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The Americans - Season 5 of the award winning KGB spy drama - Tuesdays on FX

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D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
I'll make time for this, while getting further behind on everything else.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- IndieWire review
Unparalleled depth can be felt throughout thanks to this careful layering, and Season 5 so far effortlessly captures a complex range of emotions that proves more enriching with every extra minute of consideration. Tension rises and falls with rapidity, even though the ever-present risk keeps things constantly taut. This, too, has always been a strong suit of Weisberg and Fields’ nuanced work. Grade: A
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- Den of Geek review
I’ve mentioned endings when there is still two full seasons to go but if you cut up the show’s six seasons into a beginning, a middle and an end, we’re at the very beginning of the denouement. Thankfully, season five’s first three episodes reveal that The Americans is as good at endings as it is…well, pretty much everything else.
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D

dLMN8R

Member
I like that The Americans has stayed grounded enough in the way where Phillip and Elizabeth are able to not get caught. So many other shows would have let Stan figure things out by now yet contrived a reason for him to stay in the picture - blackmail or something else like that. But The Americans has handled Stan and Nina and others really believably.

That said, I wonder if this penultimate season will be when Stan finally finds out about Phillip and Elizabeth, and the final season will focus on the ramifications of that discovery and how they deal with it.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
dLMN8R said:
I like that The Americans has stayed grounded enough in the way where Phillip and Elizabeth are able to not get caught. So many other shows would have let Stan figure things out by now yet contrived a reason for him to stay in the picture - blackmail or something else like that. But The Americans has handled Stan and Nina and others really believably.

That said, I wonder if this penultimate season will be when Stan finally finds out about Phillip and Elizabeth, and the final season will focus on the ramifications of that discovery and how they deal with it.
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I'm starting to envision a Shield-like situation with the train losing its brakes mid season.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Stan is pretty screwed. What's his best case scenario here? He catches them and then his career is ruined because he didn't see it sooner? He might actually be ok with that.
 
T

tearsintherain

Member
Cornballer said:
Stan is pretty screwed. What's his best case scenario here? He catches them and then his career is ruined because he didn't see it sooner? He might actually be ok with that.
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Stan defects to USSR, he is tasked with protecting the Berlin Wall starting Nov 8th, 1989.

Alternatively in the "Stan rises" theory, the spy couple ultimately defect and tell their handler that Stan knew all along and was milking them for information. Their information directly leads to the fall of the soviet union. Stan takes credit, runs for office, and becomes a senator, forms his own private military company after 10 years, and ultimately runs for President.
 
G

-griffy-

Banned
Cornballer said:
Stan is pretty screwed. What's his best case scenario here? He catches them and then his career is ruined because he didn't see it sooner? He might actually be ok with that.
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I think Sepinwall had a pretty good Twitter poll the other day between who would be more immediately screwed if they discovered the truth: Stan with his neighbors vs. Hank with Walt. Stan won the poll.
 
T

TangoAlphaLima

Member
Cornballer said:
Stan is pretty screwed. What's his best case scenario here? He catches them and then his career is ruined because he didn't see it sooner? He might actually be ok with that.
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Probably not much different for Stan than it was for Gaad, so yeah, he probably loses his job if the Jennings are outed.

I really wonder what the best case scenario for the Jennings is. Paige and Henry won't go to the USSR willingly. Do Phillip and Elizabeth leave them? Die? Does the whole family go on the run, make new lives for themselves somewhere? It'll be really interesting to see how it plays out.
 
O

OG Shaka Zulu

Member
Unintentionally funny shit that cracked me up is how many times they say the words "Pastor Tim". When Elizabeth says while arguing with Paige "if I hear about Pastor Tim one more time..." I was cracking up.

I also crack up when Stan pops up unannounced and ends up eating or drinking beer. There's a scene where that fool waltzes in, opens the fridge, and grabs a beer without asking. He's like Bruhman from Martin.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
-griffy- said:
I think Sepinwall had a pretty good Twitter poll the other day between who would be more immediately screwed if they discovered the truth: Stan with his neighbors vs. Hank with Walt. Stan won the poll.
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That's a tough one. Both of those are pretty bad.
TangoAlphaLima said:
I really wonder what the best case scenario for the Jennings is. Paige and Henry won't go to the USSR willingly. Do Phillip and Elizabeth leave them? Die? Does the whole family go on the run, make new lives for themselves somewhere? It'll be really interesting to see how it plays out.
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My guess was always that they'd end up on the lam in the US. I doubt they'd kill any of the Jennings family, but who knows...

