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[A Serious Man]

I thought the last episode was pretty weak but maybe it's because I watched it right after watching Birdman.

 

[User 479360]

Is this really heavy on in-depth political intrigue? That's what scares me away from it a bit.

 

[Mercury Fred]

Is this really heavy on in-depth political intrigue? That's what scares me away from it a bit.

Mmm, kind of but it's very strongly anchored by extremely juicy character stuff. I can't recommend it enough.

 

[AngryMoth]

Is this really heavy on in-depth political intrigue? That's what scares me away from it a bit.

Nah, very little focus on politics. I'd say it's a show about in equal parts marriage and spy craft.

 

[maquiladora]

Is this really heavy on in-depth political intrigue? That's what scares me away from it a bit.

No, that stuff is in the background, but it mainly deals with the street level tradecraft and wetwork.

 

[User 479360]

Awesome. Thanks.

 

[Cornballer]

- LA Magazine: The Imperfect Patriotism of House of Cards and The Americans

Set in the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan’s election as president has made the Cold War scarier than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first two seasons of The Americans found its protagonists increasingly in the crossfire of what they believed and their own self-interests. In the new season Ma and Pa Spy are at that most traditional of impasses between couples: how to raise their two kids, to whose future the Kremlin is overtly laying claim. Ferociously playing off the all-American-girl image she cultivated more than a decade ago in her TV hit Felicity, Keri Russell as Elizabeth—the more uncompromising of the couple—accepts that teenage Paige will be groomed as a Stalinist agent, while Phil, portrayed by the fine Welsh actor Matthew Rhys, is hostile to his employers’ designs. Alternately cold-blooded and empathetic, already pushed to a breaking point by the mounting executions at his feet, he’s considering the heretical notion that an individual life might sometimes matter more than ideology and that their daughter should make her own choices. The philosophical quandaries of The Americans are compounded by a shadow story of the FBI man on their trail and his doomed love for a Russian apparatchik whose true intentions may be as opaque to her as they are to us.

Lacking Spacey’s star turn and overcrowded with mayhem and various intrigues, The Americans isn’t as compulsively delicious; but as the most morally complex show since Breaking Bad, it grips us in the same escalating sense of dread. Assuming the series doesn’t lose its integrity, there seems no way that things can turn out well for anyone. If Marxist theory dictates that the personal is always political, the rebuttal of both The Americans and House of Cards is that the political is always personal, the sum total of our collective needs and desires, vows and betrayals.

 

[DominoKid]

man Phil's not gonna make it through this season in 1 piece mentally. getting pulled in too many different directions.

also somehow it never crossed my mind that they could have gay assignments as well. i can't even imagine training for that as a teenager.

this is truly the darkest show on TV.

 

[Blader]

This has to be one of the very very few dramas that does the "main characters' child" subplot actually very well. IMO, Paige is such a far more believable, fleshed out, and logically motivated character than all of the Dana Brodys of the world.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

This has to be one of the very very few dramas that does the "main characters' child" subplot actually very well. IMO, Paige is such a far more believable, fleshed out, and logically motivated character than all of the Dana Brodys of the world.

Agreed.

 

[Cornballer]

- Golden Globes online vid: The Americans Talk

Since its debut two years ago FX’s The Americans has delivered consistently high-octane suspense and quality drama to faithful fans. The third season, which got underway in January, continues to do so with a storyline that delves deeper in Philip and Elizabeth’s lives of deceit and how the web of lies inevitably affects their family life, which includes their teenage daughter Paige. We recently met with the stars of the show, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in an undisclosed location (ok, a New York hotel) to talk about the show and where the characters are headed.

 

[Cornballer]

- The Credits: Q&A with The Americans Costume Designer Jenny Gering

- The Credits: Inside The Americans Costume Shop

Finally, I reached out to FX and told them I lived literally next door to The Americans costume shop, and I wanted to go inside, take photos, and talk with costume designer Jenny Gering as well as her staff and see all that great 1980s garb. I spoke to Gering first on the phone (that Q&A was published yesterday), and the following day she and her staff gave me a tour of their shop. For fans of the show, if there’s one question that’s bugged them about Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Phillip’s (Matthew Rhys) undercover operations as Russian spies in America, it’s where do they keep all their fantastic disguises? Because honestly, their house isn’t that big, and having all of your disguises on the premises would seem dangerous. On the show it’s in a cubby hole beneath their house, but in reality, that much great gear—the suits, the pocket books, the heels, the boots, the blouses and dresses and wigs and uniforms—that’s all kept at this shop in Brooklyn.

