A thread for The Americans on FX

Having just finished rewatching Friday Night Lights (start the poll a.s.a.p., so to avoid this one being hijacked), it probably would get lost because its ending was so modest--great, but not at all a big flourish. You'd have to decide whether ending means last episode or last scene.

That's another example of a show, like Community, that's done no favors by behind the scenes stuff. Scheduling mishaps, changing networks, near cancellations, etc. Speaking of which, I always liked the Freaks & Geeks finale. As I remember it, Feig and Apatow made sure they had it all figured out, if not filmed, in anticipation of a premature cancellation.

they didn’t know for sure if it was going to be the series finale but the last episode of Hannibal was about as perfect an ending as you could get for that show. That and The Americans would prob be my picks.

Looking forward to see how Better Call Saul ends.

i would nominate I May Destroy You, which absolutely stuck the landing.
Also The Dress-Up Gang.

Freaks and Geeks ending is great--caught me by surprise, even though it probably shouldn't have.

I think I need to check this out. I was never really a fan of Keri Russell and didn't know much about Matthew Rhys, but I'm really liking him in Perry Mason.

Russell is great in it, but Rhys is incredible.

Nothing against Russell, just Felicity was never my thing.

I never did start S2. Maybe someday.

The Shield finale might be my all-time favorite, but the last few seasons had some slow moments IIRC. Been a while since watching it. The Americans finale is certainly up there too, and I find it remarkable that a finale can feel so conclusive yet also fairly open-ended!

Seinfeld finale was legit one of the worst episodes of the whole series, and the penultimate episode ("Puerto Rican Day") is also one of the worst. I'm not as down on the wacky final season as many, there are some classic episodes earlier in the season

Oh man dont judge the Americans on what she was like in Felicity lol.

I haven't watched Felicity since it aired but I remember thinking she acted well in it? Regardless, she's amazing in the Americans

I liked Keri Russell in a small film called Waitress.

I won't say I loved the Seinfeld finale, but I thought it was perfectly in sync with certain things that were (at least at the time) audacious about the show. The dead-end circularity of "Haven't we had this conversation before? (they had--in the first episode, I think) as the camera pulls back on the four of them in the jail cell was great.

getting into The Americans by way of Perry Mason is like getting into the Beatles by way of Wings.

It happens, though!

Any conversations going on about Perry Mason? I don’t really like it but I keep watching

There's a thread about it. I like it, it feels sort of like a throwback to multiple earlier eras of HBO, all the way back to the Powers Boothe as Philip Marlowe days

There's a thread on it, not a ton of talk going on, it's relatively quiet thus far.

The exciting and sometimes disgusting origin story of Perry Mason starring Matthew Rhys

Rewatching. I think my first favourite moment is the end of Episode 11: "This isn't going to go well for you, old lady."

I'm sure this has been pointed out many times, but as I work my way through (almost finished S2), I started thinking about how with four of the most famous TV shows of recent times--this, Mad Men, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad--parents hiding their identities from their children is central. (Their children, all of them; wives, two of them.) That's resolved fairly early in The Sopranos--I think Meadow confronts Tony in S1--later in the other three.

I'll read up for some clarification, but I found the whole Andrew Larrick plot in S2 very confusing. Maybe I missed a line that explained everything, but how did he go from an asset Elizabeth wanted to protect to this crazed assassin? He was angry about some of his friends getting killed by the KGB...I got that, but is that it? Why did Elizabeth stand there and let him kill Lucia? I feel like I missed something.

The midnight getaway for the Jennings family in the last S2 episode is hilarious, intentionally or not. Paige as they return home: "Great trip."

The other agent couple had been blackmailing Larrick for years so he only worked for them and Elizabeth very grudgingly. iirc Elizabeth realized that Larrick was more important than Lucia, so she let him kill her, partially as a good faith gesture!

I knew the blackmail part...So she was hoping Larrick would ignore that and continue to work for her, and sacrificing Lucia was with that end in mind. Doesn't seem very perceptive for the usually sharp Elizabeth.

