The Americans: Yousaf

This was a solid episode of The Americans, but I think it ends the streak of amazing episodes.  It wasn't a letdown, but it definitely seemed more like a place setter.  I mean that most of the events in this episode are simply set-ups for what will happen later.  Serialized television requires episodes such as this.  It makes for a less exciting episode than we would normally get, but the payoff is usually greater when it's more set-up.

After last week's chaos, Phillip is back to normal and calmed down.  He looks exhausted when the episode begins and Elizabeth comforts him.  It's a touching scene and reminds us of the relationship at the core of the show.  If the first season was about them finding love after many years of marriage, this one is less an examination of their marriage and more about their tight bond.

It's also an examination into the relationship between them and their kids, specifically Paige.  Paige wants to go in a summer camp with her youth group.  Phillip's not happy about it, but he's smart.  He knows that he needs to allow her to go to make her own choices or she'll rebel in other, possibly worse ways.  Elizabeth on the other hand, not so much.  This is hardly surprising.  This is perfectly in line with what we would expect to happen.  Phillip is the one who better understands how to navigate in America while Elizabeth seems more in line with Russian values.

She discovers Paige forged her signature, but then she threw it away.  This is a fact that she left out to Phillip because it shows that she DIDN'T end up doing it.  Elizabeth seems strict in her views, and it probably won't lead to anything good between Paige and the two of them.  While I don't think Paige is likely to go into drugs, this clearly is shown to be a poor idea.

Meanwhile - and this honestly may play a part in my very mild disappointment in this episode - Andrew Larrick comes back to avenge his compatriots' death.  But the teaser at the beginning of the episode rings false when Larrick barely makes any ground.  I expected him to meet the Jennings in this very episode.  And while it's perfectly realistic that it would take him some time to track them down, nonetheless when you expect a showdown and it doesn't happen, it's hard not to let that affect your view of the episode.  (Although I will note usually that's because it seems delayed in a contrived way, while the delay of Larrick seems realistic)

But Larrick doesn't exactly make NO ground.  He discovers the secret telephone message location and shoots him down.  The guy does manage to press the button to destroy the phone lines, but somehow Larrick still manages to figure out how to call Kate.  This is one of those situations where my complete lack of knowledge of the technology helps the show.  Do I think it'd be that easy just to figure out a way to call some person?  Not really.  But this is something that I can at least accept without it ruining anything.

While Larrick searches for the Jennings, the Jennings have a case of their own.  (This really should have been my first clue that Larrick wasn't finding them this episode).  They need to convert a Pakistani government official to their side, or deceive him into becoming a contact.  The most susceptible, Yousaf, seems to have a weakness for women.  Elizabeth seems like the natural choice, but Phillip doesn't seem all that interested in using her when he could use Annelise.

If you were wondering who Annelise was, you had good reason.  She has appeared on the show before, but it hasn't been since "The Clock," the second episode of the first season.  The show sure is giving its fans a lot of credit in remembering a character in only one season way back on the second episode.  I thankfully had an inkling of who she was and figured it out quickly enough.  I believe Annelise was a bit wild and unpredictable - so much so that I think I remember thinking she would be killed quickly, but she never appeared in another episode.

Anyway, Phillip uses her to get close to Yousaf.  She does her job well enough, but she seems pretty hurt by her experience.  I wonder if there will be consequences to using Annelise instead of Elizabeth.  (Though Annelise's background seemed to factor in Phillip's reasoning not to use Elizabeth).  They also killed his boss so that Yousaf would be the #1 and Annelise would have the inside track to information.

On the American side, Frank Gaad gets reinstated.  His conversation with the Arkady produced positive results.  They seem to have a tentative, cautious relationship that understands they need to do something that benefits both of them, so neither side will fire or get hurt.  So basically their relationship is a perfect representation of the Cold War itself.

And Frank is just in time to help Stan discover who murdered the family.  They make a little ground in this episode.  They figure out they were likely secret agents with national security capable briefcases.  They interview their son, who Stan realizes knows nothing about it, but the son likely recognizes the portraits of Elizabeth and Phillip.  It appears that Elizabeth's decision not to tell Jared Connors about his parent's secret identity was a good one.  (Stan also stops in with Nina to be an asshole and tell him how his wife left him and it hurt and boo hoo)

Nina meanwhile gets new hair - I think?  Her hair is huge in this episode.  Anyway, her and Oleg have a bonding moment where it turns out Oleg is an idealist and wants to help his country.  When Nina learns this, she looks envious as she is clearly just trying to get out of this in the best situation possible.  Not to say that she doesn't have feelings for Oleg, but she's also probably playing him a little.  Nina reflects back on the simpler times when she wasn't simply doing anything to survive and instead was at a fun camp.  It was sad, but makes sense that she would reminisce about it.

