The Americans Review: "Mutually Assured Destruction"

Mutually Assured Distruction is both M.A.D. and a sleek reference to the Jennings’ marriage, and the philosophical underpinnings of the Cold War policy of pointing weapons of global annihilation at each other.  Fun for the whole family!  I review this most recent episode as soon as I figure out how kinky a KGB Assassin can be…

This episode of The Americans is about wanting the traction to change your circumstances, and change the current circumstances.  Phil and Liz are stuck in an arrangement.  The CIA needs to sit on its hands, clenching into fists, and wait for the Reagan Administration to retaliate for the death of three FBI Agents and a Star Wars scientist.  Stan is stuck pushing Nina deeper and deeper into the Rezidentura – her promotion means more intel for Stan, which is a happy accident considering he stanched the flow of information by burning Visili a few weeks ago.  Everyone is stuck, and unhappy about it¹, waiting for change.

“It is what it is.”

I’ve always hated this phrase.  I found it to be hacky, intentionally unspecific, and overused.  I once tweeted that when someone says, “it is what it is,” they mean “I can’t change this, and that sucks.  Someone tweeted me back and said that it can also work when someone tells you, “you can’t change this, so don’t try.”  Both are correct, but it’s lazy philosophy.  It is a phrase that uses different words to define a thing or idea by using the thing or idea.  However, when Elizabeth uses it to describe the arrangement she and Philip have, it becomes a phrase that is required, because it covers their entire situation – the shit mission they were given², and the Claudia view of their arrangement.

For their shit mission, there was an air of inevitability about what happened.  Phil and Liz both had a feel of anger about them – they had to find someone who had lost contact with the KGB and stop them before they made things worse for the Soviets.  In a way, I get the feeling that this is the paranoia we can expect from this show – while Phil and Liz are very much in it to win it, there seems to be a sense from those above Claudia that they do not want to incur the wrath of the Reagan Administration.  From the future, we know that Reagan was not one to back down from the Cold War, but instead spent the Russians in to submission.  From the look of Agent Amador’s hands when they learn of the death of 3 FBI agents, that wrath is coming.

For their arrangement, Elizabeth had been looking for any reason to treat the marriage like what it really is: a partnership of spies who exist as “husband” and “wife” for cover purposes.  From episode one, she has been the one who views the marriage in the ways Claudia described at their meet.  Phil has been the one who has viewed the relationship as real.  They switched for a while, with Philip’s anger from a few weeks ago leading up to the end of the “Duty and Honor.”  Now, we see them briefly on the same page before Claudia blows it up.  This is becoming the most tedious part of the season – the soapy drama of their constant bickering about the arrangement/marriage.

These two parts of the “it is what it is” conundrum dovetail with Liz’s admission that her mind was elsewhere during their attempt to stop the assassin in the hotel room³.  They are becoming sloppy not in their execution of the missions – the game of hot potato with the directional charge threatening Philip was really well done, and they were in sync on what was to be done with the charge from the time Philip ripped it off the wall and tossed it wordlessly to Elizabeth.  Instead, they are getting sloppy with their discussion of their marital woes.  They had an outdoor-voice argument about A) their covert status, and B) that they shouldn’t really be married while both children slept upstairs with their room doors open.  Even if they don’t know about Paige’s burgeoning romance with Matthew Beeman, they should know that anyone could be outside the door, or that Henry is apparently willing to say just about anything at the Beemans’ house.  They feel trapped, and the fact that the KGB’s missions for them only increase their feelings of helplessness toward their jobs and lives makes the “it is what it is” statement feel like a defeatist assessment of their lives as a whole.

“They promoted me”

Nina gets the chance to move up, which is good for Stan’s intelligence gathering, but bad for his ability to protect her.  When he had her close to Visili, he had an unwitting ally in the Rezidentura – Visili was completely blind to her duplicity.  Arkady, however, is giving off the appearance that he is not the fat, incompetent bureaucrat who is more interested in his tea than in subverting the Americans.  The way he questioned Nina made it feel as though he knew she was sending money and goods back to Russia, and that he suspects her.  She seems blissfully unaware of all of this, excited to tell Stan of the promotion.  She assumes she’ll be given more access, which will be valuable toward putting her in contact with Stan.

