This piece contains spoilers for the season-three finale of The Americans. Confessions have been a persistent motif throughout The Americans this season, and in the final episodes, they came flooding out. Philip removes his wig and stands as a stranger in front of Martha. Stan, somewhat giddily, informs his boss that not only had he been carrying on with an asset, Nina, but that he was conspiring with a Kgb rival to guarantee her safe return. Paige, crying in her bedroom, calls Pastor Tim in hope of consolation. “They’re not Americans,” she says through tears. “They’re Russians.”And then there's Philip, whose season-long internal doubts finally come to a head in the finale, titled “March 8, 1983.” Just as he’s struggling to verbalize his disillusionment to his wife, Elizabeth becomes distracted by the nightly news. “Hold on, we should listen to this," she says. And so the closing words »

- James Graham Wilson


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