I'm feeling sad that it's about to end...

Yeah, I feel that way, too, about Elizabeth's belated awakening that maybe Philip has a point about asking questions to her superiors. It's definitely a game-changer for where the plot can go now, and looking ahead to a climax of a Philip vs. Elizabeth showdown doesn't seem so definite anymore.

Nope, all will die.

The Breaking Bad comparison occurred to me, also. I was very much hoping The Americans would avoid the same kind of sudden reveal that happened when Hank found the book and it suddenly clicked that Walt was Heisenberg. The Americans has made Stan's discovery much more of slow burn kind of reveal, a dawning realization more than a sudden light-bulb moment.

I'm tending to think along the same lines--that at least the Jennings kids will survive this tale. The creator of the show has talked about how the inspiration for the series came from the true-life tale of one family also with two children (two boys in this case) who once outed were deported back to Russia (this happening in the spy case that was broken after the USSR had fallen).

I think it might be too late for Elizabeth to either receive or deserve redemption, although I suppose if you happen to be a forgiving a person you'd believe that redemption can come (and be deserved) at any time, as long as it's genuine. I would like to see Philip survive since he's definitely changed the most since the story began, but I don't think he will (survive), and that will make this story all the more tragic since he's earned another chance more so than Elizabeth.

I think both of the kids will make it out alive and be sent "home" to the USSR (just like in the real-life circumstance) where they'll be strangers in a soviet land, outcasts, and unable to integrate into their new surroundings (which will be implied or maybe even less, just inferred, since there's only so much time the show has left to do much in one final episode).

So, in keeping with the true nature of most tragedies, someone always needs to die, and in this case it will be either one or both between Philip and Elizabeth, and I honestly can't say I can guess how it's going to climax. I guess we'll find out in five days!

> There will need to be a couple scenes with Stan after he knows who they are. Stan would definitely want them locked up or even executed, but that won't happen.

Yeah, but ... Stan tends to see enemies as human beings first and enemies second. Which is not a bad thing in itself, but he sometimes lets it influence his actions toward those people (Nina, Oleg). And P&E have been his neighbors and friends for years; he knows them, they've been in and out of each others' houses a zillion times (which, BTW, makes it a little lacking in credibility that he only now has found out that Elizabeth smokes at all). He's babysat their kids. His son briefly dated their daughter. He's played racketball with Philip a few thousand times. Well, ya get the idea.

I'm just guessing out loud here, and I hadn't even thought of this until I saw your comment two minutes ago and the possibilities began occuring to me ... but I wonder if we're going to see something like this? Stan knows who they are, knows what they've been up to, etc. He knows that if they're caught they'll spend a *long* time locked up, and their lives (as well as Paige's and Henry's) will be wrecked. And he's got *the* key piece of information to make an arrest happen. Maybe P&E have disappeared but somehow Stan has figured out which way they've headed; maybe he's got some critical document nobody else knows about that's got P&E's fingerprints on it; whatever. Point it, it's up to him. If he says nothing, P&E get away; if he does his duty P&E are locked up. He knows he should turn them in, but ... he just can't make himself do it.

Anyway, it's gonna be interesting. With all the things that have happened just over the past two weeks, I can't come up with any guesses for the ending that even strike me as fairly plausible; every scenario I come up with has some problem, some reason things can't work out that way. Which is just a compliment to how well the writers have done their jobs.