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‘The Americans’ recap: Where’s Martha? The FBI and the KGB are on the hunt

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Caught between between the FBI and the KGB, panic-stricken traitor Martha Hanson (Alison Wright) can’t decide which way to turn in “Travel Agents,” Episode 407 of “The Americans” on FX.

Martha was a conscientious employee during most of her FBI tenure. That all changed, however, when the lonely secretary was seduced by KGB agent Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), who called himself “Clark” and claimed he worked for FBI internal affairs. They later married.

Now Martha’s future -- if she has one -- is bleak.

The feds know she planted a listening device in the office of her boss Frank Gaad (Richard Thomas), head of the FBI counter-terrorism division. And all the KGB can offer as compensation for her treasonous actions is a miserable existence behind the Iron Curtain.

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Frightened and confused, Martha fled a safe house after Philip left her alone with his handler, Gabriel (Frank Langella). When Gabriel tried to stop her, Martha threatened to yell “KGB!”

“We have a problem. Martha’s gone,” Gabriel informs Philip and his spy wife, Elizabeth (Keri Russell).

“If you find her, bring her back,” Gabriel orders. “If it’s in public and she starts screaming again, you may have no choice.” Meaning, of course, execution could be the only option.

FBI agents are also on the hunt, and they nearly locate Martha by tapping her parents’ landline.

“Daddy, I’m in trouble,” Martha confesses in a heartfelt “goodbye” call. “No matter what you hear, I love you!”

Then she dials a number she memorized for the KGB communications center.

“You left me! With a stranger,” Martha sobs when Philip picks up the phone. “I didn’t know if you were coming back. And it made me crazy!”

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“I’ll tell you everything. I promise,” Philip says in a calming voice. “But I need to know where you are.”

That would be Rock Creek Park in northwest Washington. Elizabeth gets there first, wearing a wig and glasses in her nondescript “Jennifer” disguise.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Martha angrily insists. “Stay away from me!”

Needing to act fast, Elizabeth punches Martha in the solar plexus.

“There is nowhere to go,” Elizabeth whispers in Martha’s ear. “They [FBI agents] know who you are. They’re coming for you. And they will find you!”

Once they’re back at the safe house, Elizabeth coaches Philip on how to manipulate Martha.

“Tell her that you’ll join her, that you’ll have a life together,” Elizabeth suggests. “She needs that hope to get on the plane.”

But Philip disregards Elizabeth’s advice. He answers Martha’s questions without sugarcoating what lies ahead.

“Tomorrow morning, early, you will leave for Russia to begin a new life,” Philip explains. “I know it’s not easy. It’s the only way.” And, Philip adds, he won’t be able to join her.

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“Not even to visit?” Martha asks, tears welling in her eyes. Now reality sets in.

“I’ll be alone, just the way it was before I met you,” Martha laments.

“They’ll take good care of you,” Philip says reassuringly, “treat you with respect and honor. They know your sacrifice.”

At FBI headquarters, Frank also faces a bleak future. Dismissal is probably imminent because his office was bugged, a murdered tech expert was falsely accused of being a mole, and Martha quietly wed a Soviet spy.

“I’m in charge of FBI counterintelligence and my secretary married a KGB officer,” Frank says with a mix of sadness and disbelief.

“It could have been for a million reasons,” FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) offers, trying to cheer up his supervisor. But the pep talk doesn’t work.

For as Frank glumly admits, “I’m pretty much dead already.”

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