jae: (theamericansgecko)
[personal profile] jae posting in [community profile] theamericans
The (first?) trailer for "Cardinal" is out, as well as a full scene from the episode. A new trailer for the second season in general is also out.

The ratings for "Comrades" (season two, episode one) are out, and they are mixed, mostly bad, news. Critic Alyssa Rosenberg, who has been a huge champion of the show, was vocally disappointed on Twitter. But others compared it to what happened with Breaking Bad, implying there's reason to be hopeful.

A couple more season two reviews have trickled in: from the New Republic and from The Atlantic.

Crave Online has an interview with Matthew Rhys.

Indiewire on TV's antihero tradition and how The Americans deviates from it with a compelling romance.

Vulture on That Sex Scene from "Comrades."

E Online talks about the most intense moments from some of the premieres of this past week, including The Americans.

And Complex has one more "talking to the cast at the season two premiere" video.

Date: 2014-03-01 10:24 pm (UTC)
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)
From: [personal profile] sistermagpie
Some of those things were more my impression--that is, I knew it was considered an awesome job, so I had always assumed that they both wanted it. And I knew from things you'd said that the show had changed things in by even having Elizabeth identify herself as a KGB officer and by having her seeming to be in training that seemed like she was part of the military.

But that made me wonder about that line of MR's. It seems like if he just meant that they were too young to really know what they were getting into he would have said something like that. So I wonder if he means that in this place they were recruited.

If, in reality, they came from other fields...well, actually that's even more fascinating to me because it suggests that they even more have this alternate life they would have had. But how did they pluck people out? Did the program look for signs that someone was good and approach them? Because if something like that happened, even if they were in the KGB, I can see that being translated into saying the job was chosen for them, even if they enthusiastically accepted it.

Date: 2014-03-01 10:42 pm (UTC)
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)
From: [personal profile] sistermagpie
See, that to me actually makes a lot of sense. More sense than most things. And it also fits with stuff I've read about spy making in general. Because while there are some families where they work in, say, the NSA for generations because they know their background etc., a lot of what I've read really stresses how spies are kind of born not made. Of if they're made it's by life experience. You can't just sign up for spying and be like Philip and Elizabeth are. It's so obviously a long psychological slog that they'd be crazy not to watch people for very specific things, just as a baseball scout would watch people playing baseball.

I'm really hoping that's what they're getting at given MR's quote. Because I can certainly see both of them having qualities that they might flag as possibilities for this program. Elizabeth, as we know, has that fear of surrender that they really seem to value in this universe. And the kinds of skills that Philip has that make him good at the job would doubtless have shown up in his life elsewhere too.

Date: 2014-03-01 10:46 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] katiac
I mean, I think merely the fact that they're starting to talk about it is a good sign. In other interviews he'll flat out say, "We haven't filmed anything like that, so I don't know," and he for instance said there's not much Philip/Stan stuff right now :(, and it seems like whatever direction the show is heading kind of informs the answers, both because that's a good way to get the audience thinking in the right direction and also because that would be on your mind if it's the major push in what you're character is doing day after day.

Date: 2014-03-01 11:07 pm (UTC)
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)
From: [personal profile] sistermagpie
Department Three actually sounds wonderfully terrifying.

I have to ask--what sorts of things in particular were they looking for, if you know?

I love that Philip and Elizabeth pretty much are the coolest people in Russia. Because in Russia apparently that's a thing that's easy to identify and they're it. And they're frankly even cooler than the real thing, I would guess.
Edited Date: 2014-03-01 11:07 pm (UTC)

Date: 2014-03-02 12:35 am (UTC)
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)
From: [personal profile] sistermagpie
See, that's exactly the type of thing I'd like to see hinted at. It's possible that the two of them came into the program in different ways, but what this describes just makes so much sense. It's also a bit funny that more than one person has said to me that KR and MR just "don't look Russian at all" but of course that fits too.

On one hand it almost makes me imagine that things were really different for Elizabeth, and that this is why she seems to have a real mentor in Zhukov perhaps because she scored so well in the "morally sound" and "strong personality" areas, with skills in languages too. But I'd love it if Philip got pulled in from a very different angle.

Date: 2014-03-03 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] katiac
Like the one thing I notice (and this could just be coincidence) is that they always portrayed Elizabeth as having a stronger accent way back when. Even when they're at the same stages of training, Elizabeth will have a noticeable Russian accent and Philip sounds naturally American. Of course this could merely be because Keri Russell isn't having to change her accent twice over like Matthew Rhys would to do the same thing, but I've always wondered if Philip came in because of the extreme language talent and natural spy skills, and Elizabeth was noticed more because of her devotion and willingness to do anything for the cause. Hopefully we'll find out this season!

Date: 2014-03-03 02:12 am (UTC)
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)
From: [personal profile] sistermagpie
Did we see them at the same stage of training? I feel like we saw Elizabeth with Timoshev and a thick accent, and then by the time she meets Philip they both speak like Americans. But we never hear Philip speak English at an earlier stage of his life before meeting her. The only scene we have is where he's with Irina, and they're speaking Russian.

