Topic: The Americans. Please use spoiler tags.

[Blinis]

Spoiler

I thought that the cemetery scene was over the top: it really looked like an American cemetery, so that didn't make it for me, especially since great care has been taken all over the series to make it look and feel like the early 80s.

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I am very impressed by the acting talents of (almost) every actor in this, except maybe young Holly Taylor. Rhys' ability to make us feel how concerned Philip is by Martha's destiny without showing it too blatantly is amazing.

[Brian Blessed]

Poor Martha.

[sideshowme]

Poor Martha.

Spoiler

i thought that final sequence was really beautifully set up - martha and philip/clark both "under pressure" in parallel. philip relieves some tension by making love to his beautiful wife but martha, after all she's been through for love, just has her pills for company.

poor martha she could well lose everything in the next few episodes.

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[Ray K]

Good lord, this is an extraordinarily good show and Alison Wright is just magnificent. 

More thoughts later when I'm less busy, but every week they're knocking it out the park.

[Blinis]

Spoiler

i thought that final sequence was really beautifully set up - martha and philip/clark both "under pressure" in parallel. philip relieves some tension by making love to his beautiful wife but martha, after all she's been through for love, just has her pills for company.

poor martha she could well lose everything in the next few episodes.

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Sounds like you haven't watch Ep 406, have you? If not, don't read the following spoiler :p

Spoiler

I love how much Agent Beeman sounds like the boogey-man when Martha and Clark/Philip talk about him. That's what he really turned into this season: once Nina went out, the only thing he now has to do is to go for blood. Surely he'll get his hands on Martha faster than the KGB.

Have we heard this name (KGB) in the mouth of either Philip, Elisabeth or any of their handlers before? I'm not sure.

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[Garrus]

Wow. What a smashing episode that was.

Spoiler

Can see this only ending with Martha's death unfortunately  . Alison Wright is superb

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[Yiannis]

Wow. What a smashing episode that was.

Spoiler

Can see this only ending with Martha's death unfortunately  . Alison Wright is superb

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Spoiler

Yep. Langella's look at the end basically gave it away

Can't blame her though for not keeping her cool. Horrible position to be in and things got worse when she realised the gun was missing from her purse.

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[Garrus]

Spoiler

Yep. Langella's look at the end basically gave it away

Can't blame her though for not keeping her cool. Horrible position to be in and things got worse when she realised the gun was missing from her purse.

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Spoiler

Yeah. Wonder if those pills have any significance too?

If this does end up with Martha being killed, I imagine that this will finally be the event that pushes Phillip off the edge

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[Gili Gulu]

Spoiler

Oh Martha! There was a slowly building sense of dread in that episode. I can't see Martha going to Moscow, and she can't stay where she is. She's seen Philip, Elizabeth and Gabriel. I think Gabriel has known how this was going to play out, and his look at the end. She's got to go somewhere.

All the acting was immense, particularly Alison Wright.

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[saoirse08]

Stunningly good episode. At times, I found the tension almost unbearable. So claustrophobic in that house, like the episode the other week with glanders.

Spoiler

I was expecting something dreadful to happen to Martha at any moment...Shouting at her not to drink the wine, expecting her to get clipped...

Matthew Rhys' has been brilliant this series, really showing how Philip is being pulled apart. His back story (tough childhood back in Russia) and his genuine sympathy for Martha is beginning to take its toll, however. He's always seemed the more reluctant of two. As tired and as faded as the USSR itself was becoming by this point in the 1980s. He was the first to mention the idea of defecting - in the very first episode - if I recall. You can almost see the strands of  his life fraying, as both Gabriel & Elizabeth understand the extent of - from their point of view - his fuck up. Elizabeth, too, seems torn between the roles of wife and lover, jealous spouse, and a disdainful superior officer trying to understand the actions of her subordinate. She acted like an officer when she finds out Philip has shown himself to Martha, but underneath those big fuck off glasses and wig, a flicker of a hurt and a hint of a betrayed wife.

The brilliance of this show is how the boundaries between Philip and Elizabeth are in constant flux. Genius idea to have them spies. Absolute genius.

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Feels like there is another big moment about to happen pretty soon.

Good lord, this is an extraordinarily good show and Alison Wright is just magnificent. 

Yep. Completely agree. If you hadn't have mentioned she was from Sunderland, I would never have guessed and continued to think (just like I thought for so long Idris Elba was from the mean streets of West Side B'more!) she was an American. A real American.

[Brian Blessed]

It is quite amusing that in Philip and Martha scenes you have a Sunderland lass and Welsh lad playing Americans.

