The Americans [FX - Spoilers]

The Black Oil

1.08

Not as strong as previous ones. The mission (impossible) wasn't as interesting as the others have been, but still had a function within the broader story the international tension, etc. Elizabeth is usually alone when she goes out in a wig, so when Philip popped up to disarm the girl it was surprise. The handgun stuff reminded me of how we've seen feck all of that from the FBI side (that I recall), which is welcome given how they are often portrayed, but then, it's not really within this genre to them to pulling guns each week.

Even without that final scene Martha is bound to be on someone's radar now, or else she'll slip up and leave something in the photocopier. Liked the scene where Nina was trying to get into Stan's head a bit - about being a cop.

Have they done a song montage type ending before?

FloatingVoter

1.09

The American Revolutionary War
America Won.

Reminds me of some of my finer schoolwork.:D

Calibos

Couldn't get into Homeland or Rubicon but am loving this show.

The Black Oil

The kids are taking things pretty hard. Poor Chris and Stan, though. Best scene was Stan's hunting interrogation, he carried the episode, and also a small scene when Philip and Chris looked at each other briefly when Chris was down.

expectationlost

from the previous ep, how did he not know that fbi guy no2 had been going out with the secretary, he realised that then though could have not said oh jealous lover going to bring me down to the fbi hows is that going to look, but it was probably too late by then.

how does fbi guy no1 they get away with shooting somebody

jack presley

How soon after the episode is broadcast does it turn up on the FX website, i.e when will last night's be there?

The Black Oil

1.10

9 minutes in and I didn't even notice the credits hadn't appeared.

The early scene between Phillip and Stan when he was hammered was very good. Re the first scene in the FBI's vault, just Stan and his boss...the faces on the wall were out of focus - any idea if they're politicians, or targets?

Everyone's alone. Philip. Elizabeth. Stan. Nina. Gregory at the end, though it was unlikely that he'd take a ticket to Moscow.

'We're not monsters'.

FloatingVoter

1.11

Bit of a meh episode. Hardly plausible that they'd kidnap and then release unharmed a high ranking US spook. They've probably discredited him in the eyes of his bosses but the fact that they're working as a couple is a valuable piece of info to give away.
Why did Philip have to dress up as Vlad Lenin for his kidnapping disguise ?:rolleyes:

expectationlost

FloatingVoter wrote: »

1.11

Bit of a meh episode. Hardly plausible that they'd kidnap and then release unharmed a high ranking US spook. They've probably discredited him in the eyes of his bosses but the fact that they're working as a couple is a valuable piece of info to give away.
Why did Philip have to dress up as Vlad Lenin for his kidnapping disguise ?:rolleyes:

wonder if the guy was trying to avoid saying that he even acknowledge the death of the generals.

The Black Oil

1.11

Nice Attenborough impersonation, Philip. Not a chance Elizabeth was going to let the Zhukov's death go unanswered, though admittedly I didn't see Granny's play coming. Best scene - probably the final one with Granny, actually. Crossword puzzle bit seemed a little cheesy. I didn't quite catch who struck first in the bathroom scene just as Elizabeth was taking out the needle, but you got to figure the CIA bloke was a little suspicious. At least now they've the intel that it's a couple that are going around. Nina's surely at more risk now in her new post.

Richard Dower

Season finale next week, renewed for a 2nd: http://www.spoilertv.com/2013/04/the-americans-episode-113-colonel_25.html

expectationlost

i was wondering while watching the ep why she'd betray her country over a few stolen items, was she playing him all along, until vlad got killed

FloatingVoter

expectationlost wrote: »

i was wondering while watching the ep why she'd betray her country over afew stolen items, was she palying him all along, until vlad got killed

Smuggling western goods back home for profit was a nice little sideline for embassy staff in the Cold War. Depending on the mood of the Grand Old Farts in the Kremlin, it could net you a stay in a gulag. She probably foresaw telling a few tales out of school leading to a brand new life in the US.
What doesn't make sense is coming clean to her boss about it. A traitors death was not necessarily fast and painless.

The Black Oil

1.12

50K for a pint of Guinness, and Granny playing Pacman? Hah! Are the writers on boards? :pac:

Lies. All the pieces on the chess board. A bug found, another replaces it. One certainly couldn't accuse any of the women in this show of having a case of the stupids. Think the sketch/composites are pretty good in the sense that they're 'clean', not overly done for TVland, though unlikely to lead anywhere by themselves. If they do lead anywhere, surely Philip and Elizabeth might work more separately than they already do when thinking about the next season?

