Glanders works fast and the Russian justice system works faster on a devastating The Americans.
ThisThe Americansreview contains spoilers
The Americans Season 4 Episode 4
The sentence is death.
It will be carried out shortly.
Well, thats one way to get the Nina in Russia storyline to the top of an episode review.
And now, here in Chloramphenicol the tragedy of Nina comes to an appropriately tragic conclusion.
Ill admit that I momentarily believed Ninas dream of her and Antons rescue was real.
Still, the joy on Ninas face was so infectious that I was ready to believe.
Oh so this is where things are going!
We did see Oleg come back to Russia and meet with his father, after all.
Maybe Oleg and Nina will meet up in Moscow for a special message.
The episode then takes its time showing her body being inelegantly stuffed into a body bag and dragged off.
Deaths on television can come in two sizes.
The first is a death that reflects the brutal randomness of reality.
The other is a strategic offing that serves the shows purpose creatively.
The death of Nina somehow accomplishes both.
Ninas death was brutal and Ill miss her.
AndThe Americanswill somehow be even better without periodic trips back to Russia.
Ninas sudden demise is just one area, Philip and Elizabeths confinement at Gabriels apartment is another.
Going into Chloramphenicol from last weeks cliffhanger I was fully expected Bottle Episode:Americansstyle.
That would have been fine, but what the show gives us is even better.
It just doesnt feel like a gimmicky excuse to keep character in a single place.
Its like a horror movie with an unseen monster more than a way to get characters to interact.
Secondly, these Philip and Elizabeth has deceptively little to interact about.
What does EST say about death?
I dont know, Philip says.
It never came up.
Philip and Elizabeth are a team.
That doesnt mean there arent at least some classic bottle episode-y tropes at play.
Philip gets plenty of one-on-one time with William.
Dylan Baker is such a tremendous actor and the dour William fits his performance style like a surgical glove.
Chloramphenicol couldnt possibly end with a more shocking, satisfying scene.
Still, the scene immediately preceding it is somehow even better.
After Elizabeth has recovered from her antibiotic fever, Philip and Elizabeth realize they can never kill Pastor Tim.
They cant do that to their daughter.
The only option is to give a shot to turn him.
It will mean living in a metaphorical burning building for the rest of their lives.
So they do what all American families living in burning buildings do, they go bowling.
Paige quietly asks her mother if the Russians taught her to bowl after she gets yet another strike.
Vital part of training, Elizabeth responds in a fake thick Russian accent.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5