It was a good episode of The Americans.  It isn't quite as good as past episodes, but that's inherent in an episode that is mostly set-up for what will happen later.

Justified S5 Review

Writing about the fifth season of Justified is a bit difficult.  On the one hand, this is pretty clearly the worst season since season one and from a personal enjoyment stance, probably even worse because I didn't have as high of expectations then.  On the other hand, it's still Justified at its core, and Justified is a fun show to watch.

Before it was both one of the most fun shows to watch as well as being critically solid with good villains and few weaknesses.  Now, it's almost as fun to watch as it has always been, but it's got those pesky problems.  It's not quite at the level that Sons of Anarchy is - which is a show I enjoy, but at this point I have accepted its problems and accepted the show is just not as good as I once thought.

This season, Raylan is as distant as ever from the audience.  It's never been clearer that he just wants to kill all the bad guys.  And while that's sometimes fun to watch, it makes him infinitely less complex of a character than he used to be.  Did the death of Arlo somewhat ruin Raylan as a character?  Timothy Olyphant is still really good in this role, but I can't shake the feeling that's something off about Raylan in this season.

Meanwhile, the show took a bad decision and made the Crowes the season five main villain.  Don't get me wrong, the Crowes are a very interesting family, but they already did that in season two with the Bennett family.  And the Bennetts absolutely blow the Crowe family out of the water in every way imaginable.  Daryl Crowe is nowhere near as interesting, menacing, worthy, or complex of a character as Mags Bennett was.

The weird thing is I feel like the answer was staring them directly in the face.  Featured in four episodes in this season were brothers Wood and Steve Harris.  They managed to be more interesting counterparts to Raylan/Boyd than the Crowes in essentially just one spotlighted episode.  (They were in four, but the last one was the only real attempt to make them awesome).  I would much rather have seen a season of those two than the Crowes.  I hope Wood Harris will be back in next season.  (As it appears Steve has died)

Let me be clear about one thing about the Crowe family.  I didn't have a problem with the actors.  Michael Rapaport got a LOT of flack for his weak accent.  Perhaps it's because I don't care or I'm just not really that good at determining different accents, but I had no issues with it.  He was fine in the role.  I liked Alicia Witt a lot as Wendy Crowe.  Jacob Lofland is fantastic as a child actor as Kendal Crowe (seriously, Justified knows how to pick 'em).  I really couldn't care less about Danny Crowe, but he had a funny and appropriate death.  None of them hold a candle to the Bennett family though.

A legitimate drag on the season was the Ava prison storyline.  Talk about just not giving a shit about what happens.  Probably doesn't help that it was pretty obvious she was getting out at the end of the season and the whole season just felt like wheel-turning.  I never felt like she was actually going to die, and I never cared about her problems in the prison because I knew she was getting out.  When Lee Paxton died early in the season, and they found an excuse to keep her in, that was just annoying.  That felt like plot contrivance to me.

Lastly, Tim and Rachel were virtually ignored for large chunks of the season.  Again.  It's not really a problem only because this isn't a season five problem.  But when there are storylines that are less than great, it's really irritating that Tim and Rachel aren't getting any screen time, since they were most likely be more interesting.  

Somehow despite all of this, Justified still looks like Justified.  I can't think of another show that could have as many problems and still seem like the show hasn't lost a step in being "fun to watch."  But Justified managed that trick.  I don't feel like the show wasted my time, or made me angry, or anything, it's just that Justified has set a high standard and season five was well below that standard.

Also, the set-up for season six has me excited.  Ava betraying Boyd to Raylan because he got her out of prison?  Boyd becoming a bank robber again?  Mary Steenburgen in a more prominent role as a criminal badass?  More Wynn Duffy?  And, knock on wood, but it looks like Rachel and Tim will be more involved with bringing Boyd crowder down.  So the final season of this great show is looking to go out with a big bang.