Though in my head I do imagine him speaking without the accent. This will no doubt be jossed this season when they have some flashback to him struggling even more so Matthew Rhys can impress everybody with his Russian accent. But I'd so love it if they did that differently.

I've been wondering, too, if we might see flashbacks with Leanne and Emmett with the Jennings.

Date: 2014-03-03 02:28 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] katiac
It could definitely just be nerves when they meet. It's really the motel scene for her more... like she could never pass for American with the accent she still has in 1965.

But again, that could be entirely the acting and not intentional. Or they could've changed something around later. Who knows.

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] katiac - Date: 2014-03-03 02:39 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2014-03-03 02:25 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] katiac
We do a few times. Like we see them in Zhukov's office 2 years in and Philip doesn't have an accent. And when we see them arrive in the US in 1965, Elizabeth still sounds pretty stilted and "Is it cool air?" and Philip sounds like he's been around forever.

Of course, they may go an entirely different direction, and I'm sure Philip did have an accent along the way--I just kind of imagine in the same way he reads people and changes who he needs to be to fit, that fluidity might transfer over to picking up language more easily as well.

I'm curious to see more of Leanne and Emmett too! They seem a few years older, so I'm not sure if they would've known each other in training, though I guess they could've, but I definitely am interested in how some of those earlier meetings went. And I really want to know what happens with the son. You would think they might want to pick up on that some more as the whole "what happens to the kids if something happens to us and not them?" would play in as a major thread and they have a real life example.

Date: 2014-03-03 02:37 am (UTC)
sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Default)
From: [personal profile] sistermagpie
Ah, yes those scenes I remember. My impression is I think more like Jae's, that Philip does, as you say, sound a bit more confident even by the meeting with Zhukov but Elizabeth doesn't have an accent by then. She does still sound less confident in her speaking, though, and it would be great if they had made that a choice, that Philip's confidence is part of a backstory where his language skills are better. I think that would also go along with the fact that we've heard Philip do three different accents on the show so far as well--he's got his standard American one, the Texas drawl he does in the premiere, and that moment of doing the British accent in the motel room. I feel like if I was a showrunner I'd just have to be doing that as part of a larger context of Philip being good at mimicry and therefore accents and maybe also therefore languages.

I was thinking of MR saying there'd be flashbacks talking about how certain relationships were formed, and it occurred to me that we might see earlier years with them. It would be cool if they worked with Philip and Elizabeth when they were new and the Connors were more experienced. That might be a nice way to add to the mystery of who killed them and how Elizabeth and Philip see themselves in them. One of the clips in the previews looked to be Elizabeth in their house looking at pictures of their family. They might go to their house to get spy stuff out of it, for instance, and be seeing the life they'd heard about over the years.

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] katiac - Date: 2014-03-03 02:43 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] sistermagpie - Date: 2014-03-03 03:01 am (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2014-03-02 11:58 am (UTC)
lovingboth: (Default)
From: [personal profile] lovingboth
"there isn't another spy agency anywhere that uses that particular technique"

How do you know?

Date: 2014-03-02 02:04 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] treonb
To answer with a question: why did the Russians even need such a program? Why couldn't they send 'regular' spies? What advantages did they get from long-term embedded spies?

Date: 2014-03-02 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] treonb
The fact that it's still ongoing, though, suggests at least to me that they must get some benefit out of it.

Or that they already made the major investment and bringing those people back would mean throwing all of it down the drain. Keeping them in place costs them nothing and might prove useful in the future.

Date: 2014-03-02 02:41 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] treonb
I cannot believe it's paying off. Not in the sense that it's more than regular spying.

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] treonb - Date: 2014-03-02 03:57 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2014-03-01 10:40 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] katiac
But that made me wonder about that line of MR's. It seems like if he just meant that they were too young to really know what they were getting into he would have said something like that. So I wonder if he means that in this place they were recruited.

Ha, now that I can read this (site has been a little glitchy for me today) yes, that's what I was wondering. He's said something like that before.

If, in reality, they came from other fields...well, actually that's even more fascinating to me because it suggests that they even more have this alternate life they would have had. But how did they pluck people out? Did the program look for signs that someone was good and approach them? Because if something like that happened, even if they were in the KGB, I can see that being translated into saying the job was chosen for them, even if they enthusiastically accepted it.

This is kind of what I was wondering about Philip and played around with in one flashback chapter of my fic, if he might've been like studying at a university or school somewhere and then gotten plucked out because one of his teachers/supervisors noticed he was especially talented with languages and had potential. It's kind of hard to know how they'd do it on the show though, because the factual accounts you read are so very different from what's on the show (and that works for me for dramatic purposes) that it's hard to know what they'll decide to make their reality.

And yes, I'd agree that could also mean the job was "chosen" for them, particularly given the lack of other opportunities they might've had. Matthew Rhys has said over and over again how Philip grew up in this impoverished environment. It's hard to know if he's saying that because it's been in a future episode, because Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg told him so, or because he researched the time period and just about everyone was, but it would be easy to see for someone who came from very little, why they'd jump at the chance to survive, and in fact have the potential to flourish, even if it came with some drawbacks. When you're in that situation, you're thinking short term survival rather than "would this bother me 20 years from now?"

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