2x13 Echo

[7.5/10] The Americans is a show rich enough to work on multiple levels. It works on a thematic level -- the points it’s trying to convey. It works on a plot level -- just the raw progression of events that make for an exciting story. It works on a character level -- the development of the central figures over the course of the snow. And that doesn't account for the other worthwhile elements and layers of the series, from its production and editing to its music to its commentary on the state of global politics in the 1980s.

But sometimes these different levels work better or worse than others, and it’s not as though The Americans is a show where you can take these elements separately from one another. Character and plot and theme are all bound together. That’s a good thing, and makes the show meaningful and emotionally involving. But it also means that something good can really lift the episode, and something bad can really sink it, and the combination of them can leave you unsure as to how much you genuinely liked that hour of television.

That’s how I feel about “Echo”, a finale that was, at times, engrossing, thrilling, and tragic in ways that breed investment in a story and a world, and at others, contrived, heavy-handed, and unsatisfying in ways that make Season 2 feel like a step down from Season 1.

The thematic work of the finale isn’t particularly subtle, and it’s established by the statements of the two potential “second generation illegals” in the episode. Paige comes back from her church protest trip “moved” by her pastor getting arrested for civil disobedience. She pontificates to her parents about how that’s what the church is really about -- living up to Jesus’s example of sacrificing himself for the greater good. This is something noble, being willing to die for a cause worthy of such an act.

The dark echo of that comes in Jared’s dying words, when he too is willing to die, but also to kill, in order for what has been instilled in him as a greater cause. Elizabeth has spent much of this season worried about brainwashing from the church, but little did she realize that at the same time she was harboring those concerns, Paige’s equivalent in another family of illegals had been fed the same ideas from a different angle, turned against his parents, seeking refuge in a separate institution, until he became enraptured by his cause and started a series of events that brought down his family and the end of his life.

Much of “Echo” is a meditation on that idea, on whether or not it’s good or just to expect, embrace, or impose those types of mortal sacrifices in the name of something you believe in.

It’s a solid theme, even if the episode foregrounds it a little much for my tastes. “Echo” is filled with meaningful choices that relate to that idea While Paige and Jared have parallel ideas of self-sacrifice at play, Philip’s operation ends up with another life lost, Stan let’s Nina be thrown to the wolves rather than betraying his country, and even Jarrick is trying to avenge his “brothers” and turn the Jenningses in regardless of what happens to himself.

That’s where we get to the plot, as the simmering story of Jarrick’s approach, Jared’s safety, and the mystery of Emmett and Liane’s murders all come to a head in a fairly unbelievable way. Jarrick manages to get the drop on both Philip and Elizabeth, but through a combination of Jared, of all people, taking a shot at him, and the Jennings headbutting and gun-grabbing him, the trio manages to kill off the guy who was trying to turn them in a fairly confusing jumble of a sequence.

But before Jarrick dies, he manages to shoot Jared in the neck, and what do you know, Jared has just enough time left on this Earth to give a surprisingly long-winded explanation (replete with Philip and Elizabeth prompting him with awkwardly timed questions) that he was the one who killed his family, and that Kate had been recruiting him. (Dun duuunnnn duuunnnn.)

It turned out that, as confirmed by Claudia later, the Centre wanted Jared to be an agent, and when Emmett and Liane refused to bring him in, the KGB sent Kate behind their backs to lure him into the service. He became a true believer to the point that when he told all this to his parents and they reacted badly, he killed them in the ensuing scene,

As a thematic idea, this works. There is a tragic irony in the fact that all this time, Elizabeth and Jennings have been worried about an external threat threatening their children, when what really ended Emmett and Liane’s lives was an internal one, both from within their family and their organization. There is a lot of quality material to unpack from the KGB trying to turn children behind their parents’ backs and having that go horribly wrong. And as much as I grew tired of Larrick, the most interesting thing about him thus far is that he was on an at least semi-noble quest to make things right rather than just trying to kill of the last of the Conners.

But from a plot and storytelling perspective, it’s a hokey and contrived twist. We’ve barely gotten to know Jarrick, so the reveal that he isn’t the killer after all doesn't have that much weight. By the same token, we’ve barely gotten to know Jared either, so his turn is as much, if not more weightless than Jarrick’s. And given how little we know about Jared, having him reveal his entire motivation and relevant character history in one dying monologue is corny and overly-constructed as well.

It’s all incredibly pat and convenient, and feels like a shocking twist for the sake of a shocking twist. As I’ve said before, some allowance must be made for things to fall into place for the most dramatic impact on television, but having not only the Jarrick assault, the Jared escape, and the Emmett and Liane mystery all fall out at the same time, replete with a pretty unbelievable escape sequence, convenient deaths, and strained explanatory monologue leaves the effort feeling lifeless and unsatisfying, without the attention to detail and believability that have been the hallmark of the show’s approach to an outsized premise.

