theamericans | Entries tagged with general discussion

Still not ready to stop talking about the show yet--there's so many new things to see now that it's over! I keep noticing new things. For instance, I just noticed another parallel to season 1. Back then in In Control the Russians think there's a coup going on while the Americans assume Reagan's shooter is a nutjob and Haig's just puffing himself up. Both sides are understanding the situation via patterns they're familiar with from their own history.

In S6 we *do* have a coup, and it's Russian, and Stan more than once says he doesn't care who leads the country. Again the two sides are having a very different reactions to the potential loss of one of their leaders. It seems the Russians overreact in In Control and Stan under-reacts in START.

Anyway, now that the show's over we also know that we're never going to get detailed backstory on Philip, so I was thinking about what we did get. ( Cutting here to save space... )

Current Mood: mellow

jae

In their post-season-finale interviews, the showrunners have been very consistent about not wanting to speculate about what happens to any of the characters after the events of the finale, and have repeatedly said that it's now up to audience members to decide those things for themselves. Of course, to be consistent with both the nature and the tone of the show, any future imagined developments should probably be a) realistic (both in the sense of "consistent with reality" and in the sense of "psychologically viable for that person at that time"), and b) a mixture of melancholic and hopeful. But even within those parameters there are an awful lot of possible outcomes, and there are an awful lot of characters who those possible outcomes could happen to, as well.

So what do you think happens next? For any of the characters, and at any point in time after when the finale ends?

maidenjedi

The Washington Post, today (potential spoilers for upcoming season): "How Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell learned to stop worrying and love their characters’ chilly fates"

apolla_savre

I hope this is ok, I wasn't sure it fell under episode discussions and it probably does relate to spoilers/stuff not talked about in interviews for the upcoming episode, but I haven't watched all. So, mods, if this is inappropriate, sorry, please delete.

I'd like to open up a topic about the Soviet-Afghan War (with some information related to Philip's son)

( Read more... )

quantumreality

Has anyone seen this show yet? It seems like a very similar premise to "The Americans" and even takes place in the height of the Cold War as well (the early 1970s, prior to detente).

lovingboth

My TV watching is distinctly limited. I did all of The Sopranos and Rome. I got to whenever the plane crash was in Desperate Housewives before stopping on the grounds that my intelligence was being insulted. I am at the end of s4 of Breaking Bad, and I will make another attempt at Mad Men soon.

Looking at what's being broadcast in the US, I am enjoying Fargo and thought the start of the remake of Being Human was so bad that I wanted to see the people responsible for it staked / shot with a silver bullet / exorcised.

What else should I be considering?

quantumreality

Some questions came to mind as I re-watched The Americans last weekend, and having not really come to any good conclusions I'd like to pose them to the community and fandom at large:

1. Where do Phillip and Elizabeth get all those cars? I believe I counted at least three, if not four, they use on a semi-routine basis (even to the point of being able to crash the '77 Olds and not apparently sweat over the cost of repairs if the insurance company denies the claim) and paying for them, putting gas in them, and maintaining them all cost money.

2. Where/how do P & E get their money? Some of it is obviously legitimate - profits from the travel agency, but how much of it is other-source, and how do they manage to hide the fact that they're probably getting money from clandestine sources?

3. Do P & E go to the brazen extent of being authorized agents for Soviet package tours sponsored by Intourist? (Then again, such a feature might have given them ways to find sympathizers who could be tapped as low-level agents from time to time.)

4. Where do the diplomatic and KGB staff live, if not at the Rezidentura? What's their budget like? How much hassle do they deal with in getting hard currency, since they're obviously allowed to purchase petty-cash type items (judging from the apparent routine-ness of Vasili's tea shop visits)?

Any thoughts would be very welcome. :)

(PS. If this is too off topic for the comm, I'll gladly move this all to my personal journal)

jae

Our small-but-mighty community has gained a lot of new members/readers lately--welcome! It's getting to the point where it can be hard to keep everybody straight, though, so I thought it might be a good idea to have one post that's a sort of meet-and-greet, where new people can come and say hello as sort of their first point of contact if they don't feel comfortable just jumping into discussions.

I know that some people value their anonymity, though, and I want us to respect that, so I was thinking we might all respond with answers to the following questions, feeling free to be as generic or as specific as we each feel moved to in each case:

1. The name you go by online (whether or not it's also your journal's name),

2. Where in the world you are (and like I said, feel free to answer this as generically or as specifically as you feel moved to: city/region/country/continent or even just "in the U.S."/"not in the U.S."),

3. Two things you think are special about The Americans, and

4. One fact about yourself (again, feel free to be as generic or as specific as you feel moved to).

For those of you out there who are lurking because you don't have dreamwidth accounts, this is for you, too! Feel free to respond even if you can't do it under an account--Treon and I have set things up so that this should be possible.

jae

Greetings from New York, the morning after the Paleyfest 2013 panel on The Americans. I was lucky enough to be in the audience for it, and as promised, this is going to be my complete writeup. (If you're looking for a shorter, journalism-y-er version, this Deadline piece is pretty good, and this Rolling Stone piece is even better.) Edited to add: A shortened version of the panel is now up in video form, ( behind a cut. )

( this, however, is the photoillustrated Jae version )

tinny

I tried to make a fanmix for the Americans. So far, there are four songs:

1) Roberta Flack - "To Love Somebody"
2) Ben Folds feat. Regina Spektor - "You don't know me"
3) Maroon 5 - "She Will Be Loved"
4) Luka Bloom - "Rescue Mission"

( Relevant lyrics snippets and youtube embeds under the cut )

That's all I could come up with so far, so I guess it doesn't count as a real fanmix yet. But this community is so awesome, I thought maybe we could throw together all our favorite Americans-related songs and can make it a full mix? Maybe even manage with only songs written before the 80s? I obviously failed spectacularly at that. *g*

I'd be excited to find out what songs you associate with the show! Let's make a collective fanmix?

I don't even know how to tag this...

lovingboth

One of the things that I find interesting about this series is that it looks to be aimed at an audience who remember 1980. Or at least as someone who does, it adds considerably to the enjoyment of the show.

Have the creators said anything about this?

For those who are under 50, how much do things like Haig's "I'm in charge" come as a surprise?

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Fan community for FX's The Americans

Entries tagged with general discussion

Lookback: Flashbacks

Where things go from here: speculation and musing

Who else is really excited for Tuesday?!

Mischa/Afghanistan

"The Game"

What else is worth watching until season three?

Some Questions I'd Like To Pose...

Introductions post

The Americans at Paleyfest 2013

Collective Fanmix

Target audience age

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May 2023

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