'Hi, I was hoping to make it home for dinner but things are very topsy turvy at the office' - was mine.

I am sure I missed it during one of the EST parts, but what did Phillip mean in the parking garage when he said to Stan “I wish you’d kept going to EST with me. You’d know what to do”. What did he think EST would have taught Stan?

Remember Jackson, the congressional aid that Elizabeth uses. I kind of liked that actor but wasn't sure if he was good or not since he was playing a very insecure character. I don't watch a lot of movies. Was just watching a 2024 movie, The Wolves, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The actor, Austin Abrams, is in that. He's doing scenes with those two giants and doing GREAT! I'm thinking, this young kid is awesome. Then it hits me that's he's Jackson. Damn!!

I fucking adore this song, wouldn’t be far off to call it my favourite of all time. I thought S6 had the best usage of licensed music out of pretty much any show I’ve ever seen (still bawl my eyes out to With or Without you due to memories of the finale).

I think this song so perfectly relates to the political and social context of season 6, and the series’s overall theming of the personal and political often being one and the same.

I love the way that the song as a call for unity among division and doing what’s right despite so many calls to be ignorant to the truth relates to what all four of our leads ultimately end up doing.

I think it also ties so nicely to Phillip’s context at the time of the show: is he also ultimately ignorant to injustice and what his wife is going through because of his own personal refusal to be involved with her work anymore? I just love the way the lyrics tie into both what he and Elizabeth are going through, and how the walls described in the song also exist between them.

Legitimately think that s6 is second only to The Wire season 4 for thematic clarity. Fuck, I love this song so much and was so happy to hear it in the first episode

I just finished the whole show, and am going to re-watch it again, but throughout the show I don't remember a single scene where an attorney was present. The FBI has no hard evidence against the orthodox priest interrogated before father Andrei, they didn't arrest him as far as we know. I know they probably didn't know everything about the American legal system, but if they were involved with Soviet intelligence, they should've at least known the basics.

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Phil and Elizabeth could not have cared less when it came to Paige leaving and never even asked her if she would be ok. To me this was the worst case of emotional neglect, the moment they decided Henry can't go but didn't even discuss why Paige should? Whatever everyone says about Paige not having friends or a life she still deserves an Identity of her own and this broke me so I was so happy with F you moment that you all know I'm talking about 😂.

Full disclosure, I am only in the middle of season 2. I don't care about spoilers though which is why I'm posting here.

So I wasn't alive for the 80s so I don't know, but to me, at first blush, the show doesn't "feel" 80s like a lot of media either from the 80s or about the 80s. To me it felt more early 2000s in the way people speak and act, like I could be watching The Wire. I found this interesting and was wondering if it's an accurate depiction of the decade as far as atmosphere and tone.

It sort of gave me the same feeling as watching that early HD footage of New York in the 90s. It's very interesting to see an earlier time without the layer of analog "dust" if that makes sense.

Having been through the series multiple times, I always wondered about something at the end.

Since the FBI knows that Elizabeth and Philip were more than travel agents, do their employees ever get to live normally again? You know their lives will be put under a microscope for years after the Jennings vanish.

This is the final addition to the innocents they killed or ruined throughout the series, and what makes my opinion if them ambiguous.

I was discussing this a little in the comment section of a really old post, but figured I would see what others had to say.

There is a line in the script of season 5 episode 7 or 8 when Philip and Elizabeth are picking in the field after Elizabeth sees Ben with another worman : “There was something about him that—I thought that maybe …”, what do you think is the unwritten finish to the sentence?

Did Elizabeth really want a future relationship with Ben? I find the large dichotomy between that, the episodes before and after this. Before this there was a ton of hesitation with the honey pot, and just a couple of episodes later she marries Philip.

Any thoughts on her intention with the statement?

First time viewer here, I don’t even have any words after watching that parking garage scene with Stan. Idk what else they even want to show me at this point, that was already the hardest thing to watch 😫

SPOILER: Question about the couple of months’ timeframe / happenings between Seasons 1 and 2.

I wonder how Philip slept over at Martha’s a few nights a week - for “a couple of months” - while Elizabeth was “away, taking care of her sick / fallen-down-the-stairs great aunt.” Who watched the kids multiple nights a week for two months? How was he, basically, a single Dad and a secret husband to Martha?

That would add up to about 25-30 nights in two months’ time that he wouldn’t sleep at home, based on Martha’s prior comments that she knew he wouldn’t be sleeping over seven nights a week, but would be there at least a few.

