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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 08, 2018 9:52 pm 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
durdencommatyler wrote:
cutuphalfdead wrote:
I stopped watching sometime during season 2. Not because I wasn't enjoying it, I just got distracted with other things and never went back to it. I might just start over from the beginning.

It's really good. I'd highly recommend getting back into it.

yeah i know, i might actually just watch the season 1 finale and then start season 2 fresh

Not a bad move. S2 is so goddamn good.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 15, 2018 2:18 am 
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Finished season 2. Starting it over was a good idea.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 15, 2018 4:06 am 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
Finished season 2. Starting it over was a good idea.

I just finished Season 5. This shit is for real!


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 15, 2018 4:06 am 
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Also, Pete, how fucking good was S2?!


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 15, 2018 4:07 am 
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season 2 was fantastic


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 15, 2018 4:08 am 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
season 2 was fantastic

:heartbeat:


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Sun July 15, 2018 4:21 am 
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Just started season 2 today. First ep was very dark.

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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Tue July 17, 2018 3:35 pm 
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Only three episodes of the series left. This final season ha Ben excellent so far. I really hope they can stick the landing.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Tue July 17, 2018 6:18 pm 
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durdencommatyler wrote:
Only three episodes of the series left. This final season ha Ben excellent so far. I really hope they can stick the landing.


Oh man, prepare your emotions.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Tue July 17, 2018 7:18 pm 
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Monkey_Driven wrote:
durdencommatyler wrote:
Only three episodes of the series left. This final season ha Ben excellent so far. I really hope they can stick the landing.


Oh man, prepare your emotions.

I've been tense all day. My stomach is in knots. And it's all because I'm terrified of what's about to happen. I have no idea where we're going but I'm really worried. Can this thing have anything resembling a happy ending? Woof...


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 5:00 am 
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Incredible. They absolutely stuck the landing. Wow.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 5:27 am 
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durdencommatyler wrote:
Incredible. They absolutely stuck the landing. Wow.


I know, right?! I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but my wife and I just sat in silence for about 15 minutes after the finale concluded.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 9:30 am 
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Joe already finish this thing?? I’m still in ep2 from season 2

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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 12:06 pm 
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VinylGuy wrote:
Joe already finish this thing?? I’m still in ep2 from season 2


I don't think he sleeps.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 12:48 pm 
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Monkey_Driven wrote:
durdencommatyler wrote:
Incredible. They absolutely stuck the landing. Wow.


I know, right?! I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but my wife and I just sat in silence for about 15 minutes after the finale concluded.

So fucking good!

I have a lot of thoughts that I'll get back to in a bit. I'll spoiler tag them though for those who are currently watching for the first time.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 2:50 pm 
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Now, I'm just sitting here waiting for Joey's thoughts...


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 3:25 pm 
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Okay, so...

Spoiler: show
This show almost never fell into standard spy/thriller tropes. Much of the time the tension was never adequately released. Much like Mad Men, story lines would play out to a pseudo-conclusion and then were just... dropped. Or moved to the background. It made the show impossible to predict and very difficult to turn away from. I wish Breaking Bad had done this more, it would have been all the better for it.

I think that kind of storytelling is a huge strength of the show and it's a large part of what made the series finale so goddamn hypnotic and heartbreaking. We arrive at the end of the show. The end of the journey. Out of breathe, sweaty, devastated and still with this odd liquid slosh in our stomach that maybe... this is the best it could have possibly gone. What?! Holy. Shit. Nothing was compromised, nothing was cheated. It was a natural, honest, and satisfying ending to a six season arc.

BUT!.... Is Stan's wife a Russian spy? Can a deal be made for Oleg? Will Stan help him? Will Philip see Martha again? What happens to Paige? Can she have any kind of normal life? Obviously, she can't work for the State Department and I'm guessing she won't work for the KGB either. So, where does that leave her? Is she alone? The only thing she was afraid of was being alone; even more than death, she feared being alone. Can she ever see her brother again? Will Henry every understand/forgive?

These are MASSIVE questions. Season (not SERIES) finale type questions. And yet, the show still feels complete, the ending totally satisfying. That's a remarkable feat. The show played/ended more like a literary fiction novel than a television show and it's all the better for it.

Of course, watching this show now, as the US is going threw a real life Russian nightmare was illuminating. You have to wonder if the show had been pitched in 2016 or 2017 instead of 2013, if it would have been picked up and aired at all. The show did a great job of making us care for and even root for the Russians. It gave us an empathetic understanding of "the other" in a way Americans are not used to at all. It's been ingrained in my mind since I was a kid that Russia is the ultimate enemy. I grew up in Reagan's America. To this day, I'm sort of brainwashed about Russia. Our pop culture, or films, everything reinforced how terrible and evil Russia is/was. So much so, that I'm often taken aback when I remember or am reminded that Russia was a US ally in WW2. Even Rocky had to fight THE RUSSIAN!

And I felt so much for the Jennings family. Even as Elizabeth was doing reprehensible things (mostly in that final season) I understood why and I wanted her to win. That's banana's to me! What remarkable work all around from writers, directors, actors, etc. The show did a great job of making us care and exposing the American hypocrisy without totally condemning either side.

