"I’m in charge of FBI counterintelligence, and my secretary married a KGB officer." ― Agent Gaad
Travel Agents is the seventh episode of Season Four of The Americans on FX, and the forty-sixth episode overall.
Synopsis[]
The KGB and the FBI both race to track down a vital agent...everything is at stake.
Plot[]
At the Rezidentura, Oleg and Tatiana plan Martha’s exfiltration. First, a small plane to Key West, a boat to Cuba, a plane to Prague, and then on to Moscow. Tatiana is still find a field that can be used by a small airplane while Oleg gets a pilot. The Jennings arrive at the safe house to find Martha gone. They place William's rat in the freezer and decide Elizabeth and Hans will look for Martha while Philip waits by the phone at the Clandestine call center with Joan. Gabriel warns them that if she starts screaming in public again, she'll have to be killed. At the FBI, Stan and Agent Aderholt tell Agent Gaad that Clark Westerfeld's particulars match a boy who died 30 year before. He accepts Martha is a spy and sends a sketch artist and a forensics team to her apartment.
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As Philip drops Elizabeth off at a car, she says he's not to blame for Martha leaving. At Martha's apartment, as agents comb it for evidence, Stan and Aderholt notice Gaad staring out a window. Philip arrives at the call center and Joan shows him its setup. Martha attempts to walk home, but every man she sees in a suit she thinks are FBI agents. Panicking, she stops and looks for a way out. Eating with Joan, Philip answers the phone and Elizabeth reports she couldn't find Martha at a location Philip thought she might be at. He remembers she liked to walk near a viaduct so Elizabeth heads there. Gaad assembles a task force inside "the vault" where Agent Loeb talks with Aderholt. The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) arrives and demands that Stan blackmail Oleg with the tape of him betraying Zinaida to see if the KGB have Martha but Stan refuses.
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Agent Brooks reports that Martha is on the phone with her parents. Listening, they hear her say she's in trouble, to not believe what they'll hear about her and that she loves them. She then hangs up. Stan deduces the KGB doesn't have her as they'd never let her make the phone call. Her location is traced to Woodley Park and the agents depart. At the park, Martha stands on a bridge over the viaduct and stares at the rocks far below. With agents searching all around the park, Stan and Aderholt find the bridge which Stan recognizes from a photo Martha had in an album where she posed with her parents. He wonders if she jumped off the bridge. At the call center, Joan tries to find out about her predecessor, George, but is interrupted by a call from Martha.
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Surprised that "Clark" answers the phone, Martha cries that he left her alone at the safe house with Gabriel. Sobbing that she wants it to end, "Clark" has to beg her to say where she is. Saying she's at the trail head of Rock Creek Park, Philip tells Joan and leaves. Searching the bridge, Stan and Aderholt don't find Martha. Elizabeth calls Joan who telling her Martha's location, Elizabeth says she's close by. Oleg enters Tatiana's office where she quickly closes a red file she's looking at. Telling her he can't find a pilot, she says she got one for another operation. He looks suspiciously at the file and leaves.
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In her Jennifer disguise, Elizabeth reaches Martha first, and briefly considers killing her before approaching, trying to reassure Martha that Clark's on his way. Martha becomes hysterical and demands to know if she's sleeping with Clark. Yelling she's not going anywhere with her, Elizabeth subdues her with a hard punch in the stomach. As Martha struggles to breathe, Elizabeth holds her close and whispers that the FBI is after her and if she's caught, she and Clark will go to prison. Indicating she can get her to safety, she then helps Martha back to the safe house. Philip arrives at the trail head and after yelling for Martha and not finding her, he calls Joan.
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Henry hangs out with Matthew Beeman at his house, who drinks beer, claiming his dad either doesn't mind. Matthew gives him a bit in a cup. Paige arrives and Matthew gives her an entire beer which she shares with Henry. In the hallway at the FBI, Gaad tells Stan that the DAG complained to the FBI Director about Stan. However, Gaad has accepted that between the bug in his office, Gene, and now Martha, his FBI career is likely over. Philip arrives at the safe house where Elizabeth tells him Martha is in the bedroom. She asks for his real name which he eventually says is Mikhail but that everyone called him "Mischa". Philip leaves the room to get ice for her stomach. At the Rezidentura, Oleg and Tatiana report to Arkady that they are ready for the exfiltration which Oleg credits Tatiana for.
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Elizabeth suggests Philip lie to Martha, that they'll have a life together, so she won't run again. Elizabeth asks if Philip wants to go back to Russia with Martha, to stop being a spy, which he dismisses as crazy and that Elizabeth has misjudged his relationship with Martha. Saying he loves Elizabeth, they kiss passionately. In the Radio room, Tatiana sends a message that the "sample" obtained by Directorate S agents is secured and will be transported to Moscow (with Martha). Stan brings Gaad, who's uncharacteristically having a drink in his office, a sketch of Martha in which she looks very pretty. Claiming it was a mix-up, he then shows him a sketch of Martha's boyfriend, "Clark." Gaad shows Stan a marriage certificate that Martha married "Clark." Stan is stunned and unsuccessfully tries to find another explanation for their love other than her being a spy.
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At the safe house, Philip ices Martha's stomach and tells her that she'll be leaving the next day for Russia. Asking when he'll come, Philip says he won't, not even to visit. He assures her that they'll get a message to her parents and that she'll have plenty of help getting oriented once she's in Russia. Doubting she can make the transition, Philip tells her she has no choice. Martha realizes she'll be alone, just like she was before she met Philip. At home, Elizabeth looks in the mirror, thinking what Philip said about her. Martha and Philip lie in bed awake, the intimacy between them gone.
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Notes[]
- Henry and Matthew watch a TV ad for Calvin Klein jeans starring Brooke Shields.
- According to the marriage certificate Agent Gaad shows Stan, "Clark" and Martha were married on May 20, 1981 at First Trinity Church in Annandale, Virginia by Pastor William Lapp. ("The Oath")
- "Previously on The Americans" voice: Stan.
Videos[]
Season Four | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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