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The Americans - S3 of the KGB spy drama - Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys - Wed on FX

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N

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Gabriel definitely didn't expect that at all.

Not that this was a bad episode by any means, but "easily the single greatest hour of television ever produced?" Go lie down Mr. Sepinwall.
 
I

IronRinn

Member
Low key ending. I wonder if Martha will begin to play Philip.

Edit: Gabriel didn't know just how close his team had become.
 
S

shadyspace

Banned
So what does Martha think Clark is? Are we supposed to assume that she knows he's a spy but is still continuing the relationship? Surely, Phillip cannot find that tenable.
 
N

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
IronRinn said:
Low key ending. I wonder if Martha will begin to play Philip.

Edit: Gabriel didn't know just how close his team had become.
Click to expand...

-Pyromaniac- said:
He doesn't realize how close they are I think.
Click to expand...

Definitely not. I think he was really relying on kind of pitting them against each other while also helping them to accomplish what he wanted. Wonder how their next conversation will go.
 
I

IronRinn

Member
Niraj said:
Definitely not. I think he was really relying on kind of pitting them against each other while also helping them to accomplish what he wanted. Wonder how their next conversation will go.
Click to expand...
For sure. If he needs to exert pressure now he may have to use more insidious means to do so.
 
B

Blue Bomber

Member
IronRinn said:
Low key ending. I wonder if Martha will begin to play Philip.

Edit: Gabriel didn't know just how close his team had become.
Click to expand...

You may be on to something in regards to Martha. I think it's very possible that she is going to start playing Philip to get to the real truth. It would be an interesting role reversal in their relationship.

shadyspace said:
So what does Martha think Clark is? Are we supposed to assume that she knows he's a spy but is still continuing the relationship? Surely, Phillip cannot find that tenable.
Click to expand...

I think at this point, Martha isn't very certain about anything regarding Clark. (so I don't think she knows for certain that he is a spy) But she appears to have set her doubts aside for the time being because of her feelings for him. (although it's possible that it's just a ruse to get Philip's guard down so she get to the truth eventually) However, I agree that Philip probably knows that this is just a temporary solution. He is most likely thinking about a more permanent solution.
Hopefully he doesn't listen to Elizabeth for any advice.
 
S

shadyspace

Banned
Like, I know you need to contrive this to keep manufacturing the satisfying drama that will come out of this plotline but in the real world there is no way Philip ever goes back to that apartment.
 
F

Fantastical

Death Prophet
I LOVE THIS SHOW

Martha :( Although I don't exactly like how this ended, there should have been more conflict between Martha and Clark.
Everything is weighing on Philip. Kimberly, Martha, and his daughter.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Just so we're clear, those tweets I posted earlier were made up. Sepinwall didn't really call this "the best episode of television ever produced", although that some of you
seemingly
thought he really did just goes to show you what a problem this whole critic twitter hype thing has become! :p

-griffy- said:
Mail bot feeling inessential after losing those confidential files, keeping that mail for itself.
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lol

IronRinn said:
Oh my god, the title of next week's episode:

"Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?"
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HOLY SHIT

"Best episode title ever or best episode title ever?"
- your fave critic
 
uniform

uniform

Member
Cornballer said:
Ha ha ha, gonna need a gif of him beating on the mail robot.
Click to expand...

mailrobotabuse.gif
 
N

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
RatskyWatsky said:
Just so we're clear, those tweets I posted earlier were made up. Sepinwall didn't really call this "the best episode of television ever produced", although that some of you
seemingly
thought he really did just goes to show you what a problem this whole critic twitter hype thing has become! :p



lol



HOLY SHIT

"Best episode title ever or best episode title ever?"
- your fave critic
Click to expand...

Oh lol, I guess I didn't go back far enough in that conversation. Just saw Cornballer's post and didn't process it I guess.

you-got-me.gif
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Slate Podcast: The Americans’ Alison Wright on Playing Martha (Plus: How the Show Pulls Off Its Crazy Stunts)
In this installment about the eighth episode, “Divestment,” Alison Wright, who stars as Martha, joins script coordinator Molly Nussbaum and executive producers Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg to discuss poor Martha’s point of view.

Plus: Ever wonder who constructs the car crashes, fires, and fist fights on the show? We have an interview with stunt coordinator Ian Mclaughlin.
Click to expand...








uniform said:
mailrobotabuse.gif
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
T

TripOpt55

Member
Pretty good episode. The tire and fire bit was crazy and everything with the mail robot was hilarious (including the comments in here).
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- NY Mag: The Rules of Speaking Russian on The Americans
For a high-tension thriller about sex, spies, and audiotape airing on FX, The Americans spends a substantial portion of time translating complicated themes to viewers in Russian. As the saga of undercover agents Philip and Elizabeth Jennings slow-burns its way through its third season, how do the show’s writers decide when to use Russia’s mother tongue over English? And what is it like working so often in another language? We asked creator Joe Weisberg and his co-showrunner Joel Fields to reveal their rules of engagement.
Click to expand...
 
L

LaunchpadMcQ

Banned
I did a three episode binge catch-up yesterday. I like to know what happens on a week-to-week basis, but I've felt since very early on that this show benefits from being binge-watched. Watching it in bursts is a completely different experience, especially it being one of the most intricately crafted and complex shows in television history; you really get a higher appreciation when you don't have to recall elements or turns in the plot from weeks ago. All that said, I am constantly being blown away by this show. I don't know why I love having my stomach in my throat for three hours straight (or the length of a single episode, even), but that about describes this show for me.

