"I was born in the Soviet Union in a town called Gdansk"

Gdansk is, of course, in Poland, famously the birthplace of Solidarnosc.

And Leanne probably would have been born in the early 1940s, definitely not before the end of World War 2, which means it wasn't even communist Poland she was born in, much less the Soviet Union.

Am I missing something here?

I can’t figure out the layout at all. Is there just this one laundry room? I wondered why all that junk in the Beeman garage hadn’t been bunged down into theirs. (And speaking of that garage, how come the Jennings’ is so much roomier, even taking into account the lack of junk?)

The journey of Stan and Philip’s initial interactions to friendship is so well done. I don’t think male friendships are explored as much as female relationships in television shows. I loved how they depicted this one. From the first episode, both of them highly suspicious of the other, to the garage scene. That scene! The heartbreak Stan has when he finds out and Philip wanting him to understand their friendship wasn’t fake, it was the one real thing in his life.

Just beautiful. First time watcher, I finished it and I am starting it over to catch all the detail!

It didn't seem too noticeable during the first scenes based in Russia, but by the end of the fifth season in particular it was like they were filming Russian scenes through a navy blue lens. It got ridiculous.

Still, a change from the yellow tinge of Mexico and red light of Africa.

Philip and Stan are one of my favorite TV bromances of all time.

Lets show some love for our EST Men.

The close up on the eyes, them not saying a goddamn word and Philip just know what to do. 🥵

It has DISGUISES and communist infiltators into united states. In the 1970's...

*spoiler alert *

And everything that came up in the season finale was set up from the very beginning. Mainly, when Elizabeth meets with the Russian colonel he warns her that there are factions at play that could manipulate her and he may not always be able to protect her.

My mind is blown. What great writing.

What else did you catch in the pilot on a rewatch?

I just found this show. S2e1 is about the FBI monitoring and arresting four Illegal couples on HBO MAX. I didn’t know this really happened. There are several things that P&E did that are similar to what was brought up on this show. Fascinating!

I loved the reference to The Americans lol

https://reddit.com/link/1c990e6/video/z2j75tx7drvc1/player

First time around, I kept seeing one particular mug cropping up everywhere. (Travel agency back office / Jennings’ kitchen / chez Gabriel (in two locations) and possibly more instances Ive forgotten . Now I’ve just noticed its characteristic design on other prominently placed cups and jugs too🙀so I’m wondering: what possible significance would there be in cream/ ivory cups and mugs bearing a deep crimson band near the rim? Haha, it’s driving me batty!

The best I’ve come across. Very bright, entertaining reviews; impressive insights; intelligent discussions. (This clip is just an example; every episode is reviewed and discussed.)

av club The Americans

Did they actually kill the person they thought they were killing? I've rewatched the episode, and the lady never said anything on camera that couldn't have been a generalized guess based on clues offered by P&E. Yes, she told her husband that she was plied with alcohol and could barely stand the first time a weapon was put in her hand by the Nazis, but I don't think the KGB file ever corroborated that particular detail. I genuinely think it might've been mistaken identity and the genuinely-innocent war refugee Natalia Konina was trying to give a false confession out of hope that the unidentified assassins in her home would spare her husband.

I recognize that the ambiguity is part of the drama that makes this show so good, but even if you disagree with my interpretation, I can't think of any concrete reason to believe that I'm definitely off base.

Watching the show through a second time, having only just finished it the first time, because I can't get it out of my head

Just finished season 1 and the first episode of season 2, here are some random things I've picked up

