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The Americans followed the double lives of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, who presented themselves as a happy suburban family. However, at the same time, they were illegal KGB spies from Russia operating in the Reagan-era United States during the Cold War.
The show expertly wove complex morality, the burden of identity, and cold-blooded espionage into a tale that centered a family struggling with the consequences of their every move. By season 6, the plot had thickened considerably, with a time leap to the year 1987.
Paige is in college, Henry is at boarding school, and Philip Jennings has retired from his life of murky espionage. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Jennings is inadvertently caught up in a coup by the Soviet military to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev. Oleg comes out of retirement, travels to the United States without diplomatic immunity, and recruits Philip to stop his wife.
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In the end, Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) barely escape getting caught as Russian illegals and return to the USSR to complete their final mission. The series finale of The Americans ends in a somber and anti-climactic way, reminding fans and the Jennings about the harsh reality of the world.
Father and daughter come together to create Apple's cutest show HERE
Here's the rundown.
Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong solely to the writer. Spoilers ahead.
What happens to the Jennings in the final season of The Americans?
Paige joins the espionage crew in season 6
After years of being a devout and virtuous girl, Paige (Holly Taylor) finally flips, joining Elizabeth on her stakeouts and learning the tricks of the trade. However, she soon realizes that it's not at all like a slick spy movie, and that actual murder and s*x in return for favors are involved.
When a meeting with General Renhull goes south and he ends up shooting himself in the jaw, Paige realizes that the Jennings might be in too deep.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth is tasked with retrieving the Altheon sensor and is given a cyanide pill-encased necklace in case she gets caught. While she murders a bunch of people to get her hands on the sensor, she ultimately fails in the end.
The Americans, which started as a Philip and Elizabeth story, has become a Philip vs Elizabeth story in season 6. Philip's has a drastically different view of their jobs. His resistance to patriotic loyalty, along with his disapproval of his daughter's deepening involvement in the game, clashes with Elizabeth's do-or-die attitude about putting her country first. He throws himself into his failing business.
Philip and Elizabeth team up for their classic dirty business
Philip begrudingly agrees to work with Elizabeth on one final mission, leading the couple down a murky path reminiscent of earlier The Americans. He sleeps with Kimmy, the daughter of a CIA agent, in hopes of getting invited to her Greece trip. Whilst there, Elizabeth planned to kidnap her and use her as bait to blackmail her father.
Elsewhere, Marilyn, Norm, Claudia, and Elizabeth track down Gennadi, Sofia, and 7-year-old Ilya who were under Stan's protection while seeking political asylum. Elizabeth ruthlessly murders the couple, leaving Ilya alive.
The news shocks Stan, who confides in Philip. Philip, whose retirement days softened his blind faith in the patriotic system, breaks things off with Kimmy. He subtly warns her to stay away from communist countries on her European trip.
At the midway point of The Americans season 6, Elizabeth travels on business to Chicago during Thanksgiving and acts suspicious. This forces Philip to go after her and convince her to abort her mission. He also spies on her documents and informs Oleg of the coup's progress. As suspected, Elizabeth's mission to retrieve the Russian spy "Harvest" fails colossally, with the FBI intercepting their moves.
Stan and Henry's disastrous conversation sets the wheels spinning
Meanwhile, Henry blossoms into his own, away from the crime, espionage, and his parents' crumbling marriage. Remember, Henry is the only one who doesn't know what his parents actually do for a living. So his growing friendship with Stan sets up an invisible tension in the air in The Americans.
Stan (Noah Emmerich) has been trying to uncover the unsettling feeling around the Jennings for years in The Americans. As an FBI agent who is close friends with the family, he straddles the line between patriotism and personal connection for over 5 seasons.
In the end, a throwaway conversation with Henry reveals exactly what he had been suspecting all along: Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are illegal Russian spies. This sends him down a rabbit hole, which leads to Oleg and Father Andrei.
Things begin clicking into place in The Americans
When Claudia tasks Elizabeth with killing Nostrensko, Elizabeth starts piecing together the true nature of her mission. Philip confirms to her that she is part of the group that wants to overthrow Gorbachev. This makes Elizabeth see Philip's side of things, and the couple reaches out to Oleg with information in The Americans.
Oleg, who just wanted to thwart anti-Gorbachev plans, finds himself in prison for espionage after he receives their message. Elizabeth kills Tatiana to stop her from assassinating Nostrensko, and directly resists Claudia's orders. Things heat up right before the finale, as Elizabeth tells Claudia she should know better than to lie to her.
Meanwhile, Stan speaks to Oleg, who refuses to give any information away. Instead, he turns the topic towards Gorbachev and the danger he is in. Stan tries another route. He starts closing in on Father Andrei, the man who married Philip and Elizabeth in season 5 of The Americans.
Rather conveniently, Father Andrei forgets to mention that the FBI is tailing him for potentially being with the KGB when he meets Philip. They meet and discuss Philip's fraying marriage with Elizabeth before he casually drops this fact. A pale and shocked Philip takes off running, knowing the FBI is already tailing him and Father Andrei.
He manages to slip away and give Elizabeth the code red that right now, things are "topsy-turvy," and Elizabeth knows. One duffel bag later, she is on the move as well.
The Americans season finale: Stan confronts the Jennings
Philip and Elizabeth must make a choice: Take Paige, but leave Henry behind at the boarding school to ensure everyone's safety. Henry doesn't know their real identity, and is better off fitting in alone. It is a heartbreaking decision that shows the true dangers of living a double life.
Stan breaks away from questioning (and almost breaking) Father Andrei and stakes out Paige's apartment. When Philip and Elizabeth go to fetch a disgruntled and thoroughly miffed Paige, he intercepts them. This is the moment fans of The Americans have been waiting for: a showdown between Stan and the Jennings after years of close friendship.
What might have been a stereotypical standoff—guns and yelling and all—ends up becoming a quiet moment of heartbreak, for friendships lost and betrayals felt. Stan scoffs that his life has become a joke because of the Jennings, while Philip admits that it is his own life that has been a joke, living double-faced for years.
Philip and Elizabeth plead with him, tell him how important it is for them to return to Russia, and tell them of the plans to take Gorbachev down. They insist that it is important for their people. Stan pretends not to care, but he knows, deep down, that Philip and Elizabeth were doing what they believed was best for their country, same as he was doing for his in The Americans.
The couple entrusts him with telling Henry the truth, and Stan quietly lets them drive off into the night. Before they leave on the journey, Philip tells Stan that his wife Renee might be one of the spies as a final act of solidarity for his friendship. Disguises on, passports changed, and resolve in their eyes, the Jennings board a train to Montreal, amid the FBI searching every face for a match.
The Americans comes to a quiet, heartbreaking close
Philip and Elizabeth deal with the grief of losing Henry, but things get worse when Paige doesn't get on the train with them. A horrified Elizabeth watches her daughter standing on the station as the train pulls away. Their duty towards their country came at a steep cost after all.
The duo gets back to Moscow in The Americans, where they stop the coup against Gorbachev. With the adrenaline of the mission wearing off, they must face reality. Overlooking the Moscow skyline, they talk about what life could've been like if they had said no to becoming the people they were. They reflected on their children and discussed what might become of them.
Elizabeth and Philip Jennings hope they get used to their new reality.
Stream all episodes of The Americans on Hulu.