OG Shaka Zulu said:
I also crack up when Stan pops up unannounced and ends up eating or drinking beer. There's a scene where that fool waltzes in, opens the fridge, and grabs a beer without asking. He's like Bruhman from Martin.
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XcGczfd.gif
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
I wonder if the Phillip and Elizabeth would actually kill Stan if he found out.

I mean, we've seen them be cold-blooded before, but I don't think they could do it.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
More reviews:
- Boston Globe review
I’ve seen the first few episodes of the new season, and the drama remains as tense as ever, with strong, careful writing and an abundance of fine performances. Both the spy stuff and the family stuff work on their own, and they blend together more naturally than you might expect, especially where daughter Paige is involved.
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- TV Guide review
Perhaps armed with the knowledge that next year is the show's last, the stakes in Season 5 feel even higher even as its trademark slow burns decelerate to a purposeful crawl, and the personal and the professional lines blur further.
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Articles:
- Slate: Russia Scandals May Make The Americans “Relevant,” but That’s Not What Makes It Great
- Mic: 'The Americans' soundtrack: 13 of the best songs from the FX spy drama
- NY Times: Alison Wright, Exiled From ‘The Americans’ (Perhaps), Hits Broadway
Will Martha be back this season?

No comment. They’ve told me that I can say something they’ve said many times themselves: She’s alive — and if you’re alive on “The Americans,” there’s always hope for you. Which is fair enough, but it’s certainly something that everybody is dying to know. I’m asked on a daily basis.

Are you sick of the questions?

No, it’s fan-tastic. I’ve noticed just this real tenderness when they talk to me about her, their genuine concern and sympathy and empathy. It’s quite lovely, because it didn’t start out like that.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Onion A|V Club: On set at The Americans with Russia on the mind
Even with an end in sight, the showrunners aren’t resting on their laurels. They’ve introduced a new tone (but decline to define the tone specifically, leaving that to critics). “We have in a sense much less espionage whizbang,” Weisberg says. “Of course, each season has had less than the season before, and this season though, there’s even a more dramatic drop-off than before.” After reading some of the scripts, FX CEO John Landgraf said he “noticed there’s a focus on emotional velocity.” That became Weisberg and Fields’ “catchphrase.”

Whereas in past years the writers would begin plotting the season by figuring out what theme would drive the action, that has changed. “The characters and the story are telling us what’s right tonally and what moves come next,” Fields says. Now, as well, they are dealing with even more stories that are taking place in Russia. KGB official Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) has returned to his family grieving the loss of his brother. There’s also the little matter of whatever became of poor Martha. “The truth is, as much as we plan all the moves of our story, we’re also open to being surprised by them as they unfold,” Fields explains. “That was one that was a surprise to us toward the end of last season, because the story pointed toward these characters being sent home.”
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Sepinwall: Six Things To Know About Season Five Of ‘The Americans’
It is still one of the very best shows on television. FX gave critics the season’s three opening episodes. The first is more of a table-setter than some past Americans premieres have been, but the next two are outstanding, filled with the usual agonizing mix of spy thrills and family drama, and superb performances by Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Noah Emmerich, and the rest of the gang.
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C

Cornballer

Member
Season premiere tonight:
Amber Waves

As Philip and Elizabeth struggle to contain the risks from Paige's growing relationship with Matthew Beeman, the Centre sends them on an operation unlike any they've ever had before, straining their family and marriage to its limits.
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Surprisingly, it's a normal 1-hr runtime this evening.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Tampa Bay Times review
As always, it's all set to a perfect 1980s soundtrack, and written and directed with the same quiet reflectiveness, punctuated by moments of intense action, that has made the show a critical, if not ratings, success.
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- Rolling Stone review
The Americans, FX's masterful espionage saga, is the most heartbreaking and harrowing drama on TV right now. But as it heads into its final two seasons, the show feels weirder – because it's also timelier, unfortunately.
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Also, some new(?) art that's been making the rounds.

OLdmE5k.jpg


I haven't seen any official photography for this season yet. Wonder if this is it.
 
C

Conscience Falls

Member
I had no idea this was back, feels like it just ended but at the same time, I've mostly forgotten how the last season ended.

Just enough time for a refresh, I've missed these characters.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Member
I wonder if Matthew Rhys' hair-line will hold up for another two seasons. He's handsome enough to pull off the widows peak though.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- NY Mag review
As always, The Americans does complex work that never calls attention to its complexity. The associations and connections are there if you care to make them, but the show maintains plausible deniability as a good spy should, walking briskly from scene to scene as if it’s just here to get the job done and get out.
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- Vox review
Fortunately, The Americans’ fifth season succeeds in addressing our current world by being its assiduously careful self. This is still a show about how, beyond politics, beyond economics, beyond nationalism, people are people. How beautiful, and how terrifying.
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