Pretty big bullseye on Stan now.

vepyewwo

i was wondering while watching the ep why she'd betray her country over afew stolen items, was she palying him all along, until vlad got killed

Smuggling western goods back home for profit was a nice little sideline for embassy staff in the Cold War. Depending on the mood of the Grand Old Farts in the Kremlin, it could net you a stay in a gulag. She probably foresaw telling a few tales out of school leading to a brand new life in the US.
What doesn't make sense is coming clean to her boss about it. A traitors death was not necessarily fast and painless.

I wonder was her decision to come clean now a combination of realising Stan killed Vlad and also having to stand there and take that oath knowing she was already betraying her country. I'm guessing she decided to take a chance that her boss wouldn't want to have to tell his superiors that he had just promoted the mole to be involved in the running of Directorate S and that he might be willing to accept her suggestion of working as a double (triple?) agent. Quite a risky move from Nina - she had no way of knowing how he would react. Was she really ready to be sent back to Moscow and whatever awaits her there as a traitor?

expectationlost

i thought she was going to make move on her boss too

Butterface

I have to say I'm surprised there aren't more people following this show on boards. It's one of the best on the air at the moment.

I really enjoyed the penultimate episode. I didn't expect Nina's turn to play out so believably, I thought it would feel like a trite turncoat trope.

The actress who plays Martha is fantastic. Lordy, that character is as naive as they come. His proposal was even in code ffs!

Both Nina and Martha are really going to have a great part to play in the finale, in the potential downfall of Stan or Philip.

Very excited about the finale!

KERSPLAT!

I'm also surprised it's not more popular. I don't even know one other person thats watching it! Is it popular in America? Really hope its not cancelled anytime soon

The Black Oil

It's safe enough for now as they've been given a second season. I don't know how popular it is in the US, suppose it's a niche show, doesn't have mass appeal, maybe they're not into the 80s, etc.

Looking forward to the last episode of season 1.

Butterface

It has been renewed for a second season thankfully. It's been popular among critics, but doesn't seem to have reached the masses. It's also broadcast on the FX channel, and their other shows don't tend to reach mass appeal either. It's a pity!

I've told my friends to watch it, and nobody has bothered.. maybe it doesn't sound very appealing, but I watched the first episode without so much as reading a review and I got hooked!

vepyewwo

I'm also surprised there hasn't been more interest in this show - I think it's the best new programme this year. It's been far superior to Homeland's second season for example. Matthew Rhys in particular has been excellent as Philip.

Any reviews I have read about it online have been very positive but the audience seems to be very small so far. This is a breakdown of the ratings for episodes 1-12: http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-americans-season-one-ratings-26650/. These numbers seem quite low to me but I'm not sure how they compare to other programmes on that network. Thankfully it has been renewed for season 2 so hopefully it will grow by word of mouth. I wonder will it get shown on any Irish or UK channels?

squonk

I thought episode 12 was the final show. One more to go... great! I really feel sorry for Matcha at this point. She's not the brightest and should have run away very quickly from Philip at this point. I think it's a great show myself. I thought it got a fair bit of traction and recognition but I've been telling people to watch it but I don't think anyone has taken my advice so far. Their loss.

KERSPLAT!

squonk wrote: »

I thought episode 12 was the final show. One more to go... great! I really feel sorry for Matcha at this point. She's not the brightest and should have run away very quickly from Philip at this point. I think it's a great show myself. I thought it got a fair bit of traction and recognition but I've been telling people to watch it but I don't think anyone has taken my advice so far. Their loss.

I'm the same! Telling friends, family and people in college and still no one else watches it yet they watch Geordie f-in shore! Anyway, like you said, their loss

FloatingVoter

In case anybody gets withdrawal symptoms after the last episode airs there's a movie from 1988 with River Phoenix / Sidney Poitier about Soviet sleepers, Little Nikita.

IMDB linky - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095532/?ref_=sr_1

Mr E

God I haven't seen that in years.

Must check The Americans out. If it's being compared to Rubicon, that's definitely a good thing in my book.

Basq

Watched the first two over the weekend (after my marathon of the excellent 'Banshee'), and quite enjoyed it.

Will watch the rest at weekend.

Richard Dower

Season finale tonight.

Richard Dower

Mr E wrote: »

God I haven't seen that in years.

Must check The Americans out. If it's being compared to Rubicon, that's definitely a good thing in my book.

Aye....Rubicon was superb tv....AMC :mad:

The Black Oil

A few episodes back I saw someone post on the Superhero Hype forums saying that he was disappointed in the show. 'I was expecting spies and high levels of infiltration*, but so far all I've seen is two kids and a marriage'.

*To me, these elements are in the show, in spades.
I kinda see where he was coming from, but obviously I wouldn't agree with his take on it at all. Of course, the characters wouldn't be who they are without some depiction of their marriage. Not to say the marriage is the best part of the show, but it has a role to play.

