A thread for The Americans on FX

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.

When the series ends, I want a spinoff where Stan and Oleg drive cross-country in an RV having wacky adventures.

YES

Also WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MARTHA??

Like I genuinely think about this when the show is on, WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MARTHA?

When this series is done we should poll all the terrible things they have done in the name of Joe Stalin, like

1) Seduce 15 year old daughter of CIA dude
2) Kill off grandma mail robot
3) Whatever Philip's going to have to do to Martha
etc etc

Like, what is the worst thing? Because a lot of it is Bad Stuff. Really liked that the grandma said at the end, how is what you're doing right? and that what Elizabeth was saying was what evil people say to justify evil behaviour. The moral murk of this show is fascinating.

the scene with Smith was devastating but not more so than the opening scene of "the Martha initiative"
that actress is really really good; you can see her vibrating painfully against the walls of the fiction she's choosing to inhabit

Also WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MARTHA??

― IHeartMedia, the giant broadcaster formerly known as Clear Channel, (stevie), Friday, March 27, 2015 10:12 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she can't turn clark/philip in unless she's willing to go to jail herself - even allowing for this being fiction, very few deals she could cut would completely eliminate the prospect of prison time - and i don't see her having that level of dedication to any jingoistic notion of doing what's "right"

she could always try to clip him, as they've definitely set up enough chekhov's-gun stuff for it to be logical, and would probably die in the process. i would also buy it if that stuff turned out to be misdirection en route to an even bleaker fate, which i think is the most probable outcome

yeah, def think the chekhov-gun thing is misdirection, thought's had me tense for two episodes now

i don't see a way that martha survives the series (unless she brings them down completely) and that makes me sad.

i think philip's getting closer and closer to snapping
i could see the show ending with philip vs elizabeth

we've got at least two more seasons yet i would guess? Did the creators put a sell-by date on this thing already?

IIRC, weisberg and fields said in an interview that they thought 5 seasons were doable, and FX seems willing to support it that long despite this season's significant rating drop

5 seems like just the right amount imo

significant ratings drop? that's a shame.

i hope it doesn't get cancelled before it finishes, if you get me. i want to know how this ends.