FTA-TV The Americans

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I can't stop thinking about the last episode and the series as a whole; gonna miss the * out of this.
 
I just caught up on the final 3 episodes. Jesus Christ! I think I held my breath the whole time! So intense. Brilliant.

It's always a bit worrying heading into a series finale. Will it be a Breaking Bad or will it be a Dexter? Really disappointed that its over, but not in how it ended. Great job, loved it!
 
Pitch perfect ending. Loved this show and will miss it. Slow burning. Underlying tension throughout. Kids finished the same way as the parents started - cut adrift in America with no family.
 
caught this late and have watched the last 6 seasons in a very short space of time.. :oops: absolutely loved it.

Never lost my attention the whole way through, the journey of philip and elizabeth, the strain, the complete and utter exhaustion of their life - what a mission.

Also as a kid growing up in the 80s watching things like the Dukes of Hazard, the A-Team, Chips and other shows which were just flimsy excuses for a car chase i can definitely say one of my favourite things about this show were all the cars that were featured, so many quality yank-tanks in the city scenes.
 
So was at a loose end tonight and went back and watched the first episode again, amazing how much is baked into that episode that becomes relevant later on in the series, little things like Philip boot scooting in the dept store and bigger things like Elizabeth's feelings towards her kids, not wanting them to know about their double life (but then it was her almost pushing Paige into it against Philip's wishes) and her almost complete indifference towards Henry (until it was too late).

Probably a lot more to pick up with a rewatch....or perhaps I need to pay closer attention when I watch things the first time.

And/or take notes. :cool:

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Binged watched this over last few weeks. Great show, up there with best of them, it was more than just a spy show. Excellent writing backed up by terrific performances.

Liked the last ep but to me I didn’t buy Stan just letting them go like that. Especially as he had just mentioned how many FBI agents had been killed in the Washington area last few years.

Just a little too convenient to let them go, softened the impact of Henry being left alone in that Stan was there for him.

Still great show, probably didn’t quite sneak into my top 6 of Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Deadwood and GOT but definitely top 10.
 
TheGreatBarryB said:
Binged watched this over last few weeks. Great show, up there with best of them, it was more than just a spy show. Excellent writing backed up by terrific performances.

Liked the last ep but to me I didn’t buy Stan just letting them go like that. Especially as he had just mentioned how many FBI agents had been killed in the Washington area last few years.

Just a little too convenient to let them go, softened the impact of Henry being left alone in that Stan was there for him.

Still great show, probably didn’t quite sneak into my top 6 of Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Deadwood and GOT but definitely top 10.
Click to expand...

Suppose binging would give a different context...watching it weekly and big gaps in between seasons I wasn’t too fussed with Stan’s decision. Aside from them being spies he genuinely liked/loved the whole family over the six years and seeing how he was conflicted emotionally across the Series at different times, it made emotional sense but not logical sense for him to let them go.

I would have preferred one of them having got caught at least, probably Elizabeth as she had little redemption on what she was doing right to the last minutes of the Series

The door was left open for spin off series or a reunion Episode but doubt that would happen

It’s final season is up for several Golden Globes Monday morning our time
 
After watching season 1 not sure how it has 89 score and "must see" label on Metacritic. Good but not outstanding. Does it change from season 2 on?
 
Split pea said:
After watching season 1 not sure how it has 89 score and "must see" label on Metacritic. Good but not outstanding. Does it change from season 2 on?
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The show is a slow burn pretty much the whole way through.

I'd say it is one of the best series of the last decade, but if its not grabbing you after watching the entirety of S1, maybe its just not for you
 
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TheGreatBarryB said:
Liked the last ep but to me I didn’t buy Stan just letting them go like that. Especially as he had just mentioned how many FBI agents had been killed in the Washington area last few years.