[sideshowme]

Sounds like you haven't watch Ep 406, have you? If not, don't read the following spoiler :p

Spoiler

I love how much Agent Beeman sounds like the boogey-man when Martha and Clark/Philip talk about him. That's what he really turned into this season: once Nina went out, the only thing he now has to do is to go for blood. Surely he'll get his hands on Martha faster than the KGB.

Have we heard this name (KGB) in the mouth of either Philip, Elisabeth or any of their handlers before? I'm not sure.

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well, i hadn't see e06 at the time, as it hadn't actually aired

Spoiler

another superb episode, and one of those rare pinch points where the philip/elizabeth story and the rezidentura narrative intersect.  but this episode was all about martha, and it was done beautifully, right down to the (literal) mirror image of the previous week's "under pressure" sex scene, this time with elizabeth left out.

it's looking quite likely that martha is either going to be killed or disappeared to moscow against her will. i wonder if that was why nina was bumped off - to make space for a new moscow storyline of the unwilling american given an unwanted hero's welcome in the land of the enemy?

but poor martha... striding out into a world where her own government wants to put her in a cage and the opposing government wants her dead.  a rock and a hard place...

and if she is killed, it's all on clark... even not mentioning the KGB and they still might have got away with it.

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all that said, one minor niggle i had with the story was...

Spoiler

...most (if not all) of the catastrophic fallout of martha waking up and finding clark gone could have been avoided if he had just left her a note.

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[...]

Gonna start watching this tonight. I hope it's not a never-ending merry-go-round of them 'nearly' getting caught out.

[Pistolero]

Am I alone in wanting to knock fuck out of Pastor Tim?...

[Brian Blessed]

Am I alone in wanting to knock fuck out of Pastor Tim?...

No. Him and I Love Andy Townsend deserves a punch to the throat.

[...]

No. Him and I Love Andy Townsend deserves a punch to the throat.

Oi. I'll have you know I'm just putting the second episode on now. Enjoyed the pilot.

[Brian Blessed]

Oi. I'll have you know I'm just putting the second episode on now. Enjoyed the pilot.

[Garrus]

Another great episode.

Spoiler

I don't think this is the end of the Martha plot. Have a feeling Oleg will sabotage this somehow to try and avenge Nina.

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[saoirse08]

At the heart of this series is a beautifully twisted love story involving Philip and Elizabeth. That episode last night was excellent once again.

Another great episode.

Spoiler

I don't think this is the end of the Martha plot. Have a feeling Oleg will sabotage this somehow to try and avenge Nina.

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Spoiler

Yes, I was thinking something similar. And do they want the pilot to take away the glanders infected rat or Martha?

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[Vork+The Knights of Good]

Fell a couple weeks behind thanks to craziness at work, but just caught up. Holy hell, those two episodes were up there with the very best they've ever produced, especially e406. Alison Wright deserves all the awards for her work this season. Gut-wrenchingly honest and vulnerable; she's been breathtaking. This season and the season Fargo just produced are miles better than anything else I've seen on television recently. Simply stunning works of art.

I'm absolutely astounded how this show manages to get better, year on year. It shouldn't be possible.

[sideshowme]

that was a jaw-droppingly good 40 minutes (yes, it was that short!) of TV.  to put it into some sort of context, most shows on TV would be delighted for an episode as good as that for a last-ever-episode series finale, whereas here its just casually thrown in mid-season.

Spoiler

weirdly, i laughed out loud at "are you sleeping with my husband?"   just the sheer ludicrousness of the situation.

i have a terrible suspicion martha is going to end up infected with whatever the hell it is in that rat.

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Fell a couple weeks behind thanks to craziness at work, but just caught up.

i was wondering where you'd vanished to.  you can't exclude BCS from that list though, surely?  the three shining lights of character-based drama on TV at the moment.

[Vork+The Knights of Good]

that was a jaw-droppingly good 40 minutes (yes, it was that short!) of TV.  to put it into some sort of context, most shows on TV would be delighted for an episode as good as that for a last-ever-episode series finale, whereas here its just casually thrown in mid-season.

Spoiler

weirdly, i laughed out loud at "are you sleeping with my husband?"   just the sheer ludicrousness of the situation.

i have a terrible suspicion martha is going to end up infected with whatever the hell it is in that rat.

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i was wondering where you'd vanished to.  you can't exclude BCS from that list though, surely?  the three shining lights of character-based drama on TV at the moment.

I realize it's completely subjective, just think this and Fargo are on a different level to anything else. The totality of what they've offered (from writing to direction to performance, cinematography, music, etc.), I'd put it up there with anything I've ever seen in the medium. I can't speak highly enough of either. Bunch of other shows I really rate, just not quite to that level.

[Buck Pete]

Just finished season 1. Really enjoyed it and the series just got better and better.

