A thread for The Americans on FX

Yeah, there were very few occasions where a killing was born of the need to extract themselves from a perilous situation. Most of them were "eh, this is the only way to make sure there are no loose ends." Sloppy, imo.

But it's TV-MA, so I guess they felt the need to earn the rating every way possible.

I just thought, even from episode one, that these are super spies and there is literally nothing more conspicuous they can do than murder people. The worst may have been the random dude on the airport shuttle iirc.

Ha that does raise a thought I did have a few times - wouldnt someone see all these dead people and go "hey what the?" I mean they did at the *end*, after they'd all escaped...

And for the most part, real Illegals never really murdered anyone, much less crushed them into suitcases and choked them with paintbrushes and whatever.

...........................as far as we know DUN DUN DUUUUN

Remind me why Elizabeth had to kill the painter woman? I thought the Russians wanted to keep her alive for as long as possible because of her husband's job.

Wasn't that a mercy killing, a rare instance of compassion on Elizabeth's part? I can't remember.

I think she also wanted to be done with that assignment

painter woman (with husband) had already botched a suicide/euthanasia attempt, no?

Yeah, they fucked it up so Elizabeth had to finish it.

yes, it's the only decent killing elizabeth did the entire series; and oddly the only one that seemed to bother her

no, there was that old lady, the secretary, that worked at that factory or whatever. She didn't like killing her either.

This ended three months ago, so this is a very timely post.

I’ve always wondered why virtually everyone likes the final episode more than I do, and I think I finally figured it out. It has to do with the way Stan uncovers Philip and Elizabeth’s identities. There's no great eureka moment--he starts to suspect them, pokes around their house a little, and then confronts them in a garage.

I was thinking about how that contrasts with all the great eureka movie moments I love. (Lots of spoilers ahead, although they’re all pretty famous.) In Rosemary’s Baby, it’s Mia Farrow spilling the Scrabble tiles on the floor and anagramming Roman Castevet’s name. In Zodiac (whether you think Graysmith is right or not), it’s Lee Allen’s birth certificate. Godfather II: when Michael overhears Fredo mention Johnny Ola. Or another TV show, Breaking Bad; I thought it was fantastic the way Hank found the inscription in the Walt Whitman book. Even something as mainstream as Broadcast News, when Holly Hunter figures out that William Hurt manufactured the tear.

There was just no way The Americans was going to give me that moment--it was a show that very carefully avoided plotted contrivance. That’s one of the main things people loved about it, and I’m sure I appreciated that too, for the most part. But I've been conditioned to wait for such moments and take a lot of pleasure in them, and I wanted that moment here. They actually had it, if they had chosen to use it: the sketch of Elizabeth that Stan looks at after-the-fact. That would have been the most obvious thing in the world to do, to have Stan confront that sketch two episodes earlier, and I’m pretty sure I would have loved it anyway. But such a moment just wasn’t going to be part of The Americans.

See whereas I would have been way mad if they'd used expected plot contrivances or deus ex machinas or AHA moments!

same, i loved that there was no big climactic moment.

Like it wasn't just one thing but several things at once that made it clear to Stan who his neigbours were: Elizabeth and then Phillip disappearing at Thanksgiving, the trip coinciding with the mess in Chicago, Henry telling him how often his parents disappeared on him, the cigarettes in the yard, and all the details about the sleeper agents he had collected over the years. And only Stan could have figured it out because he knew them so well.

It came full circle nicely too, I think, with the first episode (I think it was?) where he stalked their garage for a bit, being a bit sus of them when he first met them!

Started season 1 this week. Skipped over the thread right now, but it's fun to read along as it unfolds.

Update: I'm now in the middle of S4 - Stan Beeman looks so much like Jandek that I'm now assuming that Jandek is an FBI agent with a secret career as a outsider musician.

Haha, wow, I *never* made that connection but you've planted it right into my head now and I can't unsee it!

I still have to watch the last season, which is rather daft, as it's one of my favourite show.

and it's considerably better than the next-to-last season

Watch it LBI! The rare show that truly nails its ending.

Damn I wish I could experience this show anew a second time, what a blast.

Challop: i liked it more than breaking bad.

It is better. it's all about the slow burn. Breaking Bad starts in high gear

Not a challop - I also prefer it to BB, which was always a little too male-centric for me.

Breaking Bad: "Science, b*tch!". The giant magnet episode was the worst.

https://www.urbasm.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Batman-Shark-Repellent.jpg

The Americans is much more comparable with Mad Men, although again that's male-centric.

BTW, this is easily in my top five of nuTV - up there with Mad Men, The Expanse, The Sopranos, Romanzo Criminale.

It’s absolutely better than Breaking Bad.

I still have to watch the last season, which is rather daft, as it's one of my favourite show.

― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre),

and it's considerably better than the next-to-last season

― Simon H.

I'm struggling to remember if this show ever mentioned Chernobyl at all.

The final series - and the last episode in particular - is wonderful and anyone who's slogged through S5 should watch it.

I'm def going to watch it soon, Roz!

I ditched my Netflix account a couple of years ago, and got The Americans through t0rr3nts. If you've trouble getting a hold of them, let me know Willem.

I'm struggling to remember if this show ever mentioned Chernobyl at all.

Hmm, not sure if Claudia makes passing reference? We jump from 1984 to 1987 between S5 and S6 so it's never a contemporary event.

I think I figured out who they killed for her identity:
https://s.put.re/vpg4RS1v.png

I watched S1 this past week and am trying to decide whether to carry on. The characters are reasonably interesting, and the shifting Stan-Nina power dynamic was well done, but the plotting seems rote. Minor crisis/minor resolution x2, midseason slightly-larger crisis, not-really-a-resolution, build to finale, big setpiece and out. Bingeing pulls the curtain back on the writer's room, for this and so many other narrative/dramatic series. TV is so much better when I have to wait a week between episodes (Twin Peaks, Better Call Saul).

Do carry on. A lot of the minor wrongs of s1 disappear in 2-4. 5 is plodding for no discernable reason, and then 6 is a superb cap off.

Can only second what JF said: the show really steps up the pace and gets better from season 2 on.

I concur w/ JF's summary as well. s2 essentially takes the form of a murder mystery, and a surprisingly effective one.

Same here; it's well worth your investment.

ok, I'll give it another season

s1 is very good, s2 takes off into excellence
― Sounds like a forks display name (forksclovetofu), Monday, January 19, 2015 6:56 PM (five years ago)

nth'd. show snowballs from s2 onwards.

It's definitely in the mode of "The Shield," where actions taken early compound.

I miss Nina

About to watch this!

Excellent.

My buddy said, "You're a Reagan fetishist, you'll love it."

As with most great shows, it takes a bit to get going but once you're about halfway into season 2, you should be hooked. Second to last season lags, everything else is top notch.

lol, i see i said the exact same thing three months ago.

That's about when I was hooked too. I was a little lost the first season.

I haven't started s2 yet, but I guess I'll get there someday.