The Americans is Delightful.

[Guy Gardener]

And when her kids start wearing odd coloured basketball sneakers like Punkie Brewster?

There's going to be a slap that can be heard across the world.

OH GOODNESS!

Can you imagine Keri in the Cabbagepatch Doll Riots hobbling other mothers to get into the store first?

I recall a news report where he stores claimed that although they had run out, that some B52 Bombers were going to drop hundreds of free cabbage patch dolls into a nearby park.

Americans are so gullible.

Dolls falling form the sky would kill people.

There were no planes.

There were no dolls.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I tried to like it, but it bored me to tears.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's a show full of tension, which is a little pisspoor if you haven't already committed.

Although I was watching the Carrie Diaries this morning, which is also set in the early 80s, and I wondered, how ace a crossover between these shows would be?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Overall, I give it a thumbs up.

On the downside, I thought that letting the FBI agent into the garage to see the car was dumb, but maybe subconsciously Phillip wants to get caught?!? It certainly wasn't necessary to admit having jumper cables in the first place; Agent Stan denied having any either, so.... Plus, never the mind the "coincidence" of them winding up next door neighbors (if it even is a coincidence).

On the upside, it has the potential to thoroughly explore the question of "who am I and what are my loyalties," while waxing nostalgic about the 80's. And Keri Russell is totally hot.

I'll be sticking with it for now.

 

[Forbin]

Watched. Enjoyed. Glad that I can finally say I've seen a chase/kidnapping scene set to Fleetwood Mac.

 

[BillJ]

Got to finally sit down and watch it in HD without distraction.

Have to say I really like it so far. First thing I've seen Keri Russell in that I've actually liked.

 

[sojourner]

Watched the second episode. Still liking it. Have to say though, the opening credits were jarring and go totally against the mood of the show. Terrible.

 

[Guy Gardener]

This is preAIDS awareness, but certainly after the epidemic began.

That would be a weird twist for season 4.

Was Ron more dangerous after Nancy took over?

He was an effective human being before he was shot, and after should have been on critical care for the rest of his life, especially after the dementia kicked in which was a parallel issue.

Those Russians have no idea how black and white things were in 1981.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I liked this episode.

I'm unsure how I feel about the opening credits, but I like the inclusion of the Atari Missile Command shot.

Did anyone else think about how the blood dripping on the bedsheets during the ear piercing scene had the symbolism of an inverted Soviet flag: red for blood on a gold background, instead of gold on a red background?

 

[Guy Gardener]

When they're talking about a missile shield at this point, they're not talking about the grand parents to patriot missiles, it's Star Wars... Because the Politicians calling the shots don't yet rightly understand that this Death Star technology is totally beyond them.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

When they're talking about a missile shield at this point, they're not talking about the grand parents to patriot missiles, it's Star Wars... Because the Politicians calling the shots don't yet rightly understand that this Death Star technology is totally beyond them.

Da.

 

[stj]

Fell asleep, which means nothing, but was entirely satsified with the Zap2It recap, which does.

The magic poison was really unbelievable, both for audience and for characters. Many poisons have treatments which when promptly applied prevent lethal damage. Don't know of any "antidote" that can pull neutralize poison and the damage it's done already.

Reportedly Soviet intelligence believed that Bush 42 had a great deal of behind the scenes influence. This was supposed to be stupid of them, but what we've learned in retrospect suggests they knew more than we did. However, it is obvious that the dramatic irony of hindsight would be far too, well, dramatic, for this show, which just wants derring do and reveling in shades of grey BS. The role of the Lyndon Larouche organization in promoting SDI should be a no-brainer.

Fail.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

What was most important about the poison was what the maid believed. She simply needed to believe that going to the authorities was hopeless. I don't assume that they told her the whole truth about the poison. That wouldn't make sense, if they did, anyway. Besides, Elizabeth and Phillip both agreed that the operation was highly risky. Being deceptive about the poison could easily have been one of the many risks that they took.

 

[Guy Gardener]

They said that American Counter intelligence could recognize the poison which means that they had probably figured out a "good enough" cure from studying a number of victims, but an ER Doc is not going to ring the State Department enquiring after KGB counter measures... I think St Elsewhere started in 1984 and what passed for medicine back then was laughable... At least, what passed for dramatic fiction about medicine back then is laughable (I watched a couple seasons recently) and ailments that kept them flummoxed for entire episodes, 30 years later are throwaway lines on House or Greys Anatomy.

But if the State Department told EVERYONE... "This is a Poison the KGB uses to kill American citizens ALL THE TIME... Tell us if you find it, and here's the cure." It would lead to panic and war.

How many US Citizens on American soil are the KGB allowed to murder before Missiles are launched?

1? Maybe 2?

It's in America's best interest not to advertise the fact that these things are going on.

 

[stj]

^^^The plot requires that the maid be stupid. Sure, it's possible a convenient idiot is at hand, but it's still convenient plotting.

The possible consequences (theoretically ranging even up to war) are precisely why real spies don't go around committing murder and mayhem on the citizens of the target country. Defectors, yes.

And for those who confuse covert operations with intelligence (in both senses of the word,) covert ops are directed against the civilian populations just as war is, because that's what covert ops really are: War. And they are directed against weaker powers without powers of retaliation, which is not the case in this series.

Enjoy.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The whole point of having identified the maid as a target was that she had been assessed as being vulnerable.

 

[stj]

^^^Wow! With that kind of omniscient intelligence, obviously the Soviets are going to win The Americans' version of the Cold War.

Hey, maybe I should keep watching?

 

[Guy Gardener]

She was vulnerable because she loved her son.

I was distracted during the set up, but half way through the ma'am of the house was saying that the son had problems, that they had over come together with he help of the rich white family.

I remember Phillip said that anyone who believes in god can't be trusted because they are unpredictable, ie can't be trusted to look after their best interests, he also was sure that he needed six months to turn her to his way of thinking gently.

Oh... Was this comparable to Abraham sacrificing his son when god told him to?

In her heart she decided that God needed her son to die, and then changed her mind when a pillow when over his face.

Weaksauce.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

2nd week, The Americans imitates the Berlin Wall: kee-rash.

After coming out strong, FX’s new series The Americans suffered a harsh ratings body blow last night. The Eighties-era spy series was down almost 40% Wednesday from its premiere a week ago. The one-hour episode of The Americans fell from 3.22 million overall viewers watching its nearly two hour debut on January 30 to just 1.97 million last night. That’s a drop of 39% from week one to two.

is it really that boring that it couldn't hang onto an audience? Oh well, at least they got a nice ad campaign, I really liked the graphics.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The second episode was much better than the first.

But how are people not watching the show supposed to know that?