A thread for The Americans on FX

Their, whoops.

The show throws curves, but that would betray the entire character of Paige which has been delicately constructed over five years.

I didnt much care for this episode. Dragged tension with no real purpose. WTF is going on.

Who was the guy in the car in the last scene, an FBI agent?

That's the FBI guy covering the Morozovs.

I'm still confused about them. Do they have asylum or is it just sort of a professional tour of duty that will take them back to Russia eventually? He works in ... agriculture? Doing ... something? Why do the Russians want them back as opposed to here, where they can be mined for info, especially the wife, who is vulnerable and cultivating relationships with CIA spy recruits? Why is there an FBI guy watching their house? It's frustrating that both the Morozovs and the new recruit with her hockey husband to be, I have no idea who they are and what they do, really, or why they're on the show at all, for that matter.

Having trouble this season telling how much time has passed, too.

Mrs. Morozov and the new recruit woman are two sides of the same coin, I thought. The Jennings' are working one, the FBI are working the other, for mirrored purposes.

Why are any of these side stories necessary? Good question. They aren't so far, except maybe to establish Tuan. But they could've done that a variety of other ways.

But they are not trying to recruit the spouse I thought, they're trying to get her back to Russia. What good is she in Russia? Is it because they think she will keep seeing the CIA recruit she is having an affair with if he gets stationed overseas? It is unclear to me.

I started a post trying to explain what I thought had been all the twists in the Morozov family plan, but then I realized I'm lost too. I need to read up on this.

Y'all are grim. I didn't think for a second that Paige was about to hang herself in that scene.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, May 25, 2017 5:12 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

With Johnny here, that would've been insane. Not for a second thought she'd off herself. That's bonkers.

This was one of the better episodes of this season I think. Still a slow burner, seemingly, but Oleg and Paige and Henry and the Jennings all sharply set up for harsh decision time either way.

My understanding about the Morozov family is that he was an agricultural scientist who defected, started working for the US, and is very public about his disdain for the USSR. But the FBI still is suspicious of his motives so they keep surveilance on him.

This means that the USSR can't straight up kill him even if they wanted to, and they might not want to because his work might help Russia out of their perpetual food crises if they can get their hands on it. So they want to get him to return to Russia, because it would be a propaganda victory for them to have a very public dissident renounce America and return home, and/or if he returns they can kill him without the FBI caring anymore.

I have no idea how accurate any of this is.

That seems like a credible read.

From the real World Council of Churches wiki: Claims of infiltration and influence by the KGB

I forgot all about the agricultural angle with the wheat thing.

Yeah they did not push that angle all the way to finish line.

It's an odd season, this.

It is! It feels like a bunch of threads of plots flopped out and left dangling all over the place.

Absolutely. So so slow, so many threads simply abandoned or without a proper follow through (though hello there, Misha was back all of a sudden). Feels like the writers are really cashing in on the trust they gained from us viewers up to this far, but man are they testing my patience... And yet it is still great.

imo the most compelling stuff this year has been oleg

I agree. His

I agree. His challenges seem both more complicated and constantly evolving. The Jennings story seems to be going in circles a bit.

Thirded. He's really developed as a character, deepened, more than the Jennings have. I fear for Oleg.

He's the only character in play whose story could really end any number of ways, happy or sad, imo. He could escape, he could die, he could fool his investigators, he could ignomiously end like Nina. It helps that we know about his family and their tragedies, which are equally complex and what are directing his various impulses.

The Jennings, there is no way that situation ends well.

Yeah Oleg has come across in a lot of ways as the character with the most integrity in the show.

I probably would have forgotten about the wheat thing as well if I hadn't been behind on the show and watched the first half of the season off the DVR a couple weeks ago. It still seems like ages ago though.

Why are any of these side stories necessary? Good question. They aren't so far, except maybe to establish Tuan. But they could've done that a variety of other ways.

Tuan is a cool character but he's no more or less important than the Morozovs themselves really - these characters only matter because of how they advance Philip and Elizabeth's own arcs. If that story ends as I suspect it will then it's likely to be the thing that pushes at least one of them past breaking point - bringing back Kimmy a few episodes ago was a reminder that kids are one of his weak spots, and developing friendships (particularly with other women) is Elizabeth's. If the Morosov kid dies then that's probably it for them.

The FBI story doesn't seem to be going anywhere particularly interesting and seems to be an excuse to give Stan something do to, he's in a holding pattern in the same way Oleg was last year.

idk, one thing I definitely still trust the writers to do is to have every plot go somewhere interesting or necessary. Even if it's more anticlimax than explosion in terms of action, even if one or more of the protagonists doesn't realise it. (Philip and Kimmy, for instance.) What's important is that Stan feels incredibly protective of the very naïve, almost simple Sofia and what that emotional effect will mean for him, even if the actual info Sofia provides might not be relevant.

The killing of the collaborator was probably the season's most intense scene. All comes back to trust, Philip in particular demanding certainty but even when he gets it, it's in shades of grey and he can't trust it. (To what extent was Natalie trying to play them with the appeal to sympathy?)