1. I'd forgotten that Paige technically meets Claudia at the same time as Philip, she presumably won't remember this when they meet again years later
2. Elizabeth's entirely generic and impersonal "nothing really felt safe after that" in response to Stan describing his exact personal experience when JFK got shot (She wasn't even in the country yet
3. The episode where Reagan gets shot might be the only time Stan provides P+E with any actually important information? (I'm probably missing something here but him confirming what happened felt notable since Stan is rarely actually any good as a source I don't think)
4. The circle of Philip lying to Stan about his killing Amador, followed immediatley by Stan lying to Nina about his killing Vlad
5. Claudia has a dog?? Good for her I guess. Also generally despite being infurating at times, I love her character. Yes she's awful but she probably makes me laugh more than anyone else throughout, and that happened a lot in season one (see pacman, and eggs florentine)
6. The season 1 finale is excellent, I don't mind the more understated finales we get for the rest of the show but one really close call at the start feels justified and it's great all round
7. Is Henry's birthday and Elizbeth's return at the beginning of S2 the only time it's visibly warmer and maybe even summery ??
8. Arkady commenting after we meet Oleg for the first time that these privileged kids being put in high up foreign postings are going to "be the end of us" is amusing but bittersweet in retrospect, knowing what Oleg, and Akrady himself, are eventaully going to play a part in
9. The separation plotline feels slightly rushed but makes sense considering who these people, particulalry Elizabeth, are. Aside from the pace of it it works well, I'd take it for the "Come home" bit alone. The fact they don't continue to try and find contrived reasons to have them break up in this way again in future justifies it further I think, which I was worried might happen. We know for the rest of the show now that if they wanted to split they probably good, it isn't just obligation in the same way it is at the very start.

I have a million and one more thoughts but this'll do for now, my notes app is serving me well.

Overall I think season 1 is a lot better than I remembered. I didn't think of it as bad by any means, but my general impression was each season was basically better than the previous. I'm interested to see if I think the same a second time around, if I do then it's only going to improve from already being pretty great.

I've just started watching this show and I was wondering if anyone knows where the lake that the creepy driver takes Henry and Paige to is?

I've read the show is mostly filmed in New York suburbs but I was wondering about this specific location.

Whenever I come across this term, I remember the show. Was wondering if anyone else is the same way.

Hi all, I just finished watching the series yesterday, wow!
I discovered it just recently (it came out in 2013 if I'm not mistaken, 11 years ago!) but in this case, better late than never.
I've been reading some very interesting posts that are surprisingly recent, so I guess I'm not alone in discovering it now.
That said, I have so many questions, I'm pretty sure most of us do, but how can you end a series without telling us what happens to (spoiler alert!) ;

- Martha. I think they made her happy by giving her what she desired, no brainer.
- Gabriel. I think he had a hunch about having problems with P&E and he left them.
- Renee. Was she or was she not ... ?
- Paige. While Stan comforted Henry, he knows about Paige. Would she go back to living a normal life?
- Claudia. I guess she went home, but in the end was against the new government, what happens?

Anyways, a great great show. I thought i wouldn't be so passionate about a show after seeing Homeland, but this was really great with an epic last episode!

Take care and dont use chalk on mailboxes!

​

What a great TV show - surprised this isn't mentioned more amongst the great TV dramas

it kicks off in a great and unique way - there really aren't many spa dramas and I thought the arranged marriage deep undercover storyline was so interesting, as were the disguises, different identities, different jobs, etc.

Season 1 - very good albeit a bit slower than the rest, set the stage very nicely

Season 2 - my favorite season for sure, I loved larrick, the gay navy seal character, and john carrol lynch's character as a defector - and the other KGB's family who got murdered and it ended up being the son as a second generation illegal

Season 3 - folding up annelise in the suitcase, infiltrating Kimmy's family (shoutout Ozark), and the Martha storyline was maybe my favorite in the whole series

Season 4 - this was around when I found myself getting a little sick of the family storylines - especially pastor tim/paige, as I typically do in dramas (sopranos, breaking bad, etc.), but I did like the storyline with William and the viruses, and this is when we saw Phillip really begin to lose faith in everything, him and William had very similar thoughts on the center - and sending Martha to Russia was heartbreaking

Season 5 - weakest season by a mile, I was pretty concerned the show had jumped the shark, i didn't at all care for paige and matthew dating, or the weird like hand thing they taught paige to do when he was going to have sex - however I did like the storyline with vietnamese kid who made the russian defector's son slit his wrists, he was truly insane

Season 6 - I thought it bounced back here well from season 5, however I wasn't overly interested in the training of Paige since I knew the show was so close to ending and it wasn't really going to pan out - also by now I basically kept thinking to myself, how the hell are they going to wrap this up - but the last 3 episodes or so were masterful. I was somewhat anticipating a breaking bad style ending where around episode 4 or 5 Stan was going to find out and we might see the last few episodes play out like 10 years later, but, i think the ending was realistic. the priest (who was in reality, a nothing character) happened to get them caught, and just like that they pack the bags and leave - like they'd been prepared to do forever. stan and the jennings in the garage was maybe the best scene of the whole show. stan and phillip telling each other they were each others best friends, and then telling stan his girlfriend was an illegal, wow. the phone call to Henry was so sad, especially when he said I'll talk to you next week, same as when Paige got off the train. Phillip and Elizabeth in Russia looking down at the city was a far more depressing ending than had everyone just died, being there without their kids, almost as if the last ~20 years was for nothing.