Of course there were missteps, too. Pastor Tim was a terrible character that hung around too long and his knowledge/involvement never quite worked for me. However, his final pay-off was outstanding, so perhaps all that other junk was worth it.

Sometimes the show was too sexualized. At it's best that hyper-sexualization was a insightful commentary on America perception/values juxtaposed to the rest of the world's values and doing what needs to be done: disconnecting and removing emotion and all of that. At it's worst it was just a reason to have a naked woman, ass exposed, lying next to a fully clothed dude. Thankfully, that went away as the series advanced and they found better ways to tackle those themes and found new themes to explore which were more effective.

Paige's journey felt redundant at times. I got really sick of the "YOU'RE LYING" "Paige, stop yelling, your brother is upstairs" scenes. That shit went on and on and on and I was so relieved with where she was in the final season.

For me, I think the biggest problem with the show as that Stan's instinct was never wrong. He was a flawed, interesting character. I was conflicted about him, which is a good thing. But he was always right on the money. He was never wrong. He was like Batman and that was kind of annoying once the whole thing was said and done. I wish he'd had more reason to doubt himself and his abilities and I wish the audience did as well.

Okay, so those are my first reaction thoughts the series as a whole. I don't know if anyone still wants to talk about this show but if they do, I'm happy to jump in and discuss it in depth. I really really loved this show.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 3:44 pm 
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durdencommatyler wrote:
Okay, so...

Spoiler: show
This show almost never fell into standard spy/thriller tropes. Much of the time the tension was never adequately released. Much like Mad Men, story lines would play out to a pseudo-conclusion and then were just... dropped. Or moved to the background. It made the show impossible to predict and very difficult to turn away from. I wish Breaking Bad had done this more, it would have been all the better for it.

I think that kind of storytelling is a huge strength of the show and it's a large part of what made the series finale so goddamn hypnotic and heartbreaking. We arrive at the end of the show. The end of the journey. Out of breathe, sweaty, devastated and still with this odd liquid slosh in our stomach that maybe... this is the best it could have possibly gone. What?! Holy. Shit. Nothing was compromised, nothing was cheated. It was a natural, honest, and satisfying ending to a six season arc.

BUT!.... Is Stan's wife a Russian spy? Can a deal be made for Oleg? Will Stan help him? Will Philip see Martha again? What happens to Paige? Can she have any kind of normal life? Obviously, she can't work for the State Department and I'm guessing she won't work for the KGB either. So, where does that leave her? Is she alone? The only thing she was afraid of was being alone; even more than death, she feared being alone. Can she ever see her brother again? Will Henry every understand/forgive?

These are MASSIVE questions. Season (not SERIES) finale type questions. And yet, the show still feels complete, the ending totally satisfying. That's a remarkable feat. The show played/ended more like a literary fiction novel than a television show and it's all the better for it.

Of course, watching this show now, as the US is going threw a real life Russian nightmare was illuminating. You have to wonder if the show had been pitched in 2016 or 2017 instead of 2013, if it would have been picked up and aired at all. The show did a great job of making us care for and even root for the Russians. It gave us an empathetic understanding of "the other" in a way Americans are not used to at all. It's been ingrained in my mind since I was a kid that Russia is the ultimate enemy. I grew up in Reagan's America. To this day, I'm sort of brainwashed about Russia. Our pop culture, or films, everything reinforced how terrible and evil Russia is/was. So much so, that I'm often taken aback when I remember or am reminded that Russia was a US ally in WW2. Even Rocky had to fight THE RUSSIAN!

And I felt so much for the Jennings family. Even as Elizabeth was doing reprehensible things (mostly in that final season) I understood why and I wanted her to win. That's banana's to me! What remarkable work all around from writers, directors, actors, etc. The show did a great job of making us care and exposing the American hypocrisy without totally condemning either side.

Of course there were missteps, too. Pastor Tim was a terrible character that hung around too long and his knowledge/involvement never quite worked for me. However, his final pay-off was outstanding, so perhaps all that other junk was worth it.

Sometimes the show was too sexualized. At it's best that hyper-sexualization was a insightful commentary on America perception/values juxtaposed to the rest of the world's values and doing what needs to be done: disconnecting and removing emotion and all of that. At it's worst it was just a reason to have a naked woman, ass exposed, lying next to a fully clothed dude. Thankfully, that went away as the series advanced and they found better ways to tackle those themes and found new themes to explore which were more effective.

Paige's journey felt redundant at times. I got really sick of the "YOU'RE LYING" "Paige, stop yelling, your brother is upstairs" scenes. That shit went on and on and on and I was so relieved with where she was in the final season.

For me, I think the biggest problem with the show as that Stan's instinct was never wrong. He was a flawed, interesting character. I was conflicted about him, which is a good thing. But he was always right on the money. He was never wrong. He was like Batman and that was kind of annoying once the whole thing was said and done. I wish he'd had more reason to doubt himself and his abilities and I wish the audience did as well.

Okay, so those are my first reaction thoughts the series as a whole. I don't know if anyone still wants to talk about this show but if they do, I'm happy to jump in and discuss it in depth. I really really loved this show.