Playlist

1. "Lens Flare Lagoon" - Lone

2. "Bad MF" - Pharoahe Monch

3. "Dream" - Iration

4. "Mangrove" - Young & Sick

5. "Girls Chase Boys" - Ingrid Michaelson

The Americans: Martial Eagle

At its heart, The Americans is about two spies who are just doing their job.  I would not classify them as anti-heroes.  Let's face it: if these were Americans and not Russians, there wouldn't even be a discussion about them as anti-heroes.  We've seen plenty of spy movies where the "good guys" kill a bunch of bad guys in the service of their job.  That's essentially this show.

But the bodies have been mounting up.  People have just gotten in the way of Phillip and Elizabeth.  They are on a mission, they get discovered, and the unfortunate witness just had to die.  If Phillip and Elizabeth were to continue being relatable and sympathetic, the amount of bodies would have to get to them at some point.

All of which is to say that this episode has been a long time coming.  And it's been well plotted in its way to get there.  Phillip had to kill a guy when he was trying to gather information in THE ARPANET.  Phillip took that death harder than normal.  Last episode, Phillip insisted that they let the truck driver live instead of killing another innocent life.

And then when Phillip and Elizabeth sneak into the compound that Andrew Larrick told them about, things don't go as planned.  Things rarely go as planned.  Phillip cuts a guy's throat and shoots two others.  Elizabeth kills a guy herself.  And the truck driver dies anyway.  I'm not sure if its the three guys he has to kill, the truck driver dying a pointless death, or the combination thereof but Phillip is devastated.

What better time then for Paige to use her newfound faith to force her parents to go to Church?  Holly Jennings is a really good child actor.  She really just wants her parents to see what she sees.  And when she looks over at Phillip, it's heartbreaking that he looks like he's in hell.  The pastor talks about how God accepts everyone unconditionally.  Phillip is in self-hating mode and isn't buying it.

Unfortunately, they also find out Paige donated $600.  Now, to be fair, I think MY parents would be pissed at me for doing this.  But Paige getting her parents to come to Youth Day has the exact opposite effect.  Phillip and Elizabeth both seem to look at Christian faith as an immense threat.  Phillip visits the pastor and it seems like he'll kill him (thankfully nothing happened).  Elizabeth wakes Paige up in the middle of the night and forces her to clean.

Matthew Rhys is terrific in this episode.  I think this episode will be his Emmy submission.  He's emotionally distant, ignoring Henry, and pretty much directing all his anger towards Paige's new faith.  I don't have the proper words to describe the powerful scene when Phillip tells Paige "YOU RESPECT JESUS, BUT NOT US."  (That whole scene really is fantastic)  It's really too bad Rhys has no shot at the Emmy.

I also liked how Phillip's inner conflict was made external.  The deaths had gotten to him and he made it explicitly obvious by his coldness.  On the flip side, Elizabeth's inner conflict was kept to herself.  It's not so much that the deaths don't get to her, it's that Elizabeth is really fucking good at hiding it.

Meanwhile the show does not one, but two fake outs on the audience.  At first, it seems like Elizabeth is going to an AA meeting for personal reasons.  She has lunch/dinner with the AA speaker, using her personal struggles with Phillip as a way to connect.  By all accounts, it seems like she got what she was looking for.  And then it turns out she works for the government.

Then, since Phillip is in a fuck the world mood, he shows Martha the tape he had previously decided to hide.  It seems like he is taking out his anger on poor Martha.  But no, he's just using this piece of information to get Martha to do something she wouldn't have done, which is to acquire certain files.  And then the bastard leaves her.  (Did anybody else laugh at ""I've never been good at seduction or romance" from Clark - I laughed out loud)

Meanwhile, Stan for the first time this season, is doing good spy work.  Seriously, has he done anything besides get duped this year?  He's looking into the disappearance of Anton from earlier in the year.  He discovers that all of the stealth plane creators last met in the same place at Alexandria, Virginia.  That happened to be the same time as the Connors family getting killed way back in episode one of this season.

So Stan interviews all the scientists who were at that meeting, including Fred, the Connor's turned informant.  I like John Carroll Lynch in this role a lot.  Anyway, Fred does pretty good as he seems the most comfortable of all the interviewees.  Emmett trained him well, indeed.

Also that interview was a nice mirror of Stan's betrayal to his country.  He describes how if they make you silent, they are winning.  That you never imagine betraying your country.  That the KGB goes after your weakness.  (Which was made evident when Elizabeth goes after the recovering alcoholic government worker)  It's pretty clear he's talking about himself and it's nicely done.  By the way, Nina is sorely missed in this episode.

