A thread for The Americans on FX

So, this is really quite great, right? Less tiresome plotmechanics, more about the people and how they deal with their weird world. Really loved yesterdays episode. It's amazing how unsympathetic the characters are allowed to be. I mean, they haven't really done anything that Tony Soprano or Walther White wouldn't do, but... For some reason I'm more shocked at what's going on on a weekly basis in this show. It might be because the show still insists on us seeing them as decent people trying to do their best in a tough job, and it's just... weird...

I want to watch this! I subscribed to a couple FX shows on the iTunes store, what with not having cable television, and they kept showing promos. Is it set in the present?

It's set in 1980-81, and the main characters are undercover Soviet Agents. The historical setting is probably a good thing. I think it allows everything to be less black and white than it is on Homeland, but then again I've only watched two episodes of Homeland, so I hardly know what I'm talking about.

Uh yeah things aren't exactly black & white on homeland

Still doesn't mean that they can't be more grey on Americans. Like, the terrorists are still pretty much the bad guys on Homeland, right? At least the foreign ones, right?

pointlessly rapey first episode, omg the fbi guy moved in next door, 80s stuff! no thanks

is this good or is it good like mad men is "good"

nvm everything sucks

I wouldn't call the pilot "pointlessly" rapey, nor particularly graphic in its one rape scene.

And yes this has turned out to be every bit as good as I was hoping.

And this last episode adressed a few of the icky stuff with that rape-plot, and did it very, very well. Really, every episode is adding so much to the story at the moment. The characters and the world is getting so much richer from week to week, it is really exciting.

Yeah, this show is great. The conflicts between the lead couple - him being more sympathetic to the Americans/understanding of American culture vs. her still being super-antagonistic and unwilling to recognize that life in America even in 1980-81 was pretty sweet compared to the USSR - are handled very well. I also like that they get the look right; that early in the '80s was still basically the '70s in a lot of ways, so you don't see people wearing garish neon T-shirts and Wayfarers and whatnot. It has that dingy 1970s look.

homeland is pretty b+w.

so thoughts on this show

-great soundtrack so far: fleetwood mac, roxy music, echo and the bunnymen, and some early 80s sleaze/cheese (queens of heart, in the air tonight, harden my heart)
-noah emmerich is the gem of this series so far.
-john boy as an upper level fbi agent
-use of wigs, tv critic speniwall says it the best:

"Phillip and Elizabeth have access to some really high-end wig technology for 1981, no? I'm very impressed by the stuff Phillip wears in particular, since it has to hide his big afro"
-hopefully more justified alum show up, given Marge's appearance and Yost's contribution as an exec producer.

Poor Philip, many of his wigs and disguises seem to be variation on 'sex offender'. That wig in the garage scene? Woof.

good mustache

This is excellent. Feels pretty realistic. I read the Mitrokin Archive recently, a massive history of the KGB based on papers smuggled out by a defector, and it's clear the writers have as well. Aside from that the look and feel is very good.

Last episode I've watched is the one set around the Reagan assassination attempt, best one so far, really illustrating the massive gap between the KGB's ability to collect intelligence and their ability to analyse and act on it. Also swung the Phillip and Elizabeth power dynamic back to Phillip.

I think this is the most interesting thing about the show, the idea that you have these two independent agents acting out a lie even to their kids and you have one clearly assimilating into the US and one building a shell to prevent it. I loved seeing Elizabeth wince when her kid said Poland was a part of Russia. I can see her inner torment about her children not being raised as good communists.

FYI This is all on Hulu so no need to buy on iTunes

Nice, I hadn't noticed! I'm sure they'll yank it at some point, but I'll get on that

pointlessly rapey first episode, omg the fbi guy moved in next door, 80s stuff! no thanks

― adam, Thursday, February 28, 2013 1:25 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

basically, jfc the pilot was laying it on thick

it wasn't "pointless" but that's kind of the problem, felt like a plot device

i'll watch a couple more episodes cause i'm weak and hopeful

sick of being promised 'the golden age of television' and getting empty crap

If you are expecting to see the best stuff ever then this isn't it, but it's totally fun rollicking espionage junk ... and surprisingly romantic at times?

yeah i'm not actually surprised. but there are SVU marathons like twice a week, i don't need more junk, and p much every serial drama is junk right now.

junk lyfe

@ zachlyon: So, you don't like plot, yet you don't like Mad Men either :) Like, what tv-shows do you like?

I've been thinking a bit more about it: This last episode reminded me of the first few seasons of The Wire, where it was all about the different sides observing each other and smaller bits of plot rolling in to this weird ball of yarn. And then someone would tug at a single string (usually one of the 'good' guys, because they didn't really know enough to realize the consequences of what was going on) and the bodies would start falling. I mean, it's in no way the Wire, episode four of the Wire was several levels above anything in this show, but some of it operates in the same way.

i like shows that come close to the basic (not that i like this word but) depth of the worst movies on my netflix queue? it basically amounts to the wire and various recent shows on nickelodeon

i never gave much of a chance to mad men but it's always struck me as mostly-empty meandering

i like shows that walk with purpose and direction and swiftness, hard as they are to create obv

that's nuts. the first season of mad men was completely tightly wound. a few seasons in, it kinds of settled a bit.

the later seasons of Mad Men are more fun than the early ones, honestly. the little experiments like season 5's multiple timeline episode, etc.

tbh the only current show I really value is Justified so I like overplotty ridiculousness, ymmv yada yada

I guess I'm going to have to start watching nickelodeon.

you'd be surprised

I get finding Mad Men dull at first, but from near the end of S1 on (parts of S4 excepted), it hums along with quite a bit of purpose.

(vauge spoilers) At the end of the first season, someone walks into someone elses office, and explains the main plot of the season. That other person answers with 'who cares?' When even the people in the show think the plot is unimportant, I can see why other people would think it is meandering. The show has an accumulative quality, though, which is why it just keeps getting better.(/spoiler)

that _was_ the plot of the season!

i like where they're going with this.

they're breaking with history, yes? when reagan was shot at, they said that james brady died. not sure i heard anything afterward to contradict that (e.g. if it was a bad news report, temporarily hidden by the government, etc.).

homeland is pretty b+w.

― s.clover, Thursday, February 28, 2013 1:33 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

?? Really? Even with the drone attack and the fact that a lot of what I get out of the carrie/brody thing is that they are drawn to each other because they've both been damaged and effectively used up ad ppl by the govt

when reagan was shot at, they said that james brady died.

This is in keeping w/ the initial reports, which later of course turned out to be false. Pretty sure the correction appears later in the episode itself.

Killer ep tonight. 6 for 6.

Just watched all of these in a row over the weekend, not bad but I'm wondering how long they can keep up the game of cat and mouse with the FBI neighbor before they either run out of ideas or have to team up in some way? Also would like to see some flashbacks since they're supposed to have been in the US for years at this point.

Yeah, it's 1981 in the show's "present" and they supposedly came over in maybe 1963 or something, so THE ENTIRE SEVENTIES is a blank canvas.

team up? why wouldn't they just ice the dude

Elizabeth would. Not sure about Philip.

xp was thinking about if they were able to turn him or vice-versa, but yeah he'd probably more likely just get one in the dome

if they were able to turn him

That guy just killed an innocent Russian, one he was pretty sure all along was innocent, just for revenge. So I'm pretty sure he'd die before he turned.

The season finale contained some of the most tense television I've seen in some while. Can't wait for this show to come back.

Games Without Frontiers!

Is it coming back? I hope so, but haven't been able to figure out what sort of reception it's getting in the US.

Yeah, it's been renewed for a second season. I watched the last five episodes these last few days. A great debut season, all in all.

Yeah i loved this.

http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Annet-Mahendru-in-The-Americans-Comint.jpg

ok, my heart belongs to annet mahendru

also, margo martindale playing ms. pac man = A+

watched 1st 4 episodes of this. gradually dawned on me that it probably wasn't going to get any better than "OK." all the "character" stuff (e.g. keri russell's interactions with her kids) is so undigested, like place-holding dialogue they forgot to rewrite. show tries really hard (esp w/ heavy-duty 80s soundtrack choices) and it's kind of endearing for that but the combo of tiresome sobriety of tone + ridiculousness of premise is never really dealt with. each episode had so many missed chances for more interesting plotting.

keri russell is probably the most beautiful woman in the world but i still gave up.

Apart from the first and last episodes I felt like they really didn't include much lol80s music. At least not in a cloying hit-you-over-the-head-with-it way.

(I'm v unobservant though so idk maybe it passed me by..)

the music choices on this are interesting -- in terms of how they are of the period, but some of them (e.g. Echo & the Bunnymen's Pictures on the Wall, the Cure song) are not at all what would soundtrack this type of show at the time.

http://www.avclub.com/article/the-pat-benatar-record-wouldnt-load-an-americans-m-200571

9 episodes into season 1 and enjoying it a lot. I'm a real sucker for Cold War espionage stuff. It's predictable at times, and the protagonists with a double life thing may be a bit old hat by now. But it's extremely watchable and moreish, and the leads are both very good. I'm impressed by how they've almost entirely resisted the urge to do any 'LOL 80s' stuff, leg warmers and Phil Collins aside.

Hearing very good things from folk who've seen early S2 episodes.

I kinda wavered on this show during the first few episodes but by the end of season it managed to come together in an interesting way and now I'm really stoked for season 2

i guess i didn't post on here before but I think this is one of the best shows on tv even if it is badly flawed in a lot of ways.

i really love that, at heart, it's just a show about how difficult it is to maintain an unconventional relationship when you have a family. great acting for most of the cast, leads especially.

yeah this is great. looking forward to season 2.

I certainly prefer it to Homeland. Less ponderous, less pretension to being much more than a decent thriller, less Clare Danes.

Oh, so so so much better than Homeland. More visually interesting, less stupid plot-wise, more interesting thematically.

Also: Tusk and Games Without Frontiers!

