The Americans Review: Travel Agents (Season 4 Episode 7)

Last week was The Americans most jaw-dropping episode; “Travel Agents” is its most intimate and emotional.

Martha, Philip and Elizabeth display great vulnerability and it only makes us love each of these characters more. The episode starts off slowly but picks up speed towards the middle and ends on a high.

Philip’s reaction to Martha’s disappearance shocks us. He fought so hard to protect her and yet, when Gabriel says they may have to kill her if they can’t capture her quietly, he just accepts it. He doesn’t protest in the slightest. Why? Does he feel betrayed by her threat to expose the KGB? To be honest, I would somewhat understand if he felt that way, however, that threat is nothing compared to the hell “Clark” has put Martha through.

And, why is Agent Gaad the only one who’s upset by Martha’s deception of the FBI? Stan and Agent Aderholt have worked with her a long time as well. Aren’t they surprised to learn the truth? Not once has either of them said anything like, “I can’t believe Martha’s been playing us all this time.” Stan’s too busy being happy his hunch about Martha was right to feel betrayed. Speaking of Stan’s hunch, that he was the only one to suspect Martha had been compromised proves that pretty much everyone else in the counterintelligence unit sucks at their job.

While I’m at this, Elizabeth, why are you telling Philip it’s not his fault Martha ran away? It is 100% his fault. She ran away because she didn’t know where he was and she didn’t trust Gabriel. Also, there is no worse spy move than revealing most of your true identity to your mark. Philip should be apologizing for his incredibly shortsighted and thoughtless behavior instead of being reassured by Elizabeth.

Martha: You’ll just tell me some version of the truth that’s not very true.

I love that you can hear both anger and vulnerability in Martha’s voice when she says this. I don’t admire much about Martha but I do admire that she didn’t cry out, “Yes, Clark, please come get me!”

This episode brought on an epiphany. I’ve been so hard on Martha the last couple of weeks but if I was in her shoes, I’d be freaking out too. Martha’s a good person who’s always done the right thing until she met “Clark.” Now, the FBI is after her and she has no idea what the KGB is going to do with or to her. She’s in a dark place and I should show her more compassion.

Honestly, watching Martha cry on the phone to “Clark” makes us want to hug her. She must feel so alone. Watching her tremble before she brushes her hair off her face, I’m floored by Alison Wright’s acting AGAIN. She’s really coming into her own as the season progresses.

I really appreciate Elizabeth’s compassion for Martha when she finds her in the park. Martha doesn’t want to go with her and Martha’s yelling is probably drawing attention to them. Elizabeth could have easily strangled her after she knocks the wind out of her or used one of the other thousand methods she knows to kill her but she didn’t. I don’t know why though. Is it because she doesn’t want to hurt Philip? If I were Elizabeth, I’d want to get rid of the woman the father of my children appears to be falling in love with.

Which brings us to: WHAT?! Why in God’s name is Philip telling Martha his real name?! Seriously, what is he doing?! Is he hoping he can make her a double agent? Oh wait, he already tried that and it didn’t work. Elizabeth should have killed Martha when she had the chance. Good Lord, now he’s telling her his Russian name. What is this power Martha has over Philip? Does he feel like he’s actually married to her because they had a wedding and he and Elizabeth didn’t? Does he feel he actually vowed something to her despite the whole thing being fake? I don’t understand anything he is doing right now.

When Elizabeth asks Philip if he would go back to Russia with Martha, it breaks my heart. To watch someone who is so strong allow herself to be so vulnerable is really powerful. When Philip tells her “it’s not like that at all,” I don’t believe him. The thing is, I don’t think he knows he’s lying. I don’t think he knows up from down right now. He lies to Elizabeth and tells Martha the truth, something he never saw coming. Why would he tell Martha his birth name if he didn’t have feelings for her?

To cap it all off, Stan learns that Martha is actually married to someone in the KGB and suddenly he’s a romantic? “Maybe they fell in love somehow”? And the look on his face! Is he just shocked at how good the KGB is? Stan, though I despise you, I do think you’re a good FBI agent. You’re just not as good as the worst agent in the KGB.

Why didn’t Philip just tell Martha he’d go to Russia with her? That would have been so much easier. I know he thinks he’s being loyal to Elizabeth by telling Martha he can’t join her but now he won’t be able to let her out of his sight until she gets on the plane.

My God, this episode of The Americans really tugged at my heartstrings! When Martha is tearfully incredulous that Philip won’t come visit her in Russia, I can feel her loneliness seep through my TV screen and pierce my heart. I can’t imagine being forced to live in a new country where I don’t know a single soul or speak the language.

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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