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"Once they start worrying about someone, they never stop." Gabriel to Philip

Crossbreed is the sixth episode of Season Five of The Americans on FX, and the fifty-eighth episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Gabriel stuns Philip and Elizabeth with a sudden announcement and a crushing revelation about Philip's past. Stan and Aderholt draw a fly into their web, while Oleg and Ruslan ambush their first suspect.

Plot[]

Elizabeth meets with Gabriel and relates that the KGB fears that the US intends to poison Russian wheat are unfounded. Gabriel is surprised, and tells Elizabeth to get a sample of the "super wheat" Benjamin Stobert is creating. Asking how she and Philip feel about murdering Randy Chilton for nothing, she covers for Philip and lies that he's fine, even though he's very depressed. Indicating that she'll need to continue with Stobert and Philip with Kemp longer, Gabriel apologies for asking so much of them. At home, Philip and Elizabeth ask Henry how he's doing in the advanced math class. In private, Elizabeth tells Philip that she lied to Gabriel about how he's reacting to killing Chilton. She's also been given a short assignment, to get files from a psychiatrist. Mischa gets off a plane in Russia and is met by a KGB agent.



S05E06-Mischa by plane
Dirty, unhappy, crashing...
In bed, Philip has a memory of his mother washing his father's mud encrusted boots which turns the water red. He struggles with the strangeness of growing up in poverty and now being well-off. Stan and Agent Aderholt approach an employee of TASS, Sofia Kovalenko, in a park where her son, Ilia, is playing. Offering help for her son, she says talking to them isn't safe. She takes a business card Stan leaves for her. In bed with Stobert in Topeka, Kansas, Elizabeth tries to get him to talk more about the wheat he's breeding but believing she's stressed, he teaches her tai chi.



Crossbreed Episode Elizabeth Tai Chi
Follow my movements.
Gabriel meets Claudia and tells her that Mischa arrived home and will be given his old job back. He feels badly that he disappointed Mischa and kept his visit from Philip but Claudia reassures him he did the right thing. That evening, Gabriel visits the Lincoln Memorial, looking very troubled. Dmitri comes home to find Ruslan and Oleg waiting for him. Having found boxes of cash and jewelry, he tries to bribe them with it. When they refuse, he explains how the system works. Demanding names of those who bribe him, he refuses, speaking to how powerful they are and the threat to himself. He's taken and put in jail. Marilyn tails Evgheniya and takes pictures of her entering the State Department for her new job as a Russian language instructor to CIA agents. A disguised Philip coaches her and Norm on how to remain unseen while conducting surveillance.



Crossbreed Episode Claudia Gabriel
I've never lied to them before.
At home, Paige answers the door and speaks with a Mary Kay beauty consultant. Elizabeth quickly ends the sales pitch, afraid that the consultant may know Young-Hee. Paige comments on Elizabeth's rudeness which she lies about. Oleg sits waiting in a park for his CIA blackmailers and again, no one shows. Gabriel surprises the Jennings by announcing he's returning home. Claiming that he's tired and it's time, they don't believe him. Philip apologizes if he's contributed to his decision. Gabriel warns Philip that The Center is concerned about him and he believes that Philip's seen and done too much. Elizabeth dons a disguise and visits the psychiatrist, Robert Semel, taking an impression of his door lock, and noting how he secures his files. She talks to him somewhat about the attack by the muggers.



Crossbreed Episode Elizabeth key
Creating the key.
At Dupont Circle Travel, Elizabeth briefs Philip on Semel's office. Philip relates more childhood memories, of men in Tobolsk who didn't like him or his brother. Not knowing the source of their hatred, Elizabeth tells him to talk to Gabriel, as he would have seen Philip's file and may have answers about his father. Henry brings leftovers to Stan's and they talk about his new math class. He says he's moved on from a crush he had on a teacher to a girl his age, Chris, who he thinks is cool.



Crossbreed Episode Stan
You were always a brainiac Henry.
Philip meets with Gabriel and can't get any different information about why he's leaving. Asking about his father, Gabriel reveals that he was a penal camp guard, not a logger as his mother told him. Gabriel doesn't know if his father was a cruel or kind guard and tries to reassure Philip. He implies that it was a time in their history that required extreme measures. Elizabeth sits in her car outside Young-Hee's house, remembering their friendship, and is saddened to see another family now lives there. At home, Paige shows Elizabeth the Karl Marx book and they discuss Marxist socialism. Philip arrives home and sitting in his Camaro in the garage, Elizabeth joins him. He relates what he learned about his father and rues how little he knew about his parents. Oleg sees Dmitri in prison and then goes to the rooftop of his apartment building and burns the note and cassette from the CIA. (♫ Peter Gabriel - Lay Your Hands on Me ♫) Philip and Elizabeth take Paige to meet Gabriel.



S05E06-Gabriel Philip
We were all nobodies.

Notes[]

  • The Russian News Agency TASS (Russian: Информационное агентство России), is the largest news agency in Russia, and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. Headquartered in Moscow, TASS has 70 offices in Russia and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as 68 bureaus around the world.
  • "Previously on The Americans" voice: Philip.

Music[]

Song Title Performer(s)
Lay Your Hands on Me Peter Gabriel

Videos[]


Season Five
#501 "Amber Waves" #508 "Immersion"
#502 "Pests" #509 "IHOP"
#503 "The Midges" #510 "Darkroom"
#504 "What's the Matter with Kansas?" #511 "Dyatkovo"
#505 "Lotus 1-2-3" #512 "The World Council of Churches"
#506 "Crossbreed" #513 "The Soviet Division"
#507 "The Committee on Human Rights"
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