The Americans Season 3 Premiere – “EST Men” Review. The Saga Continues.

Season 3, Episode 1

Air Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 10:00 pm ET/PT on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

Elizabeth explains her feelings about Paige to Philip.

“EST Men” picks up where “Echo,” the season two finale, left off with Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip (Matthew Rhys) at odds about their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) following in their footsteps. FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) is now divorced from wife Sandra (Susan Misner) but tries his best to get back into her good graces. That’s where the title “EST Men” comes into play as Stan attends an EST meeting to please Sandra. (I call “bullshit” too, Stan!) We also learn of Nina’s (Annet Mahendru) conviction in Moscow for “espionage and treason” from Agent Gaad (Richard Thomas).

The new season starts out in the early 1980s. Two new characters are introduced in “EST Men” — Tatiana (Vera Cherny), a fresh face at the Russian Rezidentura; and Gabriel (Frank Langella), Elizabeth and Philip’s former handler. Arkady Ivanovich (Lev Gorn), the head of the Rezidentura, does a good job of planting a seed of doubt in Oleg Burov’s (Costa Ronin) mind about Tatiana’s loyalties after she volunteers to find some important information for them. Whether Tatiana can be trusted remains to be seen.

Langella does an excellent job of portraying a fatherly KGB handler who comes out of retirement to take over for Claudia (Margo Martindale), the Jennings’ handler in season two. But what else would we expect from this three time Tony© Award winner who is also a former Academy Award© and Golden Globe© nominee? In my eyes, the man can do no wrong. Whereas Claudia was more in-your-face, and Elizabeth never really trusted her, Gabriel comes across as kind and caring in “EST Men,” someone Elizabeth believes is on her side. But does Philip trust Gabriel as much as Elizabeth does?

Elizabeth nurses her sore jaw after a scary encounter.

Paige is still attending her church group but now, she is much closer to Elizabeth. As a matter of fact, Elizabeth attends meetings with Paige. I have to wonder whether Elizabeth’s ulterior motive is to become closer with Paige for their mother/daughter relationship, or whether it’s to work on Paige to prepare her for her role as a KGB spy, something Philip is vehemently opposed to. As Elizabeth tells Gabriel: “She’s involved in a church group—very liberal. They’re active in the anti-nuclear movement, South American liberation,* talking about apartheid…We’re getting her ready to find out who we really are, who she really is, and that’s going to break everything open, change everything.” Philip is not very happy about this.

*Note: I believe the use of “South American” in the above quote is an error. It should have been “South African” since Elizabeth mentions “apartheid” immediately following. History tells us both the USSR and America were influential in bringing about an end to apartheid although President Reagan’s arm had to be twisted—figuratively—to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act (CAAA). He initially vetoed it.

Although Nina does not appear in “EST Men,” her presence is felt strongly in the episode. Both Arkady and Oleg miss her and are sad Mother Russia did not acknowledge the good Nina did last season. It is obvious Oleg is still in love with her, and has strong opinions about her conviction. What he plans to do about it should be interesting to see.

Philip ignores Elizabeth when she walks into their office.

Philip initially ignores Elizabeth when she walks into their office.

As usual, Philip and Elizabeth cultivate a number of assets in “EST Men,” some more helpful than others. Elizabeth finds out the hard way her drunken companion (guest star Kate Greer) is not to be trusted while Philip, as Scott, works Annelise (guest star Gillian Alexy), his asset from the 2013 episode, “The Clock,” and the 2014 episode, “Yousaf,” for information about Yousaf (Rahul Khanna) and the goings-on in Afghanistan.

Clark, another of Philip’s personas, is still ‘married’ to Martha (Alison Wright), who is taking shooting lessons from Stan for the Lady Smith she purchased last season. Although the subject of children doesn’t come up in “EST Men,” we know from last season’s finale that Martha is pushing Clark for kids. I wonder whether that comes into play in the rather fun scene where they are practicing moves found in the bible of sensual pleasure, the Kama Sutra.

Bits of Nostalgia

TV newsman Tom Brokaw announcing the death of Leonid Brezhnev
The Jennings’ son Henry (Keidrich Sellati) watches a scene from The Jeffersons on TV

Overall

“EST Men” unfortunately lacks the suspense, intensity, and passion that was so prevalent in previous seasons, except for the opening scene, which had me holding my breath. That is not to say I didn’t enjoy the season premiere, as I did. “EST Men” is too busy setting up the third season of The Americans to include the same level of action sequences we’ve seen before. It would be unreasonable to expect that. I’m sure there will be plenty of edge-of-your-seat scenes to thrill us as the season moves forward.

I greatly enjoyed the mother/daughter scenes with Elizabeth and Paige, and can’t wait to see what happens with Paige. Will Elizabeth be able to talk Paige into giving up her religious beliefs to become a Soviet spy? What will that do to Elizabeth and Philip’s marriage? Is Philip so Americanized, he actually disapproves of turning Paige? Or does it have something to do with his own childhood? We haven’t seen much about his upbringing. Does Elizabeth take Philip’s disapproval as a personal affront? Additionally, I’m sure there’s more than meets the eye with Gabriel so it should be interesting to see how this relationship develops. As for Nina, we already know Mahendru will be returning this season. I’m anxious to find out whether that will impact Stan’s efforts to rekindle his marriage with Sandra, as well as where the Nina/Oleg relationship will go. Damn! I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

What did you think of “EST Men?” Leave me a comment below, or tweet me @SeasideTV. I’d love to discuss the episode with you!

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Follow these cast members on Twitter: Philip @MatthewRhys, Stan Beeman @NoahEmmerich, Oleg Burov @CostaRonin, Martha @Alison_Wright, Paige @HollyTaylor97, and Nina @AnnetMahendru, as well as the group “The Americans Fans” @https://twitter.com/TheAmericansFan.

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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!