I was afriad this was going to suck. But it's actually quite good.

Glad this is back

Solid opener, if not spectacular. Suffered slightly from me watching it sandwiched between two episodes of True Detective.

Anyhow the buzz is it goes from good to great this season, so I'm certainly still onboard.

Just finished watching it. I'm somewhat confused on what exactly happened at the amusement park and how it led to what happened at the hotel, but that's probably just on me. Solid return otherwise.

It confused me a little too - I'm guessing it will be explained more later on.

I don't think Elizabeth and Phillip know who killed their friends?

The "next time on the Americans" clip after the episode ended alluded that figuring out who killed them will be a plot line moving forward, with Claudia figuring into it.

http://images.zap2it.com/assets/p9978323_b_h3_ab/the-millers.jpg

So the American mom on this CBS show is a Russian agent on FX. Hm.

I just think it's cool that's there's no conflict there. She's a plausible link between the two shows. Oh wait, the FX show takes place 30 years ago.

after what she saw, I'm surprised she came downstairs to breakfast this morning!

I struggled to see the point of this show for the 5-6 episodes, but it got a lot, lot better -- it has this nice combination of comfort food predicatability and playful "holy shit" moments.

If one thing drags it down, it's the contrivance of the original "FBI guy next door" storyline - like it's trying to shortcut into a Hank/Walter relationship without actually doing the groundwork. That FBI actor is pretty great, though - I hope they give him more to do than mope and randomly spaz out

How many layers deep is Nina? Double or Triple agent?

It's hard to say bc I don't think she was initially a spy per se, just an office worker. The term might be "re-doubled agent"?

Right, but is she just playing the FBI to the benefit of the Russians, or is she playing the FBI to play the Russians to help the FBI?

It seems like the former, haven't seen any indication of the latter. Maybe she can be turned again, though? Wouldn't put it past them.

I hope they do something interesting with her, rather than just serve her back and forth between the two sides (then kill her off In the finale)

If one thing drags it down, it's the contrivance of the original "FBI guy next door" storyline - like it's trying to shortcut into a Hank/Walter relationship without actually doing the groundwork.

This irks me a bit as well.

Right, it seemed part of the plan at first, then halfway through the season you're like "ok, I guess it is just a massive coincidence"

Incidentally, the actress playing Martha is totally nailing whatever the hell Martha is - can't wait till she finds out

Excellent casting for her. Perfect level of attractiveness for the character.

I imdb'ed Stan's wife because she looked familiar. She's in four different shows at the same time (well, three now because I presume her run on Nashville is over).

I wasn't completely on board until the Reagan assassination attempt episode in the first season.

By the way, is anyone else who grew up during the show's timeframe finding world current events kind of nerve-wracking?

By the way, is anyone else who grew up during the show's timeframe finding world current events kind of nerve-wracking?

could you clarify? Not sure what you mean here.

Russia invading Ukraine?

Nina went from spying on the soviets to spying on the FBI when she realized that stan killed vlad.

Re: growing up in the timeline, I've been looking forward to if/how they incorporate this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

V good acting across the board this episode. Particularly impressed with Paige.

ha my dad was involved w Able Archer

For those here who remember the early 80s does the period detail hold up? Noticed a time-traveling 90s or 00s-era Pepsi machine in the background of one scene last week lol

I didn't notice the Pepsi machine. I saw a post-81 car in one scene, but I can forgive.

I liked the subtle digital young-ifying of the two of them in the 1966-67 sequences. Also Philip's hair in the early '70s bit.

Oh, and clearly someone is a Peter Gabriel fan - that was the second episode to use one of his songs for the big dramatic montage.

Really impressed by the steady quality of this show. Season 1 ruled, and Season 2 has been fucking great so far.

s2 has been awesome so far. Very confident. Love the scoring in particular.

Walked past a used bookstore and noticed that showrunner Weisberg wrote a spy novel at some point. Anyone read it?

http://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Spy-Novel-Joseph-Weisberg/dp/B005Q62MV8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394769087&sr=1-1&keywords=ordinary+spy

I liked the subtle digital young-ifying of the two of them in the 1966-67 sequences.

So subtle I didn't even notice!

This season has been so much more noirish and gritty than the last, it is that excellent right now I almost expect Orson Welles to show up at some point. They seem exhausted, decadent and since the murder of the other family completely losing their bearings as a faux family but completely on track as agents. Fantastic television.

It's much better than Justified this go round, yes.

Haven't seen this week's yet but the first 5 were excellent.

between the *spoilers* fractured roleplay sex and the young woman breaking down over committing her first murder, last nights episode really got to me. harrowing stuff.

also I normally really couldn't give a shit about this sort of thing at all, but it's pretty adorable that Rhys and Russell are apparently an irl item now. d'awwww

Oh are they? cuet.

Although I wonder if that particular scene last night happened before or after they consciously coupled.

if they're a couple then that scene was two people who are in a relationship pretending to be two people who are in a relationship pretending to be two different people in a relationship pretending that they are different people in a relationship.

The little role play thing disappointed me from the beginning. He had no interest in the role if he didn't keep the glasses on.

One of the funniest bits in this series is when he crawls up from under the covers and they show he never took them off

That had to be one of the most distressing sex scenes in TV history.

really? Seemed frustrating but not that bad, just a really frustrated miscommunication of expectations

yeah but that miscommunication led to a kind of darkness you don't really get from sex on tv

idk, I watched Oz

For me it was the way we shifted so quickly from tenderness to a sense of violation, in the context of characters we know love each other. Very dissonant.

we also saw them having really loving sex and some post-coital intimacy early on in the episode which helped the latter scene along -- we were primed for a different sort of interaction and then it went to this other place.

Also that.

Even moreso when you recall her sexual assault during her training (itself already echoed in her handling of that young sailor).

I've been feeling it's a getting a bit narratively repetitive, though the most recent episode had more of a sense of things coming together and progressing.

The scene where disguised Felicity threatens the guy in the warehouse with a crowbar was the last straw for me. But you guys seem to like it so maybe I'll try again

if "disguised Felicity" is a dealbreaker for you I suspect you won't get far.

Oh like no one else is thinking that

Sometimes you are better off just ignoring the stuff you do not like calstars, all else will be fine without folk hearing about your dislikes.

I never saw felicity

I don't know what Felicity is.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_txOWjhFJODM/Sw15WL_M-WI/AAAAAAAAF0M/tKLB2P7Dfdw/s1600/felicity.jpg

A long time ago, there was a show where Keri Russell followed a boy to NYU and then discovered real life.

and then discovered real life.
--Johnny Fever

and her response to real life was to shave her head. i like to remember felicity as the only tv show ever derailed by a haircut.

you should watch felicity, it is great

I think Nina's quietly become my favourite character.

I wonder if she actually likes Oleg, or if she's just kind of playing all sides now. Probably a little of both.

That's what's great about her, you have no idea of the answers to those questions and she quite possibly doesn't either.

Wednesday's episode has a story credit by Oliver North lol

I love Keri Russell

I do 2

Not as much as I love Nina Sergeevna.

she and Oleg are both great but it's a testament to how good this season is that I didn't even miss them when they sat out this week's episode

As a side note, I like how the Russians refer to each other by both their first and surnames in the subtitles. Does everyone do that in Russia?

Yeah I love Oleg and Arkady too. But in a very different way to Nina.

This has gotten awfully awfully good this season.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/arts/television/oliver-north-now-in-the-service-of-tvs-kgb.html

wtf, saw the credit but thought the name was just a freaky coincidence!

Good golly its Ollie ! Christ why do I remember that early 90's campaign shit, I am not even American.

Ah but your fbi neighbour doesn't know that

Excellent episode. Thought this season dragged a bit in the middle, but it really is building up excitingly now.

I'd like it if they have a new handler each season, like Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers.

NINA!

Good finale, more downbeat and subtle than I expected, and setting things up nicely for next time.

yeah was nicely subdued (in a good way)

did not see the twist of the family's killer coming at all

hope this isn't the last we see of nina

I kind of hope it is, heartbreaking as it is. Seems like the end of her story.

true, I guess I'd rather not see any more of her than some bullshit 'let's get the gang back together' contrivance

terrific character and actor though

Yeah I'm a bit in love with her as I'm sure I've mentioned.

And if they can come up with a genuinely clever and uncontrived way to keep her around then I'm all for it, but if not best to let her go really.

otm

show really got its game up this season

Yeah, still not quite top-tier stuff, but who knows what S3 will bring.

trailer for season 3, premieres jan. 28 (in US) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSu2dpWBjfQ

basically this is the best show currently on TV right now and the trailer, while vague, is suggestive of a similar quality level. not to mention many viewing-induced panic attacks in my future. was v pleased to find a thread for it here

HOLY FUCK I AM SO PSYCHED

cool stuff

Might have to get cable again for this.

f yeah Frank Lengella

*Langella

We just starting watching this. First two eps of season one are solid, though I have a bad feeling the innate implausibility will send this down the "Homeland" route. That is, something totally if enjoyably ridiculous that decides, what the hell, we might as well get even crazier. Like (and I know nothing about the show past the first two eps) they've done a poor job so far explaining the incentive to remain loyal to the USSR. On one hand, there are their actual, living, breathing, loved children, born and raised in America. Plus, of course, living in America, with its food, and no bread lines, and people having a good time. On the other hand, there is ... a general loyalty to the USSR? Maybe future episodes will reveal there are loved ones back in the motherland who would suffer if they defected?

Having seen all of this and most of Homeland I can assure you it's done a great job of becoming similarly rdiculous so far.

of AVOIDING becoming etc, rather...

Phew.

Oh yeah it's way better than Homeland. Don't think it's fully hit its stride yet though, this season'll be the decider probably.

Homeland and The Americans are both similarly great imho.

Season 1 of Homeland is ok, s2 is bloody awful. Not watched beyond that.

