, but it gave us how she’d die once we knew she was. Sergie’s book gives all these details that came out after the fall of the Soviet Union about all these people who had committed espionage who were executed, and the exact details of how that was done. We follow that to the letter in the show when Nina was executed. It was planned in a very specific way so the person who was going to be killed doesn’t know they were going to be killed, and it was done that way for humanitarian reasons — they didn’t want the person to suffer, to be spending all this time in a cell pondering their own pending execution. They wanted it to be as much of a surprise as possible.

 

 

As he’s speaking, even though she’s having this strong emotional reaction — she knows what’s up — you’re thinking, “Okay now she’s going to be put on some variation of death row, and there will be some attempt to rescue her, or something.” And before you’ve even fully formed that thought, the idea is cut off right in your mind as she gets shot.
WEISBERG: One of the most powerful things is that [historically the actual executions] were choreographed and staged by the execution team. Because they did it quite a number of times, they learned once the person heard what was going to happen to them, invariably their knees buckled. And so they learned to place a person on each side of them to catch them by their elbows, because they wanted to shoot the person in the back of the head — so they couldn’t have the person fall. That was our staging, but also their staging. Also, the person read the verdict then stepped out of the way at the same time to not get blood on themselves. In was interesting to follow their actual staging, and to think about something like that being choreographed.

 

[NicoleMN6]

1) I laughed when Stan used the Polaroid camera to make sure he didn't miss putting anything back in its place at Martha's apartment. My uncle was an FBI agent in the 1970s-1980s, and that's a trick he told us about years later, after he had retired. Too bad for Polaroid (and Kodak) that FBI agents can probably use their phones for that now.

2) Martha is SO SMART to come up with that "married man" line. Brilliant. (And more true than she knows!)

3) Oleg signed Nina's death warrant... once his dad saw that Oleg loved her enough to give up on his beloved Amerikanski lifestyle, he had to make sure Nina didn't make it out alive. Sigh.

Edited April 7, 2016 by NicoleMN6