It makes us desperately wish the finale started the moment the credits end.

Hell, skip the credits.

Everything else about it is on brand.

And for this season ofThe Americans, that brand means The Beginning of the End.

Its why I want to begin every review with a different passage from W.B.

Yeats The Second Coming.

Though to be fair, I want to begin everything I write with a passage from The Second Coming.

But its also laid out explicitly onscreen.

The conversation about the beginning of the end.

They talk to Claudia about the beginning of the end.

We think its time to end our tour here, Elizabeth tells Claudia after an update on the Morozovs.

I understand, Claudia says.

A sure sign that people are ready to be done is once they even begin to consider it.

Philip and Elizabeth talk to Pastor Tim about the beginning of the end.

Their plan to oust Pastor Tim has been successful.

When Paige hears the news she tells her parents.

Shes shocked that they were able to pull it off.

Then she takes off her cross and puts it in the trash.

Then later they congratulate Pastor Tim on the news and open that discussion about another possible end.

Do you think we could ever take Paige and Henry back home?

Philip asks Pastor Tim.

Elizabeth nods and Pastor Tim understands.

I think youll have trouble either way, he says.

Pastor Tim doesnt know what the right thing to do is.

And the conversation about the beginning of the end continues.

Would they just go around Moscow as Paige and Henry Jennings?

Earlier on they revealed to Paige that the Jennings name belongs to corpses.

Well they should take your name.

Thats the moment where Philip seems to understand why its even worth talking about the end.

Because as the 21stcenturys finest poets once said every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.

Even back in Russia, Oleg seems to be coming to an awareness of the end as well.

At least in The World Council of Churches Oleg begins to pull all the disparate parts together.

The reason for Soviet investigators interest him has become clear.

an investigator outright asks.

Oleg feels powerless and victimized.

His faith in the institutions of his country are shook as well.

Lydias words from last week still haunt him.

Can the KGB beat corruption if the face that corruption has taken is feeding families?

Things are looking bleak for Oleg.

Thankfully, an ending is in sight.

No one knows what its going to be yet.

Ends and their beginnings pop up in subtle ways throughout this episode.

Mischa, now back in Moscow working at a factory, gets another possibility for an ending.

Not as happy a one as he hoped for but a happy one all the same.

Philips brother has tracked Mischa down and invites him to a dinner with his family.

There Mischa asks his newly discovered little cousin what he wants to be when he grows up.

He used to want to be a cosmonaut.

Now hes not sure.

I think its good to give up being a cosmonaut, Mischa says.

Its very cold in space.

The end that could be the most definitive in The World Council of Churches fittingly comes at the end.

Elizabeth mentioned to Tuan earlier that she doesnt think the bullying route is working with Pasha.

Alexei is too resolute and Evgenhiya is too invested in making things work with Alexei.

No amount of Pasha black eyes can make them go home.

Tuan comes up with his own plan.

Tuan tells Pasha he should slit his wrists.

He tells him how to do it and avoid all arteries.

Elizabeth demands that Tuan call Pasha and tell him to stop.

Tuan reluctantly does but no one answers the phone.

So Philip leaves and Tuan and Elizabeth desperately follow in his wake.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5