As the penultimate episode before next week’s second season finale, “Operation Chronicle” positioned all the characters for a nail-biting ending.
“Operation Chronicle” picks up immediately where we left off last week with Philip and Elizabeth trying to figure out how to get Jared out. They learn that Jared knew his parents were undercover KGB agents. Elizabeth approaches him on his walk to school, and delivers one of the biggest understatements of the series: “There are some problems and you might be in some danger.” Jared ends up with the same woman who nursed Elizabeth back to health after she was shot last season.
As Elizabeth tries to take Jared to safety, Larrick is right behind them. Larrick has been such a great villain this season. Lee Tergesen has the perfect balance of menace and aw-shucks charm. so I totally believe that he would kill Jared if he had the chance and also that he would be able to sweet talk a train station employee.
Things are not looking good for Nina. Stan tells her he will get her money and a car and she can disappear. “You know how to disappear if you have to and I’ll visit you whenever I can,” he tells her. That is not enough for Nina. Did Nina decide not to go ahead with Stan’s plan when she realized she would be all alone, or did she know all along she would not betray the KGB again? Either way, Nina lets herself get beaten up to raise the stakes. Stan gets them the Echo technology, or Nina is sent back to the Soviet Union to stand trial. “You could go off together – free and happy,” Arkady promises him. What I continue to love about Noah Emmerich’s performance is that I still believe Stan could go either way on this. Is he a loyal FBI agent? Sure. But he’s already crossed the line once for Nina. He could do it again.
Two marriages—one ostensibly real and one fake—had some key moments this week. Martha has taken some confidential files from the FBI. Philip is stunned, but Martha says she’s been complaining about the lack of security around these documents for months and no one has been listening to her. But then Martha does something shocking: she tells Philip she even loves his toupee. WHAT?? Martha knows Philip’s hair is not real. Is this the first step in her figuring out that his hair isn’t the only thing Philip is lying about? I’m glad Martha has lived this long into the second season, and I really hope she makes it to the third. The development of her relationship with Philip has been a very interesting aspect to this season. Now Martha wants children and clearly that’s not an option for “Clark.” I would like to see more of their relationship unfold.
Meanwhile, Stan may have a real marriage, but it’s equally built on lies. He lies every day to his wife about what’s really going on with his job and, of course, he’s having an affair. Sandy tells her husband that she’s going to move in with the man she’s been seeing, telling him that “He’s able to go with the flow of things.” Once again, this announcement comes at a particularly vulnerable time for Stan. He doesn’t have his wife’s love, but he thinks he has Nina’s love.