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The Americans - S4 of the KGB spy drama - Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys - Wed on FX

A

Ashby

Member
Rectify sounds great from looking it up. Why did I think it was an AMC show that got cancelled after two seasons?
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
Wow. Premiere tomorrow. Been so busy with work it sort of snuck up on me. The best show on television sort of does that, though. Has been doing it since the beginning.
 
T

T Dollarz

Member
Ashby said:
Rectify sounds great from looking it up. Why did I think it was an AMC show that got cancelled after two seasons?
Click to expand...

Yeah trust me, that is 110% a top tier show. The way it handles family & character drama reminded me a lot of Breaking Bad in that aspect. It's a beautifully crafted series. Very few episodes total even though it's 3 seasons too, so it's a breeze to watch.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Oh snap, sadly too late to get this shipped to me by tomorrow. :p

B4NrDUx.jpg
 
F

Fantastical

Death Prophet
I guess I'm weird. This show has always sounded extremely interesting to me. I don't see why it struggles to reach an audience. Russian spies living in America acting as a normal family is a fascinating concept.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Village Voice review
The Americans is TV's ultimate paean to commitment — not the gooey American kind but a rather more Soviet version. This is the kind of commitment that doesn't wrap you in a warm Snuggie but binds you in chains. Philip and Elizabeth are united by necessity, and their primary loyalty is to their mother country, not to each other. (If that sounds severe, it is; this is among the most agonizing — and, not incidentally, hottest — romances on TV right now.) The Americans is truly till-death-do-us-part devoted to its concept and its characters, a quality that makes the series not just heartrending but ethical. It's never easy to decide just who is the hunter and who is the prey on this show. It explores the lives of its characters with enough depth for us to see that people can be victims and victimizers at the same time.
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- Flavorwire review:
The nuclear family is often depicted on TV as the center of a small, self-contained world. But on The Americans, because this family is literally at the center of the Cold War, each of its moves has always carried the potential weight of world crisis, and the world now seems to be in particularly shaky hands. Weirdly, though, with bigger global threats introduced, the stakes for the family itself seem to be higher than ever. It’s a result of and testament to how much the show makes us privilege our care for the Jenningses over our fears about the abstract threats they pose. It’s also a result of the way actual history hovers over and shapes our understanding of the show.
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C

Cornballer

Member
Anyone up for giving me a hand here? Just wanted to recap where things stand before the new season starts tonight...

Phil - extremely damaged after years of spying. Notably almost broke down in front of Yousaf in the finale about how “I feel like shit all the time” after killing the IT guy.
Elizabeth - just back from Germany and a visit with her mother. Thinks things went well with Paige, and continues to believe in their work for the KGB.
Paige - told Pastor Tim that her parents are Russians.
Stan - chastised by Gaad for running the off-the-books operation with Oleg to catch Zinaida. Gaad wanted to fire him, but a higher up backed him and told him to try and flip Oleg.
Martha - knows that Clark is Philip. Has a gun. No longer under direct heat for the bug in the pen, but not dealing well with the pressure of all of this.
Henry - growing closer to Stan. Latchkey kid. Loves that 80's technology.
Oleg - possibly will continue working with Stan in some capacity, fascinated with US culture
Gabriel - angry with Elizabeth for the unauthorized trip to Russia to visit her mother
Claudia - still floating around in some capacity
Yousaf - being promoted(?) to a higher position in ISI after the Center killed his boss, working for Phil
Arkady - in a somewhat tenuous position because he doesn't necessarily agree with the hardline actions of his superiors
Gaad - mad as hell at both Stan and the mail robot, but seemingly cannot do anything about either of them
Aderholt - still working for Gaad, doesn't trust Stan
Nina - in Russia trying to work Anton. Stan's attempt to free her using Zinaida as a bargaining chip was unsuccessful.
Sandra Beeman - hanging out at EST. Talked to Phil about opening up to each other in the context of EST, but it's unclear if anything is going to come from that
Hans - the South African grad student being trained by Elizabeth is still in play? He has feelings for her.
Mail Robot - bugged last season and abused by Gaad
Kimmy - daughter of the head of the CIA's Afghan group, still in a relationship with one of Phil's IDs?
Lisa - Northrop employee that was working for Elizabeth. Not sure if this storyline will continue.
Zinaida - caught by the FBI and slated to be sent to Russia in a prisoner swap

Lemme know if any of that is in error or can be expanded. Btw, here's the S3 recap vid via the Washington Post.
 
