- Philip and Elizabeth are finally assigned a new handler as Philip works to clean up the mess of the last operation and Elizabeth, in disguise as Clark's sister Jennifer, does her best to smooth things over with Martha. As Stan searches for a missing scientist, Oleg and Arkady continue to argue over how best to handle the situation on their side, leaving Nina once again caught between the FBI and KGB.—Anonymous
- While attempting to kidnap USSR-fled Jewish physics genius Anton Baklanov, Philip and Elisabeth had to fight unexpected assailants and get away only with a single as hostage, which admits being a Mossad agent, who claims to admire Philip but tries every trick to escape, in vain. Philip is not amused that Claudia was replaced by a rookie-handler, but relieved when Moskow arranges to trade Anton Baklanov for the desperately pleading Mossad man, a deal pleaded by Arkady Ivanovich, who realizes this may enable Oleg Burov to oust him. Oleg also leans on Stan, meeting about the exchange, but privately demanding a price not to expose his affair with Arkady's mistress Nina. Enamored Brad Mullin finally delivers the secret Navy SEAL personnel files to Elisabeth, who also poses as Philip's alter-ego Clark's sister to talk lover Martha out of exposing their company policy-forbidden affair.—KGF Vissers
- Previously on 'The Americans': Emmett and Leanne, other spies, were killed and Claudia asked Philip and Elizabeth for help finding their killer. She told them about Andrew Larik, and that they can get to Larik through a young man named Brad Mullin. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has stumbled onto Paige's new secret interest in religion. Martha is applying for a job in intelligence and calls Philip (who she thinks is her husband Clark) and tells him she's going to list him as her husband. Elizabeth and Philip set out to kidnap a nuclear physicist named Baklanov, but had their ambush ambushed and Baklanov's mistress took off in their car, with Baklanov in the trunk, leaving them stranded.
'The Deal': Philip and Elizabeth drag the severely beaten man into a space behind a locked gate. Elizabeth walks out and hides when a police car rolls back. Philip holds a gun to the man's head to keep him quiet.
They hold the guy up, as he can barely stand, and walk down the street past a bar that is blasting Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler." When cops stop them and ask if everything is OK, the beaten man starts playing along with Elizabeth and Philip's story that he's had too much to drink by singing along with "The Gambler." The cops ask if they heard gunshots in the area and they say no. The cops move along. After the cops are gone, Philip and Elizabeth turn back and unlock a hastily placed wooden door with "closed for renovation" spray painted on it, and go inside.
Arkady is dictating a message to Moscow to an aide. He asks the aide for a cigarette and he hands him a Russian brand. Arkady takes a drag and says, in Russian, "We are better at vodka. They are better at tobacco." Oleg knocks on the door and Arkady is incredibly annoyed. He tells him never to knock on his radio room door again.
Martha calls "Clark" again and says she's listing him as her husband on the application. Her phone is tapped and a man is listening in.
Elizabeth tells Paige she doesn't care what she's reading, she just doesn't want her hiding things.
The man who was listening to Martha's message calls Elizabeth and poses as a Columbia House Record Club representative calling about her husband's past-due account.
Philip, meanwhile, is back in an abandoned restaurant kitchen. He wonders why the man they captured would prefer to be in his hands instead of with the police. He deduces from his accent that he is a Mossad agent and that Baklanov was spying for Israel and sharing nuclear secrets.
Stan walks in on Sandra drawing and she says it's supposed to help you find parts of you you've lost, as part of the E.S.T. self-help group she is attending. Stan gets a call from the office with the report that Baklanov hasn't come home. Stan hangs up and heads into the office.
Kate, Claudia's replacement, knocks on the door to the place where Philip is holding the Israeli and the young woman seems too eager to please. When he complains about her inexperience, she points out that Claudia was the most experienced handler and they complained about her. Philip tells her he needs a new safe house. She leaves.
Elizabeth drops in on Martha's apartment, posing as Jennifer, Clark's sister. She says she was in town visiting and heard Martha's phone messages and decided to come over. They have a heart to heart about how "Clark" is missing "that one thing" when it comes to social graces.
Stan and a couple of other agents are starting to put together what they know about Baklanov.
Philip is feeding the Israeli, whom he has tied to a range with an extension cord. The man says he knows Philip is going to kill him and that America was supposed to be an easy assignment. Philip says the Soviets will make a deal to trade Baklanov for the spy, but the spy asks Philip if Moscow would do that for him, and Philip says he doesn't know.
Martha and "Jennifer" are still chatting and drinking wine. "Jennifer" tries to talk Martha out of listing Clark as her husband on her application. Martha seems to be OK with lying on the application, and the casual conversation somehow turns toward how much of an "animal" Clark is in bed, and Martha making a reference to "some of the things that he does." "Jennifer" is suddenly curious. Martha says, "He just makes me his."
