'The Americans' season 4 episode 12 recap and review: Paige finds out more about her parents’ spy life; Philip confronts William about bio weapons

“The Americans” Season 4 Episode 12 called “A Roy Rogers in Franconia” included a lot of important plot climaxes for all the characters, especially Paige and Oleg.

The episode focused on a story line about Paige (Holly Taylor) and her mother Elizabeth (Keri Russell). When Philip (Matthey Rhys), Paige’s dad, had to go out for work, Elizabeth took the opportunity to do a heart to heart talk with her daughter. They discussed what Paige witnessed during the previous episode, where she was traumatized upon seeing her mother kill a person.

Paige started by asking if they need to call the police and if it was necessary for her mother to kill the person. Elizabeth then defends her actions by saying that she was trained to defend herself and that she was not letting anyone hurt her daughter.

Paige continued on how everything happened so fast and how she felt scared and panicked while her Elizabeth was surprisingly calm during the ordeal. She further inquired if it is the first time that her mother killed a person and how many times has she done it. This made Elizabeth uncomfortable and kept on giving vague statements like “I do it for my country”, which made Paige frustrated.

The story also showed Philip meeting with William (Dylan Baker). They discussed how William does not want to be part of the acquisition of the biological weapon that may face out the entire planet. They continue on a discussion with Gabriel who justified that acquiring it may actually save the Earth before it is sold to the wrong hands.

Oleg (Costa Ronin), who works as a double agent give the FBI some information on the biological weapons lab. However, he terminated his relationship with them as he felt the urge to go home. The FBI was able to catch the girl who has been changing the mail robot tapes. The girl said that she met with an unknown person in a dinner called “Roy Rogers In Franconia”, which is where the episode title came from.

Paige had a kissing scene with Matthew (Danny Flaherty), but also evaded him. Her parents grilled her on whether she liked Matthew or not. Philip was suddenly summoned for a mission and Paige wanted to know. She then questioned her parents if they trusted her or not.

“The Americans” airs Wednesdays on FX in the US. It also airs on SoHo in Australia.