Also:

FYI: The last seven minutes of tomorrow night's episode of #TheAmericans will absolutely knock your socks off. I promise.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Hyped for the episode. It would be a crazy swerve if after all this build up to Paige finding out the truth, Henry is the one that wants to join the KGB.

 

[Cornballer]

New episode tonight:

Born Again

Spoiler

Gabriel has surprising information; Elizabeth begins to take family matters into her own hands; Stan receives upsetting news from his past and turns to Sandra for support.

 

[IronRinn]

FYI: The last seven minutes of tomorrow night's episode of #TheAmericans will absolutely knock your socks off. I promise.

Anticipating/dreading this.

 

[Cornballer]

- Grantland: What’s It Going to Take to Get You People to Watch ‘The Americans’?

It’s the wigs, isn’t it? That’s what’s keeping the vast majority of you from watching The Americans. Though the FX spy drama is settling into its third season to pretty much universal acclaim, it has never exactly set Nielsen households ablaze. This show is great. This is not a paid endorsement. This is not a show I cover on any kind of regular basis. I’ve been watching along in real time on Wednesday nights at 10. And now I’m starting to wonder why I’m so alone for that hour, and it’s definitely not the show, so what is wrong with you? Or what is it you think is wrong with the show? If it’s not the wigs — and seriously, totally understandable if it is — what is it?

 

[AngmarsKing701]

- Grantland: What’s It Going to Take to Get You People to Watch ‘The Americans’?

The wigs are awesome

 

[Mr. Saturn]

Hyped for the episode. It would be a crazy swerve if after all this build up to Paige finding out the truth, Henry is the one that wants to join the KGB.

Would they even bother telling Henry? I always figured Paige would be the only to find out since she's the one the center is interested in.

 

[IronRinn]

Here we go.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

yawwwwwwwwwwww, always have to remind myself not to say something spoilery since you guys are on a 10 min delay or some shit.

 

[Niraj]

I'm sure they're in a good mood.

yawwwwwwwwwwww, always have to remind myself not to say something spoilery since you guys are on a 10 min delay or some shit.

lol it's so weird

 

[IronRinn]

Ceremonial bathtub?

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

lol it's so weird

I still don't get why, it's not like we don't have commercials. Oh well.

Also paige ffs.

 

[Cornballer]

This opening sequence is basically a disapproving glances montage.

 

[IronRinn]

Philip doing a terrible impersonation of a father happy for his daughter.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

lol at Phillip. Subtle man. Subtle.

 

[PushTheButtonMax]

"Hey Paige, when your mom tells you you're going to be a spy, say no."

 

[Niraj]

Henry shut the fuck up already lol

 

[EnlightenedMint]

Lol henry

 

[Cornballer]

Nina not doing so well.

 

[IronRinn]

Henry ain't got no manners. Nina is still a bad actress. Stan just seal the deal already.

 

[shadyspace]

Nina is my only complaint about this show. Does anyone give a shit about her plot line?

 

[IronRinn]

Had to get back to the creepy sooner or later.

 

[Niraj]

Phrasing!

 

[Cornballer]

Couldn't afford Pink Floyd on the FX budget.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

awkwarrrrrrrrrrrd

 

[IronRinn]

This woman is taking her sweet ass time.

 

[Niraj]

lol quick thinking

 

[Cornballer]

Heh, nice side eye from the other agent.

 

[Niraj]

lol wow Philip

 

[EnlightenedMint]

Philip full of ideas tonight.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

This is such a great scene. The juvenile laughter lmao.

 

[IronRinn]

Nina's going in for the kill.

 

[Cornballer]

"Jesus really came through for me tonight"

 

[shadyspace]

What did that thing Philip say before break even mean? That he wants to sleep with her?

 

[IronRinn]

Man, Rhys's stoner laugh.

Also, Elizabeth seems almost as conflicted about Philip's mission as he is.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Phillips life never stops getting more and more complicated.

 

[Cornballer]

More bad news for Phillip. Just waiting for him to snap again.

 

[Niraj]

That's really rough.

 

[Cornballer]

I don't have a good feel for Gabriel so far, and I have no idea when he's being genuine and when he's playing spy.