The Americans – “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov” Retrospective. Difficult Times Ahead

Season 3, Episode 11

Air Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2015, 10 pm ET/PT on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

“How can I believe anything you say?” – Paige

Taylor doesn’t need to speak a word to get Paige’s feelings across

Once again, this week’s installment of The Americans focuses mainly on the Paige (Holly Taylor) story line while keeping the show’s subplots at the forefront with a few scenes. As expected, Paige is having a difficult time dealing with what she learned about her parents in last week’s “Stingers.” Agent Gaad (Richard Thomas) isn’t happy about the “vault” not being used for its original purpose, putting the blame for the bug on his own shoulders. Nina (Annet Mahendru) struggles to connect with Anton Baklanov (Michael Aronov), and Martha (Alison Wright) is scared when Agent Taffet (Jefferson Mays) wants another meeting with her. In addition, things come to a head between Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Gabriel (guest star Frank Langella) when Philip asks for something Gabriel is unable to provide.

While Gabriel is happy Paige knows the truth about her parents, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip, I don’t think Elizabeth and Philip are, especially when Paige tells her mother not to call her “honey” anymore. How hurtful is that? But how can we expect anything different from Paige? She’s upset beyond belief and even though Elizabeth seems to strike a chord with Paige when talking about her own mother and growing up in Russia, Paige still doesn’t trust a thing her parents say.

Taylor continues to hit it out of the park with her story line. Every scene she’s in is fraught with tension and the way she uses facial expressions to convey the awful hurt and pain she’s feeling is spot on. Considering Taylor was just a young girl when hired for this role, the producers had no way of knowing at the time whether she’d be up for such a heavy story line. And up she is. I hope Taylor is recognized for her fine work come award season.

Nina is still searching for a way to get closer to Baklanov and unknowingly, he provides the very thing she needs when confessing his one true fear to her. At first, when Nina mentions his son Jacob (unseen) to him, I thought it was a mistake. Nina knowing that intimate detail should make Baklanov realize she searched his room. But then, I realized writers Stephen Schiff and Tracey Scott Wilson use this as a means for Nina to gain Baklanov’s trust when she promises not to tell anyone what he’s doing. This story line is moving so slowly, I could scream.

I’d be scared too, Martha.

Martha is understandably shaken when Taffet tells her he needs another two hours with her. What else could he possibly want to ask her? Never fear, though, it’s Clark, aka Philip, to the rescue as he schools Martha on how to answer Taffet’s questions. I’m not sure whether Martha passes muster with Taffet with all those personal questions he asks, but I sure hope she does. I’d hate for Martha to become collateral damage. Hasn’t this poor woman been through enough? Let’s just hope Martha stays as trustworthy as Philip thinks she is.

The prelude to a very sexy scene.

Elizabeth has a helluva sex scene with Neal (guest star Bill Heck), the manager of the hotel where the Majahideen will be staying. I guess there’s no better way to get a man to do your bidding than by using your feminine wiles. Sex has a way of keeping the mind occupied; so much so, Neal doesn’t think twice about leaving Elizabeth in his office by herself. This gives her the perfect opportunity to search “Betsy,” Neal’s computer system, for key information about the Mujahideen’s reservations, thanks to the names Yousaf (guest star Rahul Khanna) provides Philip earlier in the episode. What I find most interesting is what Elizabeth does after returning home to Philip. This is the first time we’ve ever seen Elizabeth have a reaction to the necessities of her job like that. I think with everything that’s happening with Paige, Elizabeth is feeling much closer to Philip.

Gabriel hands Elizabeth another packet of information about her mother and says “there might not be many more.” Philip’s feelings for Elizabeth come out in the open when he asks Gabriel to arrange one last meeting for the two women. This leads to a very contentious discussion between Philip and Gabriel and the argument, so to speak, has Gabriel questioning Philip’s mental state. “Are you falling apart? Can you handle what might be coming at you next?” Things are going to explode between these two before the season ends—I just know it. Neither trusts the other, and it’s only a matter of time before something serious happens.

Humorous Moment

Of late, The Americans has been inserting a bit of humor in their episodes. Last week, it was Henry’s (Keidrich Sellati) imitation of Eddie Murphy as Mr. Robinson. This week, Arkady (Lev Gorn) assigns Olev (Costa Ronin) and Tatiana (Vera Cherny) to “Operation ZEPHYR.” I assume this task has to do with the bug Philip planted in the mail robot because Arkady needs English speaking operatives to “analyze the product.” The humor comes from the scene where Oleg and Tatiana read from the translation of the tapes, although I fully expect something serious to come of this job fairly soon.

Oleg: “I pushed a 3; the machine was messed up. It gave me a Payday; I wanted a $100,000 bar.”

Tatiana: “At least we know the vending machine is broken.”

Oleg: “And they need more toilet paper in the men’s room.”

This Week’s Bits of Nostalgia

The $100,000 Bar is now known as the 100 Grand Bar. The name change happened in the mid-1980s.

Other Observations

Lisa’s (guest star Karen Pittman) husband Maurice (guest star Thaddeus Daniels) is back and up to no good. He tells Elizabeth they want in on her operation and with the kind of clearance Lisa has at Northup, they want more money. Maurice has no idea who he’s really dealing with; he should be careful of the demands he makes. Something tells me Maurice is not long for this world.

Overall

“One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov” is another standalone episode that does a good job of handling the raw emotions of the three Jennings—Philip, Elizabeth, and Paige, as well as dealing with all the subplots in this season of The Americans. I particularly enjoyed the way director Andrew Bernstein uses the headlights from Elizabeth’s car to cast light on her face in the dark garage as she contemplates how to handle the mess with Paige going forward. Another interesting camera choice is when Bernstein focuses on Taffet’s eyes while blurring the rest of his face during Martha’s interview. It is scenes like this, along with the interesting dialogue written by Schiff and Wilson, that make “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov” as good as it is. Of course, the fantastic acting by all involved has a hand in that as well.

What did you think of “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov?” Leave me a comment below or tweet me @SeasideTV. I’d love to discuss it with you!

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!