Crossing the Stream: Part 14 - "The Americans" Sn 1, Ep 5

I've lost 20 pounds, and that's not nothing. My youngest kid weighs over 20 pounds. I've lost a toddler's worth of weight in about three weeks. It doesn't feel that way, though. I still feel incredibly fat around the midsection, and even if I were to lose a hundred pounds, I don't think my two decades of body dysmorphia will ever allow me to see anything other than the ghastly features that I try to cover every day. There's no secret why I am constantly swathed in at least two layers on my torso, even in 90-degree weather in the summer.

But 20 pounds is not nothing. And I feel pretty good pulling on a few articles of clothing that were too noticeably tight a few months ago. Matter of fact, I have my best suit ready at a dry cleaner and I'm not sure how it is going to fit when all is said and done. That suit was tailored back in 2012, and I haven't had much occasion to wear it since, so I'm either in for a pleasant (yet inconvenient) surprise when it runs too big, or perhaps I haven't undone six years of damage to my waistline quite yet.

Using the elliptical trainer today felt good, and I got my heart rate up to a new level with it. I did start favoring one leg near the end, but that's fine. It's Friday, and I have all weekend for my left leg to recover. I just hope I manage to avoid the really bad foods in the meantime. I have a wedding to attend (hence the suit), and the food promises to be plentiful. But more importantly, next week marks my 30th birthday, and that comes with some treats, typically. I wonder how I'm going to either avoid them or compensate for them. But hey, a wedding and my own birthday...those fall under the "rare and appropriate" category for consumption, right? I can have a piece of cake for one of them, surely. And maybe a beer for the other. That's not unreasonable.

I just hope I manage to find the time for the gym next week, as I'll be using public transit instead of driving. But that means I'll be walking more, so the whole thing ought to balance itself out...especially since I'm not checking the math too closely. I've found that seems to be a successful train of thought. I'm not counting calories, I'm not keeping score with how many servings of good stuff versus bad stuff, etc. And when I take one nibble of chocolate, I try not to flagellate myself over it. Once I start keeping score, I'll start losing, and then I won't want to play anymore.

"The Americans" - Season 1, Episode 5 "COMINT"


I mentioned on the last episode that loyalty and a lack thereof are measured very acutely by the KGB, and as if to prove my point, we meet a man recruited 23 years ago whose loyalty, or rather his stability, are being called into question. Said loyal operative, Udacha, was actually the source of those anti-ballistic missile defense system blueprints that Philip recovered back in "Gregory." Now, the stalwart agent is craving reassurance from his handler, but the FBI has tails on everyone coming out the Russian embassy.

The episode had me in the weeds, plot-wise, for a few minutes. But that's just because a circular set of dominoes were being placed: Philip and Elizabeth are tasked with breaking the FBI's encryption of their communications, chiefly so that Vasili, the head comrade at the Russian Rezidentura, can sneak away from his tail to calm Udacha and move forward with gleaning any info about the new US defense system. But meanwhile, Vasili is being listened in on by Nina, at the behest of Stan Beeman. So, as information flows from the US to the KGB, knowledge of that information is being funneled from the Rezidentura back to the FBI, who then change their frequencies. But then again, Philip found out about the encryption tech from Martha, his asset in the Counter-Intelligence office in the first place. It's really spy versus spy nonsense, but it all comes down to human connections.

Philip and Elizabeth are good at developing assets, contacts in certain positions to funnel information to them, and eventually up to the KGB. But it's worth noting that Stan has his slick methods, as well. His touch with Nina has become light as a feather, and subsequently her literal touch with Vasili becomes equally efficient. Sex seems to be the easiest motivator for assets. Elizabeth's flipping of the encryption guy (whose identity Philip snagged from Martha in a similar sexual scenario) is the point where the show finally shows the flip-side to the typical sexual methods of espionage. Fitting, since this is the first episode written by a woman, Melissa James Gibson, and directed by a woman, Holly Dale.

Elizabeth rolls her eyes through the roughly three seconds of sex and prolonged spanking, but when the pathetic jackass starts taking his belt to her she has to make the tough decision: leave with her cover intact and absorb the beating, or break his shit clean off and stuff it down his throat. Mrs. Jennings is a true pro, so she opts to stay in character but end the assault by wailing like a banshee for help. But if she wanted to, she could have splattered the guy all over the wall. That fact seems lost on Philip when he sees the marks across her back later and vows revenge. Sometimes Philip means well, but he can't help treat his wife like the helpless damsel that she is anything but.

Yeah, Elizabeth has weaponized her sexuality in the name of the cause, but as we see in this episode, it's different for women. We knew that already, having witnessed her rape by an instructor way back during her early days as a trainee. It's something Philip could never understand, putting loyalty ahead of the rage and despair that accompany the sort of degradation that was essentially part of Elizabeth's training. Hell, she's literally given birth twice in the name of the cause. As a spy, sometimes you have to fight someone, and you might get your ass kicked. Sometimes you have to screw someone. It's part of the job, as we've seen literally every week. But when you're a female operative, and you have to screw someone, you still might get your ass kicked, and you are expected to just deal with it.

Nina, also, is expected to just deal with her new uncomfortable position, as Stan makes very clear when he says "trust me" in Russian, with an inflection that implies it's an order rather than a request. The FBI looks very cagey in this episode, especially when they find out from Nina that their encryption has been breached and they change frequency immediately, but that moment serves as a smoking gun inside the Rezidentura; someone is talking, and Nina's sudden attraction to old codger Vasili isn't going to look very natural once a mole hunt is conducted.

Philip and Elizabeth end up working to the bone for very little on this outing, and as Udacha takes a bullet to the head alongside the Potomac while the FBI trail Vasili elsewhere, it feels incredibly hollow to call this close call a victory. The ordeal has definitely strengthened the Jennings marriage, if only by forcing them to talk about the strange moving target that is their work-related open sexual relationship.

Random Notes:

-The episode's title, COMINT, is short for "communication intelligence," meaning the gathering of intelligence through direct contact between people.

-Elizabeth is incredulous at the idea of Udacha's dear departed wife asking him zero questions about his work. Of course she is.

-Stan is aghast when he finds out Nina is blowing Vasili as a way to absorb intelligence (even though he implied such a tactic), much in the same naive way Philip is crushed and enraged at the giant bruises on his wife's back, though this isn't the first time he's seen her badly beaten in the line of duty. They really are similar guys, these racquetball buddies.

-Conveniently, if Nina hadn't been under Vasili's desk at the right moment, the FBI never would have known that their encryption had been compromised.

-The big clandestine set piece of the episode, with Elizabeth silently sneaking from one lifted car trunk to another, felt a little hokey, especially when she's forced to simple walk off from the guarded federal building like she owns the place.

Rating: A
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