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"EST Men" is the third season premiere of the American television drama series ''
The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX (TV channel), FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg ...
'', and the 27th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on January 28, 2015 in the United States on FX.


Plot

Elizabeth Jennings meets an ex-
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
analyst, who is willing to share a list of CIA operatives in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, but after feeling guilty, confesses her indiscretion via telephone and tries to waylay Elizabeth until the authorities arrive. Elizabeth is chased by Frank Gaad and his associate. After fighting with them, she manages to escape with minor injuries, but loses the operatives list in the process. Gaad also informs
Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...
that Nina has been charged with
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
and
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
. Philip and Elizabeth meet Gabriel (
Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flori ...
), their mentor and original contact with The Centre, who tries to persuade them to recruit Paige. Elizabeth describes how she and Paige are attending Paige's church together and that they have grown closer. She says Paige is open to new ideas and ideologies, and that she and Philip are slowly laying the groundwork for telling Paige their true identities. Later, Philip and Elizabeth argue over whether Paige should be recruited and whether or not Elizabeth is assessing her abilities for The Centre. Gabriel also gives Elizabeth a cassette tape with a recording made by her mother, in which her mother says she is dying. Stan Beeman attends EST along with Philip, but is annoyed with it and finds it stupid. He tries to give Sandra the impression he's open to EST, but when Sandra tells him to tell the truth, he confesses that he didn't like it. Arkady Ivanovich and Oleg Igorevich discuss if they can help Nina; Oleg has begged his well-connected father to intervene to no avail. Oleg is later shown tailing Stan. Philip continues to persuade Annelise to extract information from Yousaf, and she agrees, but expresses doubts and tells Philip she's in love with Yousaf. Later, while she and Yousaf are having sex, she confesses that she has a secret but swears she is on Yousaf's side. Overcome with rage, Yousaf strangles her. Philip, listening in the next room and disguised as Annelise's husband, catches him in the act but is unable to save Annelise. Outraged at first, he controls himself and tempts Yousaf with the promise that he can make the problem go away.


Production

The episode was written by Joel Fields and series creator
Joe Weisberg Joseph Weisberg is an American television writer, producer, novelist, and school teacher. Weisberg is best known as the creator and showrunner of the FX TV series ''The Americans''. Career A 1987 graduate of Yale University, Weisberg became a C ...
and directed by
Daniel Sackheim Daniel Sackheim (born in 1962) is an American television and film director, producer, and photographer. Sackheim has produced and directed for ''The X-Files'', ''Law & Order'', ''House'' and ''NYPD Blue''. He also directed '' The Walking Dead,'' ...
. The episode marks the first appearance of
Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flori ...
as Gabriel, mentor of Elizabeth and Philip. Beginning with this episode,
Lev Gorn Lev Gorn (russian: Лев Горенс; born 1971 in Stavropol) is a Russian-born American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his role as KGB officer Arkady Ivanovich Zotov in ''The Americans''. Later, he had a recurring rol ...
,
Costa Ronin Konstantin "Costa" Ronin (born 3 February 1979) is an Australian actor and cinematographer, best known for appearances in '' Red Dog'', as Gregorovich on the SBS drama ''East West 101'', as Oleg Igorevich Burov in the FX drama ''The Americans'' ...
, and Richard Thomas are credited as series regulars.


Reception

The episode was watched by 1.895 million viewers and scored 0.6 ratings in 18-49 demographics, as per
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. The critics reviewed the episode positively.
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
rated gave the episode an A−.
Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He th ...
from
Hitfix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...
reviewed the episode positively.
TV.com TV.com was a website owned by Red Ventures that covered television series and episodes with a focus on English-language shows made or broadcast in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Origin ...
described the episode as "''EST Men'' was mainly a set-up/catch-up hour, but it unfolded in the taut fashion The Americans has come to perfect, and that's kind of all it needed to do."


References


External links


"EST Men"
at FX * {{The Americans The Americans (season 3) episodes 2015 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Daniel Sackheim