hellmouse

In this March 27 article from the Hollywood Reporter, The Americans Team Teases Manic Series Finale, Holly Taylor is quoted as saying That is not a lot to work with. I think the writers let her down.

No, that's a different necklace. Skippylou was talking about the necklace Clark gave Martha (the heart), which was actually a necklace that Philip had given Elizabeth. Martha wasn't wearing it when she left. But I don't know if Stan will connect that necklace to Elizabeth.

I agree. And even the fact that he didn't find any evidence in their house (I'm guessing) won't deter him this time. He's going to be keeping an eye on them. Which is a problem given that Elizabeth is going to be "working" a lot. Is there any way to connect that necklace to Elizabeth? I can't recall seeing any photos of her wearing it.

The Stan and Philip scene had the tension of pre-season 5 episodes. So many layers that we the viewers are aware of, but Stan is not. But he's so close! Philip and Elizabeth have had some great hugs. For example in Open House, when she gets back from eluding the FBI and CIA. Before the basement dentistry. There have been others, but that one conveyed such relief and that sense of being safe in someone's arms. I agree about Elizabeth giving Paige an out. But the problem is, Paige doesn't realize what Elizabeth means by lifetime commitment. She's too young to realize the gravity of what this commitment means. Plus, her fear of being alone is one that is very likely to happen. Remember William being alone? That will be Paige. I wonder how Paige thinks Elizabeth and Philip met each other. I wonder if she's ever asked. Great episode.

I want Philip and Elizabeth to get away with it. I want them to evade capture. I don't think it will happen. But that's what I want. I know they've done terrible things but I just want them to be together and alive, and hopefully not killing people anymore. Maybe it will mean they have to abandon their children. I could see them choosing to abandon Henry and Paige before choosing to abandon one another. Henry has demonstrated that he's proactive, hard working, self-sufficient. Paige has gotten three years of training. They won't die in an alley after one week. They will be able to look after themselves in ways that they couldn't have just a few years ago. Maybe they leave a note for Stan asking him to keep an eye on their kids because they have to leave the country forever, lol. I should add - I don't think this would be a happy ending. I don't think Philip and Elizabeth will be happy even if they are back in Russia as heroes, not if they have given up their family and they now see that the Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. They have each other but their life's work has been pointless. ETA #2: It would be fascinating if Elizabeth has to choose between the cause and her marriage and chooses her marriage. And Philip has to choose between his children and his marriage and he chooses his marriage. So they both give up something they dearly love, for something they love, and need, more, as painful as that choice may be

I thought you put it really well in another post when you described Paige as "eager to be recruited". She wants to buy what they are selling. But she could be swayed by some other more powerful sales pitch for something else, which IDK if Elizabeth and Claudia realize.

I have been watching S1 again, and had forgotten just how callous (and frankly, stupid) it was in ep 9, Safe House, when First of all, it made it seem like he and Amador were lifelong friends, when he they had just recently met. Second, it made Amador seem like some kind of flawed but charming hero (via stupid flashbacks) when he was not charming, but annoying, and not even that good as his job (IMO). Third, It showed a really mean (and IMO reckless and stupid) side of Stan that I had forgotten about over the past few seasons. It makes me hope that he is in no way a hero at the end of the series. If he even mentions Amador it will annoy me.

There's nothing bizarre or not right about it at all. They always had a whole story planned for Paige as the kid they told and Henry was always the kid who wasn't in the know. so they didn't have as much of a story for him. They were also faced with the fact that the actor was growing IRL while the time in the show was moving slowly. The first couple of seasons picked up very quickly after the previous ones. Sometimes there were episodes that started literally minutes after the previous ep. There would be no explanation for one of the main characters obviously having grown several inches when everyone else was still wearing the same clothes from the day before (in the show). So that was a constraint they had to deal with that may have impeded giving Henry a more prominent storyline. I'm glad we're seeing him now. For both P&E, he's been a reminder of the past and a catalyst for moving forward. I like it.

It could also be the KGB going through a list of their agents - maybe to see who's been compromised by the Harvest situation? Who might need to be exfiltrated? Or it could KGB leadership figuring out who was involved in trying to stop/derail the summit? It could be a list of the whole Jennings family, and Elizabeth just comes first alphabetically. If it's the FBI, that means the whole family is blown. It could be the very last thing in the episode - finding her name on a list and Stan and Aderholt asking themselves if it could really be. Agh!!