Looking forward to starting season 2 later this week.

Hope Claudia remains as the KGB handler. She's a brilliant character

[Ray K]

Fell a couple weeks behind thanks to craziness at work, but just caught up. Holy hell, those two episodes were up there with the very best they've ever produced, especially e406. Alison Wright deserves all the awards for her work this season. Gut-wrenchingly honest and vulnerable; she's been breathtaking. This season and the season Fargo just produced are miles better than anything else I've seen on television recently. Simply stunning works of art.

I'm absolutely astounded how this show manages to get better, year on year. It shouldn't be possible.

It's just an incredible show. Just caught up with Episode 7.  Wow. That punch to the gut was a little bit harder than really necessary, wan't it? 
Alison Wright is amazing. Mathew Rhys is amazing. The entire season has been amazing.  The best drama on tv (with Fargo).

(I think I post that Alison Wright has been amazing every week. She really is though.)

[Vork+The Knights of Good]

It's just an incredible show. Just caught up with Episode 7.  Wow. That punch to the gut was a little bit harder than really necessary, wan't it? 
Alison Wright is amazing. Mathew Rhys is amazing. The entire season has been amazing.  The best drama on tv (with Fargo).

(I think I post that Alison Wright has been amazing every week. She really is though.)

Yeah, she's been great for a very long time. Her performance the last two weeks, though, was something else.

[Ray K]

Yeah, she's been great for a very long time. Her performance the last two weeks, though, was something else.

Spoiler

'I'll be alone. I'll be like where I was before I met you.'
Just killed me.

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It'd be so easy to write the character of Martha as, well, Poor Martha, the figure of fun - just a stupid pawn caught up in the bigger game. But this show brings so much depth to each character, and shows the consequences of every little thing.  Martha could easily have hooked up with dependable ol' Agent Aderholt in S1 and all would be great in her world. But she went for the charming man of mystery, and every aspect of her life is now utterly destroyed. Just for falling in love with the wrong guy.  And Wright carries the overwhelming weight of her decisions perfectly.

[saoirse08]

Just finished season 1. Really enjoyed it and the series just got better and better.

Looking forward to starting season 2 later this week.

Hope Claudia remains as the KGB handler. She's a brilliant character

You're in for a treat, mate. It just gets better and better. Like others on here, I'm in awe at how good this series has become. Series 2 takes it to another level, I think. And it just improves with each episode throughout Series 3 & 4.

[Buck Pete]

You're in for a treat, mate. It just gets better and better. Like others on here, I'm in awe at how good this series has become. Series 2 takes it to another level, I think. And it just improves with each episode throughout Series 3 & 4.

Watched S02E01 in my lunch hour as I work from home.

You can already tell the series has taken a bit more of a serious and darker tone (not that it wasn't serious anyway) than the opening season.

Quite brutal in parts and it's not just the 'bad guys' who get what's coming to them. If your innocent and In the way or any kind of threat, your in serious danger.

Nobody is safe no matter what age, gender or affiliation. The things Philip, Elizabeth, The KGB and also the US Government will do to achieve their goal is scary.

I like this series lots

[Vork+The Knights of Good]

Spoiler

'I'll be alone. I'll be like where I was before I met you.'
Just killed me.

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It'd be so easy to write the character of Martha as, well, Poor Martha, the figure of fun - just a stupid pawn caught up in the bigger game. But this show brings so much depth to each character, and shows the consequences of every little thing.  Martha could easily have hooked up with dependable ol' Agent Aderholt in S1 and all would be great in her world. But she went for the charming man of mystery, and every aspect of her life is now utterly destroyed. Just for falling in love with the wrong guy.  And Wright carries the overwhelming weight of her decisions perfectly.

It's one of the most remarkable characters I can think of. She's an utter dupe in the context of the plot. Of all their marks, she's the biggest and most gullible, but Wright's performance overcomes that should-be-derision and makes her a truly sympathetic figure. Very rarely are you sat there thinking, "What an idiot!" It's always extreme empathy for her plight that you're feeling and I think that's almost entirely down to Wright. In the hands of a different actor that character could come off very differently and probably would have been killed off long ago. Instead she's become one of the three most interesting characters on the show (alongside the two leads).

[sideshowme]

It's one of the most remarkable characters I can think of. She's an utter dupe in the context of the plot. Of all their marks, she's the biggest and most gullible, but Wright's performance overcomes that should-be-derision and makes her a truly sympathetic figure. Very rarely are you sat there thinking, "What an idiot!" It's always extreme empathy for her plight that you're feeling and I think that's almost entirely down to Wright. In the hands of a different actor that character could come off very differently and probably would have been killed off long ago. Instead she's become one of the three most interesting characters on the show (alongside the two leads).

it's a rare and unique TV experience where a viewer can be simultaneously rooting for a pair of murderous anti-american spies and their unwitting marks, and both of those ahead of the square-jawed conventional heroes in the FBI.  and yet you somehow find yourself rooting for the most square-jawed and conventional of those too.

wonderful writing.

