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The Americans; S6 - The Final Season
Topic Started: Mar 29 2018, 08:45 PM (577 Views)
Dax
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I don't understand all of the politics, but I think the storytelling has been smooth enough. Elizabeth's turn is necessarily late, but also not unprepared for or a cheat...

Oleg and Philip and Gorbechev were more accepting of 'change', where Claudia and old-school-KGB/Centre wanted things to stay the same, and of course, Elizabeth was more of that mindset, too...

She's seeing 'the bad guys' as being traitorous, and target negotiator Nestorenko as 'not a bad guy', and... she IS being loyal to her country. The coup was wrong, she sees that now.

I liked the penultimate episode. Finale should be fun.
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KMInfinity
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Early thoughts on the series finale~

I might need to re-watch, might need to hold judgment until I binge the series in the future...

But I really liked it. I liked that no one died, that the small character moments held steady, that the "true" Americans (the kids) stayed in America, that Stan represented the best of us and let them go.

For a minute, I thought there would be a Disney ending and Philip and Elizabeth would defect and return to the U.S. and reunite with Paige and Henry in a "relocation" program. Very glad that didn't happen and shouldn't have ever thought it would.

For a minute I expected Philip and Elizabeth to be assassinated when they reached Russia, that Ivanovich's car would blow up. I'm glad that didn't happen either.

I appreciated the music, the lingering shots, the quiet moments, the reflective pace.

I especially loved Philips speech in the garage that convinced Stan to let them go.

I realized that, in every scene, I could see a range of possible outcomes to end each scene - and most of those outcomes would be valid character based responses - because the characters were so complex I really could not predict what might happen. The tension and intensity, though quiet and understated, was outstanding. And reflecting back (hence why I might need to binge) it's the character driven shades of gray that have always provided the subtle and not so subtle kicks in the series.

I do wish we'd had a scene of Oleg getting a Disney ending, instead of the sober conversation with his dad and Ivanovich. :tongue:

The greatest compliment I can think of - I still want to know more about their future, even Paige and Henry.

off to read reviews, which I have avoided.....
Edited by KMInfinity, May 31 2018, 04:59 PM.
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bilki
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This show was so good at building up to an anti-climatic moment, and that held true for the finale. I don't think I've ever watched another show that created the illusion of a big bang off on the horizon, and then dousing it with water. Bravo to them for keeping me around after two seasons of wanting to quit, but most of that credit goes to Russell's Elizabeth. She remains fascinating to me, and my only complaint is that we didn't get to spend much time with her after such a big turn of events.

I know Stan's confrontation in the garage was supposed to be the BIG moment but I was more moved when Philip and Elizabeth went to get Paige at her apartment and explained how they would have to leave Henry behind.

My biggest question was how they made it to Arkady in Russia without any interference from the KGB. Wouldn't they be on someone's shit list at the KGB? Especially when they got to the Russian border.

Stan got to be an interesting character for once! I'll miss hating Stan, lol.

I did feel bad for Paige. She was stuck between choosing to go to a foreign land with her parents and leaving her brother behind. I supposed Henry could argue that he never got the choice but it's not like Paige was in an enviable position.

For as much as I love U2, With or Without You is one of their songs that I'm not a fan of, so that killed that montage for me. Not that I'm a fan of The Emotional Music Montage, anyways.

And if there's one thing I'll really miss, it's that there was still a show that a few of us would come together and continue to discuss.
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KMInfinity
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Big agree on almost all of your comments Bilki!

Quote:
 
This show was so good at building up to an anti-climatic moment, and that held true for the finale. I don't think I've ever watched another show that created the illusion of a big bang off on the horizon, and then dousing it with water.
I'd prefer to say...go with the subtler moment. :P

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I know Stan's confrontation in the garage was supposed to be the BIG moment but I was more moved when Philip and Elizabeth went to get Paige at her apartment and explained how they would have to leave Henry behind.
I liked Stan a lot, and no so much Paige.. but for me the scene in the garage was all about Philip...

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My biggest question was how they made it to Arkady in Russia without any interference from the KGB. Wouldn't they be on someone's shit list at the KGB? Especially when they got to the Russian border.
Yep. That's why I kept thinking the car would blow up or something.