Yeah, don't even think we made it through season 1 of Homeland. I have a problem with shows purportedly set in the real world that are already pushing the boundaries of plausibility that decide to push them past the breaking point. See also: House of Cards. Even early on The Americans is faintly ridiculous, but I will go with it for a while, at least until guy disguises himself as Reagan or something similarly daft.

the Americans doesn't even scratch the surface of the kind of plausibility problems house of cards and homeland have

Phew again. I love when a show lands a great conceit and doesn't screw it up with stunt plots and stuff. Because really, good story and acting is enough.

You've gotta have a bit of larger than life stuff in there though. It's a fine balance.

It helps that Rhys+Russell are really great throughout. S2 does an unexpectedly great job fleshing out the Rezidentura peeps, too

great job fleshing out the Rezidentura peeps, too

Yeah, these are some of my favourite sections/characters. I'm a bit in love with Nina.

Lack of plausibility is not really an issue at all for me.

Me either, really! But there's some invisible line a lot of shows cross, esp. those set in the real world, where it starts out implausible, but acceptable, yet pushes things so far, and muddies motivations so much, they might as well be magical wizards rather than spies. I have high hopes for this one, though.

Just watched first 4 episodes of s1, not bad at all. Liked the Reagan shooting ep positing Al Haig as nearly starting WW3.

yeah, John-Boy casting + Margo Martindale as a vet of Stalingrad

when reagan was shot at, they said that james brady died.

Yeah that was ACTUAL archival mistaken reporting, i remember it well.

Apparently Matthew Rhys has a story credit on an episode of Archer this season.

People w/ screeners seem happy with the early S3 eps.

morbs, just fyi: s1 is very good, s2 takes off into excellence

It it always startling to see morbs on a tv series thread, check out the Fargo series as well!

NO, THIS ONE SHOW IS ALREADY TOO MUCH TV.

The first-season bed-hopping is kind of eye-rolling (yeah, TV must have eyeballs). Philip's FBI secretary asked "Do you have protection?" which I don't think was a synonym for "condoms" until at least "safe sex" came along; more like 1987 than 1981.

OH NO A CHARACTER ONCE UTTERED A MINOR SOLECISM WELL THAT OBVIOUSLY RUINS THE ENTIRE SHOW

tbh, the "do you have protection" is a more reasonable question in the context of his inner world: can he protect his soul while entering into yet another false face relationship AH DO U C

yes i got the lil pun.

chill, anagram nothing ruined.

Anyone remember other dramatic fictions about True Believer couples where the dude was the (relatively) wavering one?

This show is based in NYC, they only shoot in DC when they have to. Not unduly distracting cept when they ran to Philly after that guy's widow, and Philly was played by Queens.

Just got screeners for the first 3 of S3, will report on quality level

J Hoberman did a short review of the s2 video release on Sunday, was mildly spoilery but not fatally.

finished s1, was hoping for a M Martindale-Richard Thomas death fight really.

On the commentary either the creator or a producer said Spielberg reads the scripts and looks at the edits as DreamWorks is involved. He helped w/ editing of finale's car chase.

Did not know that!

The first 3 of S3 are very solid, though more of a slow boil than the start of S2 was. And just when I thought they'd run out of suspenseful ways to shoot cars driving within the speed limit...

am I the only viewer who sees this show as amusingly inconsistent? alternately exciting and campy. the family angle is underdeveloped to say the least. gets a bit better as the daughter gradually becomes aware of her parents double lives, still too often it's like the kids are props. and the disguises! love the "clark & martha" subplot but it's so silly.

no, you are not the only one. I do like stuff such as Martindale donning helpless-granny drag for a hit. I guess the KGB sent its agents to some Moscow theatre seminars.

i mentioned this upthread but i see the show as a sort of fever dream of what the 80's felt like to a child: inconsistent, angry parenting; cold war paranoia; the madness of puberty; hypersexualized everything; the general confusion that is being part of a dictatorship beneath parents. if you think of Page as the main character, things shift.
but realistically, yeah: it's campy and that's fun.

I think it's borderline impossible not to chuckle about some of the disguises but other than that I never felt anything veered into truly distracting camp territory. there are a number of moments where the artifice of the disguises falls apart in some way - most notably in the s2 premiere - and the consequences of it are almost always devastating, and fascinating

it's like 1000% less campy than mad men

The masters of disguise and seduction aspect of it is partly what caused me concern upthread. We've still only dipped into the first few episodes of season one, and I wanted to make sure it didn't just keep getting sillier and sillier. Like, I can handle it as silly as it is at the start, but I'm not sure I could stick with it if it got any more ridiculous. So, you know, if she dolls up like Nancy Reagan or he goes in drag and seduces Oliver North ...

lolwut? no, nothing remotely that silly happens

if anything it only gets a whole lot darker, the stakes higher, and the disguises are something you accept as a given. season 1 is also much more episodic by comparison to the more taut/serialized 2, so that could also be fueling your doubts

oliver north is a co-writer on one of the episodes so anything can happen

the episode he co-wrote is great! and with little to no jingoism snuck in that I could notice

It's just a story credit iirc

yeah I don't know of anyone who doesn't significantly prefer S2 to S1

i like the idea of oliver north getting a job in the writers' room as part of a ploy to film a scene where he is seduced by his secret crush matthew rhys

NYT ran a piece awhile back on this clarifying his role
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/arts/television/oliver-north-now-in-the-service-of-tvs-kgb.html

Some fun stuff in here on the logistics of getting the rights to Soviet footage

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/the-americans-producers-were-thinking-about-a-long-story-that-were-telling/single-page

my girl just binge watched the first season; i think she'll get through the second by next week.

OMG I just remembered this is tonight!

btw USA has been kickin' out Russian spies IRL this week, apparently sans car chases.

no car chases, no credibility

glowing review of season 3 http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-americans-season-3-fx-best-show-on-television/

Have now seen 4th episode as well. I think everyone will be pleased.

Stop it, I cannot wait!

hell of a premiere. still the best show on television.

those preview scenes look unnerving as fuck (one word: suitcase)

Really wish I'd stuck with this but for whatever reason I stopped watching about halfway through season 2. Could I watch season 3 despite missing 5 or so episodes?

You're gonna want to try to catch at least the S2 finale first if you can.

Right I'll do that thanks

yeah you need to watch all of season 2 I think. for one thing, it is excellent; plus some things will not make sense.

We're still creeping along through season 1, but I think we're hooked. Sure, there's some silliness, in the plausibility sense, but it does offer a smart twist on the will they/won't they dynamic. They start out married, with kids. The question becomes, will they fall in love, or end up killing one another?

oh jesus. the suitcase.

kinda wish they'd had the chutzpah to give the finger to Mad Men and call that episode "The Suitcase"

was just thinking that!

I like mad men and sometimes love it but this has a greater place in my TV heart

ha, my girl did the "is it over" "is it over YET" "GOD HOW IS IT NOT OVER" thing
show is in a real groove; so many good scenes

lol I watched these on screener before they had titles and did not relize this one was called "Baggage." I can settle for that.

also, the screeners open with a note about unfinished sound mixing/fx, and the notes open with "Greetings, Comrades!" <3 <3

That was the most uncomfortable viewing in this series since that scene with the Mossad agent taking a shit.

btw one of the highlights of s1 for me was when Philip was transcribing from a "numbers station," cuz WFMU strted playing tapes of that stuff probably in the late '80s.

I am not looking at recent posts cuz spoilers of stuff i'll see 8 months from now.

Do you think the barscene with the boxing match might be a hint to The Suitcase?

Good episode. This show is really working in it's very own grove.

last scene was like a dance, the way philip slowly pushed the filing cabinet drawer closed and got in the seat. yow. and this shot:
http://f.cl.ly/items/1n3D223Q3t290W2B0v2C/Screen%20Shot%202015-02-07%20at%2011.40.43.png

i am so consistently amazed by the quality of this show, it just keeps going up a level in every way

the way you held your breath as the camera panned to a cell you knew would have nina in it...how it made you steel yourself for something horrifying but just got a mundane, minor degradation

the framing of the statue w/outstretched hand as philip talked to yusuf

just brilliant in every way

just about had to walk out of the room for the tooth extraction scene

is it safe?

not as bad as the suitcase scene for sure!

I feel like a lot has occurred so far considering it is only 3 episodes old.

What a fucking brilliant series this is, a week seems too long.

I just caught up with "Baggage" last night and that was some of the most uncomfortable television I've ever seen. (Misshapen bodies due to bone breaks is one of the grossest things in my whole world, so I almost didn't get through it.) Sounds like another gross one this week, huh?

just a bit of amateur dental work with pliers, no biggie.

Deleted scene from last night's episode

This might have been my favourite episode yet. This show is just so sure of itself at this point. There were all the amazingly suspenseful spystuff, but that is almost besides the point. The dentistry scene could have been done by no other show ever, the way it was both so gross, but also played as this image of how much trust and love there still is between these two - after the earlier bedtime scene had showed how apart they are being torn by the Paige-thing. But the scene I REALLY loved was the first one, the scrabble-scene. This is when I love a show, when it's world and it's characters are so fully developed, that you can let a main character play a game with a character you only introduced a few episodes before, and you know so much history of this world, that you are coloring in all the stuff to make it riveting. Again, this is why I love tv.

Season 2 probably had a better plot, and probably was more important in leaping up a level in quality, but I like it more when plot is just something in the background, not why we watch the show.

A lot of great stuff this week; the closing Philip/Elizabeth conversation was a bruiser.

Still in the middle of season one, and hit the first ep I think I really didn't like, with the West German agent. There were, like, 6 sex scenes, which got pretty silly, and I don't know how many more "I don't think we can do this" conversations I can stand. It's always like this:

Elizabeth: I think we can make this work.
Philip: I know we can make this work. I love you.
Elizabeth: I love you too.

Third person: Elizabeth, do you really think this will work?
Elizabeth stares and sulks.