While Stan finally gets off his ass, Sandra does the same.  She knows Stan has been having an affair and has made an emotional connection with another man.  It's REALLY hard to feel bad for Stan because he's been cheating on Sandra this whole time.  He looks devastated, but seriously Stan go fuck yourself.  Sandra rightfully points out that Stan, a CIA agent, did not notice she was having an affair of sorts.

This episode had a lot of season one callbacks.  So Stan killed a KGB agent in retaliation for his partner's murder (even though Phillip actually killed him).  Agent Gaad is getting in trouble for that.  So he goes to the Arkady and threatens him if the KGB keeps worrying about that.  He says he will reveal Richard Patterson's testimony about the agents who tortured him - the agents were Phillip and Elizabeth - if the KGB doesn't just drop this.  Arkady plays it cool as a cucumber, but they have to back off because Phillip and Elizabeth aren't getting caught this early.

In terms of 80s references, I think that the compound they visited was a training ground for contras, which explains all the references to Nicaragua this season.  If you don't know, contras were a rebel group opposed to Nicaraguan government that was financially and militarily supported by the United States.  They got banned by the US Congress, but the Reagan administration continued it secretly.  Also, Dr. Ruth was giving Sandra sex advice, which may I add was hilarious.  I don't know if it's her voice or Stan's expression, but I could not take that tape seriously.  

Overall, this was yet another great episode.  It looks like Larrick will be seeking revenge for the murders (as he finds out about the deaths, but not the details - he can fill in the blanks though).  And another week we wait.

Categories: Classic Dramas

When I started this blog, I had eight categories of shows to help myself keep track of all the shows I was watching or wanted to watch.  About a month ago, I noticed that the categories were loosely connected and adding newer shows to the list was difficult.  So I revamped the categories and ended up adding five more.  Well, only three of the old categories really look anything close to their former selves so it's more like 10 new categories.

Anyway, this is one of the new categories.  I'm pretty sure I added that weren't on my original list when I thought of classic dramas.  This is self-explanatory, although I'll explain it anyway.  These are dramas that in some way or another, changed television.  They have been off the air for quite a while and most of them were made before the year 2000.  I have seen basically none of these shows except about 10 episodes of one of the shows.  So what follows are the shows that I felt qualified for classic dramas.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: (1955-1962)

I know this show is an anthology series.  I know this show was the brainchild of the great Alfred Hitchcock.  I know this series has an IMDB rating of 8.8.  That's all I know.  But it's enough to land on this list.  There's 268 episodes, but apparently they are only 25 minutes long and suddenly that feat seems immensely more manageable.  I also know IMDB ratings are inconsistent at best and this could just be rating so highly due to the name.  (Dexter having a 9.0 honestly means I should never, ever use this as a credible source and yet it's right about 80 percent of the time.)

ETA for watching: TBA - TBA will be listed for shows that seem so far away, it's silly to even guess when I will be watching.  I think this show is on Netflix so it has that going for it over other shows.

Hill Street Blues (1981-1987)

I've never seen this show so it's hard to say how exactly I know this, but I think this was one of the forerunners of the greatest shows of all-time.  This is one of those shows that lays the groundwork for what other shows were able to do.  Beyond that, I couldn't tell you if it stands the test of time.  Also, a big problem I will run into for this specific category is that unfortunately networks dominated and networks mandated that shows run for over 20 episodes a season.  That is insane.  Do you know how hard it is to make 144 episodes that are an hourlong each?  Naturally, I'm going to run into some clunkers.  I really don't think it's a coincidence that shows that are considered the greatest of all-time run for 13 episodes a season.

ETA for watching: TBA - Tough to say since I don't know of any free, online way of watching this so I'm going to probably have to buy this to watch it, and seeing as I am pretty devoid of money at the moment, it's going to be a while.

Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999)

Here's another show that was a forerunner to fantastic television.  And it may even be fantastic itself.  The cool thing about this show is that Andre Braugher is in it, and I happen to know for a fact that Andre Braugher is awesome.  This is one of the shows I'm more confident I will like purely due to that.  This show is based off a book by David Simon, who created The Wire.  Simon doesn't appear to have been much of an influence beyond the book, but that's a pretty good sign this show is worth watching.

ETA: TBA - This would be very high on my list if I could watch any of these shows at will.  Alas, it also isn't free anywhere to my knowledge.

