The Americans – “I Am Abassin Zadran” Retrospective. What to Do?

Season 3, Episode 12

Air Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 10 pm ET/PT on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

“You asked for the truth and with that comes responsibility. Do you understand that?” – Elizabeth

In “I Am Abassin Zadran,” Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip (Matthew Rhys) continue their task relative to the Mujahideen, while both Paige (Holly Taylor) and Martha (Alison Wright) are having trouble dealing with their current realities. In addition, guest star Margo Martindale reprises her role as Claudia, Elizabeth and Philip’s previous handler, and has an enlightening conversation with the Jennings’ current handler Gabriel (guest star Frank Langella). This penultimate episode of season three of The Americans is extremely interesting, and leaves a lot of things up in the air.

Abassin Zadran easily falls for what Elizabeth and Philip tell him.

Elizabeth and Philip fix it so Philip can see Abassin Zadran (guest star George Georgiou) in his hotel room whenever necessary. It’s amazing how a simple phone worker’s uniform easily gets Elizabeth access to the hotel‘s phone system. Zadran is a member of the Mujahideen, and Philip and Elizabeth need to be just suggestive enough to push the right buttons for Zadran to do what they want. He is in America with other members of the Mujahideen to convince the Senators they can be trusted with “portable anti-nuclear weapons.” Zadran is a very scary character, telling Philip and Elizabeth, “I am Abassin Zadran. I am the one who cuts the throats of the communists. I have killed many people with my knife. I have cut them open and watched them die, some of them boys.” With each word, Georgiou’s voice rises, making him seem even more radical and threatening than he is. “If there were 200 infidels standing on the road, I would gut every one of them like a goat.” He is every bit a terrorist, and he scares the hell out of me.

Paige does a lot of acting out in “I Am Abassin Zadran.” From leaving her parents a note saying she’s spending the night at Pastor Tim (Kelly AuCoin) and his wife Alice’s (Suzy Jane Hunt) house, to yelling and screaming at Elizabeth and Philip about all the lies they’ve told her, Taylor plays the scared teenager extremely well. Paige doesn’t seem to understand the responsibilities that come with knowing the truth, especially where her brother Henry (Keidrich Sellati) is concerned. Henry is an innocent in all this, and certainly doesn’t need to hear the truth from all the yelling that’s going on. Is it just me or does Paige seem to be much angrier with Elizabeth than Philip? Philip seems to connect with Paige on a level Elizabeth is unable to.

I guess Stan’s (Noah Emmerich) curiosity got the better of him in “Stingers” and this week, he decides to act on his doubts by paying Martha an impromptu visit at home. When Stan comments on Martha staring into her coffee mug for a “minute…straight,” Martha deflects Stan’s inquiries beautifully, saying, “You know, I talk to it sometimes and I beg it to wake me up.” This is the sort of humor the writers have been using to lighten up an otherwise serious episode. Humor aside, Stan’s visit shakes Martha to her very core, and rightfully so. It’s only a matter of time, and as well as Martha has been handling the situation, I don’t know whether she has what it takes to see this problem to fruition. As terrified as Martha is, she does a good job of keeping it together, especially when she calls her parents and they want to know how she is. Poor thing, she can barely contain the tears. When Philip goes to Martha’s apartment later, she is packed and ready to go visit her parents. While Philip does his absolute best—in a scene packed with emotions—to talk Martha into staying, it’s what he does at the very end of “I am Abassin Zadran” that is the most shocking. Do you think it will change Martha’s mind?

Gabriel and Claudia have wise words for each other.

Claudia meets Gabriel at a diner where he confesses his doubts about moving forward with Paige. I was quite surprised to hear what Gabriel says about the matter. Interestingly, it’s not so much for Paige’s sake, but for Philip and Elizabeth too. While this opens the door for Paige to live as a normal American teenager, we don’t get any resolution. At least not yet.

It looks like Elizabeth has received the approval she needs to go to Russia to see her sick mother. With UltraVox’s “Vienna” playing in the background, highlighting the lyric, “This means nothing to me,” Paige must decide whether to accompany Elizabeth to Russia to meet her grandmother.

This Week’s Bits of Nostalgia

Henry watching an episode of M.A.S.H.
Sitting on Martha’s coffee table is James Clavell’s Shogun, which Stan admits he’s read.
The film The King of Comedy starring Jerry Lewis is mentioned when Oleg (Costa Ronin) gives Arkady (Lev Gorn) a reason to continue Operation ZEPHYR.

Other Observations

Agent Aderholt (guest star Brandon J. Dirden) approaches Stan because he believes, based on Stan and Nina’s (Annet Mahendru) previous relationship, Stan is the one who planted the bug in Agent Gaad’s (Richard Thomas) pen. I love the way Emmerich displays a quiet fury in Stan’s response to Aderholt.

Arkady pulls the plug on Operation ZEPHYR, and when Tatiana (guest star Vera Cherny) questions his reasons for doing so, he puts her in her place, letting her know who calls the shots in the Rezidentura. But she does a good job of convincing Oleg to talk to Arkady with her about continuing the operation. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I don’t trust Tatiana. She hasn’t served any real purpose since arriving at the Rezidentura so I can’t help feeling there’s something more in store for her.

Elizabeth sets Lisa (guest star Karen Pittman) up with a mission at Northrop. After sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong in last week’s episode, “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov,” Lisa’s husband Maurice (guest star Thaddeus Daniels) changes the plan when least expected. Maurice is a real PITA prick and I can’t wait for Elizabeth to deal with him…Russian style.

Overall

“I Am Abassin Zadran” is an exciting episode and sets up the season finale perfectly. I hope we’ll see the culmination to the Walter Taffet (guest star Jefferson Mays) story line, what happens with Martha, the close of the Northrup plot, as well as the end of Maurice, and a resolution of what to do with Paige.

What did you think of “I Am Abassin Zadran?” 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!