Jump to content

(Spoilers) FX The Americans v.3


Mark Antony

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

Is the show setting up some drama with Henry, the neglected child? They and the audience both have been focusing on Paige, what if Henry ends up doing something important?

I am half-expecting Henry to pop out somewhere and saves the day saying to his parents he knew all along who they were. There is an interesting aspect of him being the Chekhov gun of Jennings family.

8 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

Which shows do you mean and what actions are you referring to?

Like "Game of thrones" and their failed attempt to portray Tyrion as anti-hero. Or entire line of superhero TV shows. The antihero trope has become the most popular thing to do and the success of likes like Frank Underwood, Walter White, Don Draper, Gregory House has created countless others, far less memorable characters.

8 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

One can hope that and also that they will finally give The Americans an Emmy for Best Drama and Best Writing, which it had deserved for years. But they'll probably just suck up to HBO and GoT and shower it with more undeserved Emmys for terrible seasons and terrible writing. I can't even be excited about the shows I love getting recognition when Emmys are such a joke.

They can'do it this year, at least. GoT is inadmissible for 2017 Emmys. So, one can hope... :D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't decide whether or not Gabriel's parting words to Phillip were terrible or great.  On the one hand, Phillip and Elizabeth have already dragged Paige into this.  It's hard to shut that door, especially when they won't have a handler or advocate they can trust.  On the other hand, they trust Gabriel and if he's telling them Paige doesn't belong, they are no longer fettered by someone they know and love and can make decisions on their own.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

My new favorite theory I read today:

  Reveal hidden contents

Phillip and Oleg are half brothers...

 

Lol!

I was not in the mood when the series started and I PVR'd the series. Slowly making my way through them.  I'm expecting Oleg back in the US sooner or later, but, maybe not. Maybe he'll be knocked off....

When I watched the wheat episode I knew immediately it would be the work being done on new strains. Reading Wheat Belly paid off! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to believe Stan is just as in the dark about Liz/Phil as when the series began. I'm guessing it will be like Breaking Bad/Hank, and Stan will find something out at the very end of this season.

The stakes seem very low this season, no one in any immediate danger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Triskan said:

Do we believe Gabriel that Stan's new GF is not a spy?  

Absolutely not.  

But we've also been led astray by other possible secret spies...the pastor, the kids in the church group, etc... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Commodore said:

The stakes seem very low this season, no one in any immediate danger.

Yeah I'm still enjoying the show greatly but I kinda thought the season would start heating up in the last couple of episodes but if anything it's done the complete opposite. Starting to feel like this season will end up as a calm before the storm before shit hits the fan in the final season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

Hard to think of a sadder tv character than Martha.

I thought her appearance in the store earlier in the season was a one off.  I don't know that her character needed that closure, but it was obviously part of Gabriel's closure.

Brining Kimmy back, even briefly like that, seemed odd. But I get it was the way to get into to Phillip and Liz about the  hemmoragic fever...

Someone upthread mentioned Chekov's Gun and Henry, but there sure are a lot of firearms hanging about the show. 

And I'm guessing:

Spoiler

With the description of Henry getting a tour of the FBI by Stan, that he's going to start leaning towards some sort of law enforcement career...and moving him to a private prep school is certainly a way to move the actor out of the way so that he's no longer being asked about by fans...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The *one* complaint I have with this show... is the amount of aliases the run at once... They each are working their own people in Topeka... they're working the Russian family... Phillip is still dating that young girl whose dad is a bigwig somewhere... and yet despite posing as a normal family, they can still do surveillance and follow Tuan out of the city on a whim... I think the show would have been a little more plausible if they had another person or two in their sleeper cell.... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, we see their assets all the time, usually silent and in the background.  We've also seen them train assets, though I assume there are others who do the training as well.  We've seen them shoot their own assets as well.  I think we've seen enough glimpses here and there throughout the series to know they aren't always doing all the planning.  Someone else comes up with the disguises and stories and doing all the other background grunt work (like buying tickets or securing fake housing, etc) and Philip and Elizabeth mostly just show up to do their spying stuff.  

This season they've spoken several times about how it's too much right now.  They have too many ploys going at once.  I get the sense that this is setting things up for them to get sloppy because they have too many spy balls in the air on top of dealing with their own family and personal lives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

Isn't he with Vietnamese intelligence? 

Is he? I didn't know that and I don't think so. He's working for them and the Centre.

When I said "find Tuan", I meant when he disappeared to deal with his sick brother. One of their other assets found him (the lady who never speaks).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Is he? I didn't know that and I don't think so. He's working for them and the Centre.

When I said "find Tuan", I meant when he disappeared to deal with his sick brother. One of their other assets found him (the lady who never speaks).

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought how he was recruited. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This latest episode, sadly, let me down. One of the things the show has always been really good about is it makes no compromises for the sake of story: everything follows a real logic, actions come from avenues that make sense.

So here is an alleged Russian collaborator, and mostly what they have is just an old photograph and they can't be certain from it that she is who they think she is. And Philip and Elizabeth are uncertain enough that they "want to make sure".... by barging into her home, interrogating her, and then what? Just disappearing if they decide she's innocent? When have they ever acted like this when there are options?

Because in every other episode of The Americans, they would have done what they always do: spend more time researching, breaking into the house if needs be, and looking for photo albums. Are we supposed to believe that the people who lived in that very nice home never took photos? No wedding albums? No vacation albums? No family photos? Hell, there was some sort of family photo on a cabinet (I suspect of one of their children with a grandchild), so...
It's ridiculous that the characters don't think about it. This is simply not how they operate. I don't understand why the writers at least didn't work in some throwaway where Philip asks if they've burgled the house to find corroborating photos, to be told that their home burned down a few years ago with all their possessions or whatever, so unfortunately they doubt there's any contemporary photographs that prove a connection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...