Elizabeth: Philip, I don't think we can make this work.
Philip: Fine, be that way.

yeah, that's a definite weak element of the early game, but be assured they work it out of their system by the end of season one

it is really worth it to get through the (minor) growing pains of the first season considering the leap forward in season 2 that has continued unabated through s3

My only concern for this season is that it could easily tip over into too-bleak territory. Knowing that FX/Weisberg see this as a 5-seaon-ish show helps, though - gonna have to keep those narrative gears grinding.

i miss margot martindale; hope she's coming back soon

Her sitcom got canned iirc so she'll be back at some point this season I'd bet

Weisberg's reply on Margo showing up was (from an interview in mid season) "I don't know"
I miss Margo too but I'm enjoying frank langella so far and hoping he sends Phillip on quest for a rare bible with some unique illustrations.

the closing Philip/Elizabeth conversation was a bruiser.

― Simon H., Thursday, February 26, 2015 6:41 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seriously!

the amount of conflict and suppressed feeling that's conveyed purely through facial tension on this show is extraordinary.

i very much appreciated the use of yazz in the last episode

the zinaida storyline is being played so masterfully. symbol of stan's paranoia or evidence his instincts are coming back?

i love how they make the incidental characters real, not just plot devices, and also how they're not afraid to get campy with the wigs and disguises (and the sudden UNDERCOVER DOG that elizabeth was walking)

the dentistry scene a couple of episodes back was the first time i've ever had to actually cover my eyes in front of the tv; didn't think they'd trump the suitcase scene but jesus that was brutal

feel like the current philip/elizabeth tension re: paige is being slightly undercut by elizabeth not having any convincing plan as to how exactly she'll tell paige anything; even if they both agreed on this point i can't imagine paige reacting positively

i very much appreciated the use of yazz in the last episode

yazoo, lex - we're not americans after all!

could not watch the dentistry scene AT ALL.

also, i think this show's use of tension is masterful - and balanced by its gift for not dragging plots or situtions ut for too long, or exploiting cliffhangers for cliffhangers' sake. I'm thinking primarily of the FBI dude with a thing for martha in the first season - a lesser show would have really milked the whole situation after their fight, like, is he going to survive? are they going to get caught with the body? But this show just wraps it up in one episode and moves on. I have a lot of respect for that - it also ensures any actual tension or long-running subplots are more powerful, because they won't be used for cheap thrills or exploitation of the audience.

Loved the scene of Oleg and the newish lady at the Rezidentura talking about Zinaida over booze.

yazoo, lex - we're not americans after all!

― IHeartMedia, the giant broadcaster formerly known as Clear Channel, (stevie), Sunday, March 1, 2015 2:14 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha i have spent so many years in a state of mild confusion as to why they were sometimes called yazz and sometimes yazoo

I think it was a 'london suede' type conflct - though I'm now wondering what name the yazz of 'the only way is up' went under in the states...

pace wikipedia:

According to Moyet the name Yazoo was taken from the specialist blues record label, Yazoo Records.[15] This decision led to a £3.5 million lawsuit threat by the label over the band's name[15] and coupled with the fact that the name Yazoo was already in use by a small American rock band, the group was renamed Yaz for the North American market.[4]

just got caught up; last episode is BRUTAL

the amount of conflict and suppressed feeling that's conveyed purely through facial tension on this show is extraordinary.
― lex pretend

I was wondering for ages how come with the bad wigs they're wearing for tactical roles, nobody who was being intimate with them noticed the wig. Particularly if he is a savage lover you'd think a bad wig would dislodge. Finally heard the fake wife (Martha? I'm really bad with remembering names these days) comment on her keeping it secret that she knows about the toupee.
Suspension of disbelief was coming to something of a crisis otherwise.

Kinda feel like Roisin Murphy is auditioning for a role in this in her new publicity shots.

My primary suspension of disbelief crisis is how they managed to organise childcare for the last 16 years whenever they had to urgently go out to, eg, dismember and stuff a corpse into a suitcase.

I think Paige and the other one have pretty much gotten used to their parents not being around and are used to fending for themselves.

Wasn't there a scene at the end of series 2 with Paige snooping in the laundry room and finding some radio equipment or other incriminating piece of kit? They seem not to have followed through with this which is a shame as it would have been pretty interesting, and would also make it easier for Elizabeth to initiate her.

just checked, it was at the end of series 1 actually and I don't think she actually found anything.

I was thinking of that weird scene where nobody picked up the kids from school and they ended up hitching a lift with that shady guy who takes them to "feed the ducks" and they have to smash a bottle over his head? You would think this would become a pretty regular occurence.

This show, man. It really hit me how genious the Paige-plot has been, with the baptism-scene showing that everyone thought of her as a fighter and an activist, like her mom and dad is in secret, but she has chosen an outlet for this which flies in the face of everything they believe in. This show takes every little plotthread and plays it brilliantly.

The Kimberly scenes are amazing, what on earth is it supposed to be? We're just watching our hero try to not have sex with a 15-year old girl, and that is entertainment? Why are we spending so much time on Stan Beeman going to EST-meetings, and why is it compelling? And that scene with the joint in the window, how amazing was that?

The pot-smoking scene definitely the highlight. Hoping that the thread involving Irina is a dead end - no more drama needed this season.

I thought they overplayed the role reversal parents as teenagers having a sneaky bifta thing a bit too heavily. But still liking this.

I was mostly into seeing them actually smile and laugh for a minute.

Yeah, it was amazing to see them laugh, just for a moment. Then back to misery.

the way this season has played out so far is masterful, the showrunners have always been great at developing that sense of creeping dread but it's more pervasive and crushing than ever. based on the preview of the next few episodes, things seem primed to explode and just devastate

I'm at the point where my excitement for new eps of this show is always shot through with worry and terror as to what might happen. inasmuch as you can give a shit about the fates of fictional characters, I haven't cared about characters like this...maybe ever? probably bubbles and the season 4 kids on the wire are the only comps. and keri russell and matthew rhys have to be the two best performances in m/l any medium on the past few years.

*in the past few years

The two scenes between Elizabeth and Paige this episode were my favorites. The total reversal of mother-daughter roles in the garage, when Paige is telling her mom "I just want you to realize it's bad for you, and I hope you quit." I was half waiting for her to say, "I'm not mad, I'm just...disappointed." And then the second scene where Elizabeth takes Paige to the "bad area" to talk about being a criminal revolutionary...

this is pretty perfect right now, yes

even an action-light, exposition-heavy episode like the last is still so fraught and tense at every point. and they went right to the edge with philip/kimmy and elizabeth/paige, both those storylines feel like they're going to explode in horrifying ways but there's almost no avoiding them now (and you know this show doesn't exactly refrain from going to horrifying places).

i would sort of question why, if the kgb want to recruit paige, they would go through her parents at this point in her teenage life...surely the best way to convert her would be through the church? (not officially obv but through a friend like the mysteriously-disappeared girl who got her into the church in the first place). you have to think elizabeth has a good plan but i can't work out what it is yet.

Well, with that other couple the KGB went through outside person, and the teeneage boy freaked out and killed everyone. And Phil and Elizabeth found out.

i guess, but i just can't imagine paige being receptive to her parents dropping such a huge bombshell right now.

Right, I guess that's what Philip thinks as well. Now that I think about it, it seems like a quite possible twist that pastor Tim is KGB, right?

This is seriously better than it's ever been right now, firmly settled into a slow, dark groove.

Definitely. Haven't caught with ep 8 yet but ep 7 had some serious horror movie vibes with regards to the Martha subplot, not specifically the FBI bug sweep but her visiting Clark's "apartment." That scene was completely dread inducing, like she could tell something was off with this perfectly arranged apartment but had no idea what she should do. Was half expecting Philip to pick up on it and off her right there.

Surprised no one's commented on the, er, incident with the tire in e8 yet.

another instance of the show's sound design being so disturbingly on point

I didn't find that anywhere near as difficult to watch as the two aforementioned sequences this season tbh.

That scene was disturbing but... I feel awful for saying this, but I kinda felt that the guy had it coming? Congrats to the actor, for giving us such an asshole in such a short time, that I didn't really feel that bad when he was BURNED ALIVE. I mean, I felt a bit disturbed, but nothing compared to that thing with the suitcase... Mostly, I was scared they were going to kill the kid, who was much more sympathetic.

Am I a psycho, or was I meant to feel like this?

more like the dumbericans

the actual backstory and plot of the south africans kind of lost me, not sure if I wasn't paying attention or what, but if the point was just to see the guy burned alive I suppose I don't need worry that I missed something crucial.

you were meant to feel that way i think. it's a savagely violent show and the dirty secret is that both of the leads are horrible horrible people who manipulate people, destroy their lives, kill, torture and otherwise engage in terrible behavior in the service of a higher calling. We should really want to see them dead; the show's best trick is that you're rooting for them.

The thing I got out of the SA plot was, that the young afrikaaner was being recruited by the old afrikaaner to infiltrate the anti-apartheid movement, and then to bomb something or other to put blame on the anti-apartheiders. Basically, the old guy was a horrid racist who claimed that he wasn't an interrigator, but clearly didn't care that black people were being tortured to death in his country. So... I didn't feel that bad when he bought it, though I was def disturbed. A bit. But it does feel as one of the points where they are pretty clearly on the right side of history.

Philip seducing an underage girl to help with the war in Afghanistan, on the other hand...

But it does feel as one of the points where they are pretty clearly on the right side of history.

Indeed, though it was fairly bold of them to make the black ANC guy a rather unpleasant character as well.

wow, Lois Smith was on, huh? Looking forward to seeing that in 9 months or so. (If you don't know who she is: East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces, stage legend etc)

She was brilliant and even though the outcome is very predictable, the scene was one of the highlights of this series so far.

agreed. one of the most remarkable scenes from a remarkable show. i do admire how this show paints the concept of 'good guy' and 'bad guy' in so many shades of grey, to the point where both the russians and americans are mired in so much evil they're equally risible. and its clear that the principals of the show are as likely to be betrayed by their own side, as the people whose ideals they are fighting against.

