It was called "The Midges". It's not as fun out of context I think.

I don't think they're being passed off as good guys. Problem is the show is done largely from their POV, & they don't, usually, think of themselves as the bad guys. Of course you have degrees: Philip's doubt vs. Elizabeth's greater surety.

One of the things I like the most about The Americans is lack of spoon-feeding the audience as to what is good & what isn't. E.g. when, in season one, they reassured the Kremlin that Reagan & Haig didn't represent a coup, that was actually a positive thing. Killing the old lady in the machine shop (& then later, the tech at the aggro lab) were terrible indeed, even for Elizabeth, they represented a nadir in the quality of their work & mission (especially when you consider that neither operation yielded the expected results).

Of course, it stands to reason that the US & its allies are running similar operations inside the USSR & Warsaw Pact countries.

One thing I do find morally reprehensible in the latest episode is Philip & Elizabeth permitting Paige to continue to believe that her country is still attempting to spread famine into Eastern Europe.

Yes, it's not that the writers are trying to be pro-Russia, but they need to show us why Philip & Elizabeth justify their spying to themselves.

And yes, them lying to Paige about their current mission is awful.

Philip clearly has many psychological problems associated with all the killing he has done--he is not without a conscience. He is shown as troubled and unstable; even his superiors in the Russian spy mafia worry about Philip's mental stability. Elizabeth is also not a happy woman partly because of the scrambled, false worlds she finds herself trying to navigate. Both Philip and Elizabeth are intelligent, complex people who often, in conversation, question their own actions and loyalties.

That look on Philip's face after that last conversation with Gabriel said it all. Don't forget he started out very young in this. There was only black and white. no gray, the USSR was always in the right. Now he's thinking wtf!

Now that Gabriel will be gone, Philip is losing his strongest emotional support--Philip knows it and fears the consequences.

I also grew up during this time but I guess I was sheltered living in Sweden because I only got to know what my parents and teachers told me. I heard about the bread lines, the poverty and that pure communism was bad, really bad. Sweden is a socialist country as some of you might know.

When watching The Americans I keep thinking, why on earth are they so hell bent on going home again? Is patriotism really so etched in you that you would risk end up living in misery?

During the dinner dates with Pasha and his parents, I get the feeling there's mixed feelings between the couple. Philip seems to listen to the complaints and take them to heart. Some of the stuff he's saying is just horrific, and when he heard about the camps, maybe he's starting to get a different picture of his mother Russia.

They are definitely growing leery of the truth about their country. Especially Phillip. I too had a problem with the episode in which they forced the old lady to off herself. But I think that was the point when the self doubt began for them.