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The Americans (Season 3) (1 Viewer)

Quentin

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I'm surprised there isn't a thread on this yet!


One of the 5 best shows on TV, IMO. And, this new season is off to a quick start after last season's excellent run.


I was surprised to see Nina last night! I had thought we'd written her off. So now I'm wondering how she's going to come back into play.


This is clearly the season Paige is going to learn the truth...the question is how, and from whom?


And, I don't think I'll ever look at packing a bag quite the same. That was...disturbing?
 

joshEH

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Fitting the girl into the suitcase last night may have been the most awful thing I've seen in a long, long, long while.


Elizabeth clearly thinks Paige becoming a spy will somehow miraculously draw her daughter closer to her. She obviously really wants this outcome (and she probably feels it will give her life more meaning -- she is the true believer, after all), and is working Philip to wear him down. But he clearly won't wear down, so I expect we will start to see fault-lines very, very soon.


Watching Philip and Elizabeth argue about Paige in the car (which is an argument every set of parents has ever had, though with more minimalist stakes) was incredible. This show continues to be the most intriguing on television, and flirts occasionally with being the best. The potential is there, and the execution and writing continue to close in.


Twelve weeks of both Justified and The Americans makes the wait for Mad Men and Game of Thrones eminently bearable.
 

Quentin

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joshEH said:
Twelve weeks of both Justified and The Americans makes the wait for Mad Men and Game of Thrones eminently bearable.

TV aficionados have never had it so good. Hard to believe 4 shows so different and of such high quality EXIST - let alone all in the span of a few months. And, after that we get Hannibal in the summer.
 

joshEH

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I almost had to turn down the volume and look away as they broke Annelise's limbs like old pencils. Actually found it more difficult to watch than some of the bloodier scenes in Spartacus.


It was great finally seeing Nina again, except I wish it hadn't started with that whole KGB prison bucket-toilet scene. Not sexy at all, ugh. Was totally guessing the Belgian cellmate to be a KGB plant, though.


Was anyone else expecting a brutal Stan/Oleg fight in that alley? I loved the way things went down (the tension as Stan's walking away, waiting to see whether he gets shot in the back or not, was terrifying), but I was expecting them to throw down.


Maybe I have that fight from Banshee in my head still.
 

steve jaros

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How is this going so far? I watched season 1 a couple of years ago and loved it, but gave up early in season 2. The plot was becoming too convuluted, and the Soviet agents were just getting away with too much of everything. The show seemed to portray our FBI and other law enforcement personnel as hopelessly inept, which was frustrating to me.
 

MarkMel

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I think the show is great and you should give it another shot. Keep in mind the FBI is working within the framework of the 'law' and therefore can't act with impunity like the Russians can. This stuff really happened and is still happening. Just read an article about a Russian cell in the US that just got caught recently.


I think if Philip was given the chance, he would happily leave Russia behind and live peacefully in the US. The problem will be Elizabeth.
 

steve jaros

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MarkMel said:
I think the show is great and you should give it another shot. Keep in mind the FBI is working within the framework of the 'law' and therefore can't act with impunity like the Russians can. This stuff really happened and is still happening. Just read an article about a Russian cell in the US that just got caught recently.


I think if Philip was given the chance, he would happily leave Russia behind and live peacefully in the US. The problem will be Elizabeth.

One reason I was fascinated by season one was that I lived in DC during 1981, so wanted to see how it was portrayed (quite as I remember it, in fact). But to your bigger point: I think one of the things Reagan was concerned about when he became President was that vis-a-vis the Soviets, in the covert world of espionage, the backing of guerilla groups, and other aspects of Cold War subterfuge, that we were playing with a hand tied behind our back, too concerned with following formal niceties and thus allowing them to get away with all kinds of crap. He wanted to change that, and it backfired on him later in the decade when the Iran-Contra scandal burst forth. But I am pretty sure that well before then he had our agents "taking off the gloves" to a greater extent than this show allows.


All of that said, I am considering giving it another shot. The advertisting blitz has been impressive, and I'm on the verge of being swayed back again. :)
 

joshEH

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This show is never going to win any Emmys unless Matthew Rhys shows up at the ceremony and yells, "YOU STILL RESPECT HOMELAND, BUT NOT US?!?"


He totally needs to do it in a thick Russian accent, too.
 

joshEH

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While that suitcase-scene last week was brutal, the intimacy of the tooth-yanking last night had me cringing even more. Oh, sweet holy crap, that nearly made me vomit. And they didn't even add in too much sound or show much blood. It was their eyes that sold it completely. We're getting some career-defining performances on this show.