I think the most incredible thing for me was that it was in episode 9. Pretty close to the end, most series would ramp things up and become hurried, but here, we spent like, half an episode on the murder of an old woman we just met. This season does all the wrong things, and it feels so right.

When the series ends, I want a spinoff where Stan and Oleg drive cross-country in an RV having wacky adventures.

YES

Also WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MARTHA??

Like I genuinely think about this when the show is on, WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MARTHA?

When this series is done we should poll all the terrible things they have done in the name of Joe Stalin, like

1) Seduce 15 year old daughter of CIA dude
2) Kill off grandma mail robot
3) Whatever Philip's going to have to do to Martha
etc etc

Like, what is the worst thing? Because a lot of it is Bad Stuff. Really liked that the grandma said at the end, how is what you're doing right? and that what Elizabeth was saying was what evil people say to justify evil behaviour. The moral murk of this show is fascinating.

the scene with Smith was devastating but not more so than the opening scene of "the Martha initiative"
that actress is really really good; you can see her vibrating painfully against the walls of the fiction she's choosing to inhabit

Also WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MARTHA??

― IHeartMedia, the giant broadcaster formerly known as Clear Channel, (stevie), Friday, March 27, 2015 10:12 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she can't turn clark/philip in unless she's willing to go to jail herself - even allowing for this being fiction, very few deals she could cut would completely eliminate the prospect of prison time - and i don't see her having that level of dedication to any jingoistic notion of doing what's "right"

she could always try to clip him, as they've definitely set up enough chekhov's-gun stuff for it to be logical, and would probably die in the process. i would also buy it if that stuff turned out to be misdirection en route to an even bleaker fate, which i think is the most probable outcome

yeah, def think the chekhov-gun thing is misdirection, thought's had me tense for two episodes now

i don't see a way that martha survives the series (unless she brings them down completely) and that makes me sad.

i think philip's getting closer and closer to snapping
i could see the show ending with philip vs elizabeth

we've got at least two more seasons yet i would guess? Did the creators put a sell-by date on this thing already?

IIRC, weisberg and fields said in an interview that they thought 5 seasons were doable, and FX seems willing to support it that long despite this season's significant rating drop

5 seems like just the right amount imo

significant ratings drop? that's a shame.

i hope it doesn't get cancelled before it finishes, if you get me. i want to know how this ends.

5 seasons is almost always the right amount

I'd fallen 7 episodes behind, but I just caught up with everything over the last two days. The slow killing of the old lady made me incredibly sad.

i found it more traumatic than chopping that woman up or the dental surgery or etc etc

renewed for season 4!

Not surprising but still great news.

It might be because it's tough to take everything in about last episode, but my main takeaway was that the use of croaky Henry is absolutely awesome. Has he sounded so weird all season? Him doing the Eddie Murphy rutine right when things were most unbearably tense was so amazing, I chuckled for minutes afterwards. I probably really needed something to chuckle about... What an episode, what a season, what a show!

Phillip's face was priceless, like at a period of such high tension stress his son starts doing monologues from Delirious. It is scenes like this that elevate this show way above everything else right now.

Paige's list of theories (Witness Protection, drug dealers, aliens) was fantastic.

Hats off to casting etc. - both kids are great. Holly Taylor did a fine job with that.

yeah, this show is totally next level

Paige's list of theories (Witness Protection, drug dealers, aliens) was fantastic.

my partner was like, "I would watch all of those shows. Except for the one where she's adopted."

caught up with the last two and am reeling from the old lady scene. i cannot imagine any other show choosing to do that and doing it so naturally at this stage in a season that's been all slow build. you feel so many conflicting things: the horror of realising what will happen, the comfort of seeing elizabeth allow the "merciful" route (that allows her to have her confession of sorts too)...further to what stevie said about the moral murk, i think this show is absolutely incredible in its insistence that there are no such things as "good" or "bad" guys and everything you've been told about that binary is wrong; but its even firmer insistence that there is morality within that, within the characters.

that scene almost overshadowed the paige stuff ie the entire point that the entire premise has been working towards and which was ultimately handled in a very quintessentially americans way - unhysterical, low-key, no consequences yet except simmering silences.

oleg and stan's plan is so stupid. i'm amazed stan was right about zinaida.

very interesting to compare and contrast martha and paige's reactions...

3 minutes into this episode, nerves already fried to shit. dear god, this show!

not really getting this "no such things as 'good' or 'bad' guys" feeling. it seems pretty clear-cut to me that Philip and Elizabeth are being portrayed as the bad guys. and there is no point afaict where the CIA/FBI/US in general are being depicted as bad guys

also, I wasn't sure about the Paige reveal. it seemed a trifle rushed to me.

still loving this show

philip and elizabeth are both obviously bad people and very sympathetic protagonists who the audience fundamentally roots for

plenty of cia/fbi people have been depicted as anything from amoral murderers to vindictive trigger-happy idiots

one of the recurring tropes i especially love is where a character dupes someone by being emotionally honest with them, which nina did again last night (i...think?)

yeah that is great, I have absolutely no idea what Nina is really going to do; it's like the more honest she is the less believable she becomes. And I don't blame her because she has basically no agency over her own life. I think she might be the only good person on the show!

philip and elizabeth are both obviously bad people and very sympathetic protagonists who the audience fundamentally roots for

I'm not rooting for them, I can't wait for them to get their comeuppance

plenty of cia/fbi people have been depicted as anything from amoral murderers to vindictive trigger-happy idiots

examples? not being snarky, genuinely interested as I can't think of any

larick, the black ops killer from season 2 played by lee tergesen (aka tobias beecher from OZ)

while he's in many ways a soldier the same way philip and elizabeth are, he appears to take quite a bit of joy in many of his killings

Let us not forget the totally innocent Russian dude Stan murdered.

vlad! oh man...the way that the mouthful of burger just falls limply out of his mouth after he gets clipped is burned into my brain forever

That camp that Philip and Elizabeth attacked in season two was training right wing guerillas to fight in South America. That's pretty shitty as well. The guys they are trying to get to via that young girl are arming the mujahedeens in Afghanistan, right? Which, I'm not going to argue that the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan wasn't heinous, but the way CIA got involved wasn't particularly bright either.

this one was particularly devastating

prestige TV conditioning had me expecting penultimate episode major character deaths that never came (I think the creators understand that expectation and sort of wired it into every scene with martha), but the relatively subtle big moments of this one were more powerful than any of the things I was expecting would have been.

the latest wig moment (avoiding specifics for those not caught up) was wrenching

the slow burn has to give way to an explosion for the finale tho, if only bc of how thin things have been stretched

this season is prob the closest to john le carre's specific vibe the show has come and I mean that as the highest praise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHqxime_Bo

martha is the saddest character on television; they're just disassembling her completely. i don't know if i'm going to be able to handle it if they kill her. it could be the turning point where i start actively rooting for the FBI to catch these fuckers.

that wig moment was surely also death warrant

seriously. sitting on the couch after that going omg. felt so bad for martha when she called her parents. but if they kill her - which seems inevitable - wont the fbi investigate and find out about her "marriage" to "clark"?!? last season i thought this was the weakest sub-plot in the show, now it's crucial and could be the beginning of the end, maybe?

that wig moment was surely also death warrant

― hot doug stamper (||||||||), Friday, April 17, 2015 6:45 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's such a cliffhanger - like this show doesn't really *do* cliffhangers, i prefer to savour it when i know i can fully enjoy it rather than rushing to keep up every week - but when it wants to it can do them so devastatingly. elizabeth and philip have revealed their true selves twice this season - once, because the old woman needed to die anyway; the other time, out of love and respect for paige. all logic points towards the former applying to martha, and i can't think of any possible long game philip might be playing here, but i have a feeling it won't be...

also RETURN OF CLAUDIA YASSSSS

you can thank her sitcom for getting axed just in time for her to make an appearance.

the version i dl'd of this episode ended with philip taking off his clark wig - was that the end of the episode or did something else happen? THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD. Also, caught the ad for the finale while in the US this weekend, a little spoilerrific but img stuff is going to go down.

That was the end. And yes, SO GOOD.

Thanks Johnny!

Yeah how do you make a silent sequence of a guy taking a silly wig off so tense?

but if they kill her - which seems inevitable - wont the fbi investigate and find out about her "marriage" to "clark"?!?

Yeah, but so what? They won't be able to find out who "Clark" actually is.

I always find Pastor Tim's appearances a bit confusing, as he looks a fair bit like Phillip in disguise.

There's so much plot to be resolved in the finale - Kimmy, Nina/Stan/Oleg, Clark/Martha, etc. - that I have no idea how or even if they'll cram it into 45 minutes.

Excited for the finale. Finding the story lines with Paige and Martha this season really emotionally gripping.

xp wouldn't be surprised if FX gave them extra running time for this episode - as a network they have a recent history of allowing like one or two notably long episodes per season (fargo, the bridge, louie and the Americans have all indulged this liberty)

...or not! FX schedule online doesn't indicate a longer-than-usual length. so in that case I share that concern.

i don't really expect them to try to wrap up all the storylines, this is the kind of show that likes its subplots to gestate for a long time

It's been renewed surely? They don't have to tie everything up this season!

xp

It's been renewed for season four, and it seems as if they are already assuming they'll get a season five. Apparantly, the network-boss really likes the show, which seems logical, as it's awesome.

And the last few years, subplots have carried over at the end of seasons. Annelise's story was only resolved early this year (shutter). I think the difference this year is, even the little plots that actually haven't meant a thing - such as the babysitter - are way more tense and captivating than usual.

the zinaida plotline is increasingly interesting too.

i read somewhere that the makers originally had a five-year plan (naturally!) for the show

Intrigued by the title of tonight's episode (which I won't post here lest it be considered a spoiler).

