A thread for The Americans on FX

Yep, the whole "nothing's that black and white" thing. And even with the steely resolve on P&E's faces, you could see the wavering of resolution dimly underneath - such fantastic acting.

Also - return of MAIL ROBOT

Claudia had the basics of what happened, but none of the details.

I wondered about this. It should have been pretty obvious, especially to two female operators, that any sexual contact would most likely have been rape. I felt this was laying on the "do you see, you are being lied to in order to make you do terrible things!" a bit thick.

Yeah, I agree. That's how I felt they were treading familiar ground. But still an incredible scene.

I have no idea how they found her in that town, though, based on a 40 year old photo and no immigration records.

They traced her through her husband, right?

But how? (Not that it matters). Like, she was obviously Russian and never claimed not to be. But she had been living under an assumed name, with no paper trail, for decades in New England. As Philip says, all they gave to go on is that she was more or less the same height and age.

Also, where are the Russian scenes filmed?

The interiors are on sets, but I think they a bit of establishing footage from actual Russia.

Wondered the same as Josh when I saw it, but figured it's one of those "oh they just found a way" things that go unexplained.

Also seemed a little weird that they'd been working for decades to track down this one random small-town Nazi collaborator.

You know what else I didn't get at the time? Philip being so troubled learning that his father was a prison guard.

I still have no idea where this is all going. Maybe it will end with Philip and Elizabeth in Russia and Oleg back in America? Oleg in America with Stan helping to bust Philip and Elizabeth?

Re: Philip's father being a KGB camp guard. I took that revelation (coming from Gabriel) as a psychologically important thing for Philip. Like, he finally heard that his dad basically did what he is now doing too. And with Paige maybe the next in line - brought to meet Gabriel the same episode iirc - it was this 'damn this work is just in our blood' feeling, at least that's what I got out of it.

No more no less. Gabriel being his sort of surrogate father, and also the one who sent Misha away when he wanted to meet his dad (this is still the weirdest plot twist for me: all those episodes covering his painstaken trip and when he finally gets within an inch of his meeting his dad, Gabriel is there to say 'sorry kiddo', and we never see him again? Hardmanning but if I had gone through such great lengths as Misha did, I'd prob think 'fuck you old man Gabriel, I'll find him myself')

I doubt this is the last of Misha.

Also, where are the Russian scenes filmed?

Brooklyn, same as everything else.

Somebody put together a Google map with locations from an early season:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1NcOEvqEdbRiTOPB4gHZkfbbkNQ4&hl=en_US&ll=40.84014056939821%2C-73.78511049999997&z=10

I doubt this is the last of Misha.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, May 20, 2017 9:21 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Me too, but I do find it odd that this story line, present in so many episodes at first, just got offed completely. All the scenes with him being smuggled over the border; why is he not having an impact on P&E now? Trust the writers enough to deal with this, but you have to admit: why hype up your audience about it and then... crickets?

xp nice

I still think it's feasible that Russia will jail/execute Misha and Philip will find out. Perhaps via Gabriel?

am not reading thred but can someone tell me whether or not i can skip a season or two? i want to go in on this show but the number of unwatched eps is daunting

Each season is pretty key imo

When you get to S5, the one currently airing, you can maybe skip past the first half.

For the love of god don't skip anything.

Yeah its hard enough to keep some of the plot straight having seen it all let alone skipping any!

Yeah, this show more than most brings back little details and characters from earlier seasons. Plus you wouldn't understand the relationships, like why they hate Claudia so much, for example.

okay you convinced me d00ds :)

A little disappointed we're all the way up to 1984 now and they've not used any Minor Threat or Bad Brains, especially since the show is centered in DC.

The Bauhaus was very unexpected!

This was a good episode, but ... I'm not sure how much I care about Philip's moral vacillations at this point, after all we've seen him do. I keep flashing back to the random guy he murdered on the bus several episodes back. That his violent life is weighing on him now ... I dunno.

Not since "The Shield" have I seen a show where I could totally imagine half the characters killing themselves before it is all over.

Philip's been teetering since S1, but he's never not been a good soldier until last season and this one. Like Claudia said, when you begin to think it might be time, it's time.

The podcast (which hasn't been great this year, and more of like a second thought by all involved) actually brought up something today about how the relationship of Tuan and Elizabeth is similar to something one of the creators of Frasier told him about the relationship of Niles and Frasier—to normalize Frasier, Niles had to be an amplification of all Frasier's mannerisms and neuroses. I think Tuan is Elizabeth on overdrive and even she's shocked by it.

Yeah, but she sucks, too! The two of them have done such horrible things and been burned by their own country enough times that it really shouldn't be shocking anymore. Plus, as patriotic as she might be, she's been living in America for 20 years, surely she recognizes that it's not all bad. No secret police, no work camps, and so on. The flip side is, she has no idea how bad things are in the USSR, right? Does she know it is all grey or sickly yellow?

