Conversation question of the week #1

[jae]

Welcome to theamericans! treonb and I created this space in the hopes that it will become a place for fans of this great show to hang out, talk, squee, and of course share fanworks of all kinds. The idea is to tide us over until the start of the second season so that the post-season-one withdrawal becomes a bit more bearable! *g*

In the interest of generating some conversation about the show, I'm planning to post a question a week (usually on Sunday or Monday) that everybody can respond to. I will do my best to make the questions broad enough and open-ended enough that hopefully everybody feels like they have a response (so nothing too thinky-meta-ish).

The first one, in the spirit of looking forward from the finale, is: What are three things that you're hoping to see happen in season two? (You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.)

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[jae]

Philip and Elizabeth are my favourite characters, but I'm already mostly good with how the show is dealing with telling us their stories little by little. This means that all of the things I'm hoping to see next season have to do with other characters:

1) More than anything, I would like to find out more about Stan's history, especially in terms of what could have happened to him on his undercover assignment with the right-wing group to break him so much on the inside. All we've had so far are hints, and I want to know moooooooore.

2) This one seems to have already been foreshadowed in the season one finale (yay!), but I really do hope that Paige and/or Henry start to suspect that not all is what it seems in their home. At the same time, though, I hope it happens slowly, rather than as a single story that they just run and then it's over--it's potentially such a juicy topic with so many emotional repercussions both for the kids and for the adults, and I want to savour that.

3) I want someone outside of Philip and Elizabeth's home to start suspecting them too. Not so much that it puts them in mortal danger every week, but enough to be scary for them and exciting for us. Stan seems the obvious one for this, given what happened in the pilot, but it could be Martha too.

Anybody else?

[umbo]

Or, and this just occurred to me, but how about someone in the travel agency? I think there's a lot they could mine out of that situation.

[jae]

I thought about that when I made my response, but I think that would be less satisfying than Stan (or for that matter Sandra!) or Martha because we're not invested in any of the folks at the travel agency. If they had us get to know that character as a person first, though, then sure.

-J

[treonb]

It would be extremely disappointing if they wrap up the Paige suspicions story in one shot. I'd rather it go through the whole season. I'm just thinking that if Paige suspects Elizabeth's involved in something, she might confide in Philip, and if he can't allay her suspicions, he might have to sell her a story.

[jae]

Wow, that sounds excruciatingly painful and really fascinating and EXACTLY LIKE WHAT THEY COULD END UP DOING. ;)

-J

[quantumreality]

1. Stan discovers that he's in over his head and tries to extricate himself from his situation, only to find that Agent Gaad is strongly hinting he would be unhappy should Nina turn out to be a waste of time and a liability besides, and that the Soviets have something on him and will use it to ensure he keeps meeting Nina.

2. Philip and Elizabeth will have to admit something to Paige, if not Henry. The children then have to deal with the crisis of confidence this creates. Probably initiated by Paige discovering the secret collection of wigs and smuggled tapes from the USSR.

3. Arkady decides Nina is worth elevating in rank even more now that she's a double agent, and decides to make her the nezt Rezident when his term is up. He agrees to back her up from Moscow when he goes back to HQ.

[jae]

I like #2! The only issue will be making her discovery, whatever it ends up being, believable. I mean, it's not like her parents aren't well-trained in hiding things and avoiding detection, and they don't turn that off at home. Maybe she just figures out that her mother is nearly always gone at night when she's supposedly in her room sleeping, and goes from there.

I do think the show will go there, though, whatever "there" ends up being. And like umbo says, I think the way they let this unfold will end up surprising us, which pleases me. :)

-J

[umbo]

Well, my first instinct is to yell "Amador Lives!" and wish for a Life Model Decoy, but then I remember that Max Hernandez didn't actually play Agent Amador as a clone to Agent Sitwell, and much as I'd like him to be back, I'd prefer The Americans stay out of comic book territory. So I guess I can't really wish for that.

(it sure would be nice to have Clark Gregg show up as a guest star, though. I'm just saying)

Okay, more seriously, I'm really interested in how they're going to develop what's going on with the kids. I want them to avoid the more obvious, cliched stuff with Paige and Matthew (her having a crush on him is fine and probably appropriate, but that could easily go into the wrong direction) and go somewhere different and interesting instead. Not that I have any ideas what that should be, but that's kind of the point--I want to be surprised.

I also want to be surprised how they handle Paige suspecting something is going on with her parents. I think the way this season ended was a good set up for the future, and I hope they don't have her find out too much, too soon.

