I was hoping that Stan and co. would find her first, since that would make Philip and Elizabeth’s situation more precarious.
I think this week was the (relative) calm before the storm.
Better Call Saul is the only show I can think of that’s still on the air that’s better than The Americans (I’ve only seen the first season of BCS, but I hear the second is even better). So I don’t think someone needs to be too crazy to call The Americans the best; it’s certainly close.
Can I just take a moment to laud Alison Wright’s performance the last few episodes? Her Martha has had her world completely destroyed, and the actress has done a fantastic job of avoiding an over the top breakdown, while still giving a performance that rips your heart out. When she was being told by Philip that she would never see him again? Wow.
Oh, and I just found out she’s English. I know it’s not a big deal to most, but I’m always impressed when someone can pull off the accent so well that I’m surprised when I find out they’re not from the U.S…
Matthew Rhys too. Ok technically Welsh (King Arthur land)
“About 50% of my brain is working on my accent.”
Typo: Welsch like the Kingdom, not Welch like the grape juice.
Him I knew about. He’s been on a few things I’ve watched in the past.
BCS season ended, so the Americans wins Best Airing TV Show by default!
Well, the preview certainly makes it look that way. And I had no idea that Alison Wright was English. Yet another Brit kicking ass on American TV.
This is pretty good. Someone edits video to make an 80’s style show intro for the Americans: If the Americans had been from the 80s
Someone did that for Game of Thrones a few years back, reworked the theme and everything to make it all upbeat. It was hilarious.
BTW, is anyone else having their DVR (a Tivo Premiere in my case) cut off the episode way early? This last ep was 1:12 with commercials, and TiVo just recorded it like a standard hour-long ep. Good thing I didn’t have things scheduled on both tuners and was watching it near live or I would have missed the end.
Last week’s ep was fantastic, and it was directed by Matthew Rhys (Philip). Well done, comrade.
This show in infinitely more brutal and tense than Game of Thrones. I can barely get through an episode lately.
Yeah, I know what you mean. BTW tonight we had a definite marker for the chronology in that they watched The Day After, and also mentioned the false alarm nuclear near miss that occurred six months before where sunlight reflected off clouds was detected by the Russians as 5 incoming missiles.
I love Better Call Saul, but because the story behind the Americans is more developed and based on history, I’m finding it more compelling. I vividly remember The Day After. My roommate at the time was working on Lockheed Missile and Space on working Star Wars defense and then latter a program to develop decoy warheards (essentially balloons) to spoof Russian ABM defense. I made a joke that all you needed was clouds, and the next year Reagan canceled his program during the State of the Union address.
On human level, the fascinating thing about the shows is I feel a lot empathy for every everybody in the show: Elizabeth, Phillip, Page, Stan, Frank, Martha, Nina, Richard Thomas character. Even the Russian handlers, Gaberial and Claudia don’t come across as particularly evil people. It is really quite remarkable that in show where people routinely do truly horrendous things, there aren’t in real villians, just people trapped in horrible situations.
Wow, that episode tonight.
First off, what was up with the random bit in the middle that flashed back to Philip’s (chaste) flirtation with the high school girl from 2? seasons ago (it may have been last season, I just can’t remember)? Was it just a flashback so that Philip could make a point about kids not blurting out their parents’ secrets or something? Or was it supposed to somehow be current in the show’s timeline? It was kind of bizarre.
And Gaad, wow.
Thailand scene
I assume the main dude was there to try to recruit him? And when the goons tried to rough him up as a convincer they inadvertently killed him?
That was the Operation that Went Wrong that Arkady mentioned, right? I wonder whom Natasha was referring to immediately before (about someone who seemed undependable or something)?
I really don’t get the scene with Martha’s dad. Seemed there for filler.
What would Natasha’s biological warfare office need with a computer expert in her 50’s/60’s who spoke perfect English?
God I love this show. I was also confused about the teenage girl scene also, I don’t remember them shutting down the operation, so I was assuming it was an on-going operation but maybe it was flashback. I think the scene with Martha’s dad was forshadowing, I think what happened to Gaad may put even more emphasis on finding Martha. Two dead and one missing is starting to look like an all out war between the FBI/CIA and KGB.
I loved seeing Kimmie again! That actress is so beautiful and unique-looking. It was an ongoing operation, they had mentioned her in a previous episode this season.
I think the main reason for bringing Kimmie back was to drop that her dad was CIA; the opportunity to have Philip sermonize was secondary.
Didn’t they know her dad was CIA; wasn’t that the whole reason for the operation? To me the scene was there to show us how much Philip wants to trust his own daughter, how much he wants her to be trustworthy, and to some extent the scene was Philip revealing it to himself as well.
Poor Henry. With his gaming addiction and movie-watching habits I imagine he’s browsing these forums right now. Hi Henry!