St. Elsewhere (1982-1988)

Obviously this claim is from memory, but I think St. Elsewhere is a show that was more ambitious than most, at least in certain episodes.  That is they took some risks in some episodes making plain weird television.  That's not the only reason this show made this list.  This has one of the more strange, yet awesome casts.  Ed Begley Jr. is in this and he's pretty good from what I've seen.  Apparently Denzel Washington is in all 137 episodes of this and...  wait DENZEL WASHINGTON IS IN THIS SHOW!  (This is like when I found out Morgan Freeman was in the Electric Company - if you didn't know that - seriously look it up)  Also, Howie Mandel is in this show and... wait Howie Mandel used to be in good things maybe?  I have so many questions that I have to watch this show.

ETA - TBA - I swear not all of these will be TBA, but again this show is not available for free online. (Or at least not on any of the things I'm paying for already) Although I am going to be getting Amazon Prime at a discount because I am a student so hopefully some of these shows are on there.

Six Feet Under (2001-2005)

This is probably the show that I have the most doubt as to whether it's good.  I've seen varying opinions on this and not all of them are positive.  Thanks to my excessive reading of Breaking Bad finale analysis, I'm pretty sure the final episode was perfect. (I did avoid spoilers somehow though)  However, this show is newer so that means it only has 63 episodes which is fantastic.  And its cast is pretty great with Michael C. Hall, Peter Krause, and Frances Conroy.  So I'm kind of worried, but not all that worried.  I'm only really worried that it looks grossly out of place in this category more than my enjoyment of it.

ETA - TBA - Same excuse as the previous shows.  Also, this would be near the bottom if I could watch these shows whenever I wanted.

Twilight Zone (1959-1964)

What list such as this is complete without The Twilight Zone, otherwise known as the show that has inspired every creator ever.  Or so it seems at least.  I am going into The Twilight Zone completely blind.  I'm not so much worried about its quality, I'm worried about the acting.  Star Trek has given me a good idea of what to expect from 1960s - or a bad idea I guess - and if Twilight Zone is similar, it'll be a struggle.

ETA - Late 2014 - This is on Netflix and I am most likely starting this when I finish Star Trek - I've made an unofficial rule of only watching one pre-1970 show at a time for my own sake.

Twin Peaks (1990-1991)

The only thing I'm expecting about this show is for it to do unexpected things.  I'm not expecting it to be good or bad, I'm expecting it to be interesting and different.  David Lynch being involved is definitely interesting, although I honestly am not much of a Lynch fan so it's not like this is a huge positive. (I've seen one Lynch movie, Mullohand Drive, which I disliked so to be clear, I'm not anything on Lynch)

ETA - Late 2014/Early 2015 - Expect this sooner rather than later.

The West Wing (1999-2006)

This is the only show on this list that I have seen.  And umm, well I kind of can't gain any momentum to watch a bunch of episodes.  I've watched like 10-11 episodes over a period of a year.  It's a show that is reasonably good enough, but doesn't really do anything for me.  It's not even that I don't like it, it's just really difficult for me to actively choose to watch it.  I'm just never in the mood.  It's kind of like that show on television that you watch when it's conveniently on, but you aren't saying "Oh I want to watch The West Wing."  At least, it's that show for me.  Not being a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin speed-talk dialogue doesn't really help matters.

ETA - Well, I'm not going to be writing about this show because I have nothing to say about it.  I feel like I'm being unfair to this show, but it just does nothing for me whatsoever.  Anyway, I'll continue fighting through the first season at least and hopefully it inspires something in me.  I'm not expecting it to.

The X-Files (1993-2002)

Despite the fact that I basically know nothing about this show, I'm extremely confident that I will really love it.  Besides the Shows that Changed Television, there isn't another show that I'm going into with as little worry as The X-Files.  Even then, I usually have an actor or two who I really like when I look forward to watching a series.  I saw Gillian Anderson in Hannibal and she's in far too little of that for her to make a huge impression on me.  But besides that, I've seen neither actor in anything (anything memorable at least) so it's very strange for me.  (For instance, Oz has J.K. Simmons and Dean Winters as two actors who I love)

ETA - 2014 - In fact, the next available date I have to review a season will probably be The X-Files.  The spring show

That is the extent of the classic dramas that I have chosen to watch.  Feel free to suggest shows that belong on this list, but remember two things: 1. It could be on another list.  First check Shows that Changed Television before recommending say The Wire to me.  2. It doesn't qualify as a classic drama because it still airs so don't recommend a show such as Game of Thrones.  3. I don't know if you know how many shows I want to watch, but at this point, it's unlikely a show will be added unless it's newer.  I'm pretty satisfied with this list.