Just a little too convenient to let them go, softened the impact of Henry being left alone in that Stan was there for him.
Click to expand...
Nah, for me this was an important culmination of Philip's story arc. One of the most brilliant things about the show is that (at least up until the last season) his killings are consistently more frequent, brutal and horrific than Elizabeth's - his honeytraps are longer and emotionally crueller than anything we see her do - but yet we sympathise with (and even like him) far more.

And I think the reason for this (at least for me) is that Philip values above all else emotional truth. He accepts lying and deception on a factual level as part of the life he has chosen, but he has refused to surrender (or accept others abrogating) some small, even partial commitment to emotional honesty. Whether he is deluding himself or not, he feels like he has been emotionally honest with Martha, Stan, etc. - and that is part of what makes him so effective. Whilst Elizabeth understands Americans on an academic or transactional level, she hates them. Philip doesn't. He gets where they are coming from on a very human level, because he can open himself up to feeling the shared joy in things like muscle cars and line dancing.

In the first season Elizabeth mistakes it for 'going native' but it's much more universal than that - and is really the lynchpin of their marriage. With everything they go through, and the more Elizabeth shuts herself away to cope in her own way with their situation, it's the emotional honesty that keeps them together. Philip can understand and forgive Elizabeth no matter her behaviour, because she wears her heart on her sleeve with her commitment to communism and the Party. It's telling that the only time the marriage falters is where Philip himself fails the emotional honesty test (sleeping with Elina and not disclosing it).

This mammoth capacity for empathy is the foundation of everything that Philip is, and the parking garage scene was a perfect example. The selective honesty would not have worked without the foundation of emotional truth, built up over six seasons, that Philip used to buttress it. He was able to walk him down the path to an emotional space where part of him wanted to let them go. Then all he had to do was just crack open the door - saving Gorbachev, the START treaty - to give Stan something to rationalise the emotional decision. To give US something to rationalise it with - because despite everything we've seen him do over the last six seasons, we didn't want to see Philip dead on the floor either.

It would have been completely jarring and at odds with what we know about these characters if Stan had NOT let them walk away - or at least, that's how I feel. And it kind of left me wondering how much of a sociopath Philip is, and whether some of what I took for honesty was all part of the meta-game he was playing - which I think is part of the point.

I dunno. Great show, anyway.
 
Caesar said:
Nah, for me this was an important culmination of Philip's story arc. One of the most brilliant things about the show is that (at least up until the last season) his killings are consistently more frequent, brutal and horrific than Elizabeth's - his honeytraps are longer and emotionally crueller than anything we see her do - but yet we sympathise with (and even like him) far more.

And I think the reason for this (at least for me) is that Philip values above all else emotional truth. He accepts lying and deception on a factual level as part of the life he has chosen, but he has refused to surrender (or accept others abrogating) some small, even partial commitment to emotional honesty. Whether he is deluding himself or not, he feels like he has been emotionally honest with Martha, Stan, etc. - and that is part of what makes him so effective. Whilst Elizabeth understands Americans on an academic or transactional level, she hates them. Philip doesn't. He gets where they are coming from on a very human level, because he can open himself up to feeling the shared joy in things like muscle cars and line dancing.

In the first season Elizabeth mistakes it for 'going native' but it's much more universal than that - and is really the lynchpin of their marriage. With everything they go through, and the more Elizabeth shuts herself away to cope in her own way with their situation, it's the emotional honesty that keeps them together. Philip can understand and forgive Elizabeth no matter her behaviour, because she wears her heart on her sleeve with her commitment to communism and the Party. It's telling that the only time the marriage falters is where Philip himself fails the emotional honesty test (sleeping with Elina and not disclosing it).

This mammoth capacity for empathy is the foundation of everything that Philip is, and the parking garage scene was a perfect example. The selective honesty would not have worked without the foundation of emotional truth, built up over six seasons, that Philip used to buttress it. He was able to walk him down the path to an emotional space where part of him wanted to let them go. Then all he had to do was just crack open the door - saving Gorbachev, the START treaty - to give Stan something to rationalise the emotional decision. To give US something to rationalise it with - because despite everything we've seen him do over the last six seasons, we didn't want to see Philip dead on the floor either.

