<i>The Americans</i> Recap: Running to Nowhere in 'Operation Chronicle'

There's a lot of foreboding, because even as Paige asserts herself, Elizabeth is starting to worry that this all is so unsustainable. How long until Paige is on a train to nowhere, getting answers to her long asked questions?
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Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 2, Episode 12 of FX's The Americans, titled "Operation Chronicle."

Wig count:Only 4. Things are getting pretty twisted as the season wraps up and the most symbolic moment, signaling just how out of control everything is becoming? Martha calls Clark out on his "toupee." So much for her being stupid, she's been onto him this whole time. She also steals files that he might actually need from the mail-room, to help him prove that Agent Gaad isn't running a secure office.

And he's not. If anything, this episode focused on Beeman and the double-blind he's caught up in with Nina. Stan actually makes the choice to get information on Echo to the Rezidentura, because Arkady promises that he and Nina can run together and make a new life. He asks his wife if she wants him to move out, as if that even mattered after committing treason.

He's in for a big surprise. Oleg suspects that Arkady is still going to be forced to send Nina back to Moscow for a trial. I used to think he was a dummy, but he's got Nina's back. He hands her an envelope full of cash and with loaded eyes, tells her to run, run, run.

Everything is more than it seems. It always has been, but things are bubbling over. Elizabeth helps get Jared out, but Larrick's right behind them. We still don't know why Kate was meeting with Jared out of disguise, or why that contact had a closet full of presents for the kid, how important he might have been. And what does Larrick want from him? Just revenge?

Paige tells the church minister that she doesn't know her parents, bringing us almost full circle to last season's finale, where she stands in the laundry room, wondering what they do in there. Tonight, Philip signaled from the house, Paige eavesdropped on her parents' phone call, and questions her mother's lies.

There's a lot of foreboding, because even as Paige asserts herself, Elizabeth is starting to worry that this all is so unsustainable. How long until Paige is on a train to nowhere, getting answers to her long asked questions?

Let me know what you think in the comments or tweet me @karenfratti.

"The Americans" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.

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