The Americans: New Car

The Americans is firing on all cylinders.  Holy crap this was another great episode, even as it seems each of the characters are getting increasingly screwed in different ways.  There wasn't much positive happening on the KGB front as the lone positive of the night came at the cost of Lucia and Andrew Larrick's freedom.

Let's talk about that scene when Elizabeth is forced to watch her protege get strangled by a man she hates for the good of the country.  I really hate watching strangling scenes as it's not exactly pleasant to watch a character slowly lose their life.  And it lasts forever.  Especially if the person is someone you want to live.  This scene certainly didn't help my feelings on strangling scenes.  Each second that passed was more painful than before.

I said in last episode's recap that I thought Lucia would either die this season or become a regular next season, but I think I was being purposefully blind to her fate.  She was going to die as soon as she said she planned to kill Larrick and ignored the orders.  But the show decided to kill her in the worst way imaginable.  She's getting slowly strangled by her nemesis while her comrade simply lets her die.  It's ironic that this action is for the good of the country since it appears to only benefit Larrick.

And I guess it's saying something when that wasn't the worst news for the Jennings.  No - apparently plans they stole were fake and were responsible for the death of 160 people.  Oleg later helpfully tells us that the people back home rushed it through development and are more responsible.  But Phillip and Elizabeth don't know this.  Can you even imagine the weight of having 160 people's death on your mind?  (The answer is of course no.)

That bit of news made Phillip ashamed at his taste for American consumerism.  He bought a Camaro, which seemed harmless enough.  He takes a look at it, wipes off a smudge on the car, and admires his car.  He comes back with the news of the submarine crash and looks at the car with shame.  He fell for American consumerism and he bought into their trap.  He probably felt like he had betrayed his country.

I'm betting Phillip wishes he took back his argument for materialism to Elizabeth as well.  Elizabeth is extremely reluctant to admit that this life may have some perks and outright refuses to say that it is better.  Phillip seems to disagree, but his feelings have probably changed since the news of the crash.  That coupled with Reagan's plea to devote more sources to defense looks to have reinforced their feelings of patriotism for Mother Russia.

Back home at Mother Russia, they show Anton - the scientist who was unfortunately separated from his family for more important measures.  He looks despondent and a helpful man encourages him that his situation could be worse.  That he knows what he's going through.  It seems to work as he looks at the ARPANET with intrigue.  It seems like his role will become important later.

On the American side, it seems Stan is resorting to empty threats.  His declaration to Oleg was downright pathetic.  And Nina is perfectly playing into Stan's clear want to rescue a woman.  Nina is not a woman to be rescued.  But she knows that is what Stan likes to think of himself as.  I'm struggling to find different ways to write about how much Stan is getting played.  (And did he possibly get through to that high-ranking official - probably more important next week)

Meanwhile I think Stan was looking at the lie detector test at home.  It was either that or the files he gave to Oleg.  I couldn't tell.  And he's still ignoring his wife, who seriously has gotten nothing to do.  I have no idea why they gave her a season credits, because she has done almost nothing this entire season except be ignored by Stan.

In other domestic news, Martha says she wants to stop secretly recording for her friends.  So Phillip decides to distort an already mean tape and play it to her, but thank god he didn't.  Poor Alison Wright, the actress who plays Martha.  Martha's too loving and dedicated a wife at this point to need to hate her colleagues.  I mean that tape was just brutal.

Lastly, Henry gets caught playing video games in his friend's house.  This storyline becomes clearer when Henry goes on a long tirade about how he's a good person.  It's pretty heartbreaking actually.  Yes, Henry is a good person.  But the real purpose of that speech was: Are Phillip and Elizabeth?

(Note: I forgot to mention that Phillip and Elizabeth spared that poor truck diver's life.  It's a nice touch to help us sympathize with them.  Phillip is just tired of killing innocent people.)

The Americans: ARPANET

Well damn Stan.  His plight is starting to parallel Martha's plight in assured destruction.  The only difference is that Stan should know better.  Not only is Nina working as a double agent on Stan, he is providing information to the Soviets to protect her.  And now she's "cheating" on him.  I will look forward to the day that he finds out.  It will be glorious.