I don't feel like they've given Henry enough attention yet, so I hope they do something interesting with him--more stuff with the two of them like the episode where they were on their own and dealt with the guy in the park, yes, please.

So, none of that is particularly specific, but I think that's because overall what I want is to be surprised by what happens instead of thinking, "oh, of course that's what they did." You know?

(Amador Lives!)

[jae]

So, none of that is particularly specific, but I think that's because overall what I want is to be surprised by what happens instead of thinking, "oh, of course that's what they did." You know?

I totally, totally know!

It's funny, but I have no desire to write fanfiction set over the course of this show. I do have lots of story ideas, but they're all pre-show or far-future. And I think that's because I feel similarly to you about this: I want the show to keep surprising me with the stories it's telling, and I don't want to interfere with that.

-J

[christie]

I'm kind of hoping for the Martha situation to resolve. It is KILLING ME to watch her! KILLING ME!

I SO want to see where things go with Paige's suspicions. I think she's going to think it's just her mom and that will be so sad!

I want to know more about Stan's past!!

[treonb]

I'm very conflicted about the Martha story. I can't stand how Philip is stringing her along, but I'm afraid of what will happen when it does end. It might be even worse.

[jae]

I think she's going to think it's just her mom and that will be so sad!

Wow, that didn't even occur to me. But of course you're right, that's very likely. Gah.

-J

[katiac]

I agree... I think it's more natural that Paige will start to get suspicious of either Philip or Elizabeth first (and because that creates more interesting conflict), and it looks like it's Elizabeth because of the incident in the laundry room. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually her attention turned to Philip because of him having to go meet with Martha a few nights a week, although she might not initially connect the two things as being related (Elizabeth being weird about the laundry room and Philip being gone a lot.) She might suspect her dad is having an affair.

[treonb]

Only three? :-)

I feel that they've thrown everything at us - killing off a minor char, almost getting arrested, Elizabeth getting injured. How can they top that?

So..

1. I want the FBI to get even closer to catching them, up to actually getting arrested. I don't know how they'll manage that, but thankfully I'm not their writer :-)
2. I want Stan to discover Nina's playing him. So many options how it plays from there.
3. I want either Elizabeth/Philip to suspect the other has really turned.

But overall, I second Umbo - I want to be surprised.

[jae]

I think they need to not try to top the first season--just extend it. The way they're setting things up, though, that seems likely.

Your #3 might just kill me if it happens. Jesus, MY HEART.

-J

[katiac]

1. I want to see further development into a deeper relationship between Philip and Elizabeth. I was for the most part quite pleased with how they did that in the first season, even though at times a little annoyed with how long the separation lasted. In the second season I want them to dig in deeper to these characters, particularly Philip's past, which we've learned basically nothing about, and perhaps how it relates to his parenting.

2. Paige (and Henry) getting suspicious about their parents. To me, this is one of the most compelling angles of the show--that these two people have created a real, loving family, but all of it is based on a lie. I hope it plays out the entire season, and I do hope eventually they're forced to tell Paige something.

3. The Martha business resolve in a way that is not too cruel and makes something more balanced with her character. Loved Martha the first half of the season. Wasn't wild about they way they switched to just having lots of sex scenes in the second. I hope they do something more interesting or balanced with this character, and hope that P/E manage to extricate themselves without doing anything too unforgivable. I hope they don't have to kill her, or worse, that a pregnancy comes into play because I don't know how the show gets out of that.

[tinny]

I just wanted to thank you for creating this community. It looks like a cozy place. It reminds me of one of my favorite communities (mary-marshall@lj), where there was a small but tight group discussing the show in a positive way. I've spent some of the best hours of my life in that comm. *goodoltimes* ;)

I'm going to jump right into the episode discussion posts, if that's alright. Just know that I haven't seen all of s1 yet, so bear with me. :D

[jae]

Hiiiii!! Thank you for just jumping in--this is a tiny fandom, it's so exciting to me to see someone just show up here who I haven't dragged here. *g* How did you find us, if I may ask?

-J

[tinny]

Ooops, I'm getting confused in all those comments. //) I already told you about astridv in the other one. Oh, and I am now joining this comm.

I have a question:
I've read the rules for the comm, but since it wasn't specifically mentioned... would you mind if I posted about a watch-along of the pilot we're doing next week? We have a small chat group going where we watch all kinds of stuff and I instigated an Americans rewatch there. Would it be okay to ask if anyone wanted to come?

[treonb]

Welcome aboard :-) I *loved* In Plain Sight, though sadly that was before I discovered organized fandom so I missed out on that part of it.