View Full Version : The Americans
http://www.sb-innovation.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=13950
The Americans is an American television drama series created and produced by Jö Weisberg. Set during the Cold War period in the 1980s, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), two Soviet KGB officers posing as American citizens and a married couple. The series premiered in the United States on January 30, 2013, on the FX network.
source: The Americans (2013 TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Americans_%282013_TV_series%29)
Already confirmed for a second season.
General Info:
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys
Country of origin: United States
No. of seasons: 1
No. of episodes: 7
Interesting Links:
FX Networks (http://www.fxnetworks.com/theamericans)
The Americans (TV Series 2013 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/)
The Americans - TV.com (http://www.tv.com/shows/the-americans-2013/)
The Americans TV Show FX | The Americans Online Series Summary (http://www.tvrage.com/The_Americans)
Never heard about this one! You watched it? Any good?
Never heard about this one! You watched it? Any good?
i did and it's great and the second season is booked already :D
That's nice to hear! Now on my list to watch this summer!
judging from these observations it looks like another generic show, filler material unworthy of (my) attention:
The concept of this series looks promising for those who like the genre but as usual the way they set up the whole plot is so unrealistic that, for the Nth time it does nothing but insult our intelligence.
There is an initial, setup scene where FBI people wait for a high level Soviet defector to come and brief them about the existence of Soviet illegals. Because many of them just don't believe such a thing. In fact, 'illegals', or sleeper agents are known to be around for decades before the 1980s, so this conference where a KGB defector is supposed to convince doubtful FBI officers about the existence of Soviet sleepers is absurd.
Even more absurd is of course, that a defector of such importance would hang around late night in some shady neighborhood so that our main characters, the fake Americans (highly trained Soviet agents) could so easily abduct him. He doesn't even have a gun for protection, just some karate moves and a weird knife to impress the 14-year old viewers and those FX executives who approved the show.
On top of all that, the defector appears to have been paid about 3 mln (in 1980's dollars) and still has zero protection. Just wandering around shady quarters and hoping to be abducted, tortured and killed by his former masters. That's how smart is the defector, who ran the whole sleepers operation and outfoxed his bosses managing to safely defect.
I The writers of this show just choose to be lazy, cut corners and present a completely unrealistic picture. And get away with it.
Most importantly, at the end of the pilot, the fake American family makes a crucial decision to stay with the KGB and not defect for reasons I found completely illogical and unconvincing. It turns out that the defector they abduct, back in the past, raped the female sleeper agent, and before being killed confesses that this is standard KGB training procedure. Clearly, such a practice would tip our couple, especially the male agent toward defection and not the opposite direction.
There is also a completely ridiculous scene with some child molester going after their 13-year old daughter - in public place, before the eyes of his father, who could immediately call the police. Since when child molesters openly harass 13-year old children in front of their fathers in huge stores before the eyes of many people?
So far, this is utterly unrealistic and relying on cheap shots to engage us into a completely fake reality.
Great series if you liked Homeland
Great series if you liked Homeland
and if you didn't. homeland is very slow and their tries to create a certain atmosphere have not always been successful. you also gotta like the chick freaking out all the time (which i don't :P ).
the americans on the other hand mastered that flawlessly and the progress of the show is so much better, more to the point and much more creative regarding the plot overall.
Rebound was the one who told me about it first and that tip was ace. thanks :top:
Season 4 premieres tomorrow!
I watched the finale and I must say it was pretty lackluster.
William drops some clues about the Jennings in front of the FBI agents. This could get them in trouble... except they've already been through it when Elizabeth was shot and badly wounded during that car chase, and then when a facial composite of "Clark" was made.
Philip and Elizabeth once again have to decide between escaping to Russia's safety or staying in the United States, which had already happened several times before.
Philip's brother is suddenly traveling to the USA to meet him due to "powerful friends", with no previous sign whatsoever that this could happen? It feels like something they invented on the spot as a hook for the next season.
Make no mistake, I think the previous episodes were great, but this ending feels pretty rushed.