Arkady and his aide get a message from Moscow that the Israelis are saying they don't know anything about a spy in the field. Arkady says the Israelis will sacrifice their agent, but he won't let Philip stay out in the field without making a deal, even if Arkady has to sacrifice his career to get it done.
Gaad shows up at Stan's request to help find Baklanov. Stan goes to Gaad and tells him Baklanov was working with the Department of Defense, but it would be difficult to get them to return his calls. Gaad gets it. He's going to see what he can do.
The Israeli asks Philip to let him use the restroom. Philip goes and stays with him the whole time, helping him undo his pants and even wiping for him. Afterward, the man tries to surprise attack Philip, who easily subdues him.
Arkady is going through options with other agents for extraction points if and when a deal with the Israelis is made, but Oleg jumps in and Arkady tells him he's to be nowhere near the situation. Oleg leaves. Nina runs into him and he vents about Arkady's stubbornness. Oleg then turns the conversation toward Nina's relationship with Stan. He says it isn't clear how an experienced agent like Stan "fell" for her and he's curious about what's really going on.
Gaad reports to Stan that DoD is stonewalling him and that they don't want to talk about what Baklanov was working on, which is code-word information.
Mullin meets Elizabeth on a beach boardwalk and hands her copies of every file on Andrew Larik. He kisses her. She tells him she needs to "learn all over again" how to feel things, given what Larik did to her. Mullin realizes he's not going to see her again and she tells him she has nothing to give him.
"I hope you get what you need," he tells her. She thanks him and kisses him.
Nina meets Stan at the apartment and kisses him. He asks her about whether there's been any talk of taking someone. Nina tells Stan about Oleg and Arkady's fight and that Oleg said Arkady "thinks like a bureaucrat," which is no way to beat the Americans.
The Israeli reminisces about life back home in Israel, then says the Soviet Union is too cold. Philip says he likes the cold. The man thinks it's unbelievable that Philip misses. Kate comes and tells Philip he won't need a new safe house.
Stan goes to Gaad and tells him that Oleg "might just be cocky enough" to lead them right where they want to go.
Philip tells the Israeli that his government made a deal.
Stan and Gaad stake out the Soviet embassy and Gaad follows Oleg. Another agent is involved in the follow. They continue for a while and Gaad reports that there is nothing "alerting."
Meanwhile, an exchange seems to be in the works in a warehouse.
Oleg is still driving, north on I-295, and Stan and crew are still following him.
Philip is leading the Israeli to the exchange, and the Israeli spy won't stop goading him. Philip is tired of it and says it's not too late to kill him. Another Israeli hands Baklanov over to Philip, who hands the Israeli spy over. Philip leaves as Baklanov shouts for help.
In the back of the car, while Philip is driving, Baklanov asks if Philip is going to kill him. Baklanov says he can work for the Soviet Union from the U.S. Baklanov begs Philip not to send him back, promising to give him top-secret information and even get Philip personally on ARPANET (the precursor to the Internet).
Oleg gets off I-295 and Stan is following. Meanwhile, Baklanov is in tears, begging Philip not to send him back to Russia and at least let him stay for his son's bar mitzvah. Baklanov cries and tells Philip he's a monster with no humanity and "may as well be dead."
Elizabeth starts going through the file on Larik in the laundry room when Paige walks in. She says she doesn't know "where to put everything" in her "crazy life," and that's why she's looking at religion. Paige can't explain it, but tells Elizabeth it's not her fault.
Stan follows Oleg to an entrance to the Port of Baltimore. Inside, Oleg has set Stan up. They come face to face and Oleg tells Stan he wasn't going to lead him anywhere interesting. He'd seen Stan on his tail an hour earlier and also saw Stan's colleagues following. Oleg says he wants to talk about Nina. He says it's a rare opportunity for them to talk. Oleg tells Stan that Nina is in great trouble. Oleg asks Stan to think about what he can give Oleg "in exchange for Nina's safety."
Meanwhile, Philip brings Baklanov to a cargo ship, where two men take him up the stairs to board.
Arkady listens to a radio news report about how the American government is surprised about the Soviet Union allowing 15,000 Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel and the hope that this signals a change in the Soviet Union's stance on human rights. Arkady scoffs, knowing it was part of the bargain they made to get Baklanov, who is now on the cargo ship, chained to a pipe. He stands up to look out a porthole as the ship heads out to sea.
Philip gets home and Elizabeth is sleeping on the couch. She tells him she spent the evening with his "wife," and she tells him that "Clark has some explaining to do." He lays down next to her on the couch. They talk about the icicles back in Russia, which the Israeli had noticed in Washington, D.C., and asked Philip about. They hear their kids' alarm clocks and another day starts.
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