The Americans: The Final Season (Spoilers) pt. 4

[red snow]

2 hours ago, Risto said:

Tell me about it... And the moment Bono starts with that "o--oh--", my heart breaks down. I doubt I will ever listen to this song without thinking of Elizabeth and Phillip.

 

Couldn't have said better.

Rewatching the garage scene, one has to give to Matthew Rhys and how he, even in the moment of his greatest honesty, he still lies. I wonder how Stan will feel when/if he ever realizes the extent of their work. 

This show was one of the best in terms of using music. A bit like a subtle version of "baby driver" where the music not only fit the tone but also dictated the flow of action in the scene it was used. The way they used fleetwood macs "the chain" springs to mind where the kidnap only springs into action as the song hits its famous f1 bass line. But this happened with most of their songs.

It just made so many other shows look lazy with their use of music. It's another reason i eagerly look forward to the creators' next project hopefully with anoher era of music or one where they can pick what the want.

Will have to look to see if the show has a playlist as it was pretty much the greatest hits of my childhood

[Mark Antony]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Added it to my current Spotify playlist  Keep ‘replaying’ the scene where Elizabeth sees that Paige got off the train in my mind when I listen to it

Same guess we like to torture ourselves.

[Mladen]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Added it to my current Spotify playlist  Keep ‘replaying’ the scene where Elizabeth sees that Paige got off the train in my mind when I listen to it

I even almost raise my hands to hold onto imaginary window and then I realize there is no train, no window... And then it just hits me. "With or without you..." The show is over. 

[Mladen]

2 hours ago, red snow said:

This show was one of the best in terms of using music. A bit like a subtle version of "baby driver" where the music not only fit the tone but also dictated the flow of action in the scene it was used. The way they used fleetwood macs "the chain" springs to mind where the kidnap only springs into action as the song hits its famous f1 bass line. But this happened with most of their songs.

It just made so many other shows look lazy with their use of music. It's another reason i eagerly look forward to the creators' next project hopefully with anoher era of music or one where they can pick what the want.

Will have to look to see if the show has a playlist as it was pretty much the greatest hits of my childhood

Oh, "Chain" scene was immaculate. It's like making the opera, where the scene and the music unite in what is being said. Using previously composed songs is far more difficult because you have history, sentiment and simply, it can be the destruction of any subtlety. "With or without you" was a prime example of how song should be used. Rhythm worked nicely to portray the melancholy of both Jennings and Stan, but then that, can I call it crescendo, changed the melancholy into gut-wrenching sadness. It is very minimalistic and it fits perfectly with that internalization the show (and its actors) has been known for.

You can find the songs here... 

Oh, and I forgot... Going from US music from 1980s and "With or without you", musically speaking, to Tchaikovsky in one episode, was certainly a genius move. And it marvelously worked for their last moments on screen, in snowy Russia, alone in a car, together holding to each other. Brilliant, just brilliant.

[Annara Snow]

6 hours ago, red snow said:

This show was one of the best in terms of using music. A bit like a subtle version of "baby driver" where the music not only fit the tone but also dictated the flow of action in the scene it was used. The way they used fleetwood macs "the chain" springs to mind where the kidnap only springs into action as the song hits its famous f1 bass line. But this happened with most of their songs.

It just made so many other shows look lazy with their use of music. It's another reason i eagerly look forward to the creators' next project hopefully with anoher era of music or one where they can pick what the want.

Will have to look to see if the show has a playlist as it was pretty much the greatest hits of my childhood

 

4 hours ago, Risto said:

Oh, "Chain" scene was immaculate. It's like making the opera, where the scene and the music unite in what is being said. Using previously composed songs is far more difficult because you have history, sentiment and simply, it can be the destruction of any subtlety. "With or without you" was a prime example of how song should be used. Rhythm worked nicely to portray the melancholy of both Jennings and Stan, but then that, can I call it crescendo, changed the melancholy into gut-wrenching sadness. It is very minimalistic and it fits perfectly with that internalization the show (and its actors) has been known for.

You can find the songs here... 

Oh, and I forgot... Going from US music from 1980s and "With or without you", musically speaking, to Tchaikovsky in one episode, was certainly a genius move. And it marvelously worked for their last moments on screen, in snowy Russia, alone in a car, together holding to each other. Brilliant, just brilliant.

