Links (including the season three start date!)

[jae]

The season three start date has been set! The show will remain on Wednesdays in the same time slot, and the first episode will be January 28th.

Alyssa Rosenberg has a column in the Washington Post about sex on television in which The Americans is featured.

Annet Mahendru (Nina) will be one of the presenters at next year's Emmys.

The network that aired Margo Martindale's (Claudia) sitcom has cancelled it. Commence speculation about how this will affect The Americans!

A call has been put out by the show's production team for a television commercial from 1982 for a Falls Church, Virginia business, presumably for use in season three.

The Paleyfest panel from fall 2013 has been released on DVD, bundled with the one of Elementary from the same 'fest.

Comments

[treonb]

The season three start date has been set! The show will remain on Wednesdays in the same time slot, and the first episode will be January 28th.

Technically that's January, but I feel cheated :-/
But, at least we have a date!

As for Claudia - I liked her at the beginning of S1, but towards the end of S1 and in S2 she was weird. So I'd rather see a different handler.

[jae]

I would definitely rather see a different handler (in particular, I am very excited about the one they've talked about in casting spoilers, but I won't bring the details up here). But Claudia could be in their lives in other ways, and that could cause some interesting tensions (especially if there are interesting dynamics between her and the new handler).

-J

[katiac]

I agree that things got a little wacky in S2. But then I wonder how much of that was because of the limitation of only having Margo available for an episode or two and needing some zany excuses to get her to reappear, disappear, BUT have the flexibility to come back if real life circumstances allowed. So I suspect the writing was forced to take a small hit to allow room for real life issues and probably if Margo were regularly available like before they'd be able to give her a more even story arc like she had in S1.

[treonb]

I think what turned me off her was the double use of her 'boyfriend as an excuse' as a plot device. That's not an excuse for her on-again/off-again status. Let's say her actions for Zhukov somehow made sense once I got past the "we're lovers" thing, but confiding in a guy she barely knows? I wouldn't trust her with anything at this point.

[jae]

Yeah, I can see that. I actually really like the Zhukov-and-Claudia storyline, but I found it hard to imagine this true believer telling her new lover anything she wasn't supposed to tell him.

I wonder if she killed him.

-J

[katiac]

To play the devil's advocate just a little on Claudia's behalf...

I mean, yeah, it's rash. But then, at some point when Gregory was still very "new" to things, Elizabeth told him who she really was, which was a huge risk too. And while Elizabeth probably told herself she was doing it to better suck him into the cause, she was really doing it for all personal reasons just like Claudia was--SHE needed to feel close to someone in some very specific ways and she was willing to take the risk to get that need met. They're human.

[treonb]

To play the devil... :-)

Gregory knew from the beginning that Elizabeth was a KGB agent. He might not have known the details, but he knew enough. We don't know what Elizabeth told him - I don't know if Gregory knew her last name, or where she lived, or her phone number. The fact that he knew how she FELT, and about her concerns at home, really doesn't matter that much.

But the way Claudia told it, she had a boyfriend who knew nothing about her, and then she told him who she really was.

In my internal canon I'm pretending it never happened, but the more Claudia we see, the more chances they'll drop another bomb like that.

[katiac]

It's almost here! I for one am excited by the idea of a new handler, but could also enjoy the idea of conflict developing between Claudia and that new person. Maybe one of them takes Elizabeth's position regarding Paige's recruitment and the other, Philip's. Lots of ways they could go with it and they definitely should snag Margo this time around even if she can't pronounce Nadezhda.

[jae]

Yesssss, this is exactly the sort of thing I mean!

I think Claudia-as-handler is very "been there, done that," but we know she's still in the U.S., so there's no reason why she wouldn't be around in another capacity. And she's such an obedient soldier, even more so than Elizabeth these days, so a conflict with a respected colleague could be really interesting.

-J

[katiac]

Totally! And it has thhe great potential to mirror and heighten whatever conflict might be going on with the Jennings. It's kind of hard for me to picture her siding with anyone but Elizabeth, though I guess if I were the Centre, I would also pick a handler who was pro-recruitment. Still, in my heart of hearts I love our plan (even if it's probably also too late considering where they likely are in writing--but still, getting Margo back is a huge win!) 66 days!