‘The Americans’ recap: Are travel plans in the future for Philip and Elizabeth?

The Cold War is heating up, the FBI is closing in and KGB officer Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) is getting sick of his job.

Does this mean it’s time for Philip and his spy wife, Elizabeth (Keri Russell), to collect their kids Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati) and go home? Not to their suburban home in Falls Church, Va., but to their real home in the Soviet Union.

That question looms large in “Persona Non Grata,” the Season 4 finale of “The Americans” on FX.

Philip wakes up every morning “with this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach,” he admits at an EST self-realization seminar. But that doesn’t stop him from embarking on one of his most hazardous assignments.

Scientist William Crandall (Dylan Baker) has prepared a deadly package for Philip to pick up. It’s a vial containing a modified strain of the Lassa virus that, if weaponized, could kill thousands of people.

The operation fails when FBI Agents Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) and Dennis Aderholt (Brandon J. Dirden) chase William into a park. Realizing there’s no escape, William breaks the vial and jabs it into his palm.

“I suggest you don’t move,” William cautions the G-men. “You might want to get me to a hospital, the biocontainment treatment facility, as soon as possible.”

William’s arrest puts Philip and Elizabeth in immediate danger, and this means their tour of duty in America might be drawing to a close.

“I think you two and your children should return home,” KGB handler Gabriel (Frank Langella) calmly announces.

“Philip, your heart hasn’t been in this for a long time. Elizabeth, you’ve been doing this for almost 20 years. The job wasn’t meant to be forever.”

But of course, Gabriel adds, “it’s your decision.”

As for William, he’s dying in a hospital isolation unit while Stan and Dennis speak with him via intercom.

“In a few days, everything that’s inside me that matters will have oozed out through my orifices,” William bitterly laments. Eventually he reveals a few tantalizing details about Philip and Elizabeth without mentioning them by name.

“Couple of kids,” William utters in a weak voice. “American dream! Never suspect them. She’s pretty. He’s lucky.”

Got that, Stan and Dennis?

At the Soviet rezidentura in Washington, meanwhile, KGB official Arkady Ivanovich (Lev Gorn) is being expelled from the U.S. for numerous criminal acts committed during his tenure.

“You’ve gone too far,” FBI Agent Wolfe (Peter Jacobson) declares. “You’ve got 48 hours to get out!”

Arkady’s departure means KGB officer Tatiana Evgenyevna (Vera Cherny) won’t direct the rezidentura in Kenya as she was promised. Instead, she’ll remain in Washington as Arkady’s temporary replacement.

Tatiana’s lover/comrade Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) plans to join his parents in Moscow, however. They’re mourning the loss of Oleg’s younger brother, a soldier killed in Afghanistan.

“You’re a good son,” Tatiana says to Oleg before sadly walking away.

Speaking of sons, Philip sired a boy out of wedlock. Now Mischa (Alex Ozerov) is a young adult intending to cross the Iron Curtain and search for his dad in America.

All Mischa knows is that Philip works as a travel agent (when he’s not spying).

Finally, Paige might be following her parents’ career path. She’s gathering intel on FBI neighbor Stan by becoming romantically involved with his son Matthew (Danny Flaherty).

“Father of the bride, you’re paying,” Stan jokes with Philip. “You can use my backyard if you want to.”

But Philip certainly doesn’t want a spy daughter. And he doesn’t want her dating Matthew.

“Don’t do this, Paige,” Philip angrily insists. “You have no idea! No idea!”