FloatingVoter

Some people hear "spy" mentioned and they think of James Bond battling super-villains with state of the art gadgetry and a blonde in every dried martini. Theres a place for that but The Americans is probably a little closer to reality.

FloatingVoter

1.13

Excellent episode....already having withdrawal symptoms...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKb9XQ39-zc

NotorietyH

The season finale was already one of the best hours of television I've seen in ages and then they capped it off by ending with that Peter Gabriel song, his albums were some of the first I ever bought.

I've been telling everyone I know to watch it and have got a few absolutely hooked on it. Know a few too who are waiting for it come on Sky so hopefully it'll pick up a bit there.

Best first season of a show in years for me, and I love all the marriage stuff too, without it it'd just turn into 24. That's what makes it so compelling to me, the spy stuff ties in so much into their marriage that I couldn't imagine the show without it. Mirroring the espionage stuff with the lies and distrust in marriage is really clever and the weird nature of a fake marriage between two people who do actually care about it each other on some differing levels creates great nuance in the show.

Really hope more people start watching it. I'm always disappointed when I log onto boards and see not many people talking about it. I think it'll be one that people catch on to around season 3 (hopefully) a bit like Breaking Bad, or even The Wire.

jack presley

I'm always disappointed when I log onto boards and see not many people talking about it.

I'm a big fan of the show but have avoided this thread for the most part because of the spoiler warning. I'm not going to view and post on a thread that's discussing episodes I haven't seen yet. Safe to come on now though as the season's over. Maybe there are others like me?

NotorietyH

jack presley wrote: »

I'm a big fan of the show but have avoided this thread for the most part because of the spoiler warning. I'm not going to view and post on a thread that's discussing episodes I haven't seen yet. Safe to come on now though as the season's over. Maybe there are others like me?

I'd say once it's on Sky too more people will jump on board. I didn't really comment myself either so I'm disappointed in myself too!

Butterface

The musical choices on this show have been perfect. Great ending.

There's so much potential for next season with the way things have been left for the characters. I'm glad there was no big reveal, or a big cliffhanger. This show is always about the suspicion which makes it so gripping to watch. That's what disappointed me about Homeland season 1. I like when a story can draw on a bit longer.

Now that the season has wrapped I'm going to make a renewed effort to spread the word to friends to watch it!

The Black Oil

1.13

Strong episode. Again, Elizabeth and Granny share a few tetchy moments (even spies have to fill in paperwork, apparently), and Granny's scene killing the guy was really well done. Low key (stun him first), but still a bit gruesome.

I liked how once the surveillance kicked in you didn't have a bloody clue what was going to happen, though you knew it wouldn't happen was planned. The FBI had teams in the bushes, but couldn't pen in Philip and Elizabeth's car? OK, I'll buy that, I mean, the general feel of the episode was that neither of them were going to end up arrested no matter what dynamic was in play. And, their marriage remains in tact whilst Stan's suffers. Doubtful he can be turned, but he's definitely somewhat vulnerable.

You got to figure Paige's sixth sense was tingling alright. Good final scene.

NotorietyH

Season 2 should be very interesting. The creators have hinted that they're not going to be pulling apart the marriage again and instead focus more on the family as a unit which should lead it in some interesting directions and save it from a lot of eye-rolling if they split up again. They don't seem afraid to mess with the formula a bit which is always a good sign for a series I think. Should keep it fresh.

One site suggested that they think the next series will focus on Elizabeth's commitment to the cause, that it might be shaken as she focuses more on the family, whereas Stan might go through a similar doubt about his cause but tied in with him losing his family could lead him to go off the rails. It's all set up to be a really interesting second season.

What the show does absolutely brilliantly is making even secondary characters really interesting and well developed, with three dimensional personalities. Whereas Homeland outside of the main two characters and I suppose Saul, the secondary characters were a bit two dimensional and stereotypical as a result, which made most of the secondary stories pretty bland. The Americans has done a great job of getting me invested in all the characters. Stan's relationship with his wife is now interesting. Nina is a really interesting character. Martha is even a great character, and probably the biggest victim in the series really.

vepyewwo

Great final episode, the best episode since the pilot I think. Nice build up of tension leading up to the car chase. I loved that they didn't end with a cliffhanger, just set up everything nicely for season 2. Great music choices throughout the whole season too.

What the show does absolutely brilliantly is making even secondary characters really interesting and well developed, with three dimensional personalities. Whereas Homeland outside of the main two characters and I suppose Saul, the secondary characters were a bit two dimensional and stereotypical as a result, which made most of the secondary stories pretty bland. The Americans has dones a great job of getting me invested in all the characters. Stan's relationship with his wife is now interesting. Nina is a really interesting character. Martha is even a great character, and probably the biggest victim in the series really.

