A thread for The Americans on FX

Just watched the first season of this over the course of a week, so am avoiding spoilers upthread. Loving this show. Great acting all around, but boy how great is Noah Emmerich? Love that guy so much.

It's been odd watching this while US and Russia are making such headlines today, almost up to the point where I feel more comfortable with the Cold War narrative as an escape than our post Cold War idiotic reality of today with Trump and Putin.

Moving on with this series asap. Can't wait for their daughter - who is great - to be completely infatuated with slacker neighbor dude next door, and more trouble for Liz and Philip on the way. Both of those great actors in this too, though Elizabeth really, really neglects the most basic duties of being a mom tbh. She's been very cold and uncaring towards her kids up till now (your daughter has her first crush, sit her the fuck down and console her and tell her to enjoy the ride ffs!).

enjoy, the other seasons are all better than s1, it just improves as it goes

when the fuck is this coming back

March 7!

Thanks Simon, that's heartening, already have been losing sleep watching this so cannae wait!

Update: I'm at s03e03 now. You weren't kidding: second season was even better! Season finale was exquisite.

The way they slowly but surely move Paige forward into the story is chilling, so well written. Watching her 'grow up' in the series and being dealt a very clever, probably very heavy card this way (I am at the point where she's heavily in the church, and P and E learn she's chosen to be kgb groomed like Jared) is fantastic. What I admire about the series is they aren't pushing it too much: the pace is perfect. Man I love this show.

Every single s04 episode felt like I needed to update this thread with something you all know already. But just saw e07 and e08 back to back (Martha gone missing ensuing a hunt, and the seven month gap in the episode after, all for a blink of an eye at peace except poor Paige because the writers will not let everyone be at peace at the same time ever not just for one second) and omg dagehdnsjfjidusmsdke

This is truly the best show ever.

kinda is. very much looking forward to the new season.

Just saw s04e11. Only two more to go. Only two... It kills me,

'Pastor Tim' freaked me the fuck out first time I saw him, but by now I'm convinced he's a paedophile. He's a demon. Or at lest a vile weed. So many ppl who got offed in this series and this fuck is still alive? It cannot last another two episodes, surely.

Already dreading this to be over...

that's funny that you think that about pastor tim--i thought he was a pedophile at first, but it seems like he's just a wholly decent person. Obviously, in this show, things change, but I would be surprised if Pastor Tim is anything other than a decent guy who Paige has to betray over and over again.

"a vile weed" actual lol

Heh :)

Voodoo, no you are probably right. It's what this show does so brilliantly though: I completely went with Liz' disgust at church as an institution and pastor Tim representing that in all his annoying kindness. I was as suspicious as she was. But he probably is a p decent person. The trust issues Liz 'n Philip have really get in the viewers minds as well, at least in my mind.

One other thing: I ~cannot~ believe the poor viewings this show has been getting. Looking at the number of viewers (via wiki) how on god's green earth is it possible for this show to barely manage 1 million viewers by season 4? I mean I know by season 4 you probably won't acquire a lot of new viewers, but not even averaging 1 million? For a show this prolific, in a country w/ 320 million people? Or am I interpreting the numbers all wrong? How can it even be financially ok to continue this show with these tiny viewer numbers? It dazzles the mind.

I don't think I ever thought Pastor Tim was a paedophile but I definitely leaned towards him being a Soviet spy for a while (especially after Paige was recruited into his church by a girl who conveniently popped up on that bus ride and then was never seen again). Tim's church actually being a liberal, protest-friendly one was an ingenious twist.

I read that the FX CEO is just really proud of it as art and committed to letting it play out in full. It's a travesty that no one watches it while eg overblown hypebeasts like Westworld seem to magically dominate the pop culture cycle out of nowhere. And of course the lumbering shambles that is The Walking Dead still pulling in more viewers even after it's declined off a cliff.

Can't be long before they tell Henry, surely.

Completely agree, Lex. And if that is true of the ceo of FX, he deserves some sort of medal because that takes guts (and loads of money) to take that stance nowadays.

Watching this show parallel to what's happening in real life in the WH is crazy. Did make me realize that going purely by looks, it would be wrong not to cast Keri Russell as Melania Trump in the movie about this sharade of a presidency that is undoubtedly to come.

so much art seems ~resonant in the Current Climate and much of that is to do with my projection but yeah The Americans is going to be really really real when it comes back

This show, like The Shield, is just such a perfect, almost classically perfect, tragedy. We don't know how it will end, but everyone seems to hurtling toward a set point.