Stan is still concerned, and probably has considered that Arkady is keeping his enemies close, waiting for a chance to use them to his advantage.  A well-placed piece of misinformation could be disastrous for the Americans, and Nina wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.  Stan is stuck thinking of what might happen to Nina, and his inability to extract her. Even if he were able to extract her, he could never be with her.  He is falling more deeply for her, and can’t change his marriage or his affair.

“This will not stand.”

Special Agent John-Boy is banging the war drum. He is doing it in a way that shows restraint and planning.  He may have learned the hard way that he shouldn’t act rashly, and that patience rewards itself.  Knowing that the last time he rushed an op, he lost an opportunity to take down the KGB elements operating in the United States, he is going to wait for direction from the Reagan Administration, especially the former director of the CIA, one George Herbert Walker Bush⁴ to act.

The parallel in statements, by the way, should not be lost.  Special Agent John Boy says “This Will Not Stand” in reference to the attack on the scientist, killing him and three FBI agents⁵.  This is a direct reference to President Bush’s (41) statement about the Iraqi incursion into Kuwait in 1990 (fast forward to the 57 second mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzkOlNlb7KI

(for some reason it's impossible to embed this video.  Sorry.)

At the time, it came off as a very weak statement.  However, the US did respond, and in a big way.  We entered into the last war that was met with near universal approval, at a time when we were the sole superpower with gaining popularity around the globe. Agent Amador looks ready to carry out the retaliation, though, it is unclear whether his pursuit of Martha is his gut or his heart.

Also, there’s this:

The Dude Abides.

·      For the future, I still believe Nina will not survive this season.  She was careful when she needn’t be (in Visili’s bed) and is now careless in the face of danger.

·      Martha might take down Amador for stalking her, or, he could draw Phil’s suspicion⁶ if he gets too close.

·      There will have to be a point where Phil or Elizabeth, depending upon who is doubting the relationship at that point, will need to be saved by the other in an act of love over duty, and then be reprimanded by Claudia for failing to complete the mission. That’s about the only way, at this point, that their marriage is going to become real. I’d also like to start calling their marriage “Pinocchio” – it wants to be a real boy!

·      Anyone else excited for the season when Phil and Liz have to go into hiding, either from the Americans, or from the KGB?  How about the season where Phil and Liz defect – either for fakesies or realsies – and spend the season as double, or possibly triple agents?  I don’t know for sure one way or the other, I’m just thinking it’s a way, if they putter out after three seasons, to extend the show an extra season or two.  At some point, Stan will have to know they are not who they say they are, and as intelligence defectors, it’s good to know there is always money in the banana stand should they decide to turn against the Soviets!

¹-Nina is happy about it – she seems to really enjoy her time with Stan.  Then again, Nina is a child-like character.  I think Paige, as a character, is more aware of her surroundings than Nina.

²-This mission had the feel of “too easy” written all over it, given how quickly they dispatched it.  The numbers station gave them their assignment, they agreed that it was nearly impossible, and they forced the US to start protecting the targets. This all happened before the opening credits. It was never going to be that easy.

³-Despite the notion that they were “sloppy” in their execution of the mission, it’s important to note that Liz and Phil did everything they could.  They were given the mission too late, and it all had the feeling of Anton Chigurh’s quarter – that air of inevitability.  Whatever happens has already happened. While it didn’t make sense with the prostitute and the handsome guy in bed, it made infinitely more sense once we saw the walkie-talkie, and the C4 that the assassin planted in it.  Side note – would that much C4 really take out an entire house so drastically?

⁴-This has no bearing on anything, but whenever I refer to President Bush 41 by his full name, I always think of the time a friend of mine referred to him as President George Herschel Walker Bush.  So, I then called him “President George Herschel Walker Texas Ranger Bush” – now it always crosses my mind as though it is legitimately his name.  I’m an idiot.

⁵-Someone mentioned that Agent so-and-so was a good man, good husband, and good father.  I have to believe they were referring to the guy with the radio who was banging the prostitute.  Not only was he not a good husband or father for nailing a hooker, he was also the weak link.  The writers of The Americans really don’t have much faith in humanity – apparently our weakness is sex.  Phil spent a large portion of the episode plowing through Martha, Nina and Stan had another rendezvous (with sexy results), and FX almost went full-frontal with Agent Millbank and the hooker.

⁶-Let’s hope the Beemans don’t ever host a Barbecue for work and neighborhood friends.  It’d be so awkward if Martha recognizes Phil without the goofy wig and mustache having caviar with Stan at his kitchen island.