The Americans [FX - Spoilers]

The Black Oil

They shot the Paige train scene in one take...

DMcL1971

A perfect ending for this show. Emotional and understated. It didn’t need a big chase or a shoot out. The tension was palpable the whole way through and you could feel the pain each character was experiencing. A heartbreak for everyone.

Stan knows he has been fooled, lost his best friend and Rene may not be what he thinks.

Henry has also been fooled and now abandoned.

Paige has chosen to leave her parents and stay in the states but what kind of life will she have. The FBI will be watching her and Claudia was not at the safe house. It is doubtful to me that she can ever become a spy now, even if the FBI can’t prove anything the daughter of known spies will never be able to be trusted.

How will Philip and Elizabeth readjust to life in Russia, knowing no one and without their children.

If Rene is a spy Stan will now catch her.

Oleg will spend many years in jail. His parents have lost another son and his wife and kid are left alone.

Aderholt is about the only person coming out of this situation without their life ruined.

The dream sequence of Elizabeth with Gregory took me by surprise.

Slydice

DMcL1971 wrote: »

The dream sequence of Elizabeth with Gregory took me by surprise.

Yes! That was just so well done!

Shane St.

Great ending to a great series. I might just pester my friends to start it again. I am the only one I know who watches it. Criminally underwatched

SimonTemplar

Well that was absolutely heartbreaking. The line that really got me was when Stan said to Phillip that he was his best friend and Phillip said the same. Despite all the fake relationships the Jennings cultivated over the years, Phillip's friendship with Stan was real and genuine, and they were both there for each other during some of the most difficult parts of their lives. I can't imagine how betrayed Stan felt.

For me, that garage scene was actually more powerful than the scene in Hank's garage in Breaking Bad. Hank was angry, confused and even dazed, but I wouldn't say he was heartbroken. Stan was though, completely heartbroken.

Looking back over the series, it is interesting that the showrunners developed their real friendship. Stan could have been just another mission for the Jennings. But their friendship certainly paid off in this episode.

In terms of Renee, I don't know. I think that little subplot about her joining the FBI is probably a major hint. I doubt a KGB alias would pass a background check, and even if it did, it would seem like too much work for what would be a fairly low level position.

Henry, although devastated, will be OK. Stan will look after him. Paige's future is the most uncertain. Although, that final shot of her does paint a fairly bleak picture. She's smart though, which is a huge asset, so my guess is that she'll be OK in some form. She's still a minor and can claim a certain amount of brainwashing or intimidation by her parents and she doesn't need to divelge how much she knows.

And of course Phillip and Elizabeth spending the rest of the lives without their children is the cruelest punishment of all. It is funny, objectively they are the bad guys. They have killed and manipulated dozens of people. They deserve all the punishment. But also, they are not "bad guys". They were indoctrinated at an early age and were genuinely trying to make their country a better place and believed in the greater good. It is therefore tough not to feel for their loss.

What a stellar series!! I'll really miss it. The only two dips in quality are the prolonged Pastor Tim plot (I never believed the KGB would keep him alive. Far too much of a risk), and the slower than average pace of last season. Overall though, the writing has been incredible and the performances by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys were some of the best I've ever seen on TV. I hope it will find a larger audience in the future. It deserves it.

Спасибо и до свидания

Cloudio9

Brothers in Arms and With or Without You. Brilliant choices and two of the greatest rock ballads of the 80's.

Nicely done but I didn't want it to end.

As the real life version of the Americans showed, the kids would not have been allowed just live their American lives. The government would have tried to revoke their citizenship and deport them.

SimonTemplar

Cloudio9 wrote: »

Brothers in Arms and With or Without You. Brilliant choices and two of the greatest rock ballads of the 80's.

Nicely done but I didn't want it to end.

As the real life version of the Americans showed, the kids would not have been allowed just live their American lives. The government would have tried to revoke their citizenship and deport them.

Would you have a link to that story. The kids are technically americans because they were born there.

SimonTemplar

For a moment, I thought that Elizabeth would be caught on the train and would be left behind bars in American while Phillip and Paige made it to Russia. This would have seemed to balance out the killing rampage she went on this season. I was wrong obviously but was right that one of them would be separated.

Cloudio9

SimonTemplar wrote: »

Would you have a link to that story. The kids are technically americans because they were born there.

