Breaking Down ‘Gregory,’ Last Night’s Solid Episode Of ‘The Americans’

Last week’s ratings for The Americans seemed to take a fall after the overnights were reported, but three days later, we found out there was a significant uptick in viewers watching it on their DVRs. It’s good to know people are watching it, even if they’re a few dates late on it. If you’re a DVR viewer, please stop by after you’ve seen the episode to discuss.

Indeed, The Americans is getting more complicated rather than less, as the series progresses and more moving parts come into play. There’s a lot going on through three episodes. It’s definitely a show one needs to pay attention to, although last night, there was one rare but brief exposition dump, as though the writers were listening when some in the audience were like, “Wait a second. Back up. What exactly is going on here?”

Let’s get to it, and we’ll tell you what’s going on.

The Setup — The major crux of what’s going on, and the revelation that drives this story, is that we find out that the KGB spy who was killed in the premiere episode attempting to abduct a Russian defector actually had a secret wife and child in Philadelphia. Phillip discovers that through a classified ad left in the newspaper by the secret wife, and the FBI discovers it from their spy in the Russian embassy.

The Mark — Her name is Joyce Ramirez. She’d been married to the dead KGB spy, Robert Owen McKenzie, for about a year. The question is: What does she know? Will her information be valuable to someone? Or put someone in danger?

The Players — Elizabeth and Phillip, the latter of whom was very close to Robert, need to find Joyce and figure out what she knows. The catch? The FBI also knows about Joyce, and they interrogate her to find out if she has intel that might put the KGB’s secret spy program in danger. How can Phillip and Elizabeth remove her with the FBI tracking her?

The Shill — Gregory (Derek Luke) is an American recruited into the KGB by Elizabeth. He does surveillance and pulls off missions for the KGB, and who would suspect a black Russian spy? The FBI just assumes he and his crew are drug dealers because the FBI is racist. Here’s the rub: Gregory is in love with Elizabeth. Elizabeth was once in love with him. Now? Not so much, but Gregory is not going to take no for an answer, even if it means confronting Phillip, revealing their years-long affair, and pissing Phillip off in the process. However, Gregory is successful in abducting Joyce before the FBI can.

The Complication — At first, Joyce doesn’t know anything, but because she can’t keep her damn mouth shut, she connects the dots and, after living with a man she assumed sold drugs for a year, it quickly dawns on her that he’s Russian spy (shut up, Joyce!). That puts Elizabeth and Phillip in jeopardy, but Phillip feels he owes a duty to Robert to protect Joyce. Joyce also had a piece of paper left by Robert with an invisible coded message, which reveals the name and number of a dirty FBI agent.

The Plan — Phillip meets with their new handler (or rather, she forces a meeting by spying on him), who is played by Margo Martindale (MAGS BENNET, Y’ALL). She gives Phillip the money to deliver to the FBI agent, and after a scrape with his thugs, a successful transaction takes place. The FBI agent gets the money, and Phillip gets America’s design plans for anti-ballistic missiles. Phillip and Elizabeth also hand Joyce off to their handler, who promises her a new identity and a new life. Note to self: Never listen to anyone in a black windowless van.

The Dagger — The good news is, the KGB saves the baby, and brings him to Robert’s parents to raise him. The bad news? They kill Joyce, making it look like a drug overdose. Ouch

The Bud — The one good thing to come out of the entire ordeal is that Elizabeth admits to the affair and comes clean about it. She was young. She’d never had a boyfriend. She needed someone. It just happened. “It never really happened that way for us, did it?” she asked. “I’m so sorry, I wish it had, but I feel like it’s happening now.”

The Review — It was another solid episode that introduced a new complication to the marriage, provided some more backstory on Phillip and Elizabeth’s lives since coming to the United States, and revealed to us that there are more KGB spies in their midst, including those with which they have recruited. The first note I took on the episode, however, was the name of the director, Thomas Schlamme, who many may remember as one of Aaron Sorkin’s most utilized directors back in his West Wing days. Schlamme is one of the best around, and working with several moving pieces in this episode, he kept the motion fluid.

It’s also great to see Margo Martindale come aboard another smart show. She is brilliantly suited to the role of a woman who can look like a doddering grandmother and then transform into a ruthless, cold killer. She’s going to do just fine, and I suspect in the long term that she will give both Elizabeth and Phillip some pause about their loyalty to the motherland.

Moreover, as far as the season-long arc goes, the KGB add another piece of intelligence to what they already knew: That the United States has plans to nullify the Russian nuclear threat. Now they know how.

There’s still a considerable amount of intensity to the series, and I love the episodic spy missions. The introduction of Gregory did create some sympathy for Phillip, but the emotional connections still lack. The show is in desperate need of some levity to lighten the mood and allow us to invest more in Phillip and Elizabeth. Graham Yost, the showrunner on Justified, is an exec producer on The Americans, and it would do the show a service if he would get more involved and introduce some of the breeziness that dominates Justified, although to be fair, the mood on Justified was also heavier in the first season.

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