I especially love how strong a character Nina has become. When she first appeared I thought she would only last a couple of episodes before being killed off but she is a great spy, playing both sides well so far. I also hope we see Grannie back next year.

FloatingVoter

vepyewwo wrote: »

Great final episode, the best episode since the pilot I think. Nice build up of tension leading up to the car chase. I loved that they didn't end with a cliffhanger, just set up everything nicely for season 2. Great music choices throughout the whole season too.



I especially love how strong a character Nina has become. When she first appeared I thought she would only last a couple of episodes before being killed off but she is a great spy, playing both sides well so far. I also hope we see Grannie back next year.

I can't see Grannie/Claudia going anywhere soon. She survived Stalingrad and Stalin's various purges. A couple of spoiled brats throwing their toys out of the pram won't faze her. Besides she filled out all 27 pages of the form provided. Actually, I wonder if she might threaten to defect next season. She does like Pacman and all-you-can-eat diners after all.

The Black Oil

According this link, RTE are showing it from May 23rd, though perhaps not fully confirmed since it says 'due'?

http://www.rte.ie/ten/2013/0503/blog_tv_onthebox.html

Very photoshopped pic of Rhys.

killbillvol2

Like others I've been avoiding the thread because of spoilers. It's safe now!

What a well-paced season. The juxtaposition of family life with spying in a foreign country was really well done.

Season 2 is set up nicely - the daughter having a little snoop downstairs sets her up as a potentially big character next season.

DeWitt

It's a sad truth that the Jennings wigs would beat my real hair any day of the week.

iguana

Well that was fuçking fantastic! I wasn't sure about The Americans when it first started. It didn't meet my initial expectations and I worried it would become way too mission of the week for me. Yet every week I would find myself looking forward to each episode and get quite excited on Thursdays, which was when I'd normally watch it. Last week was excellent with Martha and 'Clark's' marriage and Nina's 'double defection' but this week's was just amazing. I was absolutely on edge as they went on their individual assignments and loved nearly everything about how they resolved it, from Nina telling Arkady that the FBI were onto something big and him then rolling up his sleeves and spraying the abort signal on the cars, to 'Granny' actually truly having P&E's back, to how professional both P&E are and how they were so easily able to adapt to the ambush. And even how earlier on Elizabeth even went back downstairs and folded the damn laundry.

I'm a bit worried for them though as Elizabeth's contact has now told Gaad about the Colonel who met Philip and when he realised that there was a set up he said "Elizabeth" fairly loudly which could end up as a clue if the Colonel remembers and tell the FBI.

Butterface

Well caught iguana.. I was too busy gasping at the thought of Elizabeth being sprung that it didn't occur to me that Philip was giving her name away to the Colonel! Eeep

thegreengoblin

I had to catch up with a few episodes so I've been avoiding this thread for a while but....what a series! I've really enjoyed it from the word go and it's just gotten better and better as it went along.

The final episode really got the adrenalin pumping, it ticked so many boxes. The scene where the Feds had Philip and Elizabeth hemmed in was brilliant, I loved the fact that neither of them said anything to each other....there was just total trust in Philip's ability to get them out of there.

As someone said above, the secondary characters are outstanding and are really what make it for me. Stan is a fantastic character, there is so much to admire about him. He has that strong but vulnerable thing down to a tee.

And also as above, as soon as Philip said 'Elizabeth' out loud, I thought of the possible consequences further down the line.

The Clark/Martha sideshow is really interesting and provides some great humour. The look on Clark's face when she introduced him to her parents was priceless! Matthew Rhys must have had a great time doing this series, I think he has been outstanding.

I don't like comparing the two but Homeland could learn a lot from The Americans. I'm very much looking forward to seeing where this show goes next January. It has so many options and I think that's a sign of a really good television show.

The Black Oil

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22531001

Russians arrest an alleged CIA agent. Wigs and all. Have they been watching the show? :pac:

ciarriaithuaidh

Just started watching this show 2 weeks ago on the recommendation of a friend and quickly got so interested I watched the entire first series. Thought it was very good..the season finale was very well done and while you can see some of the plot coming a mile off, there is enough to keep you in suspense aswell. I think the 2 main characters are very well played especially and I'll certainly tune in for the second season.

Also, being the shallow man that I am..Nina...sweet jaysus!!

Risteard

Just finished this. Think it's a very good show. The finale was very strong. Hope it gets picked up for a second season.

EDIT: I see it already has.

The Black Oil

RTE have put together a pretty decent promo, imo.

JP Liz V1

The Black Oil wrote: »

RTE have put together a pretty decent promo, imo.

I agree, think it starts here on 30th of May