It’s based on a Canadian case which is ongoing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5778329/Son-Russian-spies-fights-Canadian-citizenship.html

Cloudio9

And one other thing. The final scene treated us to one last image of Elizabeth wearing a polo neck. ðŸ‘

expectationlost

bit of anti-climax

i suspected in the previous episode that the fbi had suspected stan (particularily with the return of oleg) and they had been watching him.

I nearly thought stan would shoot himself in the garage but he was asked to look after henry

i thought they would make more of the gorbachev plot, like despite him saying he didn't care, by how much did stan decide what they and oleg was doing was more important then arresting them


i thought paige going back to the safe house and drinking the russia drink was indication she wanted to continue as a spy maybe as triple agent

like how do any of them know they are safe as the challenges to gorbachev continue

ixoy

Very glad they went the way they did - no big action scenes but instead focused on character.
Highlight for me, as it seems for everyone, is the garage scene. Stan's raw hurt as Philip was brutally honesty was perfect. He didn't glamorise it, he didn't excuse it, it just was the way things turned out.
Poor Henry though - Philip was absolutely right not to involve him but the phone call Henry, utterly oblivious (as usual!) to what was happening just rolling his eyes at his "drunk" dad. Thankfully Stan is there for him and that's something that's been there for years now.

Excellent show. It may indeed have been criminally overlooked by many but it doesn't really matter - we still got six seasons of it and it went out on a high.

There's a few words from the writers here about the finale, worth a read.

SimonTemplar

It isn't really in the show's nature, but part of me would have loved a Marvel style post-credit scene of Phillip going about his daily business in Moscow such as in a supermarket only to turn a corner and bump into Martha, both of whom remain speechless.

ixoy

SimonTemplar wrote: »

It isn't really in the show's nature, but part of me would have loved a Marvel style post-credit scene of Phillip going about his daily business in Moscow such as in a supermarket only to turn a corner and bump into Martha, both of whom remain speechless.

I really wanted a Martha cameo too! While funny coincidences like that are not indeed the show's style - imagine the comedy moment. "Oh hi Martha. Sorry for screwing your life over and making you a traitor to your country. Hey, fancy some zharkoye ? "

Kilkenny14

The episode was great, one of the better series finales I've watched. Emmerich, Rhys and Russell have to get some recognition at the Emmys this year for the garage scene alone.

Out of everything that happened in the episode, the one part that stood out to me was Oleg father's helpless gesture as he left Arkady. Great acting.

I'll miss this show. It never had the popularity of shows like Breaking Bad or The Sopranoes, but at its best it was on their level.

Padraig Mor

Overall, I thought it was a good finale but not perfect. Better than Breaking Bad's ending but not quite up there with The Shield.

One thing though: maybe I missed something, but how did Philip and Elizabeth arrange to meet Arkady in Russia?

davo2001

Padraig Mor wrote: »

One thing though: maybe I missed something, but how did Philip and Elizabeth arrange to meet Arkady in Russia?

When they crossed the boarder in the car, they informed the boarder gaurd and got him to make a call.

Padraig Mor

davo2001 wrote: »

When they crossed the boarder in the car, they informed the boarder gaurd and got him to make a call.

Ah OK, thought that was meant to be a tension filled "will they get caught?" moment.

SimonTemplar

I really liked this quote from the writers' interview:

It’s a show about parenthood, and very close friendships. The most interesting scenes in our show are when people are talking to each other, and yelling at each other; it’s all these people baring their souls

It shows how well they know their own show. I never expected a big action scene in the finale for this reason. The closed we got to that was Phillip's chase scene in the previous episode.

I can't imagine any action scene to be as powerful as that garage scene.

expectationlost

parenthood was the cover and they left they lost it

expectationlost

ixoy wrote: »

Very glad they went the way they did - no big action scenes but instead focused on character.
Highlight for me, as it seems for everyone, is the garage scene. Stan's raw hurt as Philip was brutally honesty was perfect. He didn't glamorise it, he didn't excuse it, it just was the way things turned out.
Poor Henry though - Philip was absolutely right not to involve him but the phone call Henry, utterly oblivious (as usual!) to what was happening just rolling his eyes at his "drunk" dad. Thankfully Stan is there for him and that's something that's been there for years now.

Excellent show. It may indeed have been criminally overlooked by many but it doesn't really matter - we still got six seasons of it and it went out on a high.