You're probably wondering why I say it will be glorious.  While Noah Emmerich is doing fine work crafting Stan, he's a character who has lost me.  I'm not saying he doesn't have value as a character in this story, he's just no longer in the list of characters I care to succeed.  The facts are that he took advantage of Nina, cheated on his wife, and thinks he can control Nina.  He has been in espionage most of his life and should know better.  Whatever comes to him, I feel safe in saying he had it coming.  My only worry is that when he finds out, Nina will suffer.

I really loved the polygraph story.  I'm not sure of how polygraphs work or how to beat them, but I know they are unreliable enough to where I can buy that she can beat one.  I will store that clenched asshole tidbit if I ever need to beat one in my life.  There's one question I have about that polygraph that seemed intentional.  Nina says that she knew Stan killed the agent, which Stan didn't know, and then she said that she had never deceived Stan, but she did deceive him in that exact moment.  Stan seemed to realize it with his reaction so if there's any hope for him, he will know the polygraph is useless.  But knowing Stan, he'll just stay in lalala land on this one.

And the other big reveal is that Nina is now sleeping with Oleg.  I don't really know how I feel about this, because I don't know if I like Oleg.  And, um, Nina's declaration that he could do anything to her was not something that would make me like him.  Knowing Nina, she said that because she's playing him in a way too though.  Oleg at least acknowledges that he knows she's lying when she says she doesn't care about Stan.

For the other "good" guys, Phillip and Elizabeth are evidently now dealing with a wild card in Lucia.  She planned to kill Andrew Larrick without their knowledge, which obviously concerns Elizabeth.  This story could go one of two ways.  One, it leads to her demise because they cannot deal with a wild card at the moment.  It's the direction Elizabeth seems to be heading towards.  The other is that they show her development as a way for us to see how Elizabeth developed.  I hope for the latter, but the former is probably the direction they go, unless Lucia is to become a season three mainstay.  (The way I see it is either she dies this season, or she gains main credits sequence next season ala Nina)

The Larrick information from last week proves pointless - he's not going anyway.  He's going to Nicaragua.  I still don't honestly understand the Nicaraguan stuff and I'm not really that concerned about it to be honest.

But we got a really cool Ocean's Eleven type break-in.  I really liked the scene where Rosenbloom attempts to explain ARPANET, which is essentially the internet as he describes it.  It reminded me of the scene in Ocean's Eleven where they explain the casinos and do some slick camera work to show what they are talking about.  In fact, Oleg's explanation of the polygraph as a wasp was also really fascinating.  That's some pretty stellar writing right there making exposition scenes that good.

Phillip gets help from an alcoholic journalist, Charles Duluth.  I have a confession.  I have no memory of this guy at all, but he was apparently in two season one episodes.  I really liked him, which really confused me because presumably he hasn't changed.  He says he is committed to doing this in the future, but the look on Phillip's face tells me he is uncomfortable working with him again.  (Also the idiot wrote it on his hands and then rubbed his hands together while sweating, something I caught immediately so props to the show for foreshadowing that)

As a side note, the scene where Phillip plants the device to copy the machine is thrilling.  Once that guy walked in, it was clear he was going to die.  The way they did that was cold though.  Phillip appears out of nowhere, cut to him rolling a trash can now with a lid.  Damn Phillip.  Kind of weird that Duluth had no issues with Phillip killing a guy though.  Maybe that's just me, I would have probably freaked the fuck out.

And lastly they give Henry a tiny plot.  He sees his neighbors leaving and at first I thought it was a sign that he was missing something in his family.  But no the little guy just wants to play on his friend's awesome gaming console.  Phillip seems pretty hard-lined on not getting him a video game.  This isn't a big deal, but it does lend to the real family dynamics.  Paige gets the week off for whatever reason.

Overall, another pretty great episode of The Americans.

The Americans: Behind the Red Door

Well, that was a freaking great episode.  It might be the best one yet.  I'm truly sorry I had to wait two weeks to finally see it, but alas this is what happens when you decide to get the free trial for Amazon Prime and need to watch as much as possible in that month.  I've gotten behind in Justified, Hannibal, and The Americans.  Much as I liked Veronica Mars, I'm going to have to say it would probably have been better to wait until summer for it.