Martha is smarter than she seemed. The lies she fed Taffet were pretty convincing; I'm unsure if she's actually accepting of Clark/Philip now, or how far she plans to go down the rabbit hole. Obviously, she's out of her depth on this one; it's going to be unfortunate if she digs too deep or if she lets anyone like Gaad or Taffet know about Clark. I'm leaning towards the second one happening at some point, but I suck at predicting anything on television shows.

So, I'm not so sure Hans got spotted by that undergrad they let go, but they (promo spoiler)
put special emphasis on that cut in the promo
so I'm suspicious about it. Well, they probably wouldn't have put emphasis in it in the first place, since the only other purpose it served was to spook Elizabeth a bit that someone might have seen him.
 
G

Grifter

Member
How'd they bring Reuben to Vinter's attention again? I thought they set up a meet between Reuben and the SA college student but do we know how that was made possible?
 
G

-griffy-

Banned
Grifter said:
How'd they bring Reuben to Vinter's attention again? I thought they set up a meet between Reuben and the SA college student but do we know how that was made possible?
Click to expand...

The college student is pretending to be anti-apartheid, but secretly working with Vinter on pro-apartheid stuff. Presumably Reuben just reached out to the student as anti-apartheid brethren, knowing the student would tell Vinter about the meeting, thereby drawing Vinter out in the open.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- WSJ Interview: ‘The Americans’ Star Alison Wright on Martha, Mail Robots and Pen Maintenance
Every scene involving Martha this episode is so stressful – our hearts just go into our throats. So is that going to be the case for all Martha scenes now?

Well, it’s officially the worst time in her life right now, between last week and this week – everything is caving in for her. She’s confused and unsure about everything. In ["Divestment"], she’s held it together overnight, she managed to stay on her own [she told Clark to go home in last week's episode] so she could at least just think. And now you see that she does have an interview with [investigator] Walter Taffet (Jefferson Mays). So there’s a moment here, like, kind of a last chance that maybe she’s gonna be alone with this guy in the room and he can say, “Clark’s on our team. We know that you put it here. We’re doing this for something else. Or this is being explored for another reason. She’s hoping that there’s a slim chance that he might reveal that he does know who she is, and that he does know who Clark is. And that doesn’t happen – of course.

So now she’s thinking, if Clark has lied to her about his job, why would he lie? And of course if he lied to her about that, has he lied to her about anything else? Has she been set up? Is she gonna be in trouble – is she a patsy for something? This is truly terrifying for her – anything that she’s possibly thinking of is a horrible, horrible idea. Her mind has done the math on all the possibilities, and all of them are extremely unpleasant. And now she’s really been forced into action. She’s gonna have to live in reality and essentially watch her life disappear.

Were you doing cartwheels when you read that Martha finally asks the $64,000 question: “Who are you? Who are you, Clark?”

Yeah [breathes a sigh of relief]. These two episodes for me, I was just so excited when I read them. I was like, “Here we go. Now we can get to work here. Now I can sprint.” That’s what it felt like.

It’s easy to say, “Oh, what’s wrong with her? How could she not have known that this was going to end badly?” But this speaks volumes about her character – she is so lonely. Do you think she would believe anything Clark would tell her because she’s got no one else? Also, when you see that final shot of Clark and Martha in bed, with Martha’s eyes wide open, it’s like the trust is starting to slip away.

Right, because he doesn’t give her any answers. When she asks, he just assures her, says “Let’s not even talk about that, I love you, I love you, I’m sorry, I’m your husband.” She’s not pushing him to say, “Who are you then? What are you doing?” She let herself be talked back into denial in that moment. Even if denial is just not thinking about it or not dealing with it. And she needs to focus on what he tells her, and she just needs to focus on what she has with him, and that’s more important than this bug.

There’s also a part of her that’s angry with herself. She’s got this psychological conflict, like, berating herself for not seeing the truth, or suspecting that anything was wrong there, versus not being able to conceive of such a thing even being possible. So she’s going back and forth between those things. And also, it almost made me think of Philip and Elizabeth (Keri Russell), when they’re in bed, and they’re divided. That scene felt like that to me when I was doing it. And it felt like there may be a level of secrecy, now there are things that she will keep to herself. She may not trust [Clark] with everything.
Click to expand...
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Andy Greenwald's Hollywood Prospectus Podcast for Grantland talking about The Americans this week. Natalie Morales is the guest.
Actress Natalie Morales joins Andy to discuss the taut third season of 'The Americans' and her roles on 'Parks and Recreation,' 'Girls,' and 'Trophy Wife'.
Click to expand...

- Audio link (ESPN)
- Video link (youtube)
 
R

ReturnOfTheRAT

Member
Maybe because the trial is in the news, so when they mentioned the undetonated bomb in the dorm room I thought of the Boston bomber. This kid got off light. I don't know about Elizabeth letting him off for being unable to identify them. Seems odd to me.

Otherwise good episode. Looks will only get you so far, Nina. The task laid at her feet will not be easy.
 
J

jett

D-Member
What happened to the Russian defector? Not enough time for her I guess. :p Hopefully the south african bizness is going somewhere.
 
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