I'd love to see this show's viewership blow up and win awards and whatever in the final two seasons like Breaking Bad did, after several seasons of being a critical cult favorite. Everyone involved in this show deserves a toast.

I agree, but I can kind of see how this slowly paced often deeply miserable show isn't crazily popular.

Landgraf explained that they look at three factors: Viewership, critics and what they themselves love, and if two out of three are good, they will keep a show on. FX needs lots of different kinds of shows to keep the channel in every cable package, so a small but passionate fanbase might be ok at this point. They probably won't get a massive budget increase to create a CGI nuclear war or anything, but for a couple of actors and a truckload of wigs, that should be ok.

lol https://twitter.com/jonmladd/status/831901743948644353

also lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqBxUgqe8eQ

They were filming the Americans in a church in my neighborhood last week. Presumably a Pastor Tim plotline. Sadly didn't see any of the cast in their 80s finery. If Philip is decked out in a ridiculous disguise when this episode airs I will have a twinge of regret at not hanging around longer.

Omg!

And that Sabotage clip is so otm, so good.

this can't come soon enough!

good thing on the bbc today about real life illegal jack barsky: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38846022

For some reason I thought this was going to be the last season. Now there's more to look forward to.

Thanks for that link! Xp

Only yesterday I learned Russell and Rhys are a couple in real life! o_O Mind blown. Think I'm thankful I did not know this when watching it. But boy, that makes their tense acting when a couple even more impressive imho.

I think it's the regular 13 episodes this year and then 10 in 2018. xp

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5_8EJpWgAIfMVz.jpg

(via 'The Americans' lucks out with its ads in the New York Times

TONIGHT, PEOPLE! (won't be able to see it till tomorrow, but so so stoked for the new season!)

Can we get a policy on spoilers here? Personally (and I've expressed this upthread and elsewhere) I think discussions should be unrestricted. If you want to avoid spoilers simply don't click on the thread until you've watched the latest episode.

Right, just assume that any posts made during/after an episode's airing will contain free talk about that episode until the next episode airs.

I think discussions should be unrestricted. If you want to avoid spoilers simply don't click on the thread until you've watched the latest episode.

Absolutely.

yeah I think this has always been a spoilery zone

I'm glad they're going to get more attention this year even if I'm already fatigued with russia fever

i felt it had dipped a bit by s4, not that i can actually remember what happened in that season. i am still excited to see this tho.

I felt like that for the first half (it was getting truly grim and oppressive, unsustainably so) but the way they pivoted midway through was brilliant I thought

I think it was an ILX poster who once said on another thread on the subject of spoilers something along the lines of - some characters get killed, some get fucked, and then the credits roll up - it's no biggie!

This is the only tv series I still watch on the actual television, all the the rest is just background ambience for the daily exercise bike sesh.

I think discussions should be unrestricted. If you want to avoid spoilers simply don't click on the thread until you've watched the latest episode.

Absolutely. I'll be avoiding the thread until I've seen the new episode.

So there's an agriculture theme this year. I hope this doesn't turn out like the X-files with the bees. lol

Lots to chew on so far.

They really jumped right in running on this one didn't they? I was very confused at the start!

But that grave robbing scene... eeuugh. Incidentally maybe I missed something but how the heck did they work out where the coffin was?

They spent literally half the season premiere digging a hole, and it was still awesome. This show rules.

Oh, and I would totally watch a show that was just Oleg's adventures rooting out food industry corruption in Moscow.

Oleg rules.

They spent literally half the season premiere digging a hole, and it was still awesome.

I *love* that this was their first episode back after getting more media attention due to the Russia factor

how the heck did they work out where the coffin was?

I guess the satellite photo Gabriel gave them had more detail to it than we were shown. But I didn't think about that until after the show was over. I spent time, too, wondering how they knew where to dig.

Yeah all I picked up was one minute theyre looking at a sat map, the next theyre cutting thru a fence and I thought "oh ok they have to spend hours testing holes, Time Team stylez, to find the coff...ohwait no they found it wtf"

the wordlessness of those last 10 minutes -- apart from the final getting-rid-of-hans sequence -- made me sit up.

Thought the cold open was masterful.