(We also finally got some sweet Elizabeth nudity. Just to set us up for those close-ups on her eyes as she is getting her fucking teeth removed by her partner, as it turns out.)


Clearly, Stan is starting to think that the defector might be "saying what [we] want to hear over and over," based on his discussion with his fellow agent, and his subsequent focus on her language. Loved the "stygian" play in Scrabble, too. Hints at what's to come for Langella? I hope he sticks around a while, though, as he's a great addition to the show.
 

Quentin

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Sweet baby Jesus...Elizabeth is TOUGH!!! How she did that without screaming, throwing up, or passing out - in no apparent order - is beyond me. Going from Phillip waiting up worried sick about not only her well being but the rest of his life, then the two of them re-uniting, then the kiss...and down to the basement. It was a tough sequence that has me convinced they will find common parenting ground on Paige. They are a team, truly imprinted on one another.


That was a BEAUTIFUL way to have Stan figure out what was bugging him. So...the defector is a plant and Stan is on to her. Nice. As close as the calls have been for Elizabeth in these first episodes, the FBI being distracted by a new problem comes just in time.


joshEH said:
Loved the "stygian" play in Scrabble, too. Hints at what's to come for Langella? I hope he sticks around a while, though, as he's a great addition to the show.


Yeah dude...Frank is gonna find his ass floating down the river Styx by season's end.
 

TravisR

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Maybe I'm messed up but am I the only one who thought the tooth removal scene was oddly romantic? Romantic isn't the right word but as they were looking into each other's eyes, you could see the trust and love between the two of them.
 

joshEH

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Yeah, that tooth extraction was surprisingly erotic (despite my overall horror regarding the whole sequence :lol:).



This new FBI agent flirting with Martha has me extremely worried for her sake. How would Philip/Clark deal with his fake wife cheating on him, and possibly even getting knocked up? This won't end well for anyone involved. I can see her bragging about the minor flirtation to "Clark," and can also see that leading to him asking Martha to do something truly beyond her that puts her in a bad spot. Like the woman from two weeks ago.


I was disappointed when Beeman finally opened up about his time with the skinheads...I wanted there to be more to it, I guess. Maybe in a later episode.


Then again, Stan clearly came out of that assignment with some symptoms of PTSD, and he's just not going to come right out and instantly tell his brand-new African American co-worker that he beat up some black guys to get in with the skinheads.
 

DaveF

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TravisR said:
Maybe I'm messed up but am I the only one who thought the tooth removal scene was oddly romantic? Romantic isn't the right word but as they were looking into each other's eyes, you could see the trust and love between the two of them.
Yes.

When Elizabeth got home, Phillip was deeply relieved. He began to caress and kiss her. His mood was relief fueling sexual desire. Except Elizabeth was in too much physical pain. He took her hand, lovingly, and led her to ... the basement. In an ironic scene of tenderness paired to ruthlessly pragmatic, painful impromptu dentistry, Phillip shows his care for his wife.

The Slate podcast discusses the origins of this scene. It was supposed to lead to a sex scene. Except they had these dental ideas floating around in the writing room. And in coalesced in merging the two aspects.
 

DaveF

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Quentin said:
That was a BEAUTIFUL way to have Stan figure out what was bugging him. So...the defector is a plant and Stan is on to her. Nice. As close as the calls have been for Elizabeth in these first episodes, the FBI being distracted by a new problem comes just in time.
I didn't know what to make of that scene. Your interpretation is interesting; I hadn't thought of it that way.
 

Richard Gallagher

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TravisR said:
Maybe I'm messed up but am I the only one who thought the tooth removal scene was oddly romantic? Romantic isn't the right word but as they were looking into each other's eyes, you could see the trust and love between the two of them.

It was quite a scene, that's for sure.


However, it was a bit surprising that the Soviets didn't have a friendly dentist on hand to take care of such situations.
 

Walter Kittel

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While the tooth removal was quite the scene, it was not very realistic (IMHO) for two reasons...


A) There is absolutely, positively no way that Elizabeth would not scream out in pain.

B) Agree with Richard, that there should be medical resources available for special circumstances.


Love the show, but didn't buy into that scene (in terms of credibility) for a second.


Interesting interpretation of Stan and the defector. Curious to see if that is explored tomorrow evening.


- Walter.
 

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