Entertainment News - TV

THIS ISSUE: The Americans, Wayward Pines, The Real Housewives of New York, 2016 CMT Music Awards TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT Back to the USSR? FX BECAUSE: "I think you two and your children should return home." That's Gabriel's simple suggestion at the end of The American's season 4 finale. And though it is simply a suggestion, not exactly an order, Elizabeth and Philip have to consider it: "Philip, your heart hasn't been in this for a long time... Elizabeth, you've been doing this for over 20 years. The job wasn't meant to be forever." And so goes The Americans version of a cliffhanger... will they stay or will they go now?

The Americans FX WHAT HAPPENED: But how did Philip and Elizabeth find themselves poised to return to Russia? Well, on his way to meet Philip to hand off the Lassa virus,the FBI catches up with William, and rather than hand himself over willingly, he infects himself with the deadly virus and allows himself to be captured: "You might want to get me to a hospital with a bio-containment treatment facility -- as soon as possible." Over in another hospital in Mother Russia, we get our first look at Mischa, a.k.a., Philip's illegitimate son who's in a mental ward for speaking out against the war. But thanks to a few connections, he's getting out. But connections will only get you so far -- back in the U.S., William's insides are presumably melting right in front of the FBI. He only makes a small allusion to Mr. and Mrs. Jennings, but Gabriel knows the FBI has him, and he tells Philip and Elizabeth it might be time to go. They're not sure -- until of course, they return home to find that Elizabeth has been making out with Matthew at Stan's house. Philip begs his daughter, "Don't do this... You have no idea," and the way he walks her back home feels a lot more like running... WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: As for what that final scene meant, and if Paige's teenage tryst was her way of choosing family over faith, executive producer Joe Weisberg had three words for EW: "We don't know." And fellow EP Joel Fields tacked on two more: "Good questions!" Okay, so that's how we'll be playing it heading into the series' final two seasons. But Weisberg and Fields did have a few tips for what kinds of questions they'll be asking themselves as they begin to head toward the end of The Americans: "The questions we ask are the character questions. What's going to happen to these people? What's going to happen to their souls? How are they going to emerge from the trials that they're in as humans?" Yeah, those are some tough ones... we'll let them handle it.

Wayward Pines Fox WHAT HAPPENED: Child stars always have it the roughest, don't they? In Wednesday's episode of Wayward Pines, we get a glimpse into Jason's origin story -- a boy raised to lead humanity, and then thrust into the driver's seat before he was even 20. And what a perfect time for the woman who raised him as such, Pam -- or as EW recapper Shirley Li calls her, "Nurse Pam of House Pilcher, Mother of Wayward Pines, Queen of Saccharine Monologues, First of Her Name" -- to return from her exile with a terrorist plot up her sleeve. See, that vial she took from Megan's lab was a strand of smallpox, and she's ready to end the fairy-tale-turned-nightmare that is Wayward Pines that she started so many years ago. She pleads with Jason, "Sweetie, I am trying to give you a gift. I raised you to be a leader, and I'm begging you to lead your people to a peaceful end." Ah yes, the peaceful end of smallpox... WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: But Jason's not buying it. He's fine with his fairy tale being a little murder-y and his leadership a little monster-y... so he takes Pam out into the woods and chokes her to death. If the flashbacks to Jason's twisted upbringing, plus the killing of his mother figure left you with an uneasy feeling, you weren't alone -- TVLine had that "little pang of sympathy"too. "Don't get it twisted," though, they say: "I didn't put aside my disdain for the lil' dictator because he had to choke the life out of the woman who raised him ... Rather, I wanted someone to momentarily dry his tears because Pam shot herself up with smallpox and planted a maternal kiss on his lips in the hopes that he'd be Patient X in the town's demise. Couldn't she have done it quick and dirty with a bomb or a fire or even a wave of Abbys?" Noted: Next time someone is trying to put Wayward Pines out of its misery, don't use a slow-acting infectious disease with an incubation period.

The Real Housewives of New York City Bravo WHAT HAPPENED: Given that EW recapper Tim Stack defines last week'sRHONY as "one of the greatest hours in Housewives history," it's not surprising that Wednesday's episode couldn't quite live up to the precedent set before it. But we'll always have Luann's red lace jumpsuit ... oh, Luann's red lace jumpsuit! Bethenny's rage against the Countess continues, and as she screams at Luann and mixes up a Skinnygirl cocktail, Luann begins speaking in the third person ("Does Luann like to flirt? Yes!") while wearing a blouse from her collection -- the New York Housewives are nothing if not on-brand. The women finally make it out of the Berkshires (where Dorinda's sentiment was, "I want to light my house on fire right now. Burn it down.") and back to the city for Ramona's holiday party, home of Luann's jumpsuit (where Sonja's sentiment is, "This party sucks," because she doesn't want to apologize to Bethenny). Never change, ladies. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: After Luann's declaration that she's "the Samantha" of the group last week, and Wednesday's assertion that Carole is the narrator, Vulture was spiraling trying to figure out how to slot the New York Housewives into appropriate Sex and the City roles. So they brought in counter-references: "Bethenny is the Dorothy. She's the hard-edged, smart one -- the Julia Sugarbaker, the Regina George, the Rizzo. I suppose Carole also makes sense as the Carrie; she is a writer, after all. And Ramona is a good choice for Charlotte, or perhaps more to the point, the Rose (Charlene/Karen/Sandy). Of course, everybody's the Carrie on reality TV, and everybody's the slutty one on Real Housewives, so it's hard to narrow down." Please, no one ever tell Ramona she's the Charlotte, she'd have a field day.

One More Thing...

The CMT Awards Keep It Real Country CMT WHEN YOU THINK TIM MCGRAW: It's hard to believe that Wednesday night is the first time Tim McGraw has ever taken home "Video of the Year" at the CMT Music Awards in his long career, but given the theme, it only makes sense that he finally received top honors for "Humble and Kind."