The Americans - Season 1 Episode 3 - Recap and Review - Gregory

The Americans continued to pick up the pace this week. Hopefully, the momentum continues to build off of “Gregory,” another successful showing as the third episode in the show’s premiere season. I was disappointed to hear that ratings had dropped after last week’s follow-up to a very successful pilot. At first thought, I reasoned that the show may have been asking a little too much of audiences; an intelligent and fast paced period drama that forces us to reasonably support KGB characters. Sometimes, it seems like viewers aren’t necessarily tuning in to think when they turn on the television later in the evening. Rather, they tune in to tune out. Still, I believe The Americans is a case where the show itself is very well built in a sense that it makes the audience feel more educated on the subject than it necessarily has to be. Trust me, I'm one of those people. It's not necessarily like sitting through a history lesson at 10pm on a Wednesday night, though it could have been. Maybe that was enough to scare viewers into changing the channel to reruns of The Real Housewives of the Soviet Union. This show moves so quickly that we hardly realize that we don’t necessarily need to know very much at all about the KGB and it’s motives, Ronald Reagan, The Cold War, etc. We can just enjoy the drama, so long as we’re paying attention and keeping up.

FX "The Americans"

The episode opened with Stan (Noah Emmerich) seemingly demolishing Phillip (Matthew Rhys) in their promised racquetball match. Having to leave early when duty called, Stan met with his new accomplice on the inside of the KGB, Nina, to receive some newly acquired information. There had been a lot of talk surrounding the John Doe that had been stabbed during the pilot. Phillip’s friend and ally, Robert, died two weeks prior. Having said that, the man was pegged as a Directorate S, and would subsequently be linked to the Jennings if the FBI did its job. Basically, a Directorate S member is a big fish to fry. In the office, Stan’s boss showed pictures of the nameless man’s body. The best plan he could come up with to find more information on the spy would be to send the photo to every DMV in the country in hopes of connecting the picture to a license. A DMV in Philadelphia originally turned up the needle in a haystack they were looking for.

Meanwhile, Phillip had managed to uncover a signal sent from “beyond the grave.” A code was covertly posted via a listing in the newspaper. This code, known only by Robert, informed Phillip and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) of a specific location in Philly.

That evening, Elizabeth met with Gregory, an old friend who we’d come to learn was more than an accomplice for Elizabeth. Having begun to develop legitimate feelings for Phillip over the course of the last half a month or so, Elizabeth had to put a stop to her sexual relationship with Gregory. Still, she needed his group to cover the meeting in Philadelphia in order to scope out how safe it was for the KGB to move in. In Philadelphia, Gregory’s team discovered that Robert had a secret wife and newborn son, and more so, that the FBI was trailing her every move unbeknownst to her. Still, there was no telling for certain whether they were working with her or simply watching her. In order to discover how much this stranger knew about Robert, and the two of them, Phillip and Elizabeth would have to encounter her face to face.

After a job well done, Elizabeth was forced to turn to Gregory yet again for further assistance in safely apprehending the woman. They couldn’t simply walk up to her in the park and start talking with the FBI watching her every move. Thus, Gregory and his team concocted a plan to distract the feds while he snuck Robert’s wife through a pet store and out the back.

Once it was safe for them to speak with her, Phillip and Elizabeth met with the woman for the first time, still disguised of course, and discovered that Robert had only instructed her to place an ad in the paper if he’d been missing for two weeks. She knew nothing about where he went or what had happened. Assuming he’d died performing some sort of illegal drug deal, it became even clearer that she was completely unaware of who they were or what they did. The only step left for her to complete, was to hand off a note.

In the kitchen, Phillip attempted to concoct some sort of potion using chemicals and vinegar that would allow him to reveal a secret message on the note. As Phillip worked silently, Gregory took it as an opportunity to confront him about Elizabeth. Does Phillip really love Elizabeth? Is he just her cover? From the day they met, Gregory and Elizabeth had a connection. She shared her deepest secrets with him, even going to him just a few weeks before her daughter Paige was born in tears, desperate for something real in a completely manufactured existence. When she revealed her true identity as a member of the KGB, she knew she could truly trust him. She never had that kind of a bond with Phillip.

Waiting with Robert’s wife like sitting ducks, they were in danger of being discovered. Once Phillip decoded a name and number from Robert’s note, Gregory suggested they kill the woman and dump her body. Phillip, respecting his friend Robert, was adamant in his refusal to do so.

Phillip: “If you touch his wife, I’ll kill you.”

FX "The Americans"

(Kudos to whoever decided to put Jo on the cover of Girls World)

Phillip had begun to realize that he was being stalked by a new face. Having come across a suspicious older woman at the diner with his daughter, he wasn’t surprised to have to corner her in the middle of the night. Still, the fact that she was alone meant something. She was Gabriel’s replacement, the new head honcho delivering the orders. She made it clear that she ran a tighter ship than Gabriel, though, and she wasn’t happy to hear of Robert’s secret double-life. Their new leader informed Phillip that the Americans had developed new technologies that could render their nuclear weapons useless. When Robert died, he was paying for intel in Philadelphia, and the contact was lost when they lost him.

Back in the room, Joyce, Robert’s wife, realized that her face was plastered all over the news. Stan’s men were hunting her, and there was a reason for it. Suddenly, things became clear to her. She recalled a time when she surprised Robert at home and found him doodling codes. That, in conjunction with the news stories and strange new people protecting her, signaled that he was a spy. The question was, when would they kill her and her baby. Elizabeth promised that this wasn't the case at all.

Phillip followed the information on Robert’s note to his contact, who’d been hidden away in some dank underground space. After a brief altercation with some of the man’s men who’d refused to back off, Phillip exchanged a huge amount of cash for the Americans’ new weaponry plans.

FX "The Americans"

Phillip was livid to learn that Elizabeth shared so much with Gregory. As much as he might not have shared openly with her, he never lied to her as she had to him. Elizabeth attempted to explain that things were over between them, but only barely opened up to Phillip at this point. After lashing out at Gregory for opening his mouth, though, things became easier. Gregory might have loved her when she needed it, having arrived in a strange country with a strange man at age twenty-two, but at this point in her life, she’s falling for Phillip. I really liked the way the final kitchen scene between Elizabeth and Phillip was shot. I liked that they chose to shoot it at the crack of dawn to showcase a different kind of lighting. It’s always kind of poignant to shoot a revelatory scene at dawn, right? The white light was a nice tough. It was honesty that Phillip wanted, and he got it. Gregory was passionate and never asked anything of her, but Phillip is her flame now.

The episode closed on a somewhat somber note. I knew things were too good to be true when Elizabeth and Phillip escorted Robert’s wife and his baby out of America. Their new leader, Gabriel’s replacement, assured safe travels and a new life in Cuba. Still, she’d made it clear that she would not stand for any disorder. The baby was transferred to Moscow, and Joyce was found in a car by Stan’s men; killed by an “overdose.”

What did you all think of The Americans Season 1 Episode 3, “Gregory”? Are you feeling chemistry brewing between Elizabeth and Phillip? What do you think of Gabriel’s replacement? Do you think the show is doing a good job of making us like Stan while we root for the Jennings?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of The Americans Season 1 Episode 3, “Gregory”!