On Wednesday night, the sixth and final season of The Americans comes to an end. The Jennings are about to hit the road, Stan and the Feds are closing in and Claudia made stew and no one seems to care. The Cold War is close to ending and one of the best shows of the past decade is ending as well. No show has routinely messed with it’s audiences’ emotions more than The Americans, leading me to frequently wonder which character I should be most worried about because the reality is that I am always worried about all of them. Even the mail robot.

How exactly will The Americans end is still very much up in the air, although I’m still sticking with my Breaking Bad theory as it pertains to the ending. I just feel that this all ends with Philip and Stan staring each other down, a la Hank and Walt. The big difference though is the role Elizabeth will play. Odds are good she’s more likely to play the role of the Nazi biker gang as opposed to Jesse, but who knows for sure.

We don’t know much heading into the series’ finale, which is why I started writing down questions I had for it immediately after the series’ penultimate episode ended with Elizabeth grabbing the go bag after receiving a call from Philip and Stan awaiting sketches of two spies that will definitely look a lot like Philip and Elizabeth. I ended up with eight questions, but I feel like it could have been more if time allowed. And that doesn’t include the biggest question of all: how does this end.

Where are they going?

In the preview of the finale, Philip, Elizabeth and Paige have hit the road, presumably to go pick up Henry in New Hampshire. But where do they go after that? They’re in the cold man, having sided with the side in Russia that despite being on the come-up, is still on the outside looking in. They need a change in government stat and even that isn’t a guarantee of a rousing welcome back home.

So where’s their final destination? Canada? Argentina? Somewhere in Africa or Cuba maybe? I suppose the bigger question is if you think they even make their destination.

What will they tell Henry?

I would bet that they yadda-yadda the part where Elizabeth and Philip grab Paige. Paige has no doubt been warned about something like this happening. She’ll be as prepared as possible. Henry, though? Dude, now you’re really not returning to school for your senior year.

What happens to the travel agency?

And yeah, remember how Stavros alluded to knowing something about the monkey business going on in the back office? They don’t just leave that hanging, do they?

Have we seen the last of Claudia?

Claudia took the news of Elizabeth’s betrayal about as well as was to be expected. She gets bonus points for being so stone cold that she poured herself some stew as Elizabeth was leaving. I might have reacted differently, but that’s just me.

From an acting standpoint, that definitely felt like goodbye. If anything, I could see Claudia showing up in a montage during the episode’s final ten minutes or so.

What about Oleg? What happens to him?

Ugh, doesn’t look good. It also looks straight up unfortunate because he and Stan have kind of been at least somewhat on the same side for a while now and now, now they are super close to being on the same side. They want the same thing: peace. But even though their ideologies are aligned, they remain far apart because of allegiances.

It has felt as if Oleg has been on the verge of death for the majority of this season and if not death, on the cusp of some sort of doom. I think his fate gets sealed before the episode ends and no, I don’t think it includes airfare back to the Soviet Union.

And Martha? Any chance we see Martha again?

I think she’s totally a final montage candidate, but I’m not holding my breath.

How does this all play out for Stan?

We saw in the preview for the finale that all of Stan’s suspicions about his lovely neighbors are confirmed, with him saying “I’m going to kill him” as he presumably looks at a sketch of Philip. Stan already shared his thoughts with Aderholt, but those thoughts were also somewhat dismissed. Now it’s a real thing, now, as Aderholt says, “you’re going to have to choose. Now.” Is he talking to Stan, though? He could be talked to Oleg or that clueless Russian priest. You know, he probably is. Plus, it’s not as if Stan is down for choosing. Unless it’s kill the Jennings or arrest them? Even that doesn’t seem up for much debate.

But, and this can’t be slept on, Stan has been living across from these people for almost a decade now. A decade! And he was a spy hunter. It’s not a good look for him and maybe to really drive the point home that he was also in the deceived category, he is encouraged to kill, so as to ensure that his loyalty aren’t questioned.

He probably retires after this, right? Well, unless Elizabeth kills him.

Will Chekhov’s cyanide pill be a factor in the finale?

Oh, you mean the one ominously hanging around Elizabeth’s neck all season?

Yeah, seems like it’ll be in play.

A couple bonus questions I’m just going to throw out there

Will some people’s suspicions about Stan’s wife (that she’s a spy as well) be confirmed?
What happens to a spy’s house after they bolt and leave everything? Like, an auction or something?
Will there be a shot of Gabriel in a montage, if there is one?

Categories: Television

Tags: the americans