The Americans?

Collarspace Discussion Forums

Home Login Search

The Americans?

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> The Americans?

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

The Americans? - 3/2/2013 11:26:27 PM

LillyBoPeep

Posts: 6873
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline

Does anyone else watch The Americans? I really like this show, especially the character, Philip. He's such an awesomely deadly, yet totally unassuming guy. ^_^

If you don't know what it is, it's a show on FX about a couple of KGB spies posing as a typical American family during the Cold War.

The next episode looks like it'll be pretty interesting. ^_^

_____________________________

Midwestern Girl

"Obey your Master." Metallica

Profile

Post #: 1

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 1:43:25 AM

LafayetteLady

Posts: 7683
Joined: 5/2/2007
From: Northern New Jersey
Status: offline

The pilot episode was re-run the other night, and I watched. Now I keep meaning to go to the on demand and catch up, lol.

My experience has been that FX is a great place for series. They had Nip/Tuck which was wildly decadent. They had The Shield, that other one about the Fire fighters, the one with Glenn Close, and of course, my ultimate must see tv, Sons of Anarchy.

So yea, I'll be watching, and I will probably get my son into it the way he got me into SoA.

(in reply to LillyBoPeep)

Profile

Post #: 2

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 1:54:01 AM

Just0Plain0Mike

Posts: 127
Joined: 6/16/2010
Status: offline

I watched the first episode, it was pretty good. What I really liked though was that odd, open-mouth gag they used. I've never seen one quite like that before. It sort of looked like a cock cage used in place of the normal plastic tube.

(in reply to LafayetteLady)

Profile

Post #: 3

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 4:25:06 AM

Level

Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline

I haven't watched it yet, but I have it dvr'ed.

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to Just0Plain0Mike)

Profile

Post #: 4

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 7:06:44 AM

LillyBoPeep

Posts: 6873
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline

The pilot is great :D When Philip tracks down and beats up the pedophile dude - totally rad. haha ^.^
He's such a seemingly dichotomous character, and I always love things like that - tension between what you see, or what you think about someone, and who they really are. Tension between what they have to do and what they want to do.

It varies in intensity, episode to episode, which I don't have a problem with. Every single day of your life can't be an enormous rollercoaster, you know. =p The plot is kind of taking shape; at the moment, for me, this show is mostly about character, which is great. It's odd to be rooting for the spies, and also rooting for the counter-intelligence agent who lives right next door. =p

_____________________________

Midwestern Girl

"Obey your Master." Metallica

(in reply to Level)

Profile

Post #: 5

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 7:28:09 AM

Level

Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline

You've convinced me, I'm going to watch it today

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to LillyBoPeep)

Profile

Post #: 6

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 8:01:40 AM

LillyBoPeep

Posts: 6873
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline

Good deal :) Hope you like it. ^_^

_____________________________

Midwestern Girl

"Obey your Master." Metallica

(in reply to Level)

Profile

Post #: 7

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 9:51:37 AM

Baroana

Posts: 1480
Joined: 11/13/2011
Status: offline

I like the show for popcorn entertainment, but I find the plotting and character writing too contrived and disingenuous to discuss seriously. Let's take Philip, for instance. He's supposed to be the one we like the most. Thus, he has been conveniently spared from having to callously shoot anyone in the head. Philip's shrewy wife, on the other hand, has done this twice in as many episodes. By the way, how does she manage to always get away so cleanly? Are there just too many gun homicides in D.C. for the cops to be expected to keep track of them all? (I've always had the same issue with Burn Notice, by the way. Massive havoc and mayhem committed in broad daylight, with pretty much no fallout most of the time).

Moreover, we apparently are expected to view as much less of a "big deal" Philip's pretty horrific act of bringing an innocent college student to within a hair's breadth of death in order to extort his mother into committing treason. Hey, the kid survived in the end, so no harm no foul, right? Same goes for the beatings and/or torture and/or killings Philip has inflicted on sexual predators that mess with his family. As we all know, it's ok to take the law into your own hands and brutally maim or kill someone, but only if it's personal and the target is really a jerk.

I find the FBI neighbor to be the closest thing to a hero in this story. So far, he's the only one that hasn't committed an unspeakable crime in the name of national security. However, we do still have the looming mystery of his backstory as a plant in the KKK. It has been suggested that when we find out what went down there, we won't like it.

< Message edited by Baroana -- 3/3/2013 10:10:14 AM >

(in reply to LillyBoPeep)

Profile

Post #: 8

RE: The Americans? - 3/3/2013 10:45:22 AM

LillyBoPeep

Posts: 6873
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline

He hasn't shot anyone in the head, no, but as you said, he did bring an innocent kid close to death. Simply by being there, they are already functioning outside the law in America; they don't really care about the law, and aren't supposed to. They're spies for another government. =p I don't think we're expected to think that wasn't a big deal. I don't think we're supposed to like either of them more than the other, and I feel like they're shooting for characters that are both good and bad at the same time.

Elizabeth is cold, but she's business oriented and dedicated to her cause. And you get little glimpses here and there that sort of explain why she's the way she is. She also showed a lot of concern for their partner's secret wife, and for Udacha, the agent who was losing it.

I happen to like Philip more because he's so two-sided. Elizabeth is interesting, but always functioning within her mode.
They aren't supposed to be "good," they're spies who have been trained to do a lot of horrible things for their objectives. Getting rid of people who become liabilities, poisoning people, all that matters is the objective.

Plus, this is set in the 80s, and a lot of the ways crimes are handled have changed a lot since then. I'm always thinking that they should have better disguises or worry about their finger prints more, but the 80s were not the 2000s. =p When I was growing up in the late 80s/early 90s, parents at our apartment complex let the kids outside to play without any supervision, and that was in the city. In the country, people didn't lock their doors. =p It was a different time.

_____________________________

Midwestern Girl

"Obey your Master." Metallica

(in reply to Baroana)

Profile

Post #: 9