“Cardinal” is a worthy follow-up to last week’s stellar season premiere “Comrades.” Not as much happens, but things are put in motion that should unfold over the course of the entire season. That’s very confident storytelling, and I admire The Americans and FX for respecting the audience’s attention span so much.
Elizabeth is very shaken by seeing the bodies of Emmet, Leah, and their daughter Amelia. She’s becoming increasingly paranoid: scanning the street as she picks up her morning paper, keeping tabs on a DWP truck that spends the day across from their house. As she says to Phillip, she always knew that their deaths were a risk, but seeing Amelia’s body really drove home the point that Henry and Paige could be in jeopardy as well. It’s not a showy episode for Keri Russell, but she makes the most of it. The camerawork reflects her state of mind; it hovers near her, intrusively close, never giving her space to breathe.
Phillip has been tasked with finding out what, if anything, Fred had to do with Emmet and Leah’s deaths (Fred, if you don’t remember, is the balding man who passed Phillip the information at the carnival). This means it’s time for another patented Phillip Jennings disguise, which tonight means dressing up like Rust Cohle from True Detective. The budget for fake mustaches alone must be bankrupting Directorate S.
Fred wasn’t involved with Emmet and Leah’s death, and he’s just as shook up as Elizabeth is. He and Phillip have a great heart-to-heart, and Matthew Rhys, while tied to a dresser, acts cool, levelheaded, and supportive. I love scenes like this for two reasons: they show you what a great spy Phillip is, and they give some great background on people like Fred and season one’s Gregory, who have been seduced by the KGB. That is endlessly fascinating to me.
Meanwhile, a walk-in has entered the Rezidentura: Bruce Dameran, who says he wants to do “something great for the cause.” It’s not said exactly what that is, but Stan gets word of Dameran through Nina and starts surveillance on him. Stan Beeman is probably the best cop on TV since Hank Schrader, so I’m really looking forward to this investigation. One thing I absolutely love about The Americans is that it’s not afraid to show the nitty-gritty: the dull stakeouts of the FBI, the painstaking code-cracking of the KGB, the boring workplace pleasantries of the Rezidentura. It lends every episode a great sense of realism.
A Few Thoughts
– Fred was played by John Carroll Lynch. I knew he was up to no good back when he was the Zodiac Killer
– Line of the night, delivered by Nina: “Maybe you’re wrong about everyone”
– Speaking of Nina, the sequence where she was typing her report was masterfully edited and directed. The cold, toneless typewritten words superimposed over scenes of her and Stan, naked in bed together, was a surprising gut punch
– Last point about Nina: is there anyone on television more beautiful than Annet Mahendru?
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