Thankfully, the show is much more reserved when it comes to Stan choosing to sacrifice Nina rather than betray his country. In one of my favorite choices in the episode, Stan has very little dialogue. Instead, The Americans lets the audience read the internal turmoil that Agent Beeman is going through on Noah Emmerich’s face throughout the hour. “Echo” gets a little arty with the dream sequence where he sees Vlad sitting at his desk, and Sandra sleeping with another man. But for the most part, his is just a story of someone making a tough decision, with ambiguity as to whether it’s a noble or a selfish one, but none as to whether it’s a tragic one.

It’s noble because ultimately, whatever his feelings about Nina, Stan decides that the price is too high, that after all he’s been through, with where his life is and what grand ideas he aimed to follow when he took this job, he cannot give the eponymous program to the Soviets. It’s selfish because it’s not his life on the line; it’s Nina’s, and he makes the decision that sends her away to an, at best, uncertain future.

And it’s tragic because whatever her mistakes on both sides of this war, Nina did what was asked of her, and at least should have earned her way back into the good graces of the KGB. While she made her bad choices, Nina is more object than subject in this story, being put up by Stan and then by the Rezidentura, regardless of what she really wanted, because it’s what it took to survive.

Time will tell whether Oleg’s money or Nina’s natural resourcefulness will let her survive a little longer, but the catch is that Stan got to make a choice, a choice about what was worth sacrificing for something greater, and it’s a choice he got to make for Nina, not with her.

But Philip and Elizabeth are fighting for their right, and for their daughter’s right, to make that choice. The revelation that there is a program underway to train second generation illegals doesn't work especially well as a twist and capper to the season’s murder mystery and ensuing storyline, but it’s an intriguing spark for the show’s next batch of episodes, and for the inevitable conflict between Elizabeth and Philip that will follow.

For one thing, it creates tension between the Jenningses and the Centre that have tons of promise. While there have been moments when Philip and Elizabeth have questioned their orders, or done work off the books, they have almost always been willing to see their mission through to the end, no matter what it takes or what is asked of them. But they have drawn a line in the sand between the KGB and their children, and the fact that Philip (with Elizabeth’s approval) goes directly to Arkady to tell him to stay away from their kids shows that this program could be a wedge and complication between the Jenningses and their organization the likes of which we haven’t seen.

But the prospect of Paige being brought into the service also creates a wedge between Philip and Elizabeth, one that works as the culmination of their more character-focused stories this season.

For Philip, this season has meant seeing the bodies pile up. His internal conflict has been the toll that all this death, all this collateral damage, all the blood on your hands, takes in this business. At times, he seemed as though he was reaching his breaking point, and with all of that at the forefront of his mind (with Fred being the latest casualty), the last thing he wants to do is bring his daughter into this war, with the risk that she could either have to face the same stains of the soul that he has trouble dealing with, or that, worse yet, she could be another life lost thanks to him.

But for Elizabeth, this season has been about worrying for her children, for their safety, yes, but also about who they are now and who they might become without their parents guidance. Elizabeth’s greatest fears about her children, from the earliest episodes of the show, were that Paige wouldn’t be able to handle things, and that her kids would be indoctrinated by capitalist values she abhors. Those threats were heightened with Paige’s growing interest in Christianity and the specter of an increased threat in the wake of Emmett and Liane’s deaths, but they’ve always been present on the show.

Letting Paige into the service would solve both problems. As Elizabeth says, Paige is yearning for something. She has her mother’s idealism and passion, and those could be put to the same cause that Elizabeth herself believes in rather than to a religion she doesn't. It would satisfy the curiosity that continues to threaten the Jenningses cover and help restore the trust between them. And it would allow them to teach Paige survival skills, things that would make her capable rather than helpless to threats and manipulations, whether from the Americans or the Russians, that might otherwise lead her to share Jared’s fate.

There’s a principled conflict between Philip and Elizabeth brewing thanks the revelation of this second generation program, and it’s founded on the character exploration the show has done for those two characters over the course of these thirteen episodes. But it operates much better as a setup for next season than a conclusion to this one.

That’s really the problem with “Echo” and to some extent, Season 2 as a whole. The season spends a good amount of time listing toward meaningful conflicts and the culmination of certain storylines, with plenty of wheel-spinning between the beginning and the end, which only works if your endpoint makes the journey worth it.

As an ending, “Echo” doesn't do much to redeem the saggier parts of Season 2, or even cap off the most interesting parts of the season in memorable fashion. It delivers that theme of self-sacrifice in laudable ways, provides an (at least temporary) ending for Stan and Nina that has some power, and finds an issue worthy of a clash of the mentalities that have been building for Elizabeth and Philip this season.

But it also can’t help but feel interstitial, the setup for something bigger and more meaningful down the line rather than a forceful or affecting story in its own right. The second season of The Americans is one of growing pains, where the show seems to be striving to go broader and deeper than it did in its superb first year on the air, but can’t quite find the balance between what needs to be tackled now to keep the show interesting and exciting, and what needs to be built to so it has more impact later.

That means the elements of the show that work best: its characters, its thematic weight, its talented performers and its intriguing, layered premise, can hold the day long enough for The Americans to hold its audience through a lot. But it also means that an entire season, a season of good work and good individual stories, can feel less than for being more of a means toward what’s to come than the culmination of what’s already been.