‘The Americans’ recap: With FBI closing in, Philip does right by Martha

It was probably just a matter of days before FBI secretary Martha Hanson (Alison Wright) was arrested for treason.

So Martha’s husband – spy-with-a-conscience Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) – defies his KGB supervisor and acts unilaterally to protect her in “The Rat,” Episode 406 of “The Americans” on FX.

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Martha exclaims after being rushed to a Soviet safe house. “I’m scared! What am I doing here?”

Stunned KGB handler Gabriel (Frank Langella) also has questions for Philip. Specifically, what was he thinking when he brought in Martha?

“You’re acting impulsively,” Gabriel says, barely containing his rage. “I know the things we do are complicated, but we can fix this. Have Martha return to work tomorrow. This never happened!”

Resuming her duties is a nonstarter, Philip insists, for Martha knows what he looks like sans wig and glasses.

If the FBI interrogates Martha, she’ll crack, Philip predicts. And when that happens, Philip and his KGB wife Elizabeth (Keri Russell) could be headed for federal prison.

“You’ve risked lives,” Gabriel says, calling it “flat out wrong” for Philip to remove his disguise. “When were you going to tell me? Or were you going to tell me?”

“Stop handling me, Gabriel,” Philip yells, “because Martha is done!”

Apparently so, since the KGB hurriedly prepares for her exfiltration to the Soviet Union.

“I don’t care,” Martha tells Philip, realizing her previous life is kaput. “Doesn’t matter, not anymore, as long as we’re together!”

Philip nods, sparing Martha the harsh reality that her next destination is Russia and their time together is almost over.

At FBI headquarters, Agents Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) and Dennis Aderholt (Brandon J. Dirden) are all but convinced that Martha’s a traitor. After she calls in sick, Stan and Dennis search her apartment while a forensics team dusts for fingerprints.

“I think Martha’s bad,” Stan solemnly tells his boss Frank Gaad (Richard Thomas), director of the counter-terrorism division. Frank blames himself for being deceived by Martha, who unfortunately had access to everything.

“Nobody could have put that pen there more easily than Martha,” Frank says, referring to a KGB listening device discovered in his office. “How could I not see it?”

When Martha was a trusted FBI employee, she secretly copied surveillance reports about William (Dylan Baker), a suspected Soviet asset conducting research at a Department of Defense laboratory.

William is working for the USSR, of course, and he just sneaked out a sample of tularemia, a highly infectious pathogen that’s easily weaponized.

Gabriel orders Philip to rendezvous with William, not knowing if the FBI is watching. It’s worth the risk, Gabriel emphasizes, because bioweapons are critical for the motherland’s safety.

“If they [U.S. armed forces] target our nuclear capacity in the first strike,” Gabriel warns, “our people back home will have nothing to defend themselves with,” unless they fight back with biological warfare.

Luckily for Philip, the FBI isn’t watching when he meets William and comes away with a tularemia sample contained in tissues of a dead rat.

Martha, meanwhile, panics when she wakes up and Philip is gone. Moreover, a gun she hid in her purse is missing.

“What have you done to him?” Martha angrily asks Gabriel, fearing her husband is in danger. “What is happening to me?”

“We are all working very hard to get you to a safe place,” Gabriel says, desperately attempting to placate Martha.

“Get away from me! I know what you are,” Martha says defiantly. “I’ll scream and everyone will know that you’re KGB!”

With that, Martha walks away from the safe house and toward a very uncertain future.