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The Americans - S6 - The Final Season of the Keri Russell / Matthew Rhys spy drama - FX Wednesdays
- Thread starter Cornballer
- Start date
That's a good one as wellYeah, probably my fave, though I do have a soft spot for dirtbag janitor:
It.
:P
Either the Jennings getting caught or Stan confirming his suspicions.
Oh that?! Yeah. I honestly hope they make it out alive...without Henry. He's a liability.
That's what I'm thinking is going to happen regardless of where the rest of the Jennings finish the story at.
Just finished this week's episode. This was so tense. I can still feel my muscles clenched. Beautiful cinematography as usual. That final scene filmed through the window while Elizabeth switches the light off was so good. I wouldn't have minded if the series would have ended with that. But now I can't wait for the finale next week.
Life comes at ya fast.
Judging by the conversations throughout this season, it was strongly implied that they didn't have many options once Elizabeth bailed. Also I read a comment that theorized that Tatiana might've saw this as an opportunity to improve her status so that she can rectify her fall from grace.
Would have been interesting if the Center tried approaching Paige directly for this assignment.
OP
OP
Brian Grubb for Warming Glow: 'The Americans' Anxiety Report: Things Are Very Topsy-Turvy At The Office
OP
OP
This show probably has some of the best musical montages of any show. They're always either perfectly mixed or perfectly juxtaposed against something horrific. So good.
^^ love that one. Also Who By Fire Leonard Cohen one was great.
^^ love that one. Also Who By Fire Leonard Cohen one was great.
I fucking gagged!
Can't believe we're so close to the end. This season better sweep the emmys.
Can't believe we're so close to the end. This season better sweep the emmys.
I think Elizabeth sacrifices herself and Philip flees to Russia. Henry obviously gets left behind. Not sure about Paige.
As for 2 of my favorite scenes...
and I can't find a video but the climax to the Season 5 premiere with the long dig scene ending with Hans' death.
As for 2 of my favorite scenes...
and I can't find a video but the climax to the Season 5 premiere with the long dig scene ending with Hans' death.
My death predictions next week are Phil and probably Stan.
I've seen Phil's arc for two seasons now being a leadup to him sacrificing himself for Liz and his family. I'd be shocked if Liz dies tbh. And I don't see Stan getting out of it alive since after he finds out he'll never stop looking for them as long as he's breathing.
I've seen Phil's arc for two seasons now being a leadup to him sacrificing himself for Liz and his family. I'd be shocked if Liz dies tbh. And I don't see Stan getting out of it alive since after he finds out he'll never stop looking for them as long as he's breathing.
I'm thinking that Stan is going to catch up to them, the Jennings will end up coming clean and corroborate Oleg's story and what they are doing. Philip will get Stan to make them give Elizabeth protection after it's over and he'll take the fall for all the things that they did (including Stan's friend from earlier in the series).
Elizabeth/PHilip will ask Stan to watch after Henry and Paige will keep on doing what she's been doing while Elizabeth ends up alone somewhere, or perhaps she ends up going back home? It'd be something to see her go home after all these years and then see what they end up doing to Claudia and the others that Elizabeth turned on.
So you'd end up with Philip in jail, Paige on her own being an adult, Stan watching after Henry, and Elizabeth back in Russia.
Elizabeth/PHilip will ask Stan to watch after Henry and Paige will keep on doing what she's been doing while Elizabeth ends up alone somewhere, or perhaps she ends up going back home? It'd be something to see her go home after all these years and then see what they end up doing to Claudia and the others that Elizabeth turned on.
So you'd end up with Philip in jail, Paige on her own being an adult, Stan watching after Henry, and Elizabeth back in Russia.
This is probably the happiest possible outcome and I hope it happens, but I think at least one person is getting bodied.
Disregard that, i think i was trolled.
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Claudia to Elizabeth: "The damage you've done is indescribable. Far worse than all the good you've done over these years."
Audience to Elizabeth: "The good you've done is indescribable*. But not better than all the bad you've done over these years."
*She essentially helped bring the Cold War to a non-violent conclusion.
Also, I cannot unsee this:
Audience to Elizabeth: "The good you've done is indescribable*. But not better than all the bad you've done over these years."
*She essentially helped bring the Cold War to a non-violent conclusion.
Also, I cannot unsee this:
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"Does Dad know he married a whore?"
Hooooolleeeeeee shiiiiiiiit
Some amazing moments in this episode.
Hooooolleeeeeee shiiiiiiiit
Some amazing moments in this episode.
No wonder there are no results. It should be Phillip with 2 L's!
Stan is still dropping the ball. Can't he add to his suspicions by using the FBI resources to look for the Jennings' flight bookings? I don't think they actually reserve the flight tickets to where they say they're going. So he could look up if Liz or Phillip booked a flight for Huston over Thanksgiving, and he can look for all the other occasions as well. Besides, if they still booked a flight for Huston he could get the manifests of the flights and discover there was no person under that name on those flights.
