The Americans 6.2: Brutal

I thought The Americans 6.2 was rather pro forma, even lackluster, until the very end, which was ... brutal.

That's the latest chapter in the eduction of Paige.  The brains of an American general all over her mother's face.  And Paige doesn't know the worst of it.  The coming attractions confirm that the general didn't take his own life.  Elizabeth pulled the trigger.

Otherwise, what this episode had going for it was a disquisition on art.  It comes in two forms. Tchaikovsky (the title of this episode), beloved by Claudia, plays in her office.  And the dying artist gets Elizabeth, against her inclinations, to do a little sketching herself - just of the dark part.

The Americans has reached the stage where metaphor and reality are increasingly the same.  Elizabeth doesn't need to be instructed to look at the dark part in her life.  That's increasingly all she sees, what she does and what she is.  Tchaikovsky is moving, but he's not a Soviet composer.  He's a product of an earlier culture that was more free.  Claudia's love of his music reflects her yearning for an earlier time, that was less complicated.

But this earlier time for Claudia was not really Tchaikovsky's, but the time of the Soviet Union at its height.  And as we look back on the Reagan era from our vantage point in 2018, the era in which The Americans are playing out, we know that this time is rapidly dwindling.

And that leads to the most brutal truth of all: what Elizabeth is doing, all her machinations and assassinations, will lead to naught.  They're futile.  But they're still one wallop of a powerful story.  And I'll be back with views on the next installment next week.

See also The Americans 6.1: Elizabeth vs. Philip
And see also The Americans 5.1: The Theft ... The Americans 5.2: Oleg and Stan ... The Americans 5.3: Cowboys and Bugs ... The Americans 5.4: Dating, Soviet-Spy Style ... The Americans 5.5: Wrong about the Bugs ... The Americans 5.7: Gabriel ... The Americans 5.9: Gabriel and Martha ... The Americans 5.10: That Pastor, Again ... The Americans 5.11: Execution in Newton ... The Americans 5.12: Back in the U.S.S.R. ... The Americans Season 5 Finale: The Little Things
And see also The Americans 4.4: Life and Death ... The Americans 4.6: Martha, Martha, Martha ... The Americans 4.8: Whither Martha? ... The Day After The Americans 4.9 ... The Americans 4.10: Outstanding! ... The Americans 4.11: Close Call ... The Americans 4.12: Detente and Secret History
And see also The Americans 3.1: Caring for People We Shouldn't ... The Americans 3.3: End Justified the Means ...  The Americans 3.4: Baptism vs. Communism ... The Americans 3.6: "Jesus Came Through for Me Tonight" ...The Americans 3.7: Martha. My Dear ... The Americans 3.8: Martha, Part 2 ... The Americans 3.10: The Truth ... The Americans 3.12: The Unwigging ... The Americans Season 3 Finale: Turning a Paige
And see also The Americans 2.1-2: The Paradox of the Spy's Children ... The Americans 2.3: Family vs. Mission ... The Americans 2.7: Embryonic Internet and Lie Detection ... The Americans 2.9: Gimme that Old Time Religion ...The American 2.12: Espionage in Motion ... The Americans Season 2 Finale: Second Generation

And see also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III ... The Americans 1.11:  Elizabeth's Evolution ... The Americans Season 1 Finale: Excellent with One Exception

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