Fun interview with Holly Taylor (Paige) in which she, among other things, talks about watching Felicity: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/qa-holly-taylor-of-the-americans-on-her-characters-pivotal-season-watching-her-tv-mom-on-felicity-and-where-they-hide-the-wigs/

We "discovered" this show before xmas - binge-watched the first two seasons, been watching each ep of s3 as soon as we can... the wait till season 4 is going to be AGONISING i bet

yeah we p much have Landgraf alone to thank for the show's continued existence 'cause NO ONE watches it.

Wish he could've saved Terriers a few years ago, but this will more than suffice.

The ratings on Terriers were even more ridiculously awful iirc, like almost surreally terrible

he said on a podcast interview that ratings were under 300,000 for most terriers episodes after the first couple, and also conceded that his marketing staff did a terrible job with it

i do love that show though. also loved the bridge but that had a rough first season before getting great in the 2nd and by then the ratings were completely fucked

the americans has an unassailable rep among critics and even with slowed down ratings in its actual timeslot prob gets a lot of on-demand viewings as backup

i took the wig coming off as "here's the deal and are u gonna ryde or die?"
like martha's been going along with this as best she can without looking it in the eye, dude clearly sincerely loves her and is equally willing to kill her if he absolutely has to which is scary as fuck
i've said it before but the actress playing martha is amazing; one of the real highlights of TELEVISION RIGHT NOW is watching her equivocate so that she can keep her dream
i really really hope they don't kill her

I could see him having to kill her as being what finally tips him over to defecting

Shit, my cable dropped out during the scene with Stan and Agent Gaad and the dvr quit recording at the same time. I have to wait until tomorrow and rewatch on demand because there's no way I'm going to pick it back up tonight having missed about 15 minutes in the middle. COMCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!

yipes at this cliffhanger

deceased now, show killed me

so weird to have no Kimmy or Martha in the finale, and so much time alone with Philip. super moody and upsetting. shot of the ep = Paige praying for her grandmother.

i feel like the showrunners are looking at this series less in terms of season by season and more in terms of as a whole. i have no other answer why there's no culmination to the martha storyline that doesn't involve her presence in the episode, especially after the last episode's gut punch of an ending..

and yeah, they moonwalked away from the Kimmy storyline when they had reached a point where the only plausible story development left was for philip to fuck her or cut her loose and i'm not sure i wanted to see either of those outcomes.

yeah this was definitely a finale made by people who had assurances they'd be back

learning from interviews that the wig scene was originally at the top of ep 13 makes a lot of sense.

Of the three season enders so far, this one was definitely the most low-key, but ultimately the one with the highest stakes. I love that the writers don't urge you to be saying "OMG PAIGE NO" and instead are just laying it out there for you to say "Yeah, I kind of don't blame her" because she's 15 and her parents aren't who everyone thinks they are and she's the only one who knows. That must be melting her brains.

it's a mugs game to prognosticate BUT i would lay money we get a scene of pastor tim wanting to talk to the parents along the lines of "i'm afraid paige is a very troubled girl... she told me she thinks you are russians; is everything okay around the house" - lengthy awkward moment - parents get to spring the "no one is trustworthy" bomb on paige and that might push her away from the ministry and into secret russian spy bidness or maybe into beaman, who knows

I got the sense that Philip and Sandra might get really close next season which may end up causing friction between Philip and Stan (if Stan were to find out).

Oh hell I had not even considered that she might go to Stan.

I was not expecting the Philip/Sandra scenes (nor Philip's earnest interest in...anything, really), but anything that gives Susan Misner something to do is a plus.

I love that Stan is basically Vic Mackey now - "Don't worry about what these bureaucrats think; you just get out there and do what needs to be done."

yea stan's intersection with middle reagan era military/justice department/CIA types who results tied to ideas of ideological supremacy (these being the architects of iran contra) does not bode well for his sleeping problems :/

*who highly value

Gah, waiting a year for this to resume hurts more than most.

only this show would, instead of wrapping up its gazillion subplots in its finale, ignore most of them and introduce a completely unexpected new one. what is philip doing with sandra! is he at those meetings 4 real or is he targeting sandra (and why, if so)...

and of course still drop that bombshell cliffhanger too. PAIGE. i love how this show constantly returns to asking its characters where they draw the line: paige isn't particularly patriotic, which i guess they gambled on, but they hadn't realised that lying was a no-go area for her...

they've used that technique in the final scene before, cutting between different tableaux of characters while relevant words come out of a tv, it's tremendously effective. sucks you right in and makes you tense.

also lol @ their daring, last week's cliffhanger was such a POW moment as well and they have the confidence to just spend one line furthering it

i have no other answer why there's no culmination to the martha storyline that doesn't involve her presence in the episode, especially after the last episode's gut punch of an ending..

I kind of love that they did this - what an unexpected, low key but very haunting finale. Up there with the best episodes they've done.

this show... this show...

HOW long till s04???

January or February 2016.

We finished season one and started season two. It's great, we're really into it, but halfway through S2E1 my wife asked "don't their kids wonder why they don't have any grandparents, cousins or uncles and aunts or anything?" No need to spoil it for me, but I am curious if they ever address this.

Yes, they do

also, i don't think a lack of an extended family around you is that unusual in the first place - if there's any implausibility in the family set-up it's the parents' own unpredictable comings and goings and absences

That too! But at least as far as I've seen so far at least one kid is suspicious if that.

Anyway, we don't have a single relative anywhere near where we live, but my kids (younger than the TV kids) are acutely aware of our extended family, many of whom they see only once every few years. So interested to see how they handle it. Maybe they're all played by Margo, a la Eddie Murphy. This is your Fat Suit grandma, in from Nebraska.

Hey y'all, get bent is on board now. (note: you should not read this thread, because it's top to bottom spoilers)

Still waiting for VG to cave and start watching.

yessss

haven't read this thread yet but holy shit i just watched the episode where they pack annalise into the suicase wtf wtf wtf

I was white-knuckling my sofa for as long as that scene played out.

You haven't gotten to the "home dentistry" episode, then. Ha ha. Just you wait.

It's next in the running order iirc. Honestly, I didn't think that was as bad as the suitcase.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/08/05/an-ex-russian-spy-on-the-accuracy-of-the-americans/

“The Americans,” the popular FX series that depicts the lives of Soviet spies working undercover in the U.S. during the Cold War, “looks pretty much like reality,” according to a member of the Russian spy ring nabbed in the U.S. in 2010.

finished s3 now. this show improved so much..!

The home dentistry scene was one of the few times I have actually had to hide my face in my hands and be unable to deal, and I'm not partic squeamish, nor afraid of dentists.

Suitcase bit didnt bother me much, maybe I am a psycho, lol.

"“The result looks pretty much like reality, but of course without the murders and the wigs,”

Aw but thats the best part!

Of COURSE dude's not gonna cop to the murders and wigs

Yeah! Can't give away all the secrets!

Whhhhyyyy did I wait so long to start watching this show? So good!

I still think there's way too much "I don't know if we can do this anymore/I'm doing this, with or without you!" stuff, but man, Season 3 has been really great so far. Am I right that by and large no one talks about this the way they talked about, oh, "Breaking Bad" or "Mad Men" or something? Because from the acting to the direction to the music, this is A+ TV, with some challenging moral ambiguities being explored. Pretty inspired scenario all around.

It isn't really discussed the same way as Breaking Bad or Mad Men, no, if you by that mean discusses as one of the greatest shows ever. Several reasons for that, I think, including there simply being way too many shows on at this moment, and Americans being the poster boy for being lost in the shuffle. Low ratings, no emmys, not as smart and fancy as Fargo or True Detective. It's under the radar.

Another reason is, that it is build up unlike most other shows at the moment. The plot is really all over the place, with a thousand missions happening at once, and especially in season three, it's all about the cumulative stress of that, rather than any big thing happening in particular. The dread is that something horrible can happen at any time, and most bad things didn't happen in premiere or finale, but somewhere inbetween. It's deliberately off-putting, and I think some reviewers got surprised by that.

But that is also why I think season 3 is the best season yet, and an all-time great.

But that is also why I think season 3 is the best season yet, and an all-time great.

― Frederik B

I'd agree with this - it doesn't really do anything that differently than the first two, but there's a kind of accumulated weight of dread at this point which makes it exponentially compelling. Stuff that could be seen as just silly in 1 and 2 (the wigs etc) now seems blackly absurdist.

Everything about The Americans drives my feelings inward, as opposed to Mad Men where I felt compelled to discuss very outward feelings about the show.

I still think it's the best drama on tv, but I only want to talk about it with other people sometimes.

This is all v otm, it's not at all surprising it hasn't caught on w/ a wider audience but it's still too bad. It's one that people will discover more after it's over/on the way out, a la The Wire, I think.

Stuff that could be seen as just silly in 1 and 2 (the wigs etc) now seems blackly absurdist.

v otm

Yeah, the dread is on the money. It helps that the no way out feeling pretty much starts with season 1, and the rest of the series has been about the characters fatalistically making the most out of a bad situation, knowing at any moment it could get worse and that, when it does get better, it's still pretty bad. Like The Shield or Breaking Bad, good news in this series arrives with the realization that it will be fleeting and only serves to postpone the inevitable. I honestly have no idea whatsoever how they might end this down the line. It could go in all sorts of directions, from full on nihilism to semi-happy ending.

Just caught up with the end of S3 now.

I had a thought this morning: I've come away from the show squarely thinking of the parents as good guys, and Pastor Tim a kind of creepy interloper bad guy. When Paige calls him up, I thought "ugh nooooo", but then wondered - the usual hollywood storyline would be for the devout christian family man to come to the rescue from the damn commies. ... but the show doesnt feel at all like it'll play that angle. In fact I fucking hope it doesnt.

Pastor Tim would be dead before he even gets in the door.

I still think Tim is a spy as well.

OMG that angle never occured to me, holy shit.

Ooh yeah!

That would be a brilliant long con on the part of the Centre.