Stan is still dropping the ball. Can't he add to his suspicions by using the FBI resources to look for the Jennings' flight bookings? I don't think they actually reserve the flight tickets to where they say they're going. So he could look up if Liz or Phillip booked a flight for Huston over Thanksgiving, and he can look for all the other occasions as well. Besides, if they still booked a flight for Huston he could get the manifests of the flights and discover there was no person under that name on those flights.
which was totally unfair since he was doing the same shit. did she not think about that?
The worst possible fate for Elizabeth is surviving to see the fall of the USSR. She'll probably blame herself for not killing that dude and letting Gorbachev stay on. Of course, that is the one good thing she's ever done...
As an aside, I agree with everyone in here that had problems with Paige's storyline this season (and we'll ever since she found out). So bad, and it makes Philip and Elizabeth look like complete morons. Out here trying to get your daughter in this shit when you know damn well she isn't ready for it and never will be. Made worse by the fact she will never be able to receive the level of training they did AND they are cratering her training by leaving out all the sex and killing stuff.
As an aside, I agree with everyone in here that had problems with Paige's storyline this season (and we'll ever since she found out). So bad, and it makes Philip and Elizabeth look like complete morons. Out here trying to get your daughter in this shit when you know damn well she isn't ready for it and never will be. Made worse by the fact she will never be able to receive the level of training they did AND they are cratering her training by leaving out all the sex and killing stuff.
It would probably only be in paper records. So he could get a team on it but he can't just look it up on the computer. That was my assumption anyway.
Pretty sure the airlines had a computer reservation system since the early 70s. Stan most definitely couldn't have looked it up on his computer but I think he should have been able to find out more easily than following a paper trail -- and it certainly would have made more sense than checking their names for criminal records...
I really wish they would have started Stan getting suspicions a little earlier; he felt pretty useless those last two years and now he just looks slightly incompetent looking into the Jennings' background. His character deserved better than this.
The writers prolly waited so long because as soon as you have an FBI agent genuinely suspect you, where it nags at them constantly (unlike the first episode where he easily let it go) that someone might be a Russian spy, shit should hit the fan real fast, rather than it unrealistically being dragged out for a season or two of him trying to connect the dots, or them having a convenient way to get him to drop it.
But Paige isn't supposed to be doing the same type of work, Elizabeth even said she was only having Paige help with surveillance to "let her know what's out there." The plan for Paige was to use here natural born real American citizenship and place her in the CIA or another significant agency. That's something an illegal like Phillip or Elizabeth could never do, and in many ways it makes Paige even more valuable to the Soviet Union than either of them.
Maybe, but these are special circumstances, with the Jennings' having been Stan's neighbors and best friends for the last 8 years or whatever. I think the whole thing could have felt much more natural than Stan suddenly deciding to interrogate Phil / Henry and then immediately jumping to the conclusion that they might be the spies he's been hunting all along. Also, Philip and Elizabeth are good at what they do -- if they were able hide in plain sight for twenty years, connecting the dots over the course of a few weeks or months wouldn't have seemed unreasonable imo.
Stan also could have noticed a dozen other things, like Philip suddenly not having to leave at the weirdest times for the last three years anymore, for example. Some progression from, I don't know, assuming one of them having an affair or something to considering whether they might be criminals to the actual truth could have worked. Instead, the sole / main catalyst apparently was them leaving Henry alone on Thanksgiving? Guess he must have forgotten about Matthew for a second there.
Yeah, I don't find it unrealistic at all. One little thing can trigger a thought process that can immediately make you revisit years of history.
It wasn't just Thanksgiving though. Stan even literally went through part of his thought process when talking to Aderholt.
But yea, they left Henry behind, which is weird/terrible enough on its own. One after another too, making it stick out even more. Henry telling (or technically reminding him since he's thought this to himself many times in the past) him that this happens all the time. And saying he interrogated Henry is somewhat reaching? Henry's the one that made it awkward to begin with, bringing up how he wouldn't know what it's like to have parents that are actually around on a regular basis. Stan even tried to defend them initially, but Henry pushes back, and that helped it to truly dawn on him that something's amiss. As someone who clearly cares for Henry, it'd be weird if he just ignored it and didn't pry a little out of concern. Also that was the first time that he learned that Henry is lacking quite a bit in the ol' relatives department, and never even met the one that Stan actually knows about, a total red flag. Then shortly afterwards, there's the Harvest incident, which was reported to have involved a white man and woman. Uh oh. Then you have him remember previous stuff like William mentioning a couple you'd never suspect, that they have kids, etc. When you're first told something like that, you're not going to suddenly link it to Elizabeth and Philip. That'd be really weird IMO. But when those two have clearly been on your mind these last few days? When you're staring intently at a family photo of them, where they look normal as can be? Okay, now we're talking.
And that is how you get him back to genuinely suspecting the two of them. Well, definitively anyways, since he already crossed the line by breaking into their house yet again.