Excellent write up.

Spoiler: show
That parking garage scene is all timer. Probably one of the best TV scenes ever. Months later and I can't stop thinking about it.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 3:49 pm 
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Monkey_Driven wrote:
durdencommatyler wrote:
Okay, so...

Spoiler: show
This show almost never fell into standard spy/thriller tropes. Much of the time the tension was never adequately released. Much like Mad Men, story lines would play out to a pseudo-conclusion and then were just... dropped. Or moved to the background. It made the show impossible to predict and very difficult to turn away from. I wish Breaking Bad had done this more, it would have been all the better for it.

I think that kind of storytelling is a huge strength of the show and it's a large part of what made the series finale so goddamn hypnotic and heartbreaking. We arrive at the end of the show. The end of the journey. Out of breathe, sweaty, devastated and still with this odd liquid slosh in our stomach that maybe... this is the best it could have possibly gone. What?! Holy. Shit. Nothing was compromised, nothing was cheated. It was a natural, honest, and satisfying ending to a six season arc.

BUT!.... Is Stan's wife a Russian spy? Can a deal be made for Oleg? Will Stan help him? Will Philip see Martha again? What happens to Paige? Can she have any kind of normal life? Obviously, she can't work for the State Department and I'm guessing she won't work for the KGB either. So, where does that leave her? Is she alone? The only thing she was afraid of was being alone; even more than death, she feared being alone. Can she ever see her brother again? Will Henry every understand/forgive?

These are MASSIVE questions. Season (not SERIES) finale type questions. And yet, the show still feels complete, the ending totally satisfying. That's a remarkable feat. The show played/ended more like a literary fiction novel than a television show and it's all the better for it.

Of course, watching this show now, as the US is going threw a real life Russian nightmare was illuminating. You have to wonder if the show had been pitched in 2016 or 2017 instead of 2013, if it would have been picked up and aired at all. The show did a great job of making us care for and even root for the Russians. It gave us an empathetic understanding of "the other" in a way Americans are not used to at all. It's been ingrained in my mind since I was a kid that Russia is the ultimate enemy. I grew up in Reagan's America. To this day, I'm sort of brainwashed about Russia. Our pop culture, or films, everything reinforced how terrible and evil Russia is/was. So much so, that I'm often taken aback when I remember or am reminded that Russia was a US ally in WW2. Even Rocky had to fight THE RUSSIAN!

And I felt so much for the Jennings family. Even as Elizabeth was doing reprehensible things (mostly in that final season) I understood why and I wanted her to win. That's banana's to me! What remarkable work all around from writers, directors, actors, etc. The show did a great job of making us care and exposing the American hypocrisy without totally condemning either side.

Of course there were missteps, too. Pastor Tim was a terrible character that hung around too long and his knowledge/involvement never quite worked for me. However, his final pay-off was outstanding, so perhaps all that other junk was worth it.

Sometimes the show was too sexualized. At it's best that hyper-sexualization was a insightful commentary on America perception/values juxtaposed to the rest of the world's values and doing what needs to be done: disconnecting and removing emotion and all of that. At it's worst it was just a reason to have a naked woman, ass exposed, lying next to a fully clothed dude. Thankfully, that went away as the series advanced and they found better ways to tackle those themes and found new themes to explore which were more effective.

Paige's journey felt redundant at times. I got really sick of the "YOU'RE LYING" "Paige, stop yelling, your brother is upstairs" scenes. That shit went on and on and on and I was so relieved with where she was in the final season.

For me, I think the biggest problem with the show as that Stan's instinct was never wrong. He was a flawed, interesting character. I was conflicted about him, which is a good thing. But he was always right on the money. He was never wrong. He was like Batman and that was kind of annoying once the whole thing was said and done. I wish he'd had more reason to doubt himself and his abilities and I wish the audience did as well.

Okay, so those are my first reaction thoughts the series as a whole. I don't know if anyone still wants to talk about this show but if they do, I'm happy to jump in and discuss it in depth. I really really loved this show.


Excellent write up.

Spoiler: show
That parking garage scene is all timer. Probably one of the best TV scenes ever. Months later and I can't stop thinking about it.

Spoiler: show
Holy shit, yes! Between that and the suitcase from S3... this show is going to live in my nightmares for a long time.

That's another thing the show did well: balance. I was completely on Philip's side and on Elizabeth's side the whole time. I didn't know who I wanted to "win" or support more. It changed from episode to episode. They did such a great job of giving both of them credence and depth.


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 Post subject: Re: TV: The Americans on FX
PostPosted: Wed July 18, 2018 3:54 pm 
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Also,...

Spoiler: show
I love how the show -- again, much like Mad Men -- jumped time in key places and subverted expectations by skipping past historic moments that I thought for sure they'd cover. We got a sliver of Iran Contra. But no Berlin Wall. No Chernobyl. It was so brilliant. By avoiding some of that stuff, they got to contextualize the show in their own way and keep the audience on their toes. There was no expected outcome or "I know how this ends but how did we get here" type questions. We never knew how any given mission would end.


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