Some of the best examples of the use of music on The Americans (in chronological order):

 1x01 Pilot:

 

1x13 The Colonel:

3x07 Walter Tuffet: 

 

4x02 Pastor Tim:

 

4x05 Clark's Place: 

5x10 Darkroom:

6x01 Dead Hand:

the finale - the montage to "Brothers in Arms":

and finally, the "With or Without You" scenes:

 

Unfortunately, there's no uploaded scene on YT from 1x08 with "Siamese Twins" by The Cure. That one was also very memorable.

 

 

 

 

[Mark Antony]

Great post. For me only The Sopranos uses music better. Shit Gandolfini and Falco are the only on screen couple whose performances id rate over Rhys and Russel. Gonna miss them on my tv so much. 

[Mladen]

1 hour ago, Marko Antonivic said:

Great post. For me only The Sopranos uses music better. Shit Gandolfini and Falco are the only on screen couple whose performances id rate over Rhys and Russel. Gonna miss them on my tv so much. 

I am good for one Sopranos rewatch session, so I may be a bit more bias towards Jennings. It's been a while since I have been in love with the pair dynamics as I have been impressed with Jennings marriage. Yes, "Crown"'s Phillip and Elizabeth were interesting to watch, much younger and more naive me liked Shepherd/Grey love and "The Good Wife" gave a lot of great moments between Charles and Margulies. 

I am struggling now to mention couples worthy of being inside this post, so I will leave it to that  

And, @Marko Antonivic, Team Serbia for World Cup, right?  

[lady narcissa]

I think my favorite use of a song in the Americans is last season when they used Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I loved the use of With or Without You in the finale but it's  been used in so many other things before that I wont hear that song and immediately think of the Americans. But I'll probably forever associate GYBR with the Jennings.

[Mladen]

30 minutes ago, lady narcissa said:

I think my favorite use of a song in the Americans is last season when they used Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I loved the use of With or Without You in the finale but it's  been used in so many other things before that I wont hear that song and immediately think of the Americans. But I'll probably forever associate GYBR with the Jennings.

Thanks to this thread, I am becoming more and more musically educated

As for WoWY, has it been overused? I mean, the only one that I can recall of having it is "Friends". Now, I may be overlooking a lot of other things, but, Bono's crescendo will always be connected with the train window scene and Keri Russell's face and hands. 

[lady narcissa]

59 minutes ago, Risto said:

As for WoWY, has it been overused?

I don't think I'd say it's been overused but it has been in other TV shows and movies and of course Friends as you mentioned.

i was in high school when the album came out and it's the last record I can remember purchasing before transitioning to CDs. I'm probably going to forever associate it more with moments in my own life and high school and the 80s in general as it was such a song of the moment and everywhere then.

[Annara Snow]

40 minutes ago, lady narcissa said:

I don't think I'd say it's been overused but it has been in other TV shows and movies and of course Friends as you mentioned.

i was in high school when the album came out and it's the last record I can remember purchasing before transitioning to CDs. I'm probably going to forever associate it more with moments in my own life and high school and the 80s in general as it was such a song of the moment and everywhere then.

I've never been a fan of Friends - I watched the first 2 seasons on DVD and the others just occasionally on TV - and I don't remember the show using that song.

"The Chain", on the other hand, seems an extremely popular song to use lately - first The Americans, then Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 (and its promos), then I, Tonya. It kind of feels everywhere now - which is a good thing, it's a great song.

Most of the songs on The Americans are more or less well known or by popular artists, they don't really come up with little known songs by unknown artists. I certainly already knew most of those songs - the only ones I discovered due to the show were the Peter Gabriel ones - which is just because I never listened to him (all I knew o him was "Sledgehammer" and his guest spot on Deep Forest's song that was a version of the Macedonian folk song - I had no idea his own music could be as interesting as the songs the show used. I now have "Games without Frontiers" in my head) and the Yazoo song "Winter Kills", because I only knew their two big hits "Don't Go" and "Only You", but of course, both of these are or were very popular artists. With The Americans, it's all about how they use the songs, the choice and the way they fit them in the scenes. I've certainly also heard "In the Air Tonight" and "Tainted Love" a thousand times before and since, but now I'll always think of them in the context of The Americans. It's even overshadowed the Ninth Doctor and the end of the world!  

[Mladen]

7 hours ago, lady narcissa said:

I don't think I'd say it's been overused but it has been in other TV shows and movies and of course Friends as you mentioned.

i was in high school when the album came out and it's the last record I can remember purchasing before transitioning to CDs. I'm probably going to forever associate it more with moments in my own life and high school and the 80s in general as it was such a song of the moment and everywhere then.

