The Americans Review: Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow (Season 4 Episode 3)

In Elizabeth’s first scene in The Americans, “Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow,” a new plot line is introduced at a Mary Kay meeting.

One of Elizabeth’s colleagues, a woman named Yung Hee, tells a story about how every time she received a makeover in a department store, she came out “looking green.” This mention of a “green” face was a brilliant way to evoke the imagery of an alien or someone who is foreign, which is exactly what Elizabeth is in every possible way in this situation: she’s not American and she couldn’t care less about makeup.

This alien imagery is reinforced when Yung Hee ends her story by telling her friends they “don’t have to look like Martians. We are all Americans now.” This line struck me because Elizabeth responds to it so knowingly, so confident in her con. Elizabeth’s deceptions are always flawless and I truly think she’s a better operative than Philip. This scene made me wonder, just how long has Elizabeth been running this con? It can’t be too long because Yung Hee seems unsure of Elizabeth’s name when she runs into her in the grocery store.

Later, after making Elizabeth’s first sale, Yung Hee invites Elizabeth to her house for dinner. Elizabeth accepts. The entire time I’m thinking, what does Elizabeth want with this woman?! Is she her latest mark? What is Yung Hee going to help Elizabeth get or accomplish? Or is Yung Hee just going to be Elizabeth’s latest confidant?

At dinner at Yung Hee’s house, I again marveled at how seamlessly and brilliantly Elizabeth fit in with Yung Hee’s family. Even when she paused before answering Yung Hee’s question about children, it didn’t read as her making a decision about how she should answer (though I believe this is what she was doing). It read as someone answering a question thoughtfully, considering the full weight of her answer.

Last week’s episode was titled “Pastor Tim,” but that could’ve easily been the title of this episode as the Pastor Tim problem continues to get exponentially bigger. Pastor Tim told his wife the Jennings’ secret. Of course he did; who can keep a secret that big to himself? Paige couldn’t keep the secret either. Seriously, in what world is telling someone who is barely a teenager everything she thought she knew is a lie a good idea?!

Now, The Center wanting the children of its spies to become spies as well because they can pass the background checks necessary to infiltrate American government agencies is of course a genius idea. But it would have been smarter to wait a few years before trying to bring Paige into the fold. Sometimes playing a long game is the best strategy…which The Center knows as it’s had spies in America for over a decade.

The Center decides to deal with Pastor Tim and his wife, Alice, by killing them in an accident. No surprise there. Philip is afraid Paige will figure out it wasn’t really an accident and hate them forever. Elizabeth thinks it’s the only way out of the situation.

This scene is one of the many reasons I love The Americans. Philip often displays thoughts/emotions that are typically considered female and Elizabeth often displays thoughts/emotions that are typically considered male. I love the way the show uses these displays to question masculinity and femininity. In a typical American television show, the wife would be the one fretting about her daughter hating her. But Elizabeth is extremely practical, which is typically considered a masculine trait. She does what needs to be done. As Philip evolves and allows himself to feel more, his judgment gets clouded and certain choices are harder for him than they once were.

Holly Taylor, the actress who plays Paige, does a wonderful job in the scene where she confronts Pastor Tim. Paige confronts him with such an adult anger. You can hear how betrayed she feels in her voice and her words:

Paige: When I tell you something, a secret, you can’t just decide, ‘Oh, I think I’ll tell my wife.’

Watching this scene, I got angry too. When Pastor Tim meets with Elizabeth and Philip, he says he told his wife because he and she minister each other and she will keep his confidence. Since when is that an excuse to break the confidence of your parishioner? When Paige confronts him, Pastor Tim tells her his wife knows the confidences he keeps are sacred. If they’re sacred, why are you so careless with them? A teenager tells you a secret and displays such anguish at not being able to trust her own parents and the first chance you get, you show her she can’t trust you either?

In an attempt to pacify Paige, Pastor Tim tries to sell her the same tired excuse people have been using to get out of trouble for centuries: he was trying to help. Then he tells her he cares about her. Something about the way he says he cares about her feels sexual to me and given that Paige is thirteen, that’s just gross. Time to find a new church, Paige.

Paige tells her parents she confronted Pastor Tim and they both got upset. Again, why does it sound like Paige and Pastor Tim are girlfriend and boyfriend instead of pastor and parishioner? In this conversation, Paige asks if her parents hurt people. Elizabeth tells Paige she knows her parents better than that. No, Elizabeth, actually she doesn’t know you at all. Philip killed someone with his bare hands last week.

All in all, I really enjoyed this episode of The Americans: I like the way the Pastor Tim problem is being handled. It’s the way I’d handle it if I worked for the KGB. I can’t wait to see Paige’s reaction to his death. Again, what does Elizabeth want with Yung Hee? Hopefully this will be answered next week.

Other random thoughts:

• What is this episode title?! It’s too long and too confusing. Oh wait…that’s what EPCOT stands for. Doh!
• Agent Gaad goes OFF about 6 pages being copied on the copier that were not accounted for and suddenly Stan decides he needs to start looking into Martha. Seriously? 6 pieces of paper are going to be what gets Martha caught after all this time?! To be honest with you, now that I think about it, Martha is getting less and less discrete. She didn’t even wait until the office was empty to copy those pages. It could be because she’s angry with “Clark” about having to keep so many secrets or that she’s disgusted with him because he killed Gene to protect her. Maybe she’s horrified that he can do something like that and be seemingly fine with it. Either way, Philip needs to watch Martha closely. She’s feeling guilty and distraught about everything she’s done and Gene’s death. I think she’s ready to be caught. To her credit, she has been great about not wearing her wedding ring to work. This really surprised me because I think that’s a lot to ask of someone, especially when she and “Clark” were first married. I’m interested to see what will happen with this plot line.
• When Philip rushes to Gabriel when he and Elizabeth find him on the floor, coughing, next to a pool of blood, all I could think was, Uh, Philip, is it not obvious to you that he probably has Glanders?! DO NOT TOUCH HIM!

What did you think of this episode of The Americans? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Americans airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.

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