There's a few words from the writers here about the finale, worth a read.

curious about "Philip, in defending his spy life, appeals to Stan’s sense of practicality and mediocrity as an agent." is this article saying Stan was mediocre or his heart wasn't in it any more?

zell12

How did they not get caught crossing the border on the train?
Surely a discreet foot crossing would be better?

Elizabeth relived having not been caught by the FBI border, and then looking up and seeing Paige deciding to remain on the platform - superb acting there from the three.
And that 80s McDonalds. Real original drive-thru, overhead menu, uniforms, packaging..
And did you see the passenger on the plane! Yes smoking :eek:


Stan's jaw dropping in the garage when Philip said René!
René's eyes in the driveway leads me to think she is indeed a spy

Where did they cross the USSR border in a Volvo? Signs are in Polish, Russian, English


Paige is clever, possibly a future Anna Chapman
Paige: "Do you think we can trust him [Stan]?"
Philip: "Yes"


Inspiring soundtrack, seriously authentic scenes, gear and lots of non-verbal.
That garage scene and final ending after years made me emotional.

EncoreEncoreEncore

GSPfan

Finally caught up by watching 6 episodes back to back. Wow. So sorry to see it end but also delighted to see it end well.

I was preparing myself for Renee to show up out of nowhere to shoot Stan in the car park but that would have been too cruel on Stan.

I would love if they could develop a Paige centric show set in modern times with her not being a spy but living a secret life in America doing something shady.

The Black Oil

Mr.S wrote: »

So...is Renee a spy?!

Some people think she's Mossad. Think they dangled enough in front of us to make her seem a bit off anyway. Long game.

zell12 wrote: »

How did they not get caught crossing the border on the train?
Surely a discreet foot crossing would be better?

It was a little like they were dangling the border agent doing a double check to keep us in suspense, but if they got away from Stan, a border cop didn't seem likely to catch up. Many years in wigs and avoiding too much suspicion.

expectationlost

so is stan going to keep up renee long enough for him to get out of the fbi andthen dump her?

Mikenesson

expectationlost wrote: »

so is stan going to keep up renee long enough for him to get out of the fbi andthen dump her?

Why is that left open?

is there going to be a spin-off

I must be one of the few that don't care for a soundtrack

I thought the FBI investigations were the most interesting part of the show.

LionelNashe

I forgot all about this episode until tonight. Not bad.

The Black Oil

Here they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKrV8ygRh1w

Slydice

The Black Oil wrote: »

Here they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKrV8ygRh1w

That was nice

It would be cool if something came out of it. You could see some glimmers of maybes of a future from some of them. Holly Taylor (Paige) didn't know but like.. she didn't seem to want to exclude the idea.


I was also totally locked on to Matthew Rhys accent. It was switching from Philip to English to Welsh.

Checked.. he's Welsh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Rhys

Keidrich Sellati (Henry) about 80s fashion!!! So true!!! Hashtag Morto!


Finally, so glad the directors wanted both Americans and Russians to get the show

OmegaGene

Just finished this, started it a couple of weeks ago and was hooked.
Very good series that was solid throughout and ended very well, some tv shows tend to get a little lost as they go through the seasons like blacklist for example.

Battleflag

Watched this over the summer, last episode last night. Never heard about anything about it - was on a recommended internet list. Can't believe no one has seen this show, it was absolutely brilliant. From start to finish it was incredibly tense and kept you on your toes. Thought the ending was great especially Paige on the station platform. Poor Stan and Henry.

Elizabeth was a complete **** for the entire last season

Slydice

Looking for some more Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich)? He's playing a very similar style personality in The Spy.

Thread about it here:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058006662

Mr.Maroon

Slydice wrote: »

Looking for some more Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich)? He's playing a very similar style personality in The Spy.

Thread about it here:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058006662

I watched two episodes of The Spy and I thought it was rubbish - no where near as good as The Americans.

atilladehun

I just finished it all last night. Loved the show so much. I'm so sad for everyone. Poor Henry, Paige and Stan. Elizabeth is going to be either very bored or have PTSD after everything calms down.

I'll miss it. Been watching since the start of lockdown in March. Well done to the writers, they finished it so well. The scene in the parking lot was stunning.

So many fantastic episodes over the years. I'm so glad Philip and Elizabeth stayed together, they were a brilliant team.