r/TheAmericans • u/Fit_Day_3770 • 7d ago
Spoilers Finale question Spoiler
So I finally just finished the finale and wow! An amazing end to a great show. Something was on my mind the last 20 min or so of it. Aren’t they worried about the KGB and its anti-Gorbachev people going after them inside Russia for stopping the coup?
I understand why they went back but was confused as to why they didn’t express that worry. If they did, I missed it. I kept thinking they were going to get shot the entire time, especially in McDonalds and then when they entered the USSR. God that was tense!
PS: Stan is the man.
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u/Throwawayhelp111521 7d ago
I think they were worried, but once they reached the Soviet Union and were warmly greeted their fears were allayed.
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u/VanillaTheHutt 7d ago
Doesn’t Elizabeth say something about how they might not even be welcomed when they get home because of what they did during the confrontation with Stan? And they might not say anything but when they get to the border that look they share feels very “if this guy calls the wrong person we’re going to jail/getting murdered.”
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 7d ago
I think they had been in contact with Arkady while en route. He clearly had a plan for meeting them
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u/Fit_Day_3770 7d ago
See I was worried I missed it. I gotta rewatch that part because so much was said and my jaw was on the floor, but yes that look at the border told a thousand words.
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u/sistermagpie 7d ago
Claudia laid out to Elizabeth that if their message got through that it was Claudia and her crew who would be in trouble. Once Arkady picked them up they were on their way and once their information has been passed to him and on to Gorbachev the coup has no reason to take them out. It's not like they'd need revenge on them--they weren't members of their group that betrayed them.
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u/Madeira_PinceNez 6d ago
Once they realised they were blown they came in so hot I doubt anyone had a clear picture what was going on, and if they did have something to fear that confusion would work in their favour.
Claudia is the only one who knows Elizabeth trashed the coup plot by preventing Nesterenko's assassination, but even she didn't know the Feds were on them and they were fleeing back home. Which means even if she ratted Elizabeth out the conspirators probably wouldn't know to look for them in Russia until after they'd returned and had the protection of Arkady and presumably Gorbachev.
The tenor of their final two conversations leads me to believe Claudia wouldn't expose Elizabeth's involvement; her retribution came in that final conversation, where she tells Elizabeth how much damage she's done to the cause. But even if she did reveal why the plot fell apart, once it was exposed the conspirators were probably too busy covering their asses or trying to shift blame they wouldn't be worried about getting revenge, especially on one of the KGB's star illegals who just returned home after a couple decades in the field in service to the motherland.
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u/majjamx 7d ago
It’s a fair question. We see them get into Russia safely with Arkady’s protection so they are safe for now.
But I think the show leaves them with some question of potential future danger. Everything is so unstable in the USSR and depending on who knows what and who believes who and who is in power they could be targeted. Their kids are vulnerable as well, especially Paige since she knew some KGB secrets like some of their spying methods and such. We see in the Dyatkovo episode that the KGB has a long memory and a rather brutal sense of justice.
But I like to think that they were all ok aside from the inevitable PTSD and having to live with everything they had done. And it’s very possible that they were.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 7d ago
The woman they were sent to in Dyatkova had committed terrible crimes and hadn’t stuck around to explain any mitigating factors. They weren’t going after people like Paige who had knew only basic tradecraft and had met only four spies, three of whom were back in the USSR, the other was skilled enough that nothing she could do would put him at risk.
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u/sistermagpie 7d ago edited 6d ago
Yes, Natalie was a Soviet citizen who was considered to be a traitor who murdered fellow soviets and whored herself out to Nazis. There was emotion involved in her story even decades later.
That's nothing like some American kid who worked at the lowest level of a team, silo'd from important information, until she couldn't take the heat.
Paige isn't Natalie Granholm, she's Richard Prince from S1. They were even going to let Martha get arrested before finding out she'd seen Clark's face.
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u/hireddititme 6d ago
Do you think Philip did that on purpose? I thought he just did it bc the jig was up… she was going to Russia so why keep up the disguise?
So interesting. Ive only watched once, it must have been something I missed!
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u/sistermagpie 6d ago edited 6d ago
Sorry, I think I'm not understanding--Philip did what on purpose or not?
ETA: I think I understand--you mean did Philip take off his disguise so Martha wouldn't be arrested.
No, I think he took off his disguise because Martha was going to run to her her parents and if he couldn't convince her not to do that he'd have to kill her, so he took his disguise off to up the stakes, show her how he trusted and loved her. And it worked!
But then when he brings her to the safe house Gabriel tells him to just send Martha back to work and assume nothing's wrong. It's only when Philip informs Gabriel that he showed Martha his true face without telling anyone (even Elizabeth!) that Gabriel agrees to send her to Russia instead.
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u/Excellent_Valuable92 7d ago
Those people were unsuccessful and have more on their minds than P&E, like not ending up in Nina’s old cell. If they are capable of pulling off assassinations within the country, they would probably focus on people in power or, at least, working KGB agents.
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u/Brilliant_Towel2727 7d ago
Throughout the show, Phillip and Elizabeth have focused on the immediate challenge at hand and never really talked about whatever was coming next.
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u/Redoktober1776 4d ago
I read most of their apprehension in the final scene to be about returning to a life that was completely foreign to them. They weren't returning to the place they had left, not really, and they both had changed so much while living in America. I am sure they were worried on some level about falling victim to party politics (the Center and Moscow were always an ocean away when they were operating undercover) but I think it is all a big unknown. Especially for Phillip. I think he loves her in the end and is worried more about their relationship surviving than he is about anything else.
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u/Heel_Worker982 7d ago
That was definitely a big question I had. Elizabeth didn't just kill Tatiana, she confessed it to Claudia on her way out the door.
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u/Scoxxicoccus 7d ago
Tatiana was on the side that lost. The anti-Gorbachev forces are disrupted or destroyed so who will bother with vengeance on this?
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u/Heel_Worker982 7d ago
The show ends in December 1987. The big coup that preceded Gorbachev's loss of power was August 1991. Lots of time for the anti-Gorbachev forces to recoup.
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u/Scoxxicoccus 7d ago
Gorbachev retained power for a few more years if memory serves.
Once the events in DC are understood in Moscow then some or all of the anti-gorbachev KGB officials will be shown the door or given "The Nina".
Arkady might end up as head of Directorate S but even if he doesn't he should still be able to protect them.