The season finale of The Americans felt more like a mid-season break, consistent with the earlier statements from the producers that they were carrying the plot threads from the third season into the fourth. This makes good sense as shows such as Homeland have shown how easy it might be to use up the story lines which really propel a show and then have to search for a reason to continue.
There were at least two major plot lines addressed in this episode, with one providing a major cliff hanger. Taking Paige to meet her Russian grandmother only served to make her more upset about her identity, leading to the final scene when she called Pastor Tim and told him that her parents are Russian spies.
There are many conceivable ways that this can go. Will Pastor Tim, assuming he believes the story, feel obligated to preserve her secret? Assuming that Elizabeth and Philip find out, will they make sure that Pastor Tim does not survive to tell anyone? There is also speculation among some fans that Pastor Tim is also a spy, but that might be a too convenient way to resolve the issue.
While this is the major cliff hanger of the season, the Martha story line also remains more fascinating after last week’s revelation. This week we learned that Martha is still alive, and that Philip covered for her by framing an FBI tech person for planting the bug. We still don’t know what cover story he is now telling Martha. Does Martha now know he is a Russian spy, or maybe she thinks he is working for a more secret US organization. Martha clearly knows that the person was framed, and should be able to figure out that his suicide was actually a murder. There is a lot for Martha to consider here. This all has Philip questioning his life as he searches for answers at the EST meetings, while Elizabeth has no doubts, especially while listening to Ronald Reagan call her home the evil empire.
Producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields discussed the cliff hanger with The Hollywood Reporter:
Why did you decide to leave it on a cliffhanger?
Fields We’re glad to hear you say it’s a cliffhanger. We talked about that in the room actually, whether or not it should be called a cliffhanger. I suppose it’s a cliffhanger in the show in the sense that one really wants to find out what’s going to happen next, and that’s a good thing. But, to us, it’s all about the characters. What’s most interesting to us is what’s going to happen to these people next, and what personal dramas will they go through next. That’s always more interesting to us than someone kicking in the door with a gun in their hand.
Weisberg We’re also used to drama where a cliffhanger means that somebody is or isn’t going to die or something like that. So the idea that the real question is: Is this guy who got a phone call going to make another phone call? We were really debating if that would count as a cliffhanger.
Fields More like a telephone-hanger. (Laughs.)
And why did you choose for the cliffhanger to be Paige telling Pastor Tim the truth about her parents?
Fields We knew Paige was going to tell Pastor Tim for quite some time, but we just didn’t know exactly where it would fall in the drama — just like we knew that Philip and Elizabeth were going to tell Paige, but we didn’t know exactly where that would fall into the drama. This family is truly a family, and as such loves each other in its own way. Yet, at the same time, their family has blind spots. The idea that these parents had thought that they had gotten through a rough patch with their daughter and thought that things were on an even keel while missing entirely what was going on, it just rings very true. Somebody just said in our writers’ room today, “What’s really going on is that Philip and Elizabeth have an adolescent.”
For all we knew, Paige could have turned into her own KGB agent this episode. When did you know the story wasn’t going in that direction?
Fields Toward the last third of the season.
Weisberg We considered the possibility of her making that phone call the night that they told her, and then we decided that we definitely didn’t want to do that. So then it became a question of whether or not she would tell them this season or next season, and the finale seemed like the perfect point. What’s most moving in a way is how much pain she’s in there after she comes back from her trip with her mother, and how she expresses that pain and what it drives her to do. For us, it was really moving just to see her crying there in bed when her parents are in the next room not really able to connect with her or fully comprehend how much she’s suffering. Then we have her call Pastor Tim and so openly and clearly express the pain she’s in, which is something her parents are not able to do.
