Make it real.
This weeks episode of THE AMERICANS left me weakened on the floor to see what Philip endured to become a spy. Last week it was Stan telling his co-worker how to get in with a group - "tell them what they want to hear." This week it was Philip pointing out that his use of sex as a spy was to "make it real" - while being emotionally disassociated from the act. Showing his memory as a very young man of the various (many elder) women and men with whom his Russian KGB handlers had him have sex - in training to "make it real." He even tells Elizabeth that sometimes he has had to "make it real" with her - "but not now."
It goes to show how jaded and insensitive that Philip must have come to feel about himself and why he should not want his daughter, Paige, to become like him. It's the American Dream, to want more for your children than what you have for yourself. And Philip certainly wants more - emotionally - for Paige. He feels that in getting closer to her he might win for her that future. There may be a way out for her through her belief in Jesus and Philip has come around to taking an active role in that respect. First came the popular record he bought for Paige, then came the dinner party and now that Paige has revealed that she wishes to be baptized Philip takes her to buy an expensive dress for that upcoming event. Elizabeth though is adamantly opposed and perhaps so because she sees her opportunity to tell Paige "who she really is" slipping away.
Philip also has Martha talking about adopting a child (or becoming a foster parent) and it seems to appeal to him (if only to get Martha on track). It sparks a rememberance of Paige as a young girl. The summer of skinned knees seems to be a good time for Elizabeth and Philip. And now Philip has a teenager, Kimmie (Kimberly), whose father works for the CIA, with whom he may have to "make it real." That he asks Elizabeth if he should belies a sense of immorality in the idea of sex with Kimmie - a hormonal 15 year old girl. Earlier a TV commercial featuring a young "Lolita" like imagery also appeared to bring out Philips moral and emotional quandry. Frank Langella's character puts it in perspective for Philip, while praising him as the best at what he does. It's Philip's confusion, or rather his conscience which may get in the way of the mission. For now Philip uses a high-grade pot to keep Kimmie at bay while he searches her father's den for clues. He 'gets lucky' when their parents arrive home and Philip must beat it out the back to get away.
Elizabeth to is "making it real" in a lesser sense by becoming friends (via AA) with an aircraft fabricator, Michelle, in search of a job. She needs her at Northrup so that Elizabeth can get intel on the new plane they are fabricating. But the jobs are filled. Elizabeth (in bun hairdo) is ever resourceful and takes the opportunity to kill a Northrup employee working on his car by dropping the car off the jack on him. Elizabeth gets the desired result and her 'asset' is hired by Northrup and Elizabeth uses her 'faked' new fortune to set up Michelle to talk about her work at Northrup. Did it make killing him any easier for Elizabeth that the man's name was also Philip?
Meanwhile, there is Stan and Oleg. Stan's trying to find a way to get Nina back, possibly trading her for the woman defector (Vinaida?) Stan believes to be, in fact, a planted Russian spy. He enlists Oleg to find out. But can Oleg really find the truth. And can either Stan or Oleg trust that what the other say is reality? And if Vinaida is actually a defector, has Oleg now discovered a new way of getting a spy in hight places thanks to Stan?
And was that Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch Oleg was drinking? FX seems to be placing a whiskey in its shows. JUSTIFIED has had many a Kentucky bourbon in its episodes, the last being Buffalo Trace Kentucky Bourbon. This episode certainly left me desiring a good swig of bourbon to feel that bit of numbness a partially stoned Philip must have felt at the episode's end.