Considering the way Paige came into contact with Tim (basically by randomly meeting a teenager on a bus), it seems unlikely that this was something the Centre planned

one of the great things about this show is that even though i knew something would happen along the lines of Paige Finding Out and have done since S1E1, i still have no idea what, exactly, will happen. this show allows its characters' responses to be so nuanced where other shows would go for one-dimensional emotional tugs.

Low ratings, no emmys, not as smart and fancy as Fargo or True Detective

lol this show is a million zillion billion times as smart as true detective. even when TD was good its philosophical depth wasn't really...real

Still not done with S3, but I find the push and pull of (essentially) bad people struggling (plausibly) to be good parents and (sometimes) good partners super compelling. And I've said it before, but Matthew Rhys has the best fake American accent I've ever heard.

one of the great things about this show is that even though i knew something would happen along the lines of Paige Finding Out and have done since S1E1, i still have no idea what, exactly, will happen. this show allows its characters' responses to be so nuanced where other shows would go for one-dimensional emotional tugs.

otm x100. i especially like how they allowed characters that would certainly end up as one-dimensional in other shows like paige and martha to develop fully. e.g. compare the paige storyline in this show to what they did with walt jr in breaking bad (or rather, what they didn't do). it's kind of crazy to me that in this show of all shows, with the wigs and others dumb 80s spy stuff, that they ended up with a set of characters so real & relatable.

i totally forgot that when watching the scene where paige meets the other teenager on the bus, i assumed that it was the start of an operation by the centre to recruit her

They do a really good job not falling back on the "is she a double agent"/"whose side are they on!?" gimmicks. Sides and motives are pretty well delineated. It's how they navigate their goals that makes it such a fascinating watch. It's got a remarkably subtle touch for being so heavy, almost as if it (gasp) respects its audience.

I just watched the episode where he has to hang with the 15-year old, the one that ends with the flashbacks to his I guess sex training. Man, that's dark.

I think Tim being a spy is much less interesting than Tim being an actual pastor who now has to decide what to do with what Paige told him. Also, Philip and Elizabeth having to figure out what to do about Tim. And also the Centre, which I would assume would realize that eliminating Tim would seriously hinder their chances of eventually recruiting Paige.

With this and the situation with Martha, they've set up some really interesting problems for season 4. I have no idea how they are going to resolve this, I assume they aren't going to go through the easy route of simply killing Tim and Martha.

I dunno, if there's a flaw to this show it's imo how many people do end up killed! Innocents, bystanders, people in the way ... that truck driver, the dude working on (under) his car ... you'd think deep cover agents at this level would try to lay off the killing a little.

i totally forgot that when watching the scene where paige meets the other teenager on the bus, i assumed that it was the start of an operation by the centre to recruit her

Me too. Either that or she was gonna get kidnapped by a creepy cult and Philip and Elizabeth would be raiding the compound, guns blazing.

as rhys and russell are an IRL couple, most of their scenes feature two people who are in a relationship pretending to be two people who are in a relationship pretending to be two different people in a relationship pretending that they are two different people in a relationship.
― We hugged with no names exchanged (forksclovetofu), Thursday, April 3, 2014

Low ratings, no emmys, not as smart and fancy as Fargo or True Detective

lol this show is a million zillion billion times as smart as true detective. even when TD was good its philosophical depth wasn't really...real

― lex pretend, 8. september 2015 17:44 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Brainfart, 'smart' in Danish means 'trendy' or 'cool' or something. No, True Detective was never smart.

With Tim, it might not be a double-con or something. He is participating in the anti-nuclear movement, and stuff like that, a lot of these people were working with the KGB.

oh yeah TD is def more trendy than this

i also thought the girl on the bus was a KGB agent (and am actually somewhat surprised she hasn't returned, given that she seemed to develop a real bond with paige and is presumably still in the church?!) but i think if tim was connected to the soviets they'd have played that hand by now - though the fact that his liberal, ready-to-protest-angainst-the-government church is actually aligned with elizabeth and philip's beliefs on many issues could be interesting!

(ie i don't think tim's kneejerk reaction will be to turn them in)

as rhys and russell are an IRL couple, most of their scenes feature two people who are in a relationship pretending to be two people who are in a relationship pretending to be two different people in a relationship pretending that they are two different people in a relationship.
― We hugged with no names exchanged (forksclovetofu), Thursday, April 3, 2014

in terms of the degree of difficulty of the acting on this show, i often marvel at how flawlessly the leads pull this off
― Meta Forksclove-Liebeskind (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, September 8, 2015 5:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haaa almost orphan black-level acting acrobatics

Yeah I figured the girl on the bus would have been an agent, but then, no one knew she'd snuck off to get on the bus to visit the aunt. Unless we're meant to believe Paige/the family are watched All The Time by the centre (and some other occasions have borne that out, eg Phillip getting waved off by Hans when he was gong to Marthas and Stan was there).

(ie i don't think tim's kneejerk reaction will be to turn them in)

Agreed on this.

(and some other occasions have borne that out, eg Phillip getting waved off by Hans when he was gong to Marthas and Stan was there)

Elizabeth specifically mentions that they should get Hans to check on Martha before Philip goes to see her, so this isn't the centre's doing

more people would be talking about/watching this if the past seasons were on netflix; it's sequestered into some exclusive deal with Amazon though.

xp oh, I'd missed that!

Man, what a crazy but weirdly subtle and eerie way to end a season. So much we don't know. We don't exactly what Paige told Tim, or how he took it. We don't know if Martha is still alive. Phillip may be heading for a breakdown, but we don't know what sort, or how it will bear out; he definitely seems to be sick of murdering innocent people and being ordered to sleep with underage kids. And most striking to me, we learn (for the first time?) that it was the son who murdered his entire spy family last season, after they tried to turn him. So many ways this can turn. Paige spying on her family for the gov (irony). Phillip going rogue. Stan unleashed dedicating himself obsessively to the pursuit of the illegals.

I love this show and can't wait until the next season starts (or becomes available on Amazon, 'cause I don't get FX).

yeah, i think the best thing about s3's ending, which seemed like it would have to draw a number of plotlines to a close, is how it left more questions than answers. literally cannot wait to see how it pans out.

How many more seasons is it pegged in for? Its just the pace at which things started to get over complex/fall apart picked up so much I cant see it going more than one more season without complete implosion.

I think at least two more?

iirc they've talked about wanting five, but I don't think they've gotten more than a one season renewal for now, and the numbers are really low. But FX supports the show fully, and is aware that they need to allow the creators to really finish the show when they agree to stop it, otherwise it would destroy all the goodwill they get out of it, which is really the only thing they are getting out of it... So if we don't hear that next season will be last one soon, then expect one more.

I could imagine it playing out like gold standard The Shield, which is to the say the story (as such) concluding and then several episodes basically spent on the run or tying loose ends. But then, the timeline of the show has always been pretty unclear. Sometimes it feels like each episode is really only one day, and certainly S3 seemed to be winter every episode. So depending on how micro they go they can stretch it or slow it as much as they want. Ignoring of course that the story right now is basically a powderkeg with the fuse sparking toward it at fast clip.

I've been really wanting them to do a Mad Men and run it right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, but it seems pretty implausible that Philip and Elizabeth can carry on like this for that long. They could at least make it as far as 85 and the ascension of Gorbachev.

And was I right that it's only at the end of S3 that we learn that other kid killed his whole Russian family? It's only sort of mentioned in passing in that diner scene, so I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a bombshell or not.

No that was revealed at the end of S2.

Huh. I remember him going all rogue, but I don't remember that at all! I guess it's been a while.

would like next season's last ep ending music to be "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"

do we know when the next season starts?

no date announced but 2 of the 3 seasons have premiered in the last week of january, so thats my guess

said it upthread somewhere but I am stoked at the possibility of inclusion of Able Archer 83 into the storyline, could see some interesting plot developments there

Just a little over 2 months until S4 (starts in March this time, though the exact date hasn't been announced).

good

Yeah looking forward to how this is gonna pan out now that Paige has blabbed.

This ad art is great

http://i.imgur.com/m8vfbem.jpg

A lot to parse in this brief 30 seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld1dDuUVqZo

eeee cant wait.

Is that Philip that Stan is shoving against the wall?

Oh man I'm thinking about watching a few of the old episodes just to warm up.

Trailer not available in my country :(

Hi TV networks, this is why we pirate all your shows btw!

on the show and Christianity

(spoilers)

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/february-web-only/christians-soviets-and-bible.html

Shit! I just saw an interview with Alison Wright (Martha) and I had NO IDEA she's English IRL.

back on Wednesday!

xpost This show has the best American accents ever.

I knew she was English but I didn't knaaa she was a Mackem.

This feels like the only series left where I have very high expectations, i am mostly whelmed or going through the motions with everything else on tv.

I definitely feel like I've been spinning wheels waiting for this (and Better Call Saul). Helpfully, my wife and I have just started finding Broad City insufferable again, which happens about halfway through each short, short season, so Americans arrives just in time. Heard good things about Fargo, fwiw.

i make allowances for other shows because the things they do well hit my personal spots and outweigh things they do less well (that i care about less), but this frequently amazes me in being even more amazing than i expect

Heard good things about Fargo, fwiw.

It's fitfully fun and entertaining, but don't expect anything anywhere near Americans-level.

I have to disagree heartily there! Fargo is quite on the level with Americans, though obv a diff feel.

That was a respectable premiere episode. I was especially enamored with Martha in the pre-credits scene.

But yoooooooooooo...the preview teaser for the rest of this season is BANANAS!

Typically quiet opener - loved the closing shot and Philip's incredible weariness, though.

Anyone where/when this is on UK TV?

The violence in the scene with young Phillip beating the kid to death was very... impactful. You really felt every blow.

The Nina storyline is really boring at the moment, she used to be the best character hands-down but it feels like her role in the show is being artificially prolonged at this stage.

It does feel that way, but I figure it will pay off somehow (and probably soon—they wouldn't just have her shadowing that engineer guy for another complete season would they?).