I just rewatched it - I think that man is the Harvest guy. He kind of matches the picture we saw briefly that Aderholt showed Stan of the Chicago illegal aka Harvest. But it made me wonder what (or who?!) Philip is using that axe on in the parking garage, just after the clip of the blood-spattered man. God, I hope it's not a body!

Nice article at Vulture about Keri Russell's acting, from Felicity to The Americans. The Delicate Fury of Keri Russell on The Americans I hope she is nominated for an Emmy. Both she and Matthew Rhys deserve nominations for this season.

Interesting ideas about Paige. I wonder if she would have been satisfied with any answer. It seemed like she didn't just want an explanation, she wanted to know everything. It wasn't enough to know that her parents were spies. if they said they were working, she had to know what they were working on. If they said what they were working on, she needed updates. She was an anxious, insecure child who thought that having more information would make her feel better. Philip & Elizabeth have their own feelings about it (wanting to share their history, wanting to protect their daughter from the Centre, etc) and they take a gamble that sharing more information is the way to go. But it backfires. She wasn't ready. Rather than responding to a needy child by reinforcing boundaries, they removed boundaries. But all that did was to increase her anxiety and neediness. I know the Centre forced their hand. They didn't have the option of telling her nothing. But they really didn't seem to have a plan for what they did next. And IMO they erred in giving in to her demands. She would have benefited from them saying "we cannot tell you specifics of our work and that is that" instead of letting her badger them into sharing details. They abdicated their parental role as the-ones-who-set-the-limits, and for an anxious child, that is just not helpful. Your point about Henry made me think about houseplants. The easiest way to kill a plant (most plants) is over-watering. So people get nervous about how a plant doesn't look right and end up doing too much to "fix it". Most plants can handle benign neglect but over-watering will almost always kill. And here, Henry is thriving and Paige is stunted.

I think she was looking for his biggest vulnerability. Start with sex - she flirts and he's mildly interested but not enough. Move on to money - she's now a consultant who might be able to help him get a job. Will he take that bait? It would be horrible for all involved if she ends up deciding she needs to use Paige as bait. Paige would be thrilled to be involved. But then Elizabeth would be pimping out her daughter for 'the cause'. I think she'd be disgusted with herself.

ITA. Fortunately for Philip, Stan then preceded to deliver that bizarre Thanksgiving toast, so I'd bet most of the people there would remember as the distinguishing feature of that dinner, rather than Elizabeth's absence.

Thank you - fixed it! I completely forgot her name.

I am not sure where to put this 30 second preview for next week's episode, but since I have predictions about it, here it is.. The Americans 6x07 preview - Harvest I found that preview so stressful! But after watching it a few times, I think it is not as explosive as it first seems. I think what happens is the following: Philip joins Elizabeth in Chicago to save the illegal. She tells him about her secret mission and shows him the cyanide pill. Which IMO means he's now as likely to use it (on himself or others) as she is. Thanks to Philip being there to help, they are able to successfully get the illegal out. Stan and Aderholt review what went wrong and it reminds Stan of Joyce (not Lucia!) and how she was also able to elude the FBI. That is going to take him back to remembering the couple, but I still don't think it'll make him think of P&E. Henry needs to go back to school and has no way to get to the bus station since both parents are gone, so he asks Stan for a ride. Stan asks where Philip is and Henry unwittingly sets off Stan's FBI instincts when he tells him his parents get calls and immediately drop everything and leave. Stan decides to snoop in their empty house while they are away, including the basement. Thanks to their scrupulousness, he finds nothing. But he is still concerned, so he confronts Philip and asks if he's "involved in something". He seems to want to help Philip. After all, he does know that Philip is struggling a bit with the business. And then Philip says I've been wanting to tell you for a long time. That is where I run out of ideas. Tell him what? He is a drug dealer? He has a second job delivering pizza? He is a gigolo? He is a KGB agent? He has a girlfriend? IDK.

I think he's going there to help Elizabeth as his wife, to protect his family, but he's not going there because he believes in the mission. I don't think the illegal being captured would help Oleg. It certainly wouldn't help Philip or Elizabeth or their family.

