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"He was passionate about everything. He was passionate about me. I recruited him, And he didn't even want anything. He just believed, like I did." ― Elizabeth explains her love for Gregory

Gregory is the third episode of Season One of The Americans on FX, and the third episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Philip and Elizabeth discover Robert secretly had a wife and child. Meanwhile, the FBI learns from Nina that Robert was a Directorate-S operative. Both FBI and KGB start following Robert's wife, to try and determine what she knows.

Plot[]

Stan and Philip play a game of racquetball together, which is interrupted when Stan receives a page from Nina. They meet and she indicates the KGB lost a Directorate S operative the same night Timoshev disappeared. The FBI sends his information to the DMV and discovers Robert has a wife and newborn son living in Philadelphia.



S01E03-Robert autopsy pic
He walked into a hospital.
At a diner, Philip and Paige meet a pleasant, older woman (Claudia). Philip sees a newspaper message from Robert in the classifieds, placed after his death, scheduling a meet in Philadelphia. Suspicious, Philip suggests having their agent Gregory, a former black militant whom Elizabeth had recruited, use his "team" to go to the meet. Unbeknown to Philip, early in their marriage Elizabeth and Gregory were lovers. However, Elizabeth now refuses Gregory's advances, saying that she and Philip are getting along better. (♫ Nicholas Payton - Nick@Night ♫) Gregory still agrees to handle the meet.



TA-1.3-9 FULL
You have a lovely daughter.
In Philadelphia, Gregory deduces that the message is from Rob's wife, Joyce, who he sees with her baby, Oscar. She is unaware she is being watched by an FBI surveillance team. At Dupont Circle Travel, Elizabeth tells Philip what Gregory learned until they are interrupted by Stavos. Using his team to create obstacles, Gregory is able to snatch Joyce and bring her to a safe house. Upon meeting Joyce, the Jennings tell her Rob died and its apparent that she had no idea Rob was a spy. Joyce gives Philip a coded note from Rob. (♫ Copeland - Be By My Side ♫) Gregory tells Philip about his and Elizabeth's previous relationship. He questions how well Philip knew Rob, since the KGB didn't know he'd secretly married Joyce and had a son with her. (♫ Dust - My Only Love ♫) To be safe, he recommends killing Joyce. Philip warns him not to touch Joyce or he'll kill him.



TA-1.3-3 FULL
Is he dead?
Philip goes for a walk to clear his head and has a very unpleasant encounter with Claudia, who announces she is the Jennings' new KGB handler. She is vague about what happened to their previous handler, Gabriel, saying he ran things loose and she intends to take a more personal approach with them. Philip realizes he had a previous encounter with Claudia and tells her she is never to come near his children again. Claudia suggests calling the number on the note Rob left, and arranging to meet. In an attempt to flush Joyce out, Agent Gaad issues a kidnapping charge on her which is televised.



S01E03-Philip chokes Claudia
I will snap your neck.
As Philip prepares to meet the contact from Rob's note, he and Elizabeth fight about Gregory. He accuses her of "running out" on him and says she has been lying to him for 15 years. Elizabeth questions what truly constitutes a lie between them and Philip insists he has always told her the truth, raging that "you shared your deepest feelings about us, with him, while you lie to me." When Elizabeth counters that Gregory only said what he did because she has told him it's over, Philip grows even angrier and tells Elizabeth to continue seeing him whenever she wants. He suggests they keep living as they always have, in a sham marriage, because it's worked up until now.



S01E03-Phil Liz argue about Gregory
Don't do me any favors.
Philip meets with the contact from Rob's note, who gives him schematics for an anti-ballistic missile laser. In the process, he fights with two of the contact's bodyguards, getting a superficial knife wound in the stomach. Meanwhile, Gregory and Elizabeth fight, about what to do with with Joyce, and because Gregory told Philip about their affair. Gregory tells Elizabeth he loves her, and that if she going to act like she's married to Philip then not do it on a lie.



TA-1.3-15 FULL
I did warn them, twice.
Stan and Agent Amador retrace their steps to discover how Joyce escaped and notice one of Gregory's men watching them. Amador gives chase but the man escapes, leading Stan to wonder why someone in the hood cares about the KGB. The Jennings hand Joyce and Oscar over to Claudia, ostensibly for their own protection, to escape to Cuba.



S01E03-Joyce and Claudia
Thank you for bringing her to us...
Back home in the early morning before their kids awake, Philip tends to his wound and Elizabeth recounts that when she joined the KGB, she was 17 and had never had a boyfriend. She shares how difficult it was for her to adjust to their arranged marriage, finding herself with a strange man in a strange country. She contrasts this with Gregory who was the first person she could really talk to. She says their affair just happened, and that "it never really happened that way for us." Philip agrees. Elizabeth says "But, I feel like it's happening now." Oscar is handed over to Rob's parents in the Soviet Union. Joyce is killed by the KGB in a staged drug overdose. Stan discovers Joyce's lifeless body in a car. (♫ Roxy Music - Sunset ♫)



Gregory Episode Joyce
...so we can kill her.

Notes[]

  • The cover of the magazine Girl's World that Paige reads at a diner with Philip has a picture of actress Nancy McKeon of the TV show The Facts of Life on the cover.
  • Agent Gaad compares Joyce escaping FBI surveillance to the magic of Canadian magician Doug Henning.
  • Gregory mentions to Philip that he met Elizabeth at a SCLC meeting. SCLC's first president was Martin Luther King.
  • Weeks earlier, Elizabeth tells Philip she was two when her father died in the battle of Stalingrad, which occurred from Aug 1942 to Feb 1943, meaning she was born in late 1940 or early 1941. In a flashback, they are both seen arriving in the USA in Aug 1965. ("Pilot") However, this does not corroborate with statements Elizabeth makes in this episode, such as being 22 when she arrived in the US.
  • Joyce tells the Jennings that if Robert didn't come home in two weeks, she was to place the ad in the newspaper. Given that the events of the "Pilot" occurred in early February 1981, the events of this episode occur in late February 1981.
  • Henry does not appear in this episode.
  • "Previously on The Americans" voice: Philip.

Music[]

Song Title Performer(s)
Nick@Night Nicholas Payton
My Only Love Dust
Be By My Side Copeland
Sunset Roxy Music

Videos[]


Season One
#101 "Pilot" #108 "Mutually Assured Destruction"
#102 "The Clock" #109 "Safe House"
#103 "Gregory" #110 "Only You"
#104 "In Control" #111 "Covert War"
#105 "COMINT" #112 "The Oath"
#106 "Trust Me" #113 "The Colonel"
#107 "Duty and Honor"
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