I am way more invested in what happens with Martha right now than I am about anything else. Although if I were a Russian spy I'd be worried about an FBI agent thinking I was banging his wife.

We just found out in the premiere that Nina is married, so maybe her husband will prove to be a significant character.

i'm almost exactly 2 years behind

i did lol at the discovery that the leads are now a RL couple

We just found out in the premiere that Nina is married,

Oh thank god I thought I was going mad at that bit... I was like "wait, what husband.. whatd I miss!?"

Finally caught up with the first two episodes of this season. Good to have it back, but I worry it's on the verge of collapse. Or maybe that's what makes it great? I haven't seen any teasers for things to come. Right now it's pretty melodramatic, and almost every character seems deeply depressed or at least seriously messed up.

Didn't like the bus sequence of episode 2, though, which was fine as far as suspense goes, but seemed contrived and deeply dumb, even for a show whose death count remains ridiculous.

More than ever has a constant feeling that something really really awful is about to happen. But when something awful DOES happen (the bus guy getting strangled), it somehow does nothing to relieve that tension. This is maybe the murkiest TV show ever.

On a sillier note, I had a dream that the most recent season had ended with the shock twist of Russia actually winning the Cold War, and that this time it had changed into a kind of alternate reality thing with Phillip and Elizabeth set up as officials in the new American Communist regime! Was a bit disappointed when I woke up.

Something's got to happen, hasn't it? Did I read somewhere they've planned it for five seasons? I just don't feel they can keep up the pretence much longer, if they still have the taste for it. I wonder if something will happen to their daughter (I hope not, as she is a great actor)? I wonder if the show will end with one hunting down the other?

And this show is great, but also gruelling.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(no spoiler, but you'll probably agree with me when you see)

Holy shit! that was a major jolt and like the character, I didn't see it coming at all.

Well, of all the bad things that could have happened to any number of characters in any number of episodes but particularly this one, I suppose this was the least surprising. The character had been a dead end for several episodes now, and there was no real way out of their situation. I like the actor and the character a lot, actually, but I'd been commenting to my wife that the show didn't quite know what to do with them.

Great show, but seriously dark stuff. Like, emotionally dark, and in a really bleak, methodical sort of way.

I loved the way Martha told a partial truth (she thought so anyway) to Agent whatshisname. Boldness is a good look for her.

Just occurred to me that the big surprise if this ep sets Russian what's his name up with an excuse to turn against his country and team up with Stan. Iirc Oleg does not know of the Jennings by name or face ...

Yeah that immediately occurred to me as well. If Oleg turns, and Stan is investigating Martha AND convinced that Philip is boffing his ex-wife, then it's surely only a matter of time before he stumbles across something. Then again he is inept, so...

Stan's not inept! He's the most twitchy and paranoid guy in the cast! He's always on guard for spies.

i can't believe they did this to her. heartbroken.

not to be a dick, but long overdue in my opinion! that storyline was going nowhere and was consistently the least engaging of the C plots. i think they'll be able to use her death make some forward moves with oleg and stan's relationship and their loyalties to goose the plot in new ways.

she was my tv spy girlfriend, shutup

condolences and dasvidaniya comrade

Right until the last second I was in denial and thought she was going to make it. Obviously in retrospect she had to go and it wouldn't have been realistic for the KGB not liquidate a traitor, but still, wtf man!

so did oleg's father not follow through with his promise, or did he have no power over it? and if he didn't follow through with it, to what end? will oleg find out (assuredly)? will oleg stay in the USSR? wtf is going to happen????

I'm interested to see them try to turn Pastor Tim.

^all those possibilities FAR better than "what will she do in prison THIS week?!?!?!"

I'm sad to see her go but there was no way they wouldn't have executed her

Does this mean we won't get more from the recaptured dissident Jewish scientist? Because he's a dead-end right now, too.

Hope his season does not end with Paige killing Pastor Tim. Five seasons announced, right? So I'm going to guess this season ends with them on the run, one way or another. Better - they go on the run because Paige kills Pastor Tim!

The same actor who plays Pastor Tim also plays an aggressive, dick-swinging trader on Billions. When I recognized him it kinda blew my mind.

Literally nothing we have seen of Paige suggests that she'd be capable of killing someone, or even covering for a murder. She might be required to do the latter anyway, and the Centre might think she could do the former, but what do we know.

If they really want to find a relatively inconspicuous way to get rid of Pastor Tim then the pissy sarcastic guy with the fridge full of diseases might be a better route.

Great interview w. the creators on this week's ep.

I'd be curious to know how the Nina suff plays on rewatch, knowing how it ends. The whole time I think it's natural to watch those scenes and think "how's she coming back?" rather than about what's going on in her head.

Literally nothing we have seen of Paige suggests that she'd be capable of killing someone

It's definitely a silly hypothetical argument, I agree, but just an episode or two ago we saw Philip beat a kid to death with a rock when he was younger than Paige, and we already had a subplot involving the Paige-age child of that other illegal family killing his entire family. So the groundwork is there, it's not without precedent. Also, Paige has been in full-on freak out panic mode for a while now.

Anyway, yeah, it would be pretty unlikely, but the weak link of this show has always been the ridiculously high body count, all the murder and killing the least plausible aspect of the whole scenario. I want to say Nina is one of the rare times a death wasn't some conspicuous disaster (dead man on bus!) or setup (though why they did it the way they did it is a mystery to me, couldn't they have at least gone outside?).

Wow, just read that interview, so yeah, I guess that answers that! Still, just go outside to execute someone, you lazy Soviets.

It was planned in a very specific way so the person who was going to be killed doesn’t know they were going to be killed, and it was done that way for humanitarian reasons — they didn’t want the person to suffer, to be spending all this time in a cell pondering their own pending execution.

i mean obvs challops there: not telling people they're about to die is problematic in a zillion ways as regards appeals and due process but i know which way i'd rather have it happen

Back in NKVD days for some executions they used to have a hidden shooter behind a wall who would put a bullet through the back of the victim's neck while they thought they were being weighed.

woooooow when they said "shortly" they REALLY MEANT shortly, huh

about as wrenching a character death as it's possible for someone whose arc had clearly come to its doomed end and who was totally out of plot mileage. and it was her final rebellious bit of agency that finally sealed her fate. and there i was thinking nothing would top the quarantine scenes for the emotional wringer.

I loved the way Martha told a partial truth (she thought so anyway) to Agent whatshisname. Boldness is a good look for her.

partial truths being, of course, philip and elizabeth's MO! i love how these situations force the characters to change. paige is already lying to fbi agents...

can't wait to see P and E try to work pastor tim, easily the best route fwd from a dramatic standpoint. william is an a+ character to have introduced!

I'm trying to look back over the last two seasons and see how they didn't waste Nina's character. There were little details that were important, but for the most part they just shoved her off to the side. Not that her death wasn't an emotional suckerpunch (it very much was!), but I could imagine ten better ways I'd like to have seen them develop her story starting just before the point they sent her back to Russia. The partnership of Oleg and Stan doesn't seem worth it.

I'm willing to wait and see what will still come of it, and to see how it plays on rewatch. They've earned that much.

I loved the way Martha told a partial truth (she thought so anyway) to Agent whatshisname. Boldness is a good look for her.

i think her partial confession was a cry for help, she knows the agents will investigate her admitted affair because it's a potential for blackmail etc (duh). she''s in over her head and knows it.

I can't believe Stan didn't take the opportunity to plant a bug in Martha's apartment.

Bad news travels fast.

Not a lot of pivotal moments this week, but the way they're building mad tension is to be commended!

it's that thing this show does, builds the tension and pressure til it's almost unbearable and then there's no explosion, just something that leaves you silently reeling and absolutely no relief to the tension at all

re: the pay-off of nina's story - yeah i think oleg will be steered on to a different course by it, a possibly game-changing one, but even if he isn't, the worth of extending her story came from doing justice to her as a character, even if unconnected to the rest of the story

Hans is getting a lot better at this surveillance business, but it is a long apprenticeship. I enjoyed watching him getting grilled in a completely ego free manner by a true pro.

A very Napoleon Dynamite-ish disguise on Hans this week, I thought. And the reveal that they basically checked that "priest" out from the Center's props department was hilarious.

http://www.vox.com/2016/4/14/11411564/how-tv-gets-made-americans-fx-production

anyone else think it was significant that elizabeth said she'd been with a friend, as opposed to the usual "at work", after she saw young-hee? we've seen a lot of philip's emotional connections to his marks but not elizabeth's, until...now? show's giving us no clue as to what she's working young-hee for

I think Young-Hee will prove be an asset of some kind, so the genuine friendship that has developed will make it incredibly tense and emotionally wrenching for Elizabeth to work her, well imo of course.

The likelihood is that she - or perhaps her husband - has access to the high security nerve gas doodads that William doesn't have access to.

Anyone else feel like a load of S3 plotlines have been somewhat abruptly jettisoned? All the Afghan stuff, the thing with Kimberley, are those missions basically over for them now and never to be spoken of again?

Paige doesn't appear to have any interest in boys at all but surely there's some narrative potential in a relationship between her and the dorky Beeman kid?

Yeah, a lot of stuff from last season just vanished, or at least was abruptly written out of the show as the mission evolved.

Not a lot of pivotal moments this week, but the way they're building mad tension is to be commended!

Except for using "Under Pressure" to underscore that they are under pressure. For a show usually so adept at music queues, that was so on the nose it was silly.

The on-the-noseness was funny! The Americans has a p self-aware sense of humour

I'm really not sure that was supposed to be funny.

i am going to venture that this has been a notably weaker season than last.

I'm not sure it's weaker so much as maybe necessary, getting a bunch of ducks in a row for a rousing finish. At least I hope, because yeah, there's been next to nothing this season that has advanced what we already know, from the psychology of the characters to the state of various suspicions/assignments/investigations. Under pressure? What else is new?