I like the inverse symmetry with Mindhunter on this guy (I'd forgotten about him by the time I watched Mindhunter):

http://thefincheranalyst.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/mindhunter-s01e01-cotter-smith.jpg?w=1024

He goes from the Deputy AG who encourages Agent Beeman to go rogue in The Americans to an Assistant Director of the FBI who's forever tearing his hair out in Mindhunter when Agent Tench goes rogue.

Great comic lines that need context:

"I said, 'Wait till your father gets home.'"

"I guess we're not going to Epcot Center."

"This isn't going to go well for you, old lady."

The way that woman quite calmy accepted her fate was quite disarming and moving I thought.

Claudia's a great character--your feelings about her are always changing (second time around, I can't remember what ultimately happens to her).

Wait maybe Im thinking of the wrong scene I though that line was said to the guard lady who Elizabeth had to kill

nah that line is said by Elizabeth to Claudia

Trayce, I think you're thinking of Lois Smith's character Betty, the woman Elizabeth opens up to because she knows she has to kill her (she forces her to OD on her heart medication), the woman whose husband fought in the war. She has a great line just as she dies: "That's what evil people tell themselves when they do evil things."

Loved those scenes between Elizabeth and Betty

Yeah, I still think about that particular episode a lot.

Ok so I am *finally* ready to start watching this show with love in my heart

Last time I tried I rage-quit after 1 episode because of the terrible wigs. My love of HBO Perry Mason has awakened me to the fact that I need more Matthew Rhys on my tv
Plus I am also 6 seasons deep into “Hill Street Blues” which thanks to some horrifying instances of old-age makeup & truly bizarre hair & makeup in general has now innoculated me against terrible wigs for life

Hello!

you're gonna love it, i would bet hard money

The wigs never go away, you just become wig-immune after a while.

well i enjoyed ep1 just now with no illeffects so I think I am officially on my way

wig-immune, pffft. you will grow to love the wigs.

let’s not oversell this thing

VEG OMG I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW

<3

For me, the amateurish nature of the wigs is essential, because otherwise they'd be indistinguishable from the wigs the actors presumably have to wear from time to time. I feel like they also provide a bit of a clue to the slightly slower viewer. "I'm in my wig! It's a disguise!" Like, if you tuned in halfway through an episode, the wigs help you to orientate yourself a bit.
Veg, I assume you're feeding your Matthew Rhys habit with regular viewing of his interview with fellow Welshman Rob Bryson, where they absolutely Welsh it up big style? A lot of people were amazed to learn that's how he really talks.

Yeah, the wigs are essential, because they further emphasize that no matter how ridiculous the hairpiece, the acting is so good (esp. Rhys, whose American accent, and type of American accent, is perfect) that the wigs become invisible, almost as an ironic joke. Rhys and Russell could be wearing Russian fur hats and still be convincing in their various roles.

I thought this was a revelatory gag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD59Dmg2sDk

And just to put it here:

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

I probably posted a similar comment first time around, but I think Richard Thomas gives a great performance in this that's easy to overlook.

We saw a play here a couple of years ago (The Humans), and I kept getting this weird deja vu vibe from the star. Looked at the Playbill and it was Richard Thomas!

i worked with him on a project some years back; super nice guy

Look away, VG...

Why didn't Martha just turn herself in? The things she did--the bug, the stolen documents--wasn't she doing them in the service of what she believed was an internal investigation conducted by an independent agency (Clark)? I don't know where the legal line exists for treason, but getting duped by a KGB agent, isn't that on the safe side? Stupid, yes, but criminal? When she flees Gabriel, she had a chance to turn herself in and didn't. Was it because of love, because she was to distraught to think straight, or because she was indeed on the hook for treason?

Someone should splice three minutes of Martha together and soundtrack it with a Beatles song.

Maybe the funniest line so far comes from Dylan Baker (who's typically great): "We get breaks?"

Conversely, I find the jovial banter between Elizabeth and Young Hee pretty forced and unconvincing.