I watched the entire series a year or two ago, so maybe I’ve forgotten whether this was addressed. I’m currently re-watching and am on S2E2.

In addition, Philip was also still working at night, such as “finishing up his mission with the Afghans” that we see in S2E1. I don’t understand how he was a single parent, working his day job, working his nighttime spy job, and being a secret husband to Martha.

First time viewer here on s5ep11, I’ve posted in this sub a few times but as I’m closing in on the series final season I just wanted to talk about how well this show does with the “whole package” of it all, but I really just wanted to comment on the subtle things.

First being the soundtrack. I love music as much as I do tv & film, and I can’t help but appreciate this show’s soundtrack. Can’t wait to look it up in its’ entirety and pick through the ones that caught my ear. The songs themselves and the placement of them was just chefs kiss for the entire series honestly.

Second, the styling. It’s not so in your face so I don’t know if it was as appealing to everyone else but I enjoyed how well everyone was styled to fit their character, and even how well each disguise was styled to fit their character. Just once again done soooo well

And last, the cinematography. The stuff they do well is never so in your face, but there were soooo many scenes that were just strikingly beautiful. Isolated colors, beautiful scenery, styling placed with certain sceneries, the whole 9.

There’s so much more honestly but I just finished watching the ending scene of “Dark Room” and I just had to come and gab about the beauty of the show. That ending scene with Phillip, Liz, and Paige was nothing but art. The hanging photos of the diary pages, the red room, close ups of the diary entries, all of their faces reading and the emotions on their faces, just everything. Everything was truly art.

Some random thoughts:

• season 6 was absolutely phenomenal
• last episode was heartbreaking but great
• never had a huge opinion about Stan but I did feel for him in the last ep
• love oleg, how he shook his head when seeing the pic of P&E.. classy
• Paige.. don’t hate her as much anymore but definitely not my fav
• even though I think they were terrible parents and did some really horrible shit, I love p&e both dearly, especially as a girl I think Elizabeth is just so fucking cool idc
• I really think a s7 would make a lot of sense

He probably never recovered career wise. I assume he'd be bound to desk duty until retiring.

Philip and Elizabeth have already told Paige the truth about who they are by this point and this is possibly the first mission they’ve told her about. So originally they tell her the American govt is trying to destroy their food supply via pests being sent over to kill crops.

The question is why didn’t Philip and Elizabeth go back to Paige to tell her that they found out the ppl involved are actually trying to help create a grain that will survive any kind of pest, and that they’re not trying to destroy their food supply.

I mean Paige literally asks for an update AND P&E had already stolen a sample of the “magic grain” to send back, yet they still don’t clarify and let her continue to believe the Americans are trying to destroy the food supply. So much for their whole we won’t lie to you anymore spiel

Hopefully the title doesn’t spoil anything for someone**r

I found Erica (Season 6) to be such an interesting character, and was an effective foil to Elizabeth and drove the plot. She was strong and stubborn, honest, but also was an artist.

And she was just in one episode (Season 4), but the woman at the mail robot repair operation had the best line: "that's what evil people say when they do evil things."

I also gotta shout out to Stavos. Loyal, solid.

Hans too, whose death made me audibly exclaim "awe c'monnnn nawww." Sweet guy, bad luck. (Totally a better way to go than the alternative though).

And I don't know if he could be considered minor, but I loved William. Also a complex character, had his moments of humor and being a curmudgeon, but you empathized with his situation and moral quandary.

Anyway, The Americans had such an excellent lineup of minor characters. Any favorites or scenes you'd like to recall?

It’s probably the best “we’ve been waiting for this” scene in television history

Honestly when I first watched the show, even at Season1, I was wondering about what era would the story line lead to in the end. But after Season6, that's it?

The Breaking Bad has El Camino (which was slightly better than mediocre), and comrades, don't we fans deserve to know their fate >!after P&E went back "home" and even after the fall down of CCCP? There'll be so much to tell.!<

I loved The Americans and watched all three times, nothing can compare to it really. Now I’m looking for something with a similar vibe—gripping, character-driven, and suspenseful. Any recommendations?

https://preview.redd.it/k1v9s4swvu2e1.jpg?width=568&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f02871d3476f19db5d6a6e46182e22434a76db50

And that’s all I have to say about that.

im at 5x6 right now, and im so pissed off at Gabriel for not letting Mischa see Philip I can’t believe it this makes me so mad!!! I was very excited for that storyline:(

I’m on my second watch but honestly it’s like a first watch.. Damn this storyline was so good! Larrick tracking Jared down was crazy enough.. but Jared’s last scene is crazy! So many twists and turns in this show!

