Promo discussion: Episode 6x10

[treonb]

This post is intended to allow discussion of the upcoming episode, as reflected in the official show promos.

Please keep the comments spoiler free from anything not mentioned in the promos (interviews, articles etc)

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In the series finale of The Americans, the Jennings face a choice that will change their lives forever.
 

Comments

Stan and Philip; Henry

[maidenjedi]

Okay. The promo shows Stan discovering, flat-out, that he's right about Philip and Elizabeth. And, rage rightfully ensues.

The thing is - and what makes me think Stan will die before the end - rage and revenge seem to be Stan's primary motivators. Yes, P&E are spies, they're murderers, etc., but the kicker here is that Stan has been personally betrayed and used. I think he'll go into a chase and gunfight with that blinding him to everything else around him, and it'll get him killed, very possibly at Philip's hand.

(As much as I would like to think the show is going to show us Renee as an illegal, or an otherwise planted spy in Stan's household, I just don't see them actually doing it in the end.)

Regarding Henry - I mean, it seems like P&E's plan is to leave him at school and let the chips fall where they may. Or maybe, Stan decides that going to get Henry is the best way to possibly catch P&E, and the showdown happens in front of Henry when P&E decide to get him after all.

[treonb]

I wonder who Aderholt is talking to

My prediction

[(Anonymous)]

They will gather up Paige and head towards Henry and then to the border where they will confront the FBI. In the standoff, Elizabeth will sacrifice herself to save the family. As she dies from her cyanide pill she has a flashback of her kids and her own mother. Her sense of what is most important in the world has dramatically shifted at the last second.
Meanwhile, Stan has warned the Russians of the threat to Gorbachev. Olag lingers incarcerated but is eventually part of some exchange of prisoners, his wife does not forgive him for leaving.

[saraqael]

I still have no real idea how this series is going to end, but I'm hoping that this final episode will feature lots of intense discussions and confessions but no dramatic gun fights or deaths. I'd rather see the time spent on scenes of the Jennings trying to explain that they're spies to Henry, and more time between Stan and Oleg, and scenes of Stan coming to grips with the realization that his best friend really was a Soviet illegal. I want to see Philip and Elizabeth decide if they want to try to hide out in Canada, vanish into America, or surrender and defect. I'd like to see Stan and Dennis agree to come up with a reason to let Oleg go, and also talk about the fallout from discovering that Tatiana tried to murder Nesterenko, not to mention the fallout on their careers when they discover that they've been having dinner with Soviet spies for years. I want emotional payoffs, not James Bond style excitement.

The title "Start"

[jae]

The version of the penultimate episode I saw didn't have any previews attached, so I was absolutely convinced that the title of this episode, "Start", suggested there would be another time jump between the penultimate episode and the season finale. (This is under the assumption that the title refers to this treaty, which isn't signed until 1991.)

This preview makes it clear that this won't be the case (which I'm honestly glad for--I want to SEE what happens next, not just hear about it in retrospect!). But what does everyone else make of the title of the finale? Might there be a time jump in the middle of that episode?

-J