(Author’s note: sorry I haven’t been reviewing my regular shows. I was out of the country for a few days. Big thanks for Margaux, Jorge, and Samir for picking up the slack and turning in fantastic reviews of Hannibal, Game of Thrones, and Mad Men.)
I think collateral damage is the theme of “Martial Eagle,” and perhaps of the second season of The Americans as a whole (on a personal note, I find the term “collateral damage” to be so reductive and dismissive that I even hesitate to use it). This is nothing new to pop culture; it’s been explored in movies like Stop-Loss and characters such as True Blood‘s Terry Bellefluer. But it’s never been mined with such graceful, devastating aplomb as it is in the sophomore season of one of the best shows on the air.
To illustrate my point, look no further than the cold open, which is the entirety of the titular operation. Philip and Elizabeth infiltrate the Contra training base and Elizabeth coolly eliminates the commanders they went there to assassinate. Philip, however, has a harder go of it. He ends up having to kill three men, none of whom died deaths that Philip felt they deserved. And to top it off, the septic truck driver they left tied up in the woods at the end of last episode – left that way because Philip didn’t want to kill the man – has died of exposure.
There was a decent amount of plot in “Martial Eagle,” my favorite part of which involves Stan Beeman. He hands over the FBI surveillance files to Oleg, and he is not happy about it. In fact, he’s now on the warpath, looking for a reason, any reason, to put a bullet in Oleg’s head. Stan is like a bloodhoud, and Noah Emmerich is a joy to watch in these scenes. His slightly pockmarked face and corn-fed build belie his tenacity and occasional ruthlessness (remember, this is the man who straight-up executed Vlad in season one, all because he thought Vlad killed his partner). Then in a bit of irony that his wife Sandra points out, he can’t even figure out that his wife is leaving him. This is a hell of a scene to cap off a great episode. Nathan Barr’s music is subtle and elegiac, and Stan’s heartbreak is so naked and unmasked that it’s easy to forget, just for a second, what a fucking hypocrite he is. His marriage is more collateral damage, brought on by his myopic desire to protect his relationship with Nina.
This is the body count that The Americans has racked up, some of it physical, some emotional: the aforementioned disintegration of Stan’s marriage; Lucia’s death, tacitly approved by Elizabeth, who just stood and watched as Larrick strangled the life out of her; Philip’s almost estrangement with Elizabeth; Paige’s definite estrangement from her parents; Gaad’s job and possible freedom, which is actually Beeman’s fault; and that’s not even mentioning the 160 Soviet seamen who died because of bad intel supplied by the Rezidentura. These are the effects of war. Not destroyed buildings, but destroyed lives. It’s devastating. “Martial Eagle,” while light on the thrilling spycraft that makes this show appointment television, is nonetheless a very powerful episode of The Americans. I’ve seldom seen such sadness, such weariness translated in this medium.
A Few Thoughts
– The credits said the story was co-written by Oliver North. Um, do they mean the Oliver North?
– Why is Richard Thomas still listed as a guest star? Agent Gaad is in almost every episode
– Matthew Rhys does quiet menace so well that it’s nice to see that Philip is terrifying when he’s angry
– Tonight’s director was Alik Sakharov, a veteran of Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and Dexter. God help me, I can’t help pointing this crap out
About Author