I get that. Different songs mean different things for different people. The song has a rich history, it would be strange for everyone to associate it with only "The Americans". As someone who is born in late 1980s, I wouldn't have the same relationship with the song as you have, which is why WoWY will forever be connected with "The Americans" in my mind.

6 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

I've never been a fan of Friends - I watched the first 2 seasons on DVD and the others just occasionally on TV - and I don't remember the show using that song.

It was used couple of times. I remember a scene when Ross sends it to Rachel via radio.

[williamjm]

I'd fallen a bit behind with watching the series, but I've caught up now. I thought it was a great finale, in some ways I'd relieved that it wasn't as tragic as I thought it might be - I was sure that at least some of the main characters weren't going to survive the finale. That said, there's still plenty of tragedy here even if nobody died with both the Jennings and Burov families shattered, probably irrevocably, and Stan has also had his life thrown into complete turmoil. The Americans has had plenty of tense and powerful scenes over the years but I think even the best of those would have to take second place to the confrontation between Stan and the Jennings family. Paige stepping off the train was a great twist as well, and I think it was a great piece of directing not to show her getting off the train but just to show her standing on the platform.

In some ways it feels a bit of a shame that we didn't get more of an epilogue, but it was probably the right decision because it might have diluted the power of the finale if they went on too long after Philip and Elizabeth's return to Moscow. I think the biggest unanswered question it leaves (at least in the short term) is what happens to Paige. Returning home is a risky move, and I'm sure the FBI will be very suspicious of her but as far as we know they have nothing but circumstantial evidence linking her to her parents' crimes and there's not even that much circumstantial evidence. As long as she doesn't confess to the authorities (and she's had plenty of practise lying by now) and Stan doesn't say anything (I'm sure he wouldn't) I can't see how she gets convicted of anything. She also has the option of trying to make a deal, I'm sure the FBI would consider the possibility of getting some inside intelligence on the Illegals program to be worth letting her escape prison.

I wonder if Paige would have gone with them if she hadn't had the argument with her Mother at the end of the previous episode? 

On 6/1/2018 at 8:23 AM, red snow said:

Paige could wind up working as an american agent somewhere rather than let those skills go to waste? I highly doubt she'd evade the FBI for long on her own.

Not sure I'd believe them ever trusting her enough to give her any sort of Government job, even if they can't prove anything. I doubt Paige would want to stay in that life anyway. 

On 6/2/2018 at 4:07 AM, Rakib Altinin 1974 said:

Upon reflection, I think I almost expected a epilogue scene of the Wall coming down and various reactions to it...I mean it wasn't the actual fall of the Soviet Union, but it really was a watershed moment that essentially sealed its fate in a lot of ways...

That ides does make me think of the ending of The Lives of Others. It would have been fascinating to see what happens to the characters a few years down the line. 

On 6/2/2018 at 8:48 PM, Annara Snow said:

I don't know if either Henry or Paige would be too happy to see them. The damage has really been done. In any case, they are never going to be a family again.

I think we can only speculate how Henry might feel about his family now. He might not get on with his sister either, since she's been lying to him as well. As for Paige, I think she'd probably want to see her parents at some point in the future (she's forgiven them a lot in the past), even if she wouldn't want to live with them. 

On 6/4/2018 at 6:12 PM, Marko Antonivic said:

I wonder if Phillip will ever meet his Russian son now that he’s back. That was one storyline they kinda abandoneded that interested me. 

It was definitely a storyline that didn't really go anywhere. I'm not really sure why they included it in the previous season. I'd imagine Philip would see his son, if I remember correctly last we saw him he had gone to stay with Philip's brother?

[Mladen]

I have introduced my cousin with this and now she is watching it for the first time and I am rewatching it. We have come to Season 1 finale.

I have forgotten how amazing the characterization in this TV show is. It is amazing how it even gets better on the second watch, especially having in mind how it will end. The love story between Phillip and Elizabeth is absolutely amazing. I have forgotten how estranged they have been at the beginning and how they have been falling for one another. Especially Elizabeth with Phillip. I am also amazed by how Claudia never understood, unlike Gabriel, that they were much better together. And coincidentally or not, the marriage crisis, resulted in the work crisis that will haunt all the characters to the end of 6th season.