The Americans on FX

Ah ok, that makes sense. Explains why I'm not 100 percent clear on her backstory. So it really is just a countdown until Stan beds her and then hands her off to Oleg.

Also, my distaste for the actress is carrying over from the Walking Dead, but I really hope we find a reason not to like Stan's new girlfriend.

 

They've created a subtle sense of distrust for the new GF.
She's working Stan. Perhaps Phillip's reports, or Elizabeth's reports with info filtered from Phillip, helped them devise a strategies based on his vulnerability.
His conversation with her about work when they paused the movie seemed revealing.
He essentially said nothing, but he demonstrated a willingness to talk about his job with her. That's a big shift for his character.
Perhaps he continues to open up more over time.

 

I'm a little confused about why they want the Russian wife and son to go back to Russia. Will her husband go too? Are they going to kill him? And why was the affair significant?

And who ratted out Burov to the fuzz? Did the CIA try to get back at him (as next week's preview would suggest) or did someone over hear something because they bugged the apartment because of how high ranking his father is?

 

I don't think they want Moroscov's wife and kid to go back to the USSR. They started working that family because Moroscov is a Soviet defector who is also an ag expert. He was part of their initial investigation into the wheat 'plot.'
After the wheat 'plot' turned out to be something else, they have continued working them Moroscov's wife is now teaching Russian to federal employees, whom they believe to be agents preparing for assignment.

I'm not sure what is up with the Oleg search. Do they suspect or know something? They possibly know a lot about his connection with Nina, and it would be standard to vet agents returning from US duty.
Perhaps they know something more about the US's recent attempt work him, or maybe his new line of work has angered the wrong people.
Hard to tell, and I'm growing increasingly worried that this whole Oleg storyline is going nowhere interesting with regard to the main storyline of the Jennings.

 

No they specifically want her to go back to Russia. When Phillip and Elizabeth meet with Tuan about Posha, Tuan asks if getting Posha bullied at school will make him want to go back to the Soviet Union.

In reading an episode breakdown, it looks like the affair the mom was having was with a potential CIA man who is bound for the USSR. They want her to go too, force her to continue the affair and get information for the KGB.

They touched on it so briefly I can see how I missed it.

 

You'd think they'd have a ready supply of honeys for him to have an affair with over there, honeys who are much better trained for that sort of thing than the Morozov wife. Seems like a silly stretch.

And it seems like viewers are getting a little antsy with the lack of urgency displayed in Season 5 (a luxury bestowed on the writers because they knew there would be a final Season 6).

The 12-minute digging scene and a bored Paige channel surfing through only a half-dozen choices seem to be the defining face of Season 5.

 

I feel like Oleg's thing is a swerve, we're meant to think they know about the CIA but maybe the cages he rattled in the food corruption are biting him instead. I found it odd he and his colonel didn't so much as suggest it could've been the result of their work....almost like they left it out to make it more of a surprise later?

 

Really? I didn't catch any of that at all.
I know they think she is tutoring US agents. They were working her as an angle to get names and pics of all agents training for deployment to Soviet locations.
That is why they followed her to what they thought was going to be immersion day at one of the student's homes. They were going to photograph everyone of her students to build a directory of US agents readying for deployment.

 

So do we believe Tuan? I'm inclined to, but it would seem kind of a throwaway moment if he were telling the truth.

 

I do believe him. I think that scene, along with Henry's application to boarding school, was to illustrate how little the Jenningses know about what is going on with their "sons." They're spread too thin, and it's going to catch up with them eventually.

 

That's probably the right way to view it. Most of this season has felt like the point was to slowly chip away at their resolve, especially with the possibility that the Soviets used the virus they sent them. Losing grip on their own reality with their two sons only helps with that.

Martha's scene was heartbreaking. Her face the whole time said "I didn't sign up for this shit." I wonder if she plays a bigger role in the future, like maybe turning on Phillip, or if it was just a quick pop-in to see how fucked her life had become.

 

I think Tuan is telling the truth and his circumstance is helping Phillip and Elizabeth come to grips with the human, personal toll.
Tuan asked them to be around more. As his handlers, they need to be his surrogate family, but they can't do it. If he was being handled the way he should be, he'd be less inclined to be still attached to his foster family.
He's still just a kid and he needs that, but they can't provide it.