I laughed extremely darkly when Elizabeth fished Paige's cross out of the bin and EVEN THAT WAS ONLY BECAUSE OF SPYING.

Oleg's end game is tied up in that secretary who isn't scared of the KGB, Lidiya Fomina, I think. That was some speech she gave them. There must be a reason that other grocer was so terrified of her/her people.

The podcast (which hasn't been great this year, and more of like a second thought by all involved) actually brought up something today about how the relationship of Tuan and Elizabeth is similar to something one of the creators of Frasier told him about the relationship of Niles and Frasier—to normalize Frasier, Niles had to be an amplification of all Frasier's mannerisms and neuroses. I think Tuan is Elizabeth on overdrive and even she's shocked by it.

I like this idea!

Strangely for such an ideologue, I don't think Elizabeth's arc is going to be about disillusionment or her beliefs as such - it'll be about choosing her family over her job. That's her biggest level of denial, not about America's comfort - she's so good at what she does that she thinks she can make it work for her children. Even with the always-doomed idea of bringing Paige into the fold, that hasn't actually been a disaster yet (apart from to Paige's mental health, but obviously Elizabeth believes in time as a healer there).

it'll be about choosing her family over her job

Good call. And tonight we found out what her choice would be.

! Must watch this when I get home from work.

Very satisfying, tense, and open ended finale imo.

Huh, Costa Ronin is russian-australian, I didnt know that.

OK so I dont feel like anything was really resolved there? We were left wondering if maybe next season they'll defect!

it felt pretty much "resolved" to me--Elizabeth can't let it go. Philip is utterly done. Feels like the conflict they've been setting up since the first season.

I can't work out if my version wasn't the full episode but it sort of just seemed to end, wondering if I missed the last five minutes or so.

it's a typical Americans-esque scene with lots of left unspoken in the silences, but if you saw P and E on the bench then you saw the ending.

I didn't, I saw Philip walking into the kitchen and looking serious.

i can't read this yet as i'm 3 years behind, but MZS is disappointed

http://www.vulture.com/2017/06/the-americans-season-five-review-the-messiest-year.html

Good; he's an idiot.

MZS is probably TV's best critic, and he's not wrong to say this season was not quite up to the show's high standards.

Nothing happened! Lotta furrowed brows.

Missed what Philip heard on the recording. And was it implied he chucked the tape recorder?

I know the show runners said this would be a slow season, and they were right, but ... why? Clearly they have something in mind, but it seems like they could have found a faster way to get there. Unless they really wanted to hit the depressing "everyone might die and even if they don't they're dead inside" motif again and again.

Kimmies dad was going to be promoted to... something very high in the CIA from what I could work out? And I assume Phillip realised that if Moscow found this out when he reported it in, they'd insist he stayed in the US, and hanging round her, for the ultra-close contact it'd garner.

He presumably didnt want that getting in the way and thus was going to turf the tape (did he though? I didnt see if he did)

My bf's theory on what could happen next:
- they intend to leave the US but really only want to get away from the *job*, not the country itself
- they defect instead, and use Stan as their protection/contact
- BUT! Stan's gf is a Ruskie illegal! What is going to happen now!?
- ... or maybe Henry will become a hacker/join the FBI?

This show is so dark and depressing, I can totally see Philip and Elizabeth deciding to stay, and Stan's (clearly? or is she?) Russian girlfriend killing them. Then again, don't forget the early season with the Russian/American kid snapping and killing his whole family in that hotel room ...

No Oleg this final ep. Bummer.

Christ, I'd forgot all about that kid killing his family!

Actually maybe what'll happen is they'll all try to leave and it'll be *Henry* who refuses, and goes to Stan for asylum/help.

not a good season, not a good final episode. Plot points waved around then shelved for no reason. Aimless and uncompelling.
i'm hopeful this is a "justified" case where they have a shitty penultimate season and then have something to say at the end.

The more I think about it, the more I think "Justified" could be one of the best series finales ever.

I didn't like the agriculture subplot at the top of the season, and I'm mad about how much time was wasted on it over all. If that was just to have Philip kill an innocent in vain one last time, they could've at least built a more compelling scenario.

I think the show did get better about half way through, even if it was still slow. I have a better sense of Henry and Paige now, for sure, and I can empathize with Stan wanting to ground his life after years of doing what he's been doing (though we'll see how that works out). Philip just seems beaten down and the only glimmer of hope he had was just extinguished by a) new information and b) Elizabeth's insistence on pursuing it (he didn't pitch the recorder, btw...he told Elizabeth he'd almost done it, but didn't). Oleg's life in Russia was definitely the most compelling avenue the show went down this year, but I'm still not certain what the stakes are for him.

Wish the dressing down of Tuan would've been more vicious, but that's not what this show is.

So whats the thoughts on Stan's gf trying to talk him out of quitting? She's doing that on purpose right?

Oh yeah, they couldn't have been clearer in saying she's a Russian agent without putting a red neon flashing hammer & sickle over her head.

Poor, stupid Stan.