So I’m a first time watcher. Currently on season 3 finale and so far this is some of the best TV I have watched. I’ve seen it on a lot of Top 10 lists but finally took the plunge recently and been bingeing.

I guess I’m at the point where Paige is so annoying, it’s unbearable. So I pulled up the subreddit to see how others felt and tbh I see everyone complaining about the people being annoyed at Paige and I don’t even see that many people complaining about Paige and wayyy more people defending her behavior than not on the sub.

But like I’ve seen others shows and seen other teenagers irl too I guess, because this is what everyone’s justification is, that teenagers are just like this and it’s so insane for your parents to be spies. Fair but, Paige is different. Literally insufferable. Telling Pastor Tim is so insane, does she not care about her parents at all? I HATE her and I never cared for the actress who plays her even before all this but now oof.

What’s worse is why is so much screen time devoted to her teenage angst? Who wants to see this? I don’t even care if she gets recruited at this point. Get rid of her.

I know the finale is supposed to be really good so that’s the only reason I’m going to keep going. Otherwise, this Paige nonsense has me ready to quit.

Love the show otherwise. Keri Russell might be the most attractive woman to have ever lived and it makes me so happy that they’re married in real life.

Wow. Before I started watching this, I heard great things about the finale, but still wasn’t prepared for how much of a slam dunk it was.

The sequence of Philip and Elizabeth on the train with “With or Without You” playing, stopping when they get inspected by the Mounties, and then resuming again when Paige is shown standing on the platform. Hoooly fucking shit. I legitimately don’t know the last time I watched something that made me audibly gasp and put my hand to my mouth out of total shock. I kind of laughed at myself afterwards for doing it, but holy fucking shit. That really brought home the sense of finality of their decision and that there was no going back. What will happen to Paige now?

I think the way Stan was portrayed towards the end of the episode (contemplative, reflective, maybe optimistic?) was a very generous and kind outro for him because realistically I think a person would be absolutely broken after what happened to him. And Philip mentioning Renee to him in their final encounter with Stan? I know Philip was just trying to look out for Stan, displaying how much he genuinely cares for Stan. But I just don’t see how a person comes back from that. Poor Stan. I hope he looks after Henry like Philip asked and that they can find some healing from each other and their shared experience of being completely fooled by the Jennings.

My heart breaks for Oleg. Truly a tragic character through and through and the real unsung hero of this story. So fucking crushing for the final shot of him to he him just sitting in that jail cell. He made the ultimate sacrifice not for his country but for the world, twice, and nobody will ever be the wiser. I honestly feel a little depressed now that this show is over knowing Oleg’s fate. He truly put the entire world before himself in an entirely selfless act. I remember thinking he was a nepo baby hothead when his character was first introduced. Maybe one of my favorite character arcs in anything I’ve ever seen. I just absolutely fell in love with his character and have nothing but the utmost admiration for him.

This finale was truly something special and I will always hold a special place in my heart for this show. There are so few shows I’ve watched that genuinely stick the landing with the finale and this show did it in fucking spades.

I’ve never wanted to stop a show before because of how insufferable a character is. And this character is Elizabeth. No care for anyone but herself. I don’t even buy the “for the motherland” shtick either. Seems like She just wants to be miserable.

I’m a diehard The Sopranos and The Wire fan..I can finish most lines of both shows.. I think The Americans might complete my Holy Trinity of tv shows.. I’m suprised it’s not talked about/more popular.. great to see they won an award

The show is good. Kinda slow at times but still a solid 8.5/10 for me.. but holy hell. Why is everyone complaining about paige.

Isn't that the point of the show? How hard P and E's life is and how to deal with their children and their family? She's supposed to be an annoying teenager, living a not so normal life, yet people here complains about how she's an annoying teenager living a not so normal life. Did people expect her character to be a superhuman, super mature, non emotional teenager?

At this point, people complaining about paige being annoying is more annoying than her. It's honestly stupid

It was surprising, given how rampant they were in the 80s and the number of partners they each had, especially Elizabeth.

Why did Philip remove Elizabeth's tooth after that close call?