In the wake of the finale, I immediately thought back to a moment from the first episode of the season: when Philip tells Emmett, “We never use our kids,” before he reluctantly agrees to use his own son Henry as an identifier to quickly and harmlessly pass along information (unbeknownst to Henry, of course). Compare that to the final scene of “Echo” and the look on Philip’s face when he realizes Elizabeth is actually considering bringing their eldest daughter Paige into the espionage fold at the Center’s request. “It would destroy her,” he says. “To be like us?” Elizabeth asks before sitting down to family dinner. And in that ending you can’t help but think back to everything we know about Paige. The first season ended with her snooping through the basement, convinced her parents were hiding something. This season started with her continuing this detective work and taking secret trips to Pennsylvania to further investigate her parents, only to eventually give up and rebelliously join a church. As Elizabeth mentions, Paige has been yearning for something to dedicate her life to. Paige explicitly says she is attracted to the church because Jesus gave his life for something greater than himself, and that it inspires her. This chick has passion and you can almost hear Paige’s conviction echoing in the silences between Philip and Elizabeth at episode’s end.
Now also take into account what Philip and Elizabeth saw happen to Jared within this same episode. As we found out in this finale, Jared was contacted by the Center, began training behind his parents' backs, and when his parents, Emmett and Leanne, found out and disapproved, Jared killed them along with his younger sister...all for “the cause.” We spent an entire season trying to find Emmett and Leanne’s killer but it was their poor surviving son, Jared all along. Bleeding from the neck of a gunshot wound he spills his guts in a very well-acted yet frustratingly long moment. But the truth he reveals and the worst case scenario he represents for the path Paige could take rings loudly in every interaction Philip and Elizabeth have thereafter. And I’d hate to admit it, but Elizabeth may have a point. We saw what sacrificing for the greater good did to Jared, turning him into a ruthless and stoic monster with nothing to anchor him as his parents rejected this chosen path. But if Elizabeth and Philip nurtured Paige, their own daughter who is relentlessly looking for a purpose and something larger then herself to commit to, they will not only be training her for espionage, but teaching her how to survive on her own if/when the inevitable arrives.
I could probably write a whole essay about how almost every poignant moment this season succeeded because of the echoes of past events and realities. From Elizabeth using the details of her own rape as a young cadet to wholly manipulate a Navy seaman in Virginia Beach, to Philip’s growing existential despair bleeding into his treatment of Martha, the Jennings are such calculated manipulators because they use honest details to provoke dishonest emotions. They're method actors who use their marks to work through their own personal and marital issues, even if they don't realize they're doing it. The audience sees all this in the space between the Jennings reality and fabrication. Which further relays how the best thing about The Americans, and “Echo” in particular, is everything that is left unsaid: the realities and realizations that the audience is left to connect on their own during the many silences and 80s montages.
Every action has a consequence and oftentimes we are simply waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like Elizabeth said last week, “It’s coming.” And she’s definitely not referring to winter (we’re in the midst of a Cold War filmed during the Polar Vortex of 2014, winter has already arrived), but simply the inevitable. And not just the inevitable conclusion to a life lived as a spy on foreign soil, but the inevitable conclusion to an unsustainable life. (Which would naturally bring me to the Stan/Nina/Oleg storyline and all of its silent goodbyes that echoed of past promises and impossible futures, but that could be a whole separate essay as well). Philip knows their reckoning is inevitable and that his current situation is unsustainable as much as Elizabeth. He has struggled to psychologically and emotionally handle the consequences of his actions in the wake of a rising kill count and dwindling belief in his cause. And he never says it but we see it in his demeanor, his after hours visit to Paige's church, and how he takes it all out on Poor Martha.
Yes, I found flaws in this final episode of the season. The anticlimactic end to Larrick as well as Jared’s exposition laden death scene come to mind. But to be honest, I could nitpick any episode of television to death. And when I think back to what this finale says about the season as a whole and how assuredly it is put together, it’s easy to look past those lesser moments in favor of the larger picture. To make sacrifices for the greater good.
Yes, I found flaws in this final episode of the season. The anticlimactic end to Larrick as well as Jared’s exposition laden death scene come to mind. But to be honest, I could nitpick any episode of television to death. And when I think back to what this finale says about the season as a whole and how assuredly it is put together, it’s easy to look past those lesser moments in favor of the larger picture. To make sacrifices for the greater good.
And dammit, this show is so much greater than good. It's by far one of the best things on television.
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