TV Line has information from Marc Guggenheim on what happens the rest of this season on Arrow now that Oliver has remained with the League of Assassins following his deal to save Thea:
With Oliver choosing to stay behind in Nanda Parbat, “the character journey of [Episode] 321 is how the hell Team Arrow moves forward without Oliver,” Guggenheim previews. Whereas last time the group thought he was dead, “knowing that he’s out there and alive, but a member of the League of Assassins, that’s a whole lot harder” for Team Arrow to handle, the EP adds.
“There is a real trinity formed between Laurel, Diggle and Felicity,” Guggenheim says. “They’re all leaning on each other. They’re processing things in different ways. Laurel is throwing herself into her work saving the city. Felicity is struggling with heartbreak and grief. She really goes through the seven stages of grief with Oliver. And Diggle, something happens in [Episode] 21 that really upends Diggle’s world, certainly vis-à-vis Oliver. That’s something that will have repercussions for the remainder of the season.”
The EP adds that next week’s hour is “one of our most emotional episodes” because it’s a baddie-of-the-week installment in which “the villain of the week is Oliver.”
So with the hero giving in to the darker nature of the League, what does his future hold?
“The last three episodes spend a lot of time addressing the question of: ‘Is there hope for Oliver?’” the EP says. “And: ‘Is there hope for Oliver in Felicity’s mind?’ [Episodes] 21 and 22 have some very specific things to say about that and Felicity’s coming to grips with the conclusion of Episode 20.”
The second episode of Orphan Black this season included the return of Sarah pretending to be Beth Childs, and for a second episode Tatiana Maslany also provided the voice of another character, the scorpion. Something is clearly wrong with the Castor clones, and finding the original clone lines might provide the clue, or at least propel more episodes this season.
Logic tests might be useful to evaluate the neurological status of some clones, but Helena sure messed that up in dwelling on finding the mangoes and discussing the issue with the scorpion. Plus we know more about Cal, we saw Allison and Donnie as drug dealers, and it is time for Kira to leave for a while to get away from too many stories about having to save her.
Buddy TV discussed the episode with the show’s creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett:
What went into the decision to have Seth’s death happen the way it did and to start the episode off with that crazy threesome?
Manson: “First on the crazy threesome. The crazy threesome was just something that we – you know…I guess what it was was when we looked at those characters, it seemed like they would potentially, because they grew up together, that they share, because they’re brothers. They share and I think that they’re of a very different kind of upbringing than our girls, and so that because they’re brothers and they share…I don’t know, it just seemed like there was a natural kind of sharing, that sexual exploits would be part of that.
But the further answer to that question is that we just thought it was kind of something that we hadn’t seen before, but it would be kind of a really terrifying way to begin the episode, to discover actually there’s a second person in the room with you. From this woman’s point of view, it’s very scary to realize that the other person in the room is a twin.”
Fawcett: “It’s also a transgression and a crime that we do not take lightly throughout the season.”
Manson: “And then in regards to the termination of Seth at the end, what’s different about this is that that is very much a mercy killing, and it is meant to be a very emotional moment. The fact that these boys have this potential terminal illness is a really horrifying kind of thing that they all have to come to grips with, and I think it’s an emotional moment between Rudy and Seth there that we wanted to explore.”
Is the glitching from the Castor clones equivalent to the illness we see with the Leda clones?
Manson: “It’s part of our scientific mystery, and discovering what ails them, it sort of parallels our Ledas searching for what their own disease is, so that is indeed part of the story, part of the mystery we’re unfolding and part of our scientific mystery.”
Is that what Project Castor is testing for, with the questions Paul asks Seth and Rudy and Helena’s being asked?
Manson: “Again, as part of the mystery of what is biologically with the Castor clones, that’s just kind of the tip of the iceberg to some degree. The thing that we do know after watching episode 2 is we do know that the Castor clones, whatever’s wrong with them, whatever’s potentially causing this, is neurological, and so I think that that’s where these tests come from, and it’s our little tip-of-the-hat homage to Blade Runner.”
Digital Spy has eleven spoilers from Bryan Fuller on the third season of Hannibal.
Netflix has renewed Daredevil for a second season.