[Ray K]

it's a rare and unique TV experience where a viewer can be simultaneously rooting for a pair of murderous anti-american spies and their unwitting marks, and both of those ahead of the square-jawed conventional heroes in the FBI.  and yet you somehow find yourself rooting for the most square-jawed and conventional of those too.

wonderful writing.

The 'hero' of the show at this stage is probably Arkady, who's pretty much a by-the-book functionary.

Quite extraordinary stuff.

[Vork+The Knights of Good]

The 'hero' of the show at this stage is probably Arkady, who's pretty much a by-the-book functionary.

Quite extraordinary stuff.

Oleg, when he goes Jason Bourne on the Center.

[Vork+The Knights of Good]

Seen multiple critics this week saying that tonight's episode might be the best they've ever done. So yeah, looking forward to it.

[Ray K]

Ben Affleck's on board the Alison-Wright-is-Amazing train.  Possibly driving the locomotive too. From herself:

[Flinstone]

Eh? Talk about putting the breaks on. I was hoping for crash bang wallop till the end of the series. Ah well, GOT is fast enough for 2 series I suppose.

Nice episode.

[Yiannis]

Thought it was a fantastic episode.

Spoiler

Lovely face off between Philip and Elisabeth that started from the EST talk and finished with one of the real issues. I was like " that's fine. Let it out both of you". Also, excellent scene with menacing Elisabeth and Paige. Poor Paige. Felt her mother's wrath and Elisabeth found a way to blow some steam.

Finally, another good scene when she had to do with what she had to do with Lisa. Just mounts up the stress and the burden they have to deal with.

Great all around. That's The Americans alright.

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[Vork+The Knights of Good]

Thought it was a fantastic episode.

Spoiler

Lovely face off between Philip and Elisabeth that started from the EST talk and finished with one of the real issues. I was like " that's fine. Let it out both of you". Also, excellent scene with menacing Elisabeth and Paige. Poor Paige. Felt her mother's wrath and Elisabeth found a way to blow some steam.

Finally, another good scene when she had to do with what she had to do with Lisa. Just mounts up the stress and the burden they have to deal with.

Great all around. That's The Americans alright.

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Agreed. Thought it was superb. Don't know if I'd consider it their best ever, but I can see why others might. It was very, very well done and the ending was so very different to anything else they've done that I can see why it'd stand out to some.

[Ray K]

It almost played out as a season finale rather than an episode two-thirds into the year.

Spoiler

That argument between Philip and Elizabeth needed to be aired. It's been bubbling under all season and it needed to be lanced. Gabriel at least has the sense to give them space, but that time jump was really unexpected. Elizabeth is quite scary when she's angry - she's scarier shouting at you than moving towards you with a broken bottle.
It doesn't look like Paige's relationship with them can ever be fixed, though. Poor girl is absolutely dying inside.

I'm sure Martha's getting on just fine over in Moscow. Probably dating again, I imagine.

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[Yiannis]

Spoiler

Elizabeth is quite scary when she's angry - she's scarier shouting at you than moving towards you with a broken bottle.
It doesn't look like Paige's relationship with them can ever be fixed, though. Poor girl is absolutely dying inside.

I'm sure Martha's getting on just fine over in Moscow. Probably dating again, I imagine.

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Spoiler

Spot on. She was terrifying. The popped out veins under her right eye made her even more so. Good point about Paige as well. Phillip will always look at her with a more favourable disposition though. Not of course saying that Elizabeth doesn't love or care for her but she can be more ruthless than Philip at that.

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PS: I've never rooted(not because of any poor job from the series' writers) and most probably never will for those FBI characters. Fuck these guys.

[sideshowme]

Agreed. Thought it was superb. Don't know if I'd consider it their best ever, but I can see why others might. It was very, very well done and the ending was so very different to anything else they've done that I can see why it'd stand out to some.

this.  i saw your post about it being "maybe the best ever" and i was a bit confused at that, but it was right up with this season's usual high standards.

Spoiler

the parents-as-handlers subplot exploded into full view in all its inherent nastiness.

it seems we've tidied away a few plots for now, so i guess that will take centre stage until the end of the season?  unless they are going to follow martha to the USSR like i mentioned before.  i know i could just go and look at cast lists for the remaining episodes, but i'd rather speculate and there's always chekov's diseased rat, of course.

love the little callback to last week with stan being low on beer

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