Honestly, I have no issue with it, there's no objective best way to do it anyhow. My only slight qualm is it would've been nice to have more than one episode regarding a confrontation. But having him attempt to figure out the truth for over a season? Eh, when I read it on paper, it certainly doesn't seem like the right way to go, if only because it'd really mess with the dynamic of being legitimately good buds with Philip. It's barely "alright" when Philip keeps his secret because he has to pretend with everyone anyways, as well as the fact that he's not trying to prove that Stan is who he says he is. Aside from him already having a bunch of other shit to deal with, that friendship is what played a role in "blinding" him.
Give the awards to the vein in Keri Russell's forehead, jesus. When that starts showing up you know an ungodly rage is being unleashed.
Agreed. I've read all of the counter arguments in the thread, and most raise intelligent points, but I still can't get over just how random and sudden (and unearned) it feels for Stan to find out this way. A lot of what they've done with Paige doesn't sit right with me either to be honest.
Yeah, they did it quick and dirty. IMO they flubbed last season, didn't really properly steer things the way they are now for this season. And I agree about Paige. She was totally onboard with everything and then suddenly she's screaming that her mom is a whore. And Elizabeth's turn doesn't feel very earned when she's been so angry about America for the shows run. They ran out of time and have just slapped this together. I still like the show, but the end has been clunky.
I never got the seemingly lukewarm reception for S5, even moreso after rewatching it a few days ago.
And I dunno what more they gotta do to make it earned, they built it up over the entire season, and it has nothing to even do with her anger towards America.
And I dunno what more they gotta do to make it earned, they built it up over the entire season, and it has nothing to even do with her anger towards America.
I wanted a longer burn like Breaking Bad, but I don't think that would be realistic considering how easily they would either a) get away or b) get captured.
Finally all caught up in time for next week. Hot damn, that's how you set up a series finale!
Chekov's cyanide is still hanging out and has been playing on my mind since Elizabeth saw it in the plane bathroom. I thought for sure Philip was done for as he side eyed everyone on the walk out of the park, I had my hands on my face and everything, haha.
Love how Stan is just comically showing this picture of the Jennings to anyone and hoping someone coughs up something.
No matter how things go, and I have a feeling they will go badly for everyone, I need one more mail robot cameo.
Chekov's cyanide is still hanging out and has been playing on my mind since Elizabeth saw it in the plane bathroom. I thought for sure Philip was done for as he side eyed everyone on the walk out of the park, I had my hands on my face and everything, haha.
Love how Stan is just comically showing this picture of the Jennings to anyone and hoping someone coughs up something.
No matter how things go, and I have a feeling they will go badly for everyone, I need one more mail robot cameo.
The same thing is true for Breaking Bad, The Shield, or any other series in a somewhat similar vein though. "Realistically", they should just have completely screwed up / got caught by accident at some point but that wouldn't work in a TV show; the resolution has to feel earned. The writers could have worked much more towards it over the course of season five but didn't for some reason. Agreed about Paige, too, her motivation and agenda feels a little all over the place.
Maybe I misread Stan's itentions but after he already had questioned Philip, it felt pretty obvious to me what he was doing with Henry. I took Stan defending Henry's parents as an interrogation technique to keep him talking.
I can kinda understand the counter-argument though and what might have been Stan's thought process but it doesn't really work for me when you consider that he's been living next to these folks for eight years. The show has obviously always required quite a bit of suspension of disbelief (in regards to the missions they undertook, their disguises, the odds of them running into someone they know, not moving when Stan showed up, the whole Pastor Tim arc, etc) but Stan's development this season is too much of a stretch for me and it feels unnecessary when they just could have (re-)established his doubts a little sooner and slowlier.
At the very least i would have expected Stan to go through flight manifests between him talking to Henry and searching their house. Realize they have been dishonest with him and the kids numerous times. Gets the alarm bells ringing louder and probably gets Aderholt on-board.
Man, that scene was so upsetting. They've totally fucked up that kid's life.
Did you guys notice the way the last shot of the episode was framed looked like Elizabeth was behind bars...
Here's the thing -outside Stan's house at thanksgiving he says "I know when I'm not being told everything" and I'm thinking "NO you don't...you've had these people lying to you for years!" This is why it feels off that Stan is suddenly all over them. He's been yucking it up for 7 years with people continuously feeding him lies.
Oh, the Philip chase scene at the park was so great.
Elizabeth's forehead vein is hella intimidating but damn, when Philip goes off.
Gonna have to do a rewatch of the series. All these videos are making me super nostalgic.
Edit: Tooth scene is still the sexiest dental surgery ever put on film.
Still catching up on the final season and just finished episode six. I'll see 7 and 8 on demand and watch 9 later tonight on TV. Holy fuck, Elizabeth has been racking up a kill count this season. She has to die. And Paige....still so naive. But good on her for beating the shit out of that asshole at the bar.
Poor Philip...spy on Liz and had to do the inevitable by banging Kimmy. And the business isn't doing so hot :( He really is the main person I feel sorry for the most. Please don't die Philip! And I really hope Oleg doesn't bite it either.
Poor Philip...spy on Liz and had to do the inevitable by banging Kimmy. And the business isn't doing so hot :( He really is the main person I feel sorry for the most. Please don't die Philip! And I really hope Oleg doesn't bite it either.