A thread for The Americans on FX

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.