Additional overall thoughts:

• I thought the whole pastor tim thing was a bit unnecessary - until stan called him at the end of season 6, where i thought okay, he's going to rat them out, and then didn't... i guess it did add some intrigue that someone knew they were KGB, but overall it went no where
• phillip's russian son was also such a dud - he came all the way there, got turned away, and nothing ever happened
• i have mixed feeling on Martha, I guess they did show her a couple times in Russia, and Gabriel visited her, etc. but this was probably the best most interesting storyline in the whole show for me, I loved Phillip going to the length of marrying her as a completely different person, and I would have preferred for it to end a bit neater, but I guess the point is everything just keeps going and the Jennings will kill / deport people as needed
• overall - i just loved the uniqueness of the show, the disguises, different identities, etc. Phillip with Kimmy, as Clark, as the airline pilot, E as the care giver, as the person who slept with the kid paige did (that was crazy), and so many more
• I liked how it ended with Stan - but I still feel as though he found out a bit too late - especially since for a couple seasons he wasn't even on the russian file at work
• i suppose it was meant to be ambiguous, but stan's gf was a spy, right?

I will definitely rewatch this eventually

I'm not talking about all the pop-songs, which were, of course, fantastic. But the orchestral and other mood/setting music in The Americans is absolutely spot on. New and different pieces all through the show. The recurring theme running through many of them. I wish I could put more words to describe and appreciate it. But it blow me away, scene after scene, episode after episode.

It's the little things you see on rewatch! I think I'm on my 10th or 11th. Over a fresh poured cup of coffee set in front of Philip, Gabriel reveals the existence of Philips's son. The heat from the coffee generates extraordinary clouds of steam. I wonder if it's cgi. If I imagine how many takes and how many laughs it took, I'd be at it all day. Philip have to change sweaters, do retakes, so the steam would show better? It only lasts split seconds but I had to laugh at how the little things still keep popping up.

These are two of my alltime favourite shows. I am on a rewatch of The Wire, and s. 2 has a much younger Lev Gorn playing an Israeli drug criminal. Hadn't noticed him before as it is a very minor character.

I love his show so much and just finished my third rewatch. I love to read and found a book about a REAL KGB agent working in Dictorate S agent who ultimately ended up turning and spying for the British and their agency (MI6). The beginning talks about how KGB spies are chosen and trained. Such an interesting read!!!! It's called The Spy and the Traitor: the Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. Just wanted to share.

And I finally learned what "PNG'd" means!!

Every time she has a fag in her hand, I want to scream. How can she hold it so very awkwardly? It’s not rocket surgery. It’s as though Miss Russell learned all she knows about smoking from reading about it, but has never seen it take place in real life. (Which is surprising, since Mr Rhys appears to be a seasoned smoker when they share that spliff at the bedroom window. His giggling is hilarious)

So I've been looking for a show to get into and watched the pilot. It was fantastic. However, Philip seemed very ready to turn in, take a huge payday, and live the good life in America, and not overly committed to "the Motherland". Then obviously he changes his tune when he kills Tomoshev for Elizabeth (who seems extremely committed). I'm struggling to get past that he is just full-on back to doing his duty when he was quite close to defecting. And this show has several seasons (presumably with him in it for the long haul). Perhaps he continues to struggle with the cause? I'll probably continue watching, but it's tough to buy his sudden change in commitment back to the spy-life.

A lot of people on this sub seem to think he’s the worst character and I don’t really understand. Sure, spending so much time with Paige is a little weird but he never crossed any boundaries. Otherwise, he’s probably the most decent person on this show. He didn’t even tell Stan that he knew about P&E being spies. He held it down until the end. I just don’t understand why he’s the most hated over all the characters that have literally killed people.