Anyway, Philip has been teetering for several seasons now, at least since they wanted him to seduce a teenager. But he's been doing this for decades, what's different now? Again, he killed a random dude on the airport shuttle bus! Total stranger.

I've always felt like one of the reasons Phillip keeps going is because he wants stay in America, and this is how he gets to do that. In S1, it was obvious that he was far happier with capitalism, consumerism, a happy life, than Elizabeth is. She seems to see all those things as tricks, and is brainwashed enough to regard those trappings as traps. She doesn't do any of the American stuff Phillip does: doesn't have friends, doesn't go jogging, or go to EST, or let herself go in any way at all.

But now Paige is watching and weighing and questioning everything they do, and it's become more and more clear even to him that "if I don't do this, someone else will" isn't really a moral justification any more.

That's how it seems to me, anyway.

And yet, he's seriously considering taking her to Russia? Or is he really?

I don't think he wants to go to Russia, but he might see it as the lesser of two evils.

I saw Paige slinging a rope up over the beams in the garage and just though oh shit.

Me too! Probably intentional, maybe foreshadowing...

Also the single stupidest thing is that they think they can tell Paige they're planning on moving to Russia and she's going to be just okay with that.

Tbf, if Paige watched the Oleg bits she'd totally kill herself.

So many things could happen as this plays out. I could totally see Paige and Henry going on the run and Philip and Elizabeth needing to decide whether to leave them behind or risk capture by seeking them out. Could also see Paige and particularly Henry turning on their parents. Still wonder how Oleg and Stan will reconnect, or if. And how is Gabriel doing? He has no real friends and family, and he clearly sees Russia is a corrupt, paranoid shithole. And what of Misha? There must be more there, but what? Maybe Gabriel will get word from Misha to Philip? Could totally see an ironic tying up, with Philip and his son reunited in shitty Russia, Paige and Henry somewhere in America, and Elizabeth dead.

The scene where Stan and his partner come face-to-face with their mole and her dorky partner and then he tries to shake them down for more money was almost unwatchable in how awkward it was.

Y'all are grim. I didn't think for a second that Paige was about to hang herself in that scene.

Small weird thing: I had been noticing that this season, Brandon Dirden's name (he plays Aderholt) is way higher in the opening credits than it had been before - like, his name comes before Holly Taylor's (who plays Paige) now. But I don't feel like his prominence in the credits corresponds to his prominence in the actual episodes. Are we gonna get a super-Aderholt-heavy season finale, or something?

Xpost Really? Troubled kid, who just in an earlier scene dropped her cross necklace into the garbage, alone in the garage, parents gone, throwing a rope over the rafters, even as that scene cross-cut with her parents literally dealing with a suicide crisis in there parallel family?

Their, whoops.

The show throws curves, but that would betray the entire character of Paige which has been delicately constructed over five years.

I didnt much care for this episode. Dragged tension with no real purpose. WTF is going on.

Who was the guy in the car in the last scene, an FBI agent?

That's the FBI guy covering the Morozovs.

I'm still confused about them. Do they have asylum or is it just sort of a professional tour of duty that will take them back to Russia eventually? He works in ... agriculture? Doing ... something? Why do the Russians want them back as opposed to here, where they can be mined for info, especially the wife, who is vulnerable and cultivating relationships with CIA spy recruits? Why is there an FBI guy watching their house? It's frustrating that both the Morozovs and the new recruit with her hockey husband to be, I have no idea who they are and what they do, really, or why they're on the show at all, for that matter.

Having trouble this season telling how much time has passed, too.

Mrs. Morozov and the new recruit woman are two sides of the same coin, I thought. The Jennings' are working one, the FBI are working the other, for mirrored purposes.

Why are any of these side stories necessary? Good question. They aren't so far, except maybe to establish Tuan. But they could've done that a variety of other ways.

But they are not trying to recruit the spouse I thought, they're trying to get her back to Russia. What good is she in Russia? Is it because they think she will keep seeing the CIA recruit she is having an affair with if he gets stationed overseas? It is unclear to me.

I started a post trying to explain what I thought had been all the twists in the Morozov family plan, but then I realized I'm lost too. I need to read up on this.

Y'all are grim. I didn't think for a second that Paige was about to hang herself in that scene.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, May 25, 2017 5:12 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

With Johnny here, that would've been insane. Not for a second thought she'd off herself. That's bonkers.

This was one of the better episodes of this season I think. Still a slow burner, seemingly, but Oleg and Paige and Henry and the Jennings all sharply set up for harsh decision time either way.

My understanding about the Morozov family is that he was an agricultural scientist who defected, started working for the US, and is very public about his disdain for the USSR. But the FBI still is suspicious of his motives so they keep surveilance on him.

This means that the USSR can't straight up kill him even if they wanted to, and they might not want to because his work might help Russia out of their perpetual food crises if they can get their hands on it. So they want to get him to return to Russia, because it would be a propaganda victory for them to have a very public dissident renounce America and return home, and/or if he returns they can kill him without the FBI caring anymore.

I have no idea how accurate any of this is.