The scene where Stan opens the door on Thanksgiving and Paige holds up the dessert is such a callback to the pilot, when it was four Jenningses at the door and Elizabeth held up the brownies. All this time and Stan has never suspected them again since that first day.

Good review from Matt Brennan at Paste. The beginning and ending contain the most important developments, but it’s for the middle of “Rififi” that The Americans should be seen as a classic. After last week’s forbidding all-timer, one might’ve forgiven the series a comedown, and in terms of the narrative, I suppose it is: With their Russian defectors’ grisly demise, the FBI’s counterintelligence division springs into action, and though the “illegals” program is rounding into focus, the agency’s confrontation with Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) must wait another week. Yet in terms of structure, subject matter, setting, and tone, “Rififi” is the ambitious equal of “The Great Patriotic War,” a surprisingly funny, Henry-centric hour that doubles as a love letter to critics, triples as a Thanksgiving episode, and quadruples as a change-up pitch, which is another way of saying that there is no drama on TV right now firing on more cylinders than this one. The Americans Throws a Brilliant Change-Up Pitch with Rififi

Interview with Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields about Season 6 from Collider. It's not spoilery but it did make me more anxious, which I guess is normal with this show! The Americans Season 6 Interview with Joe Wiesberg and Joel Fields - Collider A few snippets:

I don't know if Paige is really stupid. Some of what can appear as stupidity is often just youth and inexperience. But she is naive and always has been. The problem for me is that there isn't enough time left in the show for Paige to grow out of her naivete. It's frustrating to think that despite three (?) years of training during the time jump, she still is so relatively immature.

This article in this month's New Yorker magazine is fascinating. It's about an American who worked for the CIA (post-9/11) and is now a police officer in Savannah, GA. It gives good insight into CIA training, and I can imagine that Philip and Elizabeth must have gone through similar training as illegals. It would help explain some of their myriad skills. It also made it more plausible to me that they would want Paige to have field training, even if she ultimately was slated for a desk job. For example, "Students practice their recruitment skills at fake embassy parties. Each is assigned a target from the host country, and is tasked with carrying out conversations that play to the target’s interests and hobbies; by the end of the evening, students are expected to have elicited their assets’ contact details, which are used to begin a delicate, months-long process of recruitment. The next day, they receive feedback on their approach. They lose points for tells as minor as drinking beer from a bottle; diplomats typically use a glass." "Students are trained in tactical skills that they hope they’ll never need. During the driving course, known as “crash and burn,” they learn how to avoid obstacles at high speeds, how to behave at checkpoints, and how to smash through barricades. They practice navigation and hand-to-hand combat, and spend days hiding in the mud while being hunted by armed instructors. They are taught to jump out of airplanes and to handle explosives, foreign weapons, and the gadgetry of secret communications." The man profiled (Patrick Skinner) is really interesting. It's a good read; I recommend it. The Spy Who Came Home

I was thinking about Elizabeth saying "maybe she's not cut out for this" to Philip. Even if Elizabeth is right (IMO, she is), how can they stop it? What if through some turn of events Elizabeth tells Paige that it's over, she's not cut out for spying, and they're going to stop. I feel like Paige wouldn't accept it, and would do something dumb to try to prove that she really can handle it (kind of like Hans, although probably not murder). I also don't know if Claudia would accept it. Maybe she'd start meeting with Paige in secret. But even if they all agree Paige isn't cut out to be a spy, she will always have to be managed as a KGB asset. She knows WAY too much for them to just say "oh well, didn't work, it's over". Paige may be "into it" now, but does she realize she will have to be "into it" for the rest of her life? It's like how she had to go to bible study even when she didn't feel like it. Does she realize that? IDK.

I agree so much. There was something very electric about that scene. The stone cold killer Philip was suddenly present in Paige's apartment.. For some reason as they fought I kept thinking about Annelise being put in that suitcase. Paige has no idea what she's dealing with, and Elizabeth has hidden too much from her. Will the episode with her father pique the curiosity Paige used to have about her parents? Or will she continue blindly following the path she's on? I am eager to whatever the next interaction is between Paige and Philip. Do they talk about what happened? If so, who starts the conversation? I honestly can't predict.

The other thing that struck me about that scene was that when the little girl approached, he didn't push her away. I thought he would want to guard the little food he had, but he shared it. I found that really moving tbh.