Well, I think we can all agree that things have definitely taken a very dangerous turn in The Americans Season 4 premiere, which saw our two favorite KGB agents Elizabeth and Philip come into possession of a deadly pathogen that was stolen by a mole straight out of the Department of Defense's bioweapons lab. It's yellow. It's liquid. And, most importantly, it's highly contagious, which means this may very well be the Jennings' most difficult and highly dangerous assignment yet. Which, given the very nature of their jobs is really saying something. Their ultimate mission is presumably to get the plague-like substance to Russia for analysis so that they can use it to their advantage. But in the meantime, Elizabeth and Philip are charged with the task of babysitting it, which may prove to be just as tricky as getting it out of the country.
What makes me say that, you may ask? Well, considering the fact that they've only been in possession of said substance for a few minutes and already experienced a close call with breaking it, does very little ease my concern. You see, Philip was recently spotted hanging out with Stan's ex, Sandra. So, naturally, Stan found out and took this to mean that the two of them were sleeping together. Philip tried to explain that it was all completely innocent (which it actually was), but Stan's anger got the best of him and he started aggressively shoving Philip, who just so happened to have the deadly virus in his jacket pocket at the time.
Now, thankfully, when Philip later checked the container, it didn't appear to be broken in any way, which would've REALLY been problematic. But I think this close call is an indicator that things are only going to get more stressful (and dangerous) for Philip and Elizabeth from here on out. Whatever this substance is and can do, it's not good and could very well end up being the one mission that even a spy as dedicated as Elizabeth will have a hard time completing on a moral level. Only time will tell...
Image: Jessica Miglio/FX