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For as much as I love U2, With or Without You is one of their songs that I'm not a fan of, so that killed that montage for me. Not that I'm a fan of The Emotional Music Montage, anyways.
I'd usually agree about the montages, but I do like that U2 song, and thought it was effective in capturing the "stuck between a rock and a hard place" that each character was in.

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And if there's one thing I'll really miss, it's that there was still a show that a few of us would come together and continue to discuss.
Big Big agree. Maybe we can canvas everyone to commit to watching and commenting regularly on one particular show next season.
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bilki
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KMInfinity
Jun 1 2018, 03:54 PM
Yep. That's why I kept thinking the car would blow up or something.
Ok, so that was supposed to be a concern of mine. It was driving me crazy that it seemed like a non-factor to them, though. Unless I missed something, it felt like their main concern was the FBI.

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I liked Stan a lot, and no so much Paige.. but for me the scene in the garage was all about Philip...
It seems like the big debate is whether people buy into Stan letting them go. The showrunners talk about how long they worked on that scene in their interview with Sepinwall. I knew he wouldn't shoot them with Paige there but I'm still uncertain as to why he didn't arrest them. I liked that he wanted to hate and punish them but there was something else there that pulled him in another direction. That's why I said Stan got to be interesting for once, lol.
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Krystal
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Bad ending, second to the horrible Sopranos
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KMInfinity
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I haven't seen the Sopranos so I can't compare. But I think I will like the ending even more as time goes by. I'm starting to think about the idea that punishing the Jennings would be making them scapegoats for a world they were born into. They did change. They did make decisions of conscience in the end that went beyond their training and brainwashing, including Elizabeth. They now live with their past, which will increasingly haunt them, maybe even torment them.

Bilki, I was agreeing with you - their escape into Russia seemed too simplistic - I kept expecting the car to blow up because it seemed unlikely that escaping the FBI was their biggest hurdle. Rather, it was to survive whatever bloodbath or pogram took place in the KGB/Military/Party as their "betrayal" of the KGB, or "rescue" of the Party, worked its way through Soviet politics. Since the card DIDN'T blow up and no one assassinated them or even arrested them (yet?) I wish Ivanovich has said a line or two of reassurance or information about the situation at home. For two spies who were all about gathering intel and taking out opposition, you'd think they would have asked a couple questions. Elizabeth KNEW she had burned bridges and ruined her career from Claudia's POV, and Ivanovich had already suggested to Oleg's dad that he and Burov might be next...so more info there should have been shared.

NY Times article from that week in time:
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/09/world/summit-reagan-gorbachev-sign-missile-treaty-vow-work-for-greater-reductions.html

I've seen fanwanking that suggests the very presence of the Jennings in Russia means their reports about the possible coup against Gorbachev got through, and so they would have had support "back home." In fact, Gorbachev survived and remained in power until 1991, and 1985 perestroika policies led to glastnost and major reforms and freedoms in 1989. So, by inference, Philip and Elizabeth "picked the right side" and would likely have been fine, even if they didn't know that at the time.

What would be really cool - to see Elizabeth's reaction to Yeltsin's overt capitalist restructuring and the rise of Russian oligarchies and the Russian mafia in the 90s when Gorbachev is overthrown in 1991 (though he remains active in politics). And then Putin, who called communism "a blind alley, far away from the mainstream of civilization" and who Gorbachev praised for rescuing Russia from collapse in 1999.

I didn't realize that Gorbachev is still alive. :o
Edited by KMInfinity, Jun 2 2018, 07:12 AM.
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Dax
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Haven’t read reviews or interviews yet, but just watched it.

Liked it a lot.

The confrontation with Stan is the climax. Great, great scene with tremendous tension.

Really glad there were no big deaths.

I like ‘With or Without You’ (and love U2), but some of the montage didn’t play right to me because they kept having to loop it in funny places to get it to go with the pictures they wanted..

I like that Paige got off the train, but drinking vodka alone there at Claudia’s abandoned place, I really wonder what her plan is now...

Kinda wish we could have heard some of Stan telling Henry, but it’s okay.

Love Philip’s parting words to Stan, re: Renee. And there’s absolutely no tip in either direction in that last shot of her...

We never saw her doing anything suspicious or anything. All she did was meet and fall for Stan. But...

Great series, ended the right way.



https://uproxx.com/sepinwall/the-americans-finale-interview-creators-spoilers/
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