theamericans | Episode discussion post: "START"

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theamericans

Aired:
30 May 2018 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 610 of The Americans (the season and series finale), intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first.)

Original promo trailer

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From:

maidenjedi

Not one of us guessed exactly what would happen, and I think that's a huge win for the writers (and whoever edits the episode trailers).

Seeing a lot of "Stan would never let them go" reactions elsewhere, and I completely disagree with all of those. Is he kind of an idiot for doing it? Probably. But we're all idiots in love, and yeah, Philip and Stan were best friends. Easy enough to see how the Stan we grew to know over the years would eventually be unable to pull the trigger on the man he loved better than either of his wives (YMMV). Even assuming Stan couldn't get past his personal feelings, the double whammy of Oleg and Philip/Elizabeth pressing on Stan the immediacy of stopping Gorbachev's enemies worked. (I would love to see/read an epilogue, set years later, when it is brought home just how important it is who leads Russia - and any world power, really - and Stan comes to appreciate the warnings he received. If Stan is standing in for America proper, that's even more poignant)

I just believe there was A LOT going on with Stan at that moment, and it was totally in keeping with the Stan that we knew all along.

I really appreciated the super high stakes of this season - the very future of world peace. Watching this show with the last thirty years to think about was intense; you know how it really ends, but you have to come to grips with how it all came together, and what was sacrificed along the way. And Philip's ultimate "what was it all for" contrasted with his own desire to not see his country fall apart - *long whistle* - that was the best of the character arcs for me. So many of you were talking about how his death was telegraphed over the last few episodes - the funeral suit and so on - as was Elizabeth's, and if they are Russia to Stan's America, what a statement it all makes.

(With that in mind - Elizabeth burying, but not destroying, the suicide necklace almost reads as metaphor to me as well. Just not enough for it to be a blinking neon sign)

There wasn't the total ambiguity of The Sopranos ending, but the scent of it was still present. The David Chase line about not getting to root for morally corrupt characters and see them punished for their crimes seems to have been an influence, but also, in the context of the show, we know they are punished. Stan has to live with his betrayal, has the spectre of a possible spy in his household, has the obligation to be there for Henry. Oleg had more nobility in his pinkie than half the rest of the characters, and may never see his family again (there's a parallel between him and Philip, too - neither will see his son again, and each has willingly entered a prison of sorts). We know that ultimately Elizabeth will have to see the Russia of her memory strive to become more American in too many ways (I LOVED that they went to McDonald's, and that at that moment they are probably having a bit of a "last time," and the audience knows the whole time that the first McDonald's in Russia opens only three years after this episode takes place; I remember when that was headline news).

I was certain P&E would be shot on entering the Soviet Union. I was tense and upset for the entire ending montage, positive that someone would have followed Arkady and done them all in. Now, looking back at the episode in total, and the one before it, I'm more convinced that may have actually happened to Claudia. It all depends on whether the message reached Gorbachev's loyalists in time or not.

(Another quick thing on this - I find it difficult to believe that the attempts to subvert Gorbachev via the summit would have been the only way his opponents were seeking to get rid of him at that particular moment, especially since we know what's coming in 1991. I think it likely there was enough going on that he would have been able to marshal his own resources to out his more violent detractors. Hence my belief that Claudia may have been captured and maybe executed on return. Also, there's no way, after Elizabeth shot and killed Tatiana, that some of the conspiracy came to light as Tatiana's own weapon was right there with the body).

Okay, now, to go plot out the Americans/X-Files crossover I've been dying to see written, in which Renee is Marita Covarrubias. :-D

Edited Date: 2018-05-31 05:53 pm (UTC)

From:

selenak

Easy enough to see how the Stan we grew to know over the years would eventually be unable to pull the trigger on the man he loved better than either of his wives (YMMV).

Oh, agreed, both on the strength of Stan's feelings for Philip and the in characterness. And then, also, he's been there before, in a way, and chose differently, with Nina. And she died as a result. Only Nina was someone whom he'd known for little more than a year. With Philip, it's been six years. Not to say that Stan would never; if Philip had acted differently, had played it defiantly or engineered a stand-off, Stan would have shot, but Philip pushed every right button.

From:

maidenjedi

I went back and watched again, and I'm just amazed how well that scene was written and played. The tension, even on rewatch and knowing for sure how it goes, is through the roof; I can definitely see how Stan might have gone through with it, how he might never have gotten the chance because Elizabeth acts first, how Philip might have said the wrong thing or Stan just never listening.

I swear, this show. How the Academy never saw fit to actually recognize the acting alone is beyond me.

From:

jae

I swear, this show. How the Academy never saw fit to actually recognize the acting alone is beyond me.

It's much harder to recognize the acting on a show nobody's watching. :(

They have one more chance, though, and I have high hopes, given the universal acclaim of the final season and especially the finale. *fingers crossed*

-J