N

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Looks good, but you forgot that Henry does a fine Eddie Murphy impression. You never know when that will come into play.
 
Ristifer

Ristifer

Member
Terrific OT and recap, Cornballer. Just rewatched S3 over the last several days and am ready to see where this all goes. There are still loose ends from S3, so we'll have to see where they take them, but I am beyond excited for this show to start again.

Also, S4 needs more Margo Martindale. Need me some more Claudia. That one appearance in S3 was not enough.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- The Week review
In today's campaign season marked not by facts but by fantasies, The Americans is a potent corrective. It's a series in which the emphasis on choices — individual, irrevocable choices — suggests a definition of "revolution" absent from the 2016 election's bombast. "To revolve" is to spin in a kind of infinite present; in The Americans, the next turn is the only one that matters. Asking and answering, "And then what happened?" with brusque assurance, the series emerges as a clear-eyed antidote to the central delusion of today: the pledge to resurrect the past in spite of its many shortcomings.
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- Inverse review
The fourth season of The Americans, though it does take bigger risks with believability and outlandish scenarios, has its main conflicts left to still resolve. Even as it integrates a couple of new plotlines — which you may or may not feel at all invested in — it’s intent on preserving the throughline of tension.
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- Wired review
The Americans has only become more essential, and even more captivating, in its advancing age. By now, nearly every character is endangered, every relationship is suspect, and every escape route is blocked off. The joy of the early seasons were watching Elizabeth and Philip navigate an increasingly threatening world; now, the pleasure comes from seeing how they’ll react when that world begins closing in on them.
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Niraj said:
Looks good, but you forgot that Henry does a fine Eddie Murphy impression. You never know when that will come into play.
Click to expand...
Ha ha. I forgot about that.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Ken Tucker's review for Yahoo!TV
The Americans became one of the best shows on television on the strength of a metaphor: Spying — espionage, secrets, lies, loyalty, and betrayal — as an alternate version of what it’s like for anyone to live in a family. Although we’re following the clandestine assignments of a pair of Russian spies living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., during the Reagan era, the show achieves its best effects when it makes things personal — small-scale and intimate.
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- Warming Glow review
The Americans is outstanding, and it continues to be excellent in season four. It’s also somehow even darker and more suffocating.
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- EW review
There are fewer missions to track this year than last, at least to start — a relief, perhaps, to fans who found season 3 to be too busy for its own good — but this risky business is plenty engrossing.

Grade: A
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G

grounded_dreams

Member
Cornballer said:
ABtw, here's the S3 recap vid via the Washington Post.
Click to expand...


Does this link work for anyone? Im just getting the below error on the page:
This XML file does not appear to have any style information ..

Looked on the Washington Post site and could not find the recap video. If anyone has an alternative url for it or another site which shows a recap of season three I would be grateful
I've searched and can not find a decent one anywhere.

Edit found this recap video on their site.
 
-Plasma Reus-

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
grounded_dreams said:
Does this link work for anyone? Im just getting the below error on the page:
This XML file does not appear to have any style information ..

Looked on the Washington Post site and could not find the recap video. If anyone has an alternative url for it or another site which shows a recap of season three I would be grateful
I've searched and can not find a decent one anywhere.
Click to expand...

Here:
https://videos.posttv.com/washpost-...5595-cf9g26_t_1457126613887_1280_720_2000.mp4
Removed the bad url formatting for you :)
 
Ristifer

Ristifer

Member
Mindlog said:
What year are we at?
We should be nearing perestroika right.
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I'm assuming it'll still be in 1983 when S4 kicks off, but who knows? I believe perestroika is at least a couple years away at this point.

grounded_dreams said:
Does this link work for anyone? Im just getting the below error on the page:
This XML file does not appear to have any style information ..

Looked on the Washington Post site and could not find the recap video. If anyone has an alternative url for it or another site which shows a recap of season three I would be grateful
I've searched and can not find a decent one anywhere.
Click to expand...
Not working for me either. I can't find anything else about it.

EDIT: Plasma nailed it.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Mindlog said:
What year are we at?
We should be nearing perestroika right.
Click to expand...
March 1983 as Reagan just gave the evil empire speech. Perestroika is 1985ish, iirc.

grounded_dreams said:
Does this link work for anyone? Im just getting the below error on the page:
This XML file does not appear to have any style information ..

Looked on the Washington Post site and could not find the recap video. If anyone has an alternative url for it or another site which shows a recap of season three I would be grateful
I've searched and can not find a decent one anywhere.
Click to expand...
Scroll to the bottom of the page and the same video is listed there.


