The Americans: “Comrades” (Episode 2.01)
Much like Elizabeth, The Americans returns for a second season stronger than when viewers last left it. Elizabeth (Keri Russell) has recovered from her wounds, and the show has hit that creative stride that should make it the darling of the award show circuit.
One of the most interesting things about The Americans is the juxtaposition between the high-stakes espionage Elizabeth and Philip (Matthew Rhys) engage in and the utter ordinariness of their suburban life. The Jennings children are growing up. Philip worries about the violent videogame Henry wants to play, and Elizabeth wonders if she’ll ever know what’s going on inside her teenage daughter’s head. What parent can’t relate to that?
Last season ended with Paige (Holly Taylor) heading down to the basement to investigate whether or not her mother was really doing laundry. The inquisitive Paige is once again in the laundry room checking up on her mother. She takes her investigative skills one step further when she opens her parents’ closed door in the middle of the night, fearing that they had not come home. Her parents were, in fact, home and in the throes of a sexual encounter no teenage daughter should see. (By the way, producers told critics in January that Taylor filmed her scene separately from Russell and Rhys. So, at least in real life, Taylor wasn’t traumatized).
That puts Philip and Elizabeth on the defensive in their own home. “Do we even know if this is the first time that she’s checked in on us?” Philip wonders. But the dangers to their children become far more serious when fellow KGB agents and their daughter are executed in their hotel room. Now Paige and Henry could be targets. Elizabeth rushes back to the amusement park to find Paige and Henry—her frantic search is relatable to any parent, not just one who is a covert operative.