It would have been completely jarring and at odds with what we know about these characters if Stan had NOT let them walk away - or at least, that's how I feel. And it kind of left me wondering how much of a sociopath Philip is, and whether some of what I took for honesty was all part of the meta-game he was playing - which I think is part of the point.

I dunno. Great show, anyway.
Click to expand...
Great analysis
 
Just finished this show again. Gee, it holds up well. Got me thinking about the train to Canada and Paige. She looked like she was all for the escape to Russia especially after her defence against Stan in the garage scene. However, thinking back to a few incidents, her final departure fell into place.
The darkroom scene set it all up (S05E10). Pastor Tim mistakenly thought she was being sexually abused, but he was half right half wrong. Paige was suffering and becoming more damaged as the show went on. She tried to find a shield in the church which eventually fell away but she kept up the community and humanitarian work. When Stan was nutting it out, he contacted the Pastor who certainly defended Paige, but not so much Philip and Elizabeth. Pretty sure the Pastor knew what was going on and it was a good way for Paige to break free.
Paige and Elizabeth had a tense discussion in S06E09, and that was the turning point for Paige. She realised that her whole life was based on a lie and her mother was basically a campaigner. Paige's loyalty was now to protecting and helping her brother.

As for Elizabeth, she was Soviet through and through but perhaps she saw some future in Gorbachov after realising a lifetime of manipulation had been applied to her.

Philip just found a conscience which I put down to the EST meetings, and he finally reverted to survival mode. He would have been a very unhappy person in his homeland.

The Americans is one of the best shows made, up there with the usual nominations.
 
Caesar said:
Nah, for me this was an important culmination of Philip's story arc. One of the most brilliant things about the show is that (at least up until the last season) his killings are consistently more frequent, brutal and horrific than Elizabeth's - his honeytraps are longer and emotionally crueller than anything we see her do - but yet we sympathise with (and even like him) far more.

And I think the reason for this (at least for me) is that Philip values above all else emotional truth. He accepts lying and deception on a factual level as part of the life he has chosen, but he has refused to surrender (or accept others abrogating) some small, even partial commitment to emotional honesty. Whether he is deluding himself or not, he feels like he has been emotionally honest with Martha, Stan, etc. - and that is part of what makes him so effective. Whilst Elizabeth understands Americans on an academic or transactional level, she hates them. Philip doesn't. He gets where they are coming from on a very human level, because he can open himself up to feeling the shared joy in things like muscle cars and line dancing.

In the first season Elizabeth mistakes it for 'going native' but it's much more universal than that - and is really the lynchpin of their marriage. With everything they go through, and the more Elizabeth shuts herself away to cope in her own way with their situation, it's the emotional honesty that keeps them together. Philip can understand and forgive Elizabeth no matter her behaviour, because she wears her heart on her sleeve with her commitment to communism and the Party. It's telling that the only time the marriage falters is where Philip himself fails the emotional honesty test (sleeping with Elina and not disclosing it).

This mammoth capacity for empathy is the foundation of everything that Philip is, and the parking garage scene was a perfect example. The selective honesty would not have worked without the foundation of emotional truth, built up over six seasons, that Philip used to buttress it. He was able to walk him down the path to an emotional space where part of him wanted to let them go. Then all he had to do was just crack open the door - saving Gorbachev, the START treaty - to give Stan something to rationalise the emotional decision. To give US something to rationalise it with - because despite everything we've seen him do over the last six seasons, we didn't want to see Philip dead on the floor either.

It would have been completely jarring and at odds with what we know about these characters if Stan had NOT let them walk away - or at least, that's how I feel. And it kind of left me wondering how much of a sociopath Philip is, and whether some of what I took for honesty was all part of the meta-game he was playing - which I think is part of the point.

I dunno. Great show, anyway.
Click to expand...
this has made me want to revisit the whole series, great post.
 
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