First things first, this show sure is spending a lot of time focusing on the murder of three people who we met for one episode.  I think this may have been a bit more effective if we met the couple in the first season.  However, the murder of a family is a powerful thing and it mirrors the Jennings family so it still works.  But that thought occurred to me when I had to go look up the name of the family since I had no idea (By the way, it's the Connors family)

The big reveal of the episode is that Claudia may been inadvertently responsible for their murder.  This ties everything we've seen Claudia do this season make a lot more sense.  Her weird insistence on needing to know if Andrew Larrick did it, her softer side, and her inexplicably going behind the center's back.  (She was pretty staunchly by the book in the first season)  

Now, I still think Andrew Larrick did it.  I don't really buy that Claudia would reveal her identity to a significant other who could betray her.  She's smarter than that.  (Although there's a decent possibility he accidentally told someone else, but that would be an enormous coincidence)  Plus, Larrick at the end said he suspected that Phillip and Elizabeth weren't CIA so he clearly could have been covering for himself in the case that they weren't.

I will have to praise Margo Martindale's work this episode and her entire duration of this show.  I fear this will be the last we see of her.  I'm sure the writers could find a way to write her back into the show, but she kind of has a steady paycheck on The Millers.  She's only available for a limited time and they already kind of wrote her out of the show in a plausible way so it could go either way - as Oleg says "50/50."

Speaking of Oleg, it turns out that his sudden blackmailing of Stan was... planned by the Arkady Ivanovich.  This caught me off guard, although it probably shouldn't have.  We don't really know anything about Oleg except that he's ambitious, but admittedly it probably isn't a smart play to blackmail a known informant without support from the higher ups.  

Now the question is: Does Nina know?  What is the purpose of this play?  To test Nina's loyalty?  Or to test Stan's commitment to Nina?  Or, really both?  There's a lot of ways this could go.  (Of course, since I'm two episodes behind, this has already been revealed.)

Stan however completely buys it.  The phrase "Oh Martha" could be replaced by "Oh, Stan."  Well, at least I know he bought it and then he went to see Frank Gaad, his former boss.  Gaad tells him, "Maybe you're in over your head?"  I think that scene was placed there for a reason.  Stan might suspect Nina is in on it and testing her.  Man, the double agent thing is getting kind of crazy for every action Nina or Stan does at this point.  I have no idea what either side truly believes.

But Nina DOES tell Stan they are done... which doesn't strike me as an action she would take if she were in on it.  Unless of course they want her to end it.  Or she knew that Stan would expect her to react like this and needed him to buy it.  Man, I am probably overthinking this, but I feel like literally anything could be the true answer.  And yes I know not literally anything could be the answer, I'm just saying that's what it feels like.

In things that are much less ambiguous, Phillip and Elizabeth have playful flirting... until it isn't.  Whew that was not at all where I was expecting that story to go.  So most shows, upon having a wife find out that her husband is an animal in bed by another woman, would probably make Elizabeth jealous.  And I'm talking most shows in a theoretical world where the husband and wife are also spies.  I think you get my point.  This show takes in a different direction, having Elizabeth be... turned on.  Well, ok.  I only hope my future wife would be so understanding.  /Snorts.

And then she tries to get him to become Clark.  Which... leads to one of the most unsexy sex scenes I have ever seen.  Whew, that was brutal.  Phillip knew what he does with Martha - assuming that's what he does with her, I honestly don't know - wouldn't work on Elizabeth, because of her previous rape. (If you can remember that information from way back in the pilot)  And then Elizabeth cries and Phillip cries, and it was just one of the most horrific things you can imagine.

Also an unsexy sex scene?  The sex scene between Lucia and Carl.  That just made me uncomfortable.  I really like Lucia and think finding out a young agent learning the ropes from Elizabeth is an extremely fascinating thing to watch.  Hope this continues!  Also, that was a brutal scene to watch when Lucia murders Carl.  Man, I know I keep saying brutal to describe scenes, but... it's apparently this show's specialty.

 And lastly, Paige quits the volleyball team because she likes the religious group she joined.  She says she's not a liar, which probably indicates she doesn't want to be like her parents, who she's pretty sure are liars.  Yeah that storyline is leading to nowhere good for anybody.

Whew I feel exhausted after watching that.  Emotionally.  I'm going to watch last night's episode on Monday and also post the review/recap then.  I really want to continue this feature, but it's a little difficult when I'm so behind.  But I should be caught up by next week's episode and I will hopefully be back on track.

Vikings S1 Review

I'd be lying if I said Vikings is a welcome surprise as going into it, I was pretty sure I was going to like it.  However, there is certainly something to be said for meeting expectations.  Vikings is a brutal, beautiful show that goes beyond what it needs to.  That is to say, Vikings is very clearly intended for a certain demographic and that demographic will want plenty of blood spilled and a chance to see humans at their most