Duty and Honor

"Duty and Honor" is the seventh episode of the first season of the period drama television series The Americans. It originally aired on FX in the United States on March 13, 2013.

Plot

Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) is sent to New York City to discredit a Polish dissident. He meets up with Irina (Marina Squerciati), a former love who he knew back in Russia. They attend a travel agent convention and Irina poses as a Montreal travel agent. Irina tells Philip that she has been waiting a long time to see him again. Irina is set to meet with Charles Duluth (Reg Rogers), a journalist and contact of Philip's, and Andrzej Bielawski, the Polish resistance leader and a celibate man loosely based on the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko. Irina pretends to be a Polish immigrant.

The three of them go out to dinner. Shortly after, Charles leaves Irina and Andrzej alone. As they walk back to the hotel, Irina convinces Andrzej to let his guards hang back and give them more peace. Philip, dressed as a mugger, steals from them and the guards give chase. Later at the hotel, Irina drugs Andrzej. Philip apologizes to Irina for hurting her during the mugging. She tells him that he fathered a child with her and that he is 18 years old. Irina tells him that she wants to start life with him, before Philip beats her, giving her bruises on her face. Andrzej wakes up the next morning as a U.S. official enters with photos of the beaten Irina, claiming that she was brutally beaten and raped by Andrzej.

Philip sleeps with Irina, and the same night receives a call from an apologetic Elizabeth (Keri Russell), who asks him to come home. Irina speaks to Philip more about their son. She tells him that he is in the military. Irina confides in Philip that she has grown tired of working with the KGB, believing that what they did to Andrzej was cruel. She wants for her and Philip to run away together, but Philip believes she is lying to him about having a son together. Philip refuses to go with her because he can not leave the two children he knows and loves.

While Philip is in New York, Elizabeth and the kids are invited to dinner with the Beemans. Sandra (Susan Misner) informs Elizabeth that Stan (Noah Emmerich) is busy working. She confides in Elizabeth that her marriage with Stan isn't working and that she's envious of her and Philip for being able to work together professionally. Elizabeth remarks that marriage is hard and Sandra replies, "at the end of the day, you either choose to keep going or you don’t."

Meanwhile, Stan and Chris Amador (Maximiliano Hernández) go out for a beer where Amador remarks that Stan is more comfortable working than in his personal life. He suggests that Stan sleep with a girl at the bar, but Stan instead meets up with Nina (Annet Mahendru), and the pair have sex. Nina tells him that she will not blackmail him because of their liaison and that it doesn't have to happen again if he doesn't want it to.

Philip returns from New York, where Elizabeth tells him she wants to work on their marriage. She asks him if anything happened between him and Irina and he says no.

Production

The episode was written by Joshua Brand and directed by Alex Chapple.

Reception

In its original American broadcast on March 13, 2013, "Duty and Honor" was watched by 1.70 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings.^[1]

References

External links

• "Duty and Honor" at FX
• "Duty and Honor" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Duty and Honor" at TV.com