The Deal (The Americans) - Misplaced Pages

5th episode of the 2nd season of The Americans

"The Deal"

The Americans episode

The Americans

Episode no.

Season 2
Episode 5

Directed by

Dan Attias

Written by

Angelina Burnett

Featured music

"The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers

Production code

BDU205

Original air date

March 26, 2014 (2014-03-26)

Running time

51 minutes

Guest appearances

Richard Thomas as Frank Gaad
Lev Gorn as Arkady Ivanovich
Costa Ronin as Oleg Burov
Michael Aronov as Anton Baklanov
John Bedford Lloyd as Jim Halliwell
Cliff Marc Simon as Mossad Agent
Wrenn Schmidt as Kate
Jefferson White as Brad Mullin

Episode chronology

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"A Little Night Music"

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"Behind the Red Door"

The Americans season 2

List of episodes

"The Deal" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American television drama series The Americans, and the 18th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on FX in the United States on March 26, 2014.

Plot

The Jennings capture and hide their attacker in an abandoned restaurant. The man turns out to be an agent of Mossad (the national intelligence agency of Israel), which prompts the Soviets to make a deal with Israel. Philip stays with their captive while the Soviets attempt to trade him for the scientist Anton. The Mossad agent aggravates Philip by discussing their roles in the war and says that where he "hides what he does", Philip "hides who he is".

Elizabeth receives Martha’s messages for Clark. Posing as Clark’s sister Jennifer, she convinces Martha not to put Clark’s name on an application form. Martha, who is drunk, tells "Jennifer" that Clark is an "animal in bed".

The FBI gets word that Anton is missing and realizes that the Soviets are trying to extract him.

Elizabeth gets Andrew Larrick's files from Mullen, who realizes that she will no longer be interested in a relationship with him.

The trade deal is made and, after swapping the Mossad agent for Anton, Philip drives Anton to a cargo ship headed for Russia. En route, Anton begs Philip to let him stay in America and work from there, breaking down in tears. Philip ignores him.

Based on Nina’s word, Stan deduces that Oleg Igerovich Burov would be the one transporting Anton and tails him. When they arrive at the docks, Oleg is waiting for Stan (Anton was taken to another location). Oleg tells Stan that he is the only one who knows Nina is working for him, and threatens to expose it if he gets nothing in return.

Production

Development

In February 2014, FX confirmed that the fifth episode of the season would be titled "The Deal", and that it would be written by Angelina Burnett, and directed by Dan Attias. This was Burnett's first writing credit, and Attias' first directing credit.

Reception

Viewers

In its original American broadcast, "The Deal" was seen by an estimated 1.36 million household viewers with a 0.4 in the 18-49 demographics. This means that 0.4 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode. This was a slight decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 1.39 million household viewers with a 0.5 in the 18-49 demographics.

Critical reviews

"The Deal" received critical acclaim. Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.8 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "This week's Americans put Philip in another fascinating scenario with a fellow, albeit enemy, spy, while Elizabeth had to deal, face to face, with the emotional fallout of a husband who has a second wife as part of their job."

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "'The Deal' is an installment of The Americans where the whole isn't as strong as the sum of the individual parts, because even though the parts are mostly terrific, there are too many of them. FX has given this show, like many of its dramas, the freedom to come in long when the creative team needs the extra time, but in this case I would say being forced to hit a rigid time would have been useful." The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A" grade and wrote, "We've been talking a bit this season about how the show boils everything in its universe down to questions of loyalty and fidelity, but 'The Deal' took things a step further, to my mind. Now we're dealing not just with loyalty but the idea of having a home, or even a homeland. That idea is already deeply buried in the creation of the nation of Israel, but we also see how Philip long for the Soviet Union from time to time, or how Anton has made the United States unambiguously his home. Remove these characters from their familiar trappings, and they become unmoored."

Matt Zoller Seitz of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "'The Deal,' the fifth episode of The Americans' second season, is one of the greats. Running longer than normal and giving every major character plenty to do, it could have been titled 'Quartets.' Written by Angelina Burnett and directed by Daniel Attias, it boasted more plot than some shows pack into a season, yet it was all not just intelligible, but fascinating." Carla Day of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "'The Deal' was my favorite episode of the season. The nuances were subtle, but clearly demonstrated the internal struggles of the characters, especially Philip. The Soviets got their scientist, but I'm not sure it was really a win for Philip. Right now, I'm most nervous for Nina. She's in a tough spot and it just got so much more dangerous."

References

"(#205) "The Deal"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Kondolojy, Amanda (March 27, 2014). "Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Duck Dynasty' Finale Tops Night + NBA Basketball, 'Psych', 'Workaholics' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Bibel, Sara (March 20, 2014). "Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Duck Dynasty' Wins Night, 'Wahlburgers', 'Workaholics', 'Psych', 'Broad City'& More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Goldman, Eric (March 26, 2014). "The Americans: "The Deal" Review". IGN. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Sepinwall, Alan (March 26, 2014). "Review: 'The Americans' – 'The Deal': Next year in Jerusalem". HitFix. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Valentine, Genevieve; St. James, Emily (March 26, 2014). "The Americans: "The Deal"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Zoller Seitz, Matt (March 27, 2014). "The Americans Recap: What to Hold, Fold Them". Vulture. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
Day, Carla (March 26, 2014). "The Americans Review: Is Philip a Monster?". TV Fanatic. Retrieved August 3, 2023.

External links

"The Deal" at FX
"The Deal" at IMDb

v t e The Americans
Characters	Elizabeth Jennings Philip Jennings Stan Beeman
Seasons	1 2 3 4 5 6
Episodes	"Pilot" "The Clock" "Gregory" "In Control" "COMINT" "Trust Me" "Duty and Honor" "Mutually Assured Destruction" "Safe House" "Only You" "Covert War" "The Oath" "The Colonel" "Comrades" "Cardinal" "The Walk In" "A Little Night Music" "The Deal" "Behind the Red Door" "Arpanet" "New Car" "Martial Eagle" "Yousaf" "Stealth" "Operation Chronicle" "Echo" "EST Men" "Baggage" "Open House" "Dimebag" "Salang Pass" "Born Again" "Walter Taffet" "Divestment" "Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?" "Stingers" "One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov" "I Am Abassin Zadran" "March 8, 1983" "Glanders" "Pastor Tim" "Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow" "Chloramphenicol" "Clark's Place" "The Rat" "Travel Agents" "The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears" "The Day After" "Munchkins" "Dinner for Seven" "A Roy Rogers in Franconia" "Persona Non Grata" "Amber Waves" "Pests" "The Midges" "What's the Matter with Kansas?" "Lotus 1-2-3" "Crossbreed" "The Committee on Human Rights" "Immersion" "IHOP" "Darkroom" "Dyatkovo" "The World Council of Churches" "The Soviet Division" "Dead Hand" "Tchaikovsky" "Urban Transport Planning" "Mr. and Mrs. Teacup" "The Great Patriotic War" "Rififi" "Harvest" "The Summit" "Jennings, Elizabeth" "START"

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