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Wow.

I’ve been thinking about the finale since last night. I wasn’t sure about it because it wasn’t what I expected. That’s pretty brilliant. It was much quieter and subtle than I ever imagined. With how things have come together, and being the end of a spy series, I think the natural (and cliched) route to take for the writers would be tons of action and carnage.

What happened was the most important threads coming to a close in a dramatic and suspenseful way. A body count wasn’t necessary to get the point across. In fact, with so much death this season, the finale being made like this makes it much stronger.

I’ve been debating on how much spoiler talk to write here and I’m just going to the basic reveals because it’s impossible not to. This has to be watched to be fully appreciated so please do before reading any further.

The entire episode is the escape. Philip and Elizabeth are basically caught, their entire network exposed. So the tough choices come first: the kids.

I knew Henry was going to be left behind. There is no way they could have escaped with him and he’d be devastated on finding out why they were headed for Canada. Plus, they’d never get there in time. The kid is still being abandoned so it’s not like either choice made for a better outcome.

They go pick up Paige and that talk pretty much happened the way I thought it would.

There are a few showstopper scenes and those need to be discussed for all their brilliance. I can’t do these scenes justice in words so again, they must be watched to get all the context, substance, and sublime acting.

Stan follows his hunches and we finally get the confrontation scene. Alone in that parking garage, a lot goes down. I had no idea how this scene was going to end until it went to commercial. So brilliant. The Jennings trying to lie their way out of it and Stan’s sheer anger at all of it. He pulls a gun on Philip and the way he calls him a “fucking piece of shit” was riveting. Every single beat of this conversation was meticulous and brilliant. Philip imploring that despite everything, they were real friends. Paige doing her best to protect her family (she was quick to defend Henry, that he did, in fact, know nothing). Through the honest answers that had to come out, they still lied to try and push the scales in their favor. Any mention of murder (Sofia and Gennadi in particular) denied in shock. Philip did a hell of a lot to rationalize what he did (I thought what I was doing was right and when it all turned on me I stopped…and I went on to ruin my business).

There have been a lot of brutal scenes in The Americans, most of them violent. In this episode, devoid of any violence, the last phone call with Henry will sit with fans forever. That was one of the worst things to watch. Elizabeth and Philip trying to get their love across to him in the most restrained and careful way. Paige getting so upset that she couldn’t do it. The whole time, Henry not knowing this is the last time he will talk to them and simply wanting to get back to his friends playing ping pong. Ping pong! All of this going down and his greatest concern is ping pong!

The Jennings’ final meal in the United States: McDonald’s. Perfect. The shot with Philip leaving with the food and he sees the family of 4 eating together at a table. Perfect.

The riviting train sequence to get to Canada. They are all sitting seperately on the train and with each check of the fake passport the stomach clenches. The train starts to move, they’ve made it…and then they see Paige. She’s on the platform and the only thing they can do is watch their daughter glide by them. In the end, Paige choses to leave her parents. So shocked, Philip breaks protocol to sit with Elizabeth.

The very end. Arkady is there to pick them up. What life they have now is uncertain, but they make it back home. The stirring last words. Philip: It feels strange to be here. Elizabeth (in Russian): We’ll get used to it. All they have is each other now. Their bond is what kept them both alive and got them home, but I question if their marriage can survive this.

So much comes together in this finale it’s hard to articulate it all. Stan and the Jennings on opposite sides, there because of nationalism (patriotism is probably the better word) that closely match.  When it comes down it it, it’s Philip and Elizabeth’s love that gets them caught. Father Andrei was the only one to see them without disguises when he marries them which is how they get IDed.

Stan’s whole ordeal is fascinating. The betrayal he feels is so strong you can practically taste it. Philip and Paige’s pleas to take care of Henry and he ends up doing it. On the way out of the parking garage, Elizabeth doesn’t try to make a break for it. She could have totally run him over but she stops to let him choose let them go. Again, he puts his personal relationships above his professional duties. And he gets left with one more monster: Philip tells him that Renee might be like them, but he doesn’t know for sure. So is his wife an enemy? What does he do with that information? Philip can’t tell so how can he? That last shot of Renee is, you guessed it, perfect. For years we’ve been wondering about Renee and the show leaves us with the characters themselves wondering the same thing. She seemed to come in at a very convenient time, so suspicious that Philip picked up on it. But he never got any information that proved anything. He had to tell Stan to leave all his cards on the table, give Stan a chance not to be blindsided again.

The biggest success of The Americans is how they made anti-heroes. Philip and Elizabeth did horrible things. They are without a doubt criminals and deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison. And through it all, I became completely attached to these characters. I knew they shouldn’t get away with it but I wanted them to! Yes, they get out of the US alive but it cost them everything. The had to abandon one of their children. The other abandoned them. They lost their family and are back in a place they haven’t been to in decades. A place they really don’t know anymore. All the work they did, the pain they caused and went through, was for nothing. Elizabeth’s entire self worth was turned against her. She ended up not working for her country, but for a small rebel sect that perverted her work to get what they wanted. The shock that hit her and Philip when Stan told them Oleg’s message home didn’t go through. Any sense of purpose and redemption was relying on the message that Gorbachev was being set up. That could truly be the end of their home and any chance of peace.  The only success for rhe Jennings is getting to the Soviet Union to stop the Gorbachev plot.

I think The Americans will be remembered as one of the best TV shows. Strong from start to finish. Their story is over but they live on. Odds are they never see their kids again. I’m not sure what Paige is going to do. She’s definitely going to be questioned by the FBI but I don’t think she ended up doing enough to be implicated in anything. I imagine she’ll turn her back on everything Elizabeth taught her. Henry will be more or less adopted by Stan and I think he’d end up legally changing to Stan’s last name out of anger and relief from the tainted Jennings name.

I think Dennis will stick to his word and nothing major will happen to Father Andrei. Oleg is screwed. You can add his life to the pile of destruction. He stood up for his country and does not get rewarded for it in any way.

It’s been a hell of a ride and I’m happy it came to a close on top.  It’ll be great to revisit this show and experience it all again. If anyone asks me for a show to watch, The Americans will be the first one I recommend.