- A dangerous Naval officer becomes the key to Philip and Elizabeth's mission as well as a potential threat to their family's safety. Lucia, a Sandinista intelligence officer working with the Jennings, is tasked with getting Elizabeth access to Capitol Hill. Stan struggles with the potential costs of protecting Nina.—Anonymous
- Although the Jennings have a new official handler, they still meet the former one, Claudia, who shares their passionate desire to revenge the fellow sleepers couple, even prepared to risk her career for it. Posing as CIA agents, they corner prime suspect Andrew Larrick, but believe the naval officer's claim that someone beat him to it. They decide against executing Larrick in order to use him for a US priority, the Contra plot against Nicaragua's pro-Soviet Sandinista government. Foxy Latina Lucia eagerly volunteers to seduce a rare senator in the know's naive, hedonistic young assistant Carl so Elizabeth can sneak into his boss's Capitol office, but still finds killing the handsome devil by poison horrible. Stan is blackmailed by Oleg and finds protecting his KGB lover Nina increasingly hopeless; sensing so, she dumps him.—KGF Vissers
- Previously on 'The Americans': Elizabeth questioned Paige about her new interest in religion, while she also heard from Martha that "Clark" (Philip) is "an animal in bed. Elizabeth helped a young Nicaraguan spy out of a jam with a Congressional aide she'd smoked cocaine with. He was unconscious. Philip met Kate, Claudia's replacement. She was assigned to Philip and Elizabeth because The Center wants them to be happy. Oleg started asked Nina about why Stan thinks he's turned Nina, and he met with Stan and asked Stan what he could provide to Oleg in exchange for Nina's safety. Claudia asked Elizabeth and Philip to help her Emmett and Leanne's killer, and pointed them to a man named Andrew Larrick, who is gay and was being blackmailed by Emmett and Leanne. Elizabeth wanted to know why Claudia was so adamant and she said, "I don't want to lose anyone else."
'Behind the Red Door': Philip and Elizabeth tell Claudia about their pending meeting with Larrick in an office park. They're planning to have him isolated in a room. Claudia asks if they'll "take care of him there" if they figure out that he killed Emmett and Leanne. She's asking a lot of questions. She asks how their new handler is, and whether she "graduated high school yet."
Stan meets Oleg in an isolated warehouse and demands to know what Oleg wants. He wants the FBI surveillance logs that pertain to him. Oleg says he has his own needs and problems, and that this arrangement can work for both of them. Oleg tells Stan he has three days to provide them. He tells Stan that if anything happens to him, everything he knows about Nina will be discovered. "I die, she dies." Stan lets him go.
Posing as CIA security officials, Elizabeth and Philip meet with Larrick, who wants to know why he's there. They run through his various contacts with the KGB and ask him how much he's been offered to work with them. As Elizabeth quietly reaches for her gun, Larrick starts asking some questions of his own, then says he didn't kill them even though he wanted to. He says he got close and was tracking them but "someone got to the bastards before I did." He says his last contact with them was about a month ago. He says he was on Martial Eagle when they were killed. He says he's making up for whatever damage he's done now in Nicaragua. They ask him to report to them.
They leave the meeting and report back to Claudia that they don't think he did it. Claudia is still concerned that Larrick will come after them or their family. Elizabeth says The Center will want information on Martial Eagle, then they'll take out Larrick.
That night, Philip helps Elizabeth get undressed and things get heated quickly.
Stan is completely zoned out while having dinner with his family. His wife tells him she thought a lot about what color to paint their front door. She went with red. His son says red means good luck in China.
Elizabeth, laying naked in bed next to Philip, tells him that Martha said Clark is "a wild animal" in bed. And she asks, "Isn't that funny?" Philip doesn't seem to think so, but mutters, "Yeah."
Philip meets in a bar with Kate, while Ronald Reagan gives a speech on TV. Philip tells Kate about Operation: Martial Eagle in Nicaragua and how they talked with Larrick about Emmett and Leanne. Philip tells her Larrick presents a threat to them and their family, and Martial Eagle could represent a threat to the Motherland. She says she'll relay his concerns.
Stan is in the basement looking for FBI files. He's trying to find Soviet Embassy logs for the last three months. He stumbles onto a technician who is transferring all the files to the new computer system. Stan has the guy print out the logs on Oleg, with the dot matrix.