EDIT:

-Plasma Reus- said:
Here:
https://videos.posttv.com/washpost-...5595-cf9g26_t_1457126613887_1280_720_2000.mp4
Removed the bad url formatting for you :)
Click to expand...
Thanks! Had an extra carriage return in there.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Collider review
That’s the beautiful thing about The Americans; its exploration of identity and loyalty is unmatched, because of how it focuses on the human element so eloquently. Yes the spycraft can be fun and tense and exciting, but it’s the emotional conflicts that set the show a cut above. Season 4 is, so far, full of hard choices, carefully calibrated decision making, and the simple chaos of life that changes everything in an instant. There is also, of course, a knowing sense of dread that this life the Jennings have created — false as it may have started, but real as it has become — cannot last in this same way forever. There are forces marching against them at all times, but the show’s greatest achievement is how deeply we care about that outcome.
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- Esquire review
The Americans is an exceptional case in today's TV landscape: It is a show that demands your undivided attention. There's no checking your Twitter or Instagram feeds; the show shuts down all second screens. The Americans is about picking up clues, about the telling eyebrow raise, the ordinary-seeming coffee cup left by the bench, the car that turned left after signaling right. You have to watch so hard that you feel like you're spying on these Russian spies—which, in a way, you are.
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- Huffington Post review
The spy part generates the show's adrenalin, and it doesn't abate in the opening episodes of Season 4.
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styl3s

styl3s

Member
Anyone know what season/episode is the one where they are at a fair and
they walk in the room to find the family had been killed?
Wanted to start watching again but couldn't remember if this was Season 2 or Season 3 and i remember that episode specifically even though i was 2-3 episodes after that but i figure ill just restart whatever season that was.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
styl3s said:
Anyone know what season/episode is the one where they are at a fair and they walk in the room to find the family had been killed? Wanted to start watching again but couldn't remember if this was Season 2 or Season 3 and i remember that episode specifically even though i was 2-3 episodes after that but i figure ill just restart whatever season that was.
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It's the S2 premiere. No need to spoiler tag things that have already aired.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
A few more articles before I log off for a while. I should be on to watch the premiere (mostly) live tonight.


- Washington Post: What’s real and fake in ‘The Americans,’ according to real-life spies
- The Guardian: The Americans: why you should be watching TV's best drama
- E!Online: The Americans Returns for Season 4 With Big Regrets and Even Bigger Reveals
- Zap2It: How ‘The Americans’ handled Keri Russell’s real-life pregnancy





- Uncle Barky review
The Americans in my view is the best TV drama of this season. It excels to even greater degrees on levels large and small, with the intimate details of human interaction mixing with the humanity-at-stake, cloak and dagger goings-on that keep Philip and Elizabeth tenuously on point.

Grade: A
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- MTV review
It’s that mix of high-concept novelty and extreme domestic relatability that makes The Americans one of TV’s best dramas.
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- New Republic review
While the show avoids sly winks to the future, the knowledge that the Jennings are fighting a losing battle lingers at the Cold War drama’s edges. The action, even at its most thrilling, is tinged with futility. The show’s stomach-clenching tension comes not from suspense but from an awareness of eventual doom.
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- The Atlantic review
The Americans’s showrunner, Joe Weisberg, mines exquisite drama from the intricacies of each lie being told, as all of the show’s alliances continue to teeter on the brink of disaster.
Click to expand...
 
G

-griffy-

Banned
Almost time for Mail Robot's revenge. Watching the s3 finale for a refresher right now.

EDIT: Paige at the airport coming back from Germany, breaking down saying she doesn't know if she can do this. She's in such a shitty position for a kid to be in.

Damn, forgot that last shot of the season, Elizabeth in the foreground and Phillip in the background, and then the Jaws/Hitchcock zoom that pushes them farther apart.
 
Ristifer

Ristifer

Member
-griffy- said:
Almost time for Mail Robot's revenge. Watching the s3 finale for a refresher right now.

EDIT: Paige at the airport coming back from Germany, breaking down saying she doesn't know if she can do this. She's in such a shitty position for a kid to be in.

Damn, forgot that last shot of the season, Elizabeth in the foreground and Phillip in the background, and then the Jaws/Hitchcock zoom that pushes them farther apart.
Click to expand...
Such a great way to end the season. Very impactful, with Paige's confession to Pastor Tim intertwined with the Reagan speech.
 
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