Season 3 of The Americans ended with most of the show's big lingering conflicts coming to a head, and most of the fallout not entirely being resolved. As a result, Season 4 is easily the most intense season of the show to date, and definitely the best one as well.
The first eight episodes of Season 4 forms the strongest streak of episodes in the entire series, mostly because all of the show's best storylines are going on pretty much at the same time. Nina's prison storyline finally gets resolved, albeit with her shocking and tragic death. Martha is predictably not in the clear despite Philip's best attempts and she ends up having to move to Russia in some similarly heartbreaking episodes. Pastor Tim now knows the Jennings are spies, meaning there's a chance they could be outed at any moment. And in case things couldn't get even more tense, the Jennings' newest mission involves a deadly pathogen, which forms probably my favorite out of the seasonal "saving the world" plots that is usually the least interesting part of the show. The pacing is so brisk and thrilling, and there's never a dull moment in any of these eight episodes. And you can tell the constant panic is taking a toll on Philip and Elizabeth, because the moment things finally die down and seem to get resolved in that eighth episode, they completely and utterly snap. It's fantastic.
But Season 4 isn't eight episodes long, it's thirteen episodes long, so what happens for the last five episodes of the season? Well, Philip and Elizabeth are forced to take a short break from work, and we get a time jump to after the break. It's not a super long jump, only seven months, but it had me worried that it would make the season come off as disjointed. Thankfully, while I would still say the pre-time jump episodes are mostly better, many of Season 4's major storylines still progress fairly smoothly despite the big leap in time. The bioweapon-stealing William returns with an even worse virus than the one before the time jump, Paige is still trying to keep Pastor Tim at bay, and seeing Philip and Elizabeth deal with getting a chance to take a break from KGB work fits in perfectly with their storylines about slowly becoming more and more discontented with work. However, I am left a bit mixed on the finale. It's definitely not bad and has a lot of great hooks for Season 5, but it resolves things pretty anticlimactically (once again) and lacks any punchy or tense cliffhangers like in the last two seasons.
Highlights:
Chloramphenicol: Chloramphenicol is a tense episode that brings that opening storyline about the glanders virus to a head by having the Jennings get themselves infected. I like how the fact that they had to quarantine in secret left characters like Martha and Paige thinking they disappeared, it gives the event consequences even if no one dies. Well, except for Nina, who's appeal to leave prison is denied in the cruelest possible way.
Travel Agents: As a fan of puns, this is one of my favorite episode titles ever. You think it's about Philip and Elizabeth's cover, but then you realize it's about Martha (who's frequently called an agent) being forced to travel to Russia. It's hard not to feel really, really bad for Martha the moment you realize what the Jennings were planning for her, and that there's no real way out of it.
The Magic Of David Copperfield V: The Statue Of Liberty Disappears: This was that eighth episode I mentioned, and it's easily my favorite one in the series to date. Even if Martha leaves pretty early on and most of it focuses on dealing with the fallout of that event, I actually think the fallout is more interesting. Philip and Elizabeth are really at the end of their rope here and seeing them snap at Paige, their past victims, and each other led to some really impactful scenes, and the acting is better than ever. That time jump scene at the end was also super smooth and left me really wondering how the rest of the season would play out.
Dinner For Seven: This was definitely my favorite post-timejump episode in the season. The titular dinner with the Jennings, Pastor Tim's family, and Stan was so brilliantly awkward and nerve-wracking, I kinda wish it went on a bit longer just to see how far things could go. The final scene where Paige sees Elizabeth kill was also pretty shocking, in case the poor kid wasn't traumatized enough.
Overall, Season 4 was the best season of The Americans easily. The first eight episodes were especially fantastic, with all of the show's greatest storylines coming to a pretty explosive head. But even the timejump was fun, being smoothly integrated into the Jennings' character arcs while not mucking up the pacing too much.
5/5 Stars
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