On a sidenote, the series has already been renewed for a fourth and fifth (and final) season.
i have to agree. the season finale could have been better. don't get me wrong i still think that overall this is one of the best shows i've ever watched but i can sign everthing anon said. maybe it'd have been better to move the issue with martha to the end as this was the most tense part of the season.
anyway i'm very much looking forward to the last two seasons :happy:
We have six episodes left, but I already feel season five is going too slow and not on par with the others. Anyone else?
We have six episodes left, but I already feel season five is going too slow and not on par with the others. Anyone else?
i have to agree. too much personal stuff and not enough "missions". however, the niveau is still very good compared to most other shows.
I'm waiting for "The Russians" and "The Chinese" then we can talk about WWIII LOL
The latest episode ended on a very high note :smilie4: And paves the way for things to go even higher in the three ones that remain.
http://www.sb-innovation.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=17716
Hardcore. I wonder whether the job offer for Pastor Tim will now turn into an assassination. Or if that was the idea all along... well, Philip obviously isn't keen on killing people (as seen by his reaction with that lab guy), but Tim has known too much for too long, and now we have this bomb. It's one thing to know he's written some bad stuff about Paige, and another to read the actual words in all their splendor.
and also:
i liked how paige did her first "spy job" and that all by herself i.e. not pushed by her parents. it seems some things run in the family.
and in return she got to see her parents in action for the first time which also included them letting her in like this.
what i'm still waiting for is where things go with the russians. all the scenes from moscow were rather casual so far. i'm still waiting for the "oh my" effect there.
Agreed, and agreed; they'd even told her to stay away from the diary, but she was always clever and had plenty of initiative (after all, she noticed something about her parents was wrong... and remember that visit to "aunt Helen"). The conversation with Tim when they were packing the food was obviously cringe-worthy for her, and now we know why. Also, let's not forget Philip and Elizabeth were under the shadow of the KGB wanting to put Paige into their second-generation illegals program, which they really didn't agree with. Who knows, the table may turn on that now.
Oleg's storyline is going slowly (as are the operation involving Tuan and those trips to Topeka), we haven't seen anything big since the CIA stopped blackmailing him. That room search was less scary than it should have been for some reason. I also expected Martha to have a bigger role besides basically telling Gabriel to fuck off and die, but there isn't much she can do at this point, so I'm not holding this against the show.
Episode 11 is out :01:
i'm sorry to say so but this season was lame. on all fronts i've been waiting for that shocker we had in the previous seasons multiple times but it never came. not even the last episode ended with a cliffhanger. i hope the next and last season will spur things on again.
on all fronts i've been waiting for that shocker we had in the previous seasons multiple times but it never came. not even the last episode ended with a cliffhanger.
Things got very tense at the beginning, though :smilie4:
http://www.sb-innovation.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=17774
Elizabeth's face says it all.
Other than that, I agree with you. Slow pace and too many loose ends. The final season will air next year, we'll see if they're keeping the best stuff for the end.
So, the new season has started airing already. The time skip feels cheap, and this Phillip vs. Elizabeth thing seems like it could work...
So, I don't know how to feel about this finale.
We'd been seeing a decline since season five, and this ending is in line with that. Stan finally catches the Jennings and learns everything he suspected from the very beginning (remember when he sneaked inside their garage in season one?). This was really tense... then he lets them go for what amounts to no reason. Afterwards, the episode becomes a tale about their escape to Russia.
Also, there are a ton of loose ends. What becomes of father Andrei after he tells the FBI everything he knows? What will happen to Paige now that her cover as a Soviet spy in training has been blown? Who is going to pay for Paige's and Henry's schooling? Will Oleg to to prison? Was Renee a spy or not? What kind of life awaits Philip and Elizabeth in the USSR? He had already resigned, and they both went against the interests of their organization, so I don't expect them to be received as heroes...
Paige getting off the train really surprised me, though. I didn't see that one coming.
I downloaded first season. Now all I need is some free time and hope it's good show.
The first four seasons were really good, so you're in for a treat.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.