Elizabeth continues to tease Philip about what Martha said, and asks him "what kind of wild animal." She asks him if "Clark" would ever be unfaithful, because she "would like to try it with Clark. The phone rings and Philip learns that Paige quit the volleyball team. He calls Paige downstairs and she says she just "lost interest." Philip talks to Paige while Elizabeth answers the phone, which rings again. It's the eavesdropper, who delivers some kind of coded message. Philip sends Paige back upstairs and Elizabeth tells him that whatever is going on with Paige is going to have to wait.
Kate tells Philip and Elizabeth that The Center has determined that Martial Eagle is a training operation for Nicaraguan Contras on American soil. They're disappointed that The Center isn't acting more decisively to protect them from Larrick. Kate tells Philip and Elizabeth that they're being tasked with assassinating the commanders of the training camps and exposing their existence. They don't know where the camps are yet.
Elizabeth meets with the Nicaraguan spy she helped out last time. Her name is Lucia. Elizabeth asks Lucia to get her into the office of the Congressman her aide is working for.
We next see his snorting cocaine in his office. Lucia is seductively getting the aide, Carl, to open the doors to his boss' office. He does it, and she lures him back into his own office while Elizabeth slips into the Congressman's office.
Elizabeth hides while listening to Lucia have sex with Carl as a diversion. After they're done, Carl closes the office doors, with Elizabeth still inside.
Inside the office, Elizabeth cracks a safe and goes through a bunch of files, taking pictures of a few, particularly some named, "Arpanet Information Brochure."
Later, in the laundry room, Philip and Elizabeth figure out that two training commanders will be at the training ground in two weeks, but Larrick won't even get the location until the day he gets his orders to go. It's at Joshua National Forest. Elizabeth suggests they get Larrick to take them into the training ground, but that would mean letting him know who they really are -- which won't go over well.
Stan goes to Gaad's home. He tells Stan his source at the Rezidentura has been compromised. Gaad isn't in much of a mood to hear from Stan. Stan says his source is "in over her head," but Gaad suggests maybe Stan is the one in over his head.
At the Soviet Embassy, Oleg reports to Arkady that he hasn't yet heard from Stan. He says it's "50-50."
Lucia is excited about bringing Reagan to his knees, but Elizabeth is trying to slow her roll a little. Elizabeth tells Lucia that she needs to tie up loose ends and end things with Carl. Lucia seems hesitant. Elizabeth advises Lucia to handle it and go home and write her report.
Philip gets home dressed as Clark and finds Elizabeth in bed in her underwear. She calls him over and takes off his clothes. He takes his glasses off, but she asks him to keep them on. They start having sex, but she says she wants him to be an animal, like Clark. He turns her around and aggressively has sex with her, bringing her to tears with what's essentially a repeat of the incident in which she was raped by her training officer. Philip is angry and leaves to splash his face with water and rip off his wig, while Elizabeth cries in bed alone.
We next see Lucia dancing for Carl, who says he wants her to meet his mother when she comes to town the following week. He tells Lucia she's special to him. She asks him to get her some ice water. While he's gone, she spikes his drugs. He returns, sticks himself with the syringe and is dead within minutes.
Paige hears Elizabeth get home late and tells her she still likes volleyball but likes the youth group more. She wants to be honest with her mother. Paige tells her the kids mostly talk and listen to music and have snacks. She invites Elizabeth and Philip to come sometime, and goes back upstairs. Elizabeth finds Philip in the kitchen washing dishes and joins him. She asks if he's mad at her and he says no. She reports to him that Lucia's job is "done."
Stan, meanwhile, is meeting with Nina and trying to assure her she won't end up dead. He promises her that they'll get ahead of Oleg. He asks her to take a polygraph, saying it's a "bureau requirement." She thinks he's calling her a liar, but he says he has to assure his supervisors she can be trusted. But she's enraged, saying she's "done." She leaves.
Capt. Larrick has sex with a man under the stairs of a gay nightclub while Philip waits, hiding. He confronts Larrick, who immediately realizes that Philip is not CIA, saying, "I had my doubts."
Elizabeth and Claudia are waiting in a car. Elizabeth wonders aloud who they should look at next if Larrick didn't kill Emmett and Leanne, and Claudia says, "Me." She explains that she "got involved with someone" while she was working with them. She says she didn't tell the man who she really was, until one day she did. Now, since the murders, she's worried she may have compromised their safety. Claudia tells Elizabeth that she was wrong about Philip, saying, "You're lucky to have him." She tells her goodbye and Elizabeth gets out of the car and drives away.
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