Persona Non Grata

As a whole, this was a disappointing season finale but there was still some great scenes.

Turns out I misunderstood what was happening to Will at the end of episode 12. Despite his objections to stealing the bio-weapon, he’s going to do it for his last mission.

With that cleared up, the show opens with Will packing up the sample in his apartment for the handoff to Philip. What he doesn’t know is half of the FBI is now watching him. When the close in on him he makes a break for it and they surround him in the park. With few choices available to him, Will breaks the vial and infects himself. He’s brought to a special medical center with an isolation area.

When Will doesn’t show up to the meeting (and a back up one the following day) and can’t be contacted by Gabriel, the KGB team assumes he’s been picked up. It’s a lot to be concerned about and Gabriel advises Elizabeth and Philip to pack up the kids and hide at a safehouse so they can be extradited on the sly.

Nabbing Will puts both sides on new platforms. The FBI prevents some awful stuff from leaving the country, but Will is a resilient man for his people. There’s no cure for what he has so the time is short for them to get any info out of him. Gaad’s replacement confronts Arkady with all their info and drops the hammer: they have enough to get him thrown out of the country and things at the Soviet embassy are going to get real uncomfortable. This means Tatiana will be taking over his position for a while. Her move to Kenya is put on hold and Oleg tells her he’s going home to be with his family.

Stan and Dennis stick with Will as the virus quickly takes over. While they try to get info on the Soviet’s, they also ask much about him. Did he enjoy what he was doing? It isn’t until Will is in death’s delirious grip when Will lets out a lead. He tried to find a wife but never could. Alone and different from everyone around him, he’s envious of “them.” The two that are married, with kids. The ones that no one would suspect. She’s really beautiful, he’s lucky to have her…

Elizabeth and Philip are in complete darkness. They know Will has been taken but Philip isn’t sure if Will would talk but he thinks it’s a real possibility.  They don’t know that Will infected himself, they assume he’s in an interrogation room somewhere. Gabriel thinks Will could absolutely be offered a sweet deal to turn and it isn’t safe for them to stay. It’s not a simple decision for Philip and Elizabeth based on the info they have. It’s a massive ordeal for them to try and cut and run with the kids. They go home on edge, deciding to wait and see (a crazy risk considering if the snare does pull around them, they’ll have no warning). Paige has been spending time with Matt and getting awfully close to him.

Highlights:

• Dylan Baker’s best work as Will. Great “confessional” moments. Hell of a way for a character to go out.
• The tip that the spies Will is working with are married to each other. He doesn’t give away the Jenner’s, but it’s something. It’s going to bother Stan for sure and it’ll make him look around more carefully. It’s a big worry.
• Interesting scene at EST. Philip doing his own hidden confessional, sharing his internal struggle with being a “travel agent.” It’s crushed him many times this year and the instructor asks him “what about making yourself happy for once?” The obligations and promises to his family (here and abroad) force him to stay in the game. If Elizabeth wasn’t so strong it’d probably be a different story.
• Paige still growing as a spy. She’s accepted who her mother is a bit more, she’s processed the attack and even asks about learning to protect herself. She also negotiates/plans with Elizabeth about visiting Pastor Tim, Alice and their newborn at the hospital.
• Paige and Matt! Philip has to play it so cool when his life is probably collapsing around him as he goes to FBI Stan’s to get her. Then Stan is all giddy when he reports the kids were kissing (they walk in and they are on opposite sides of the couch!) and Philip’s face is just barely managing to keep it all together. He bugs out as they walk across the street, forbidding her to get involved with Matt (cue her crushing eyebrows).
• Gorgeous shot of the Jenner home for the final visual of the season.

I’m not to thrilled about finding out about Philip’s son, Mischa. It was put in early in the episode where it telegraphed that the Jenner’s were going to stay put, ruining that angle. It’s a seeding maneuver for season 5 that I think should have been held off for next year. Took away more than it added.

I was expecting a much more action oriented episode (in the chase department for sure) so the finale was a visceral let down in that regard. There was still plenty to like though and brought some things to a close while leaving a satisfying “what’s next” question for season 5. They put another great season in the books and I’m looking forward to next year.