Last week, I likened The Americans to the first season of Showtime’s Homeland. Through “The Walk In”, however, the show which was consistently brought to mind was the wonderful Mad Men. Aside from the obvious parallels (both are period dramas), the two shows share much in common; both resound with the universal theme of secrets and lies, and both feature protagonist(s) whose entire identities are false. Where the two differ most dramatically is Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner’s choice to let the 60s setting act as a mild, unintrusive backdrop (real-life history very sporadically penetrates the lives of the characters of Mad Men) for the show’s nuanced, profound character drama, as opposed to The Americans’ firm association with its setting.

If this week’s “The Walk In”, therefore, was an episode of Mad Men, then Elizabeth Jennings would undoubtably take on the role of Don Draper.

“The Walk In” continues to focus on the fallout of the massacre of the Connors in the season premiere “Comrades”, which results in an overall mellow episode of The Americans.

As Elizabeth and Philip continue to work off the information they found in Emmet’s report last week, Paige decides to visit her “aunt”, and Stan’s paper-thin C-plot serves mostly to spruce up a more talk-y, contemplative episode of an often suspense-oriented show.

The episode somewhat jarringly introduces flashbacks to Elizabeth’s friendship with Leanne Connors, who gives Elizabeth a letter written to their son Jared, explaining their true identities, to be given to him in the event of their deaths. The character of Elizabeth has always been shown to be more loyal to her country’s cause than her husband, but when, after visiting Jared, she decides to burn the letter (in the first of this season’s musical montages, a technique utilised to wonderful effect in Season 1), it really is open to interpretation as to whether that was an effort to maintain the security of the KGB or her trying to shield the kid from the harsh reality of his parents’ clandestine activities.

Punctuating these flashbacks is Elizabeth and Philip’s infiltration of the plant was made much more interesting by Elizabeth’s intimidation of the worker there; Keri Russell has portrayed a slightly more vulnerable Elizabeth Jennings so far this season, and it really felt like she was flexing her acting chops here. Her threatening of the innocent man’s children is pretty reprehensible, and goes a long way in sobering the audience with the reminder that the work our two protagonists are doing is dirty, nasty stuff.

The Stan plot in “The Walk In” is an ungainly thing, using the red herring of Bruce Dameran to artificially force Stan into telling Nina that he loves her, what she has been looking for since she became a triple (?) agent. The plot serves little service beyond this, although I am fascinated by the character of Oleg Igorevich, and it will be entertaining to see him inevitably be used as a romantic interest for Nina.

The one aspect of The Americans which has been consistently and vaguely ‘off’, tonally-speaking, is how the show deals with the Jennings kids. In a show which respects its audience’s intelligence and ability to pick up on subtle overtones, the subplots involving Paige and Henry have often felt out-of-place with regards to how the show repeatedly bashes us over the head until we understand what point on social commentary it is trying to get across (especially that weird subplot in the first season with the ambiguously creepy guy who gives the two hitch-hiking children a ride). This slight gaff is less pervasive in “The Walk In”, wherein Paige makes a brief sojourn to visit her “Aunt Helen”. While on the whole slightly unremarkable (the subplot bordered on weird with that random girl Paige strikes up a friendship with on the bus), the best part is Philip’s infuriated confrontation of Paige upon finding that both his children had lied to him, and his manipulative and guilt-inducing tirade he aims at her regarding his own father. The fact that he has to dip as low as that proves how precarious his control over his children is, and it will no doubt be interesting to see how Elizabeth and Philip will continue to lose grip of that total acquiescence as the season progresses.

Grade: B+

Some other thoughts:

Nice subtle symbolism in this episode when Henry is shown to be developing an interest in the telescope (which he was originally unenthused with) given to him for his birthday: I wouldn’t be surprised to see him embracing any other Soviet-esque hobbies (or even ideologies) as the show progresses.

The scene where Oleg offers Nina a ticket to a show and then explains how the capitalistic method of ‘scalping’ works was brilliant. I very much like Oleg.

The editors of The Americans must have an obsession with Peter Gabriel. I’m okay with that.

Apologies for the late review, not having these shows available on TV in Ireland makes them a little more difficult to get a hold of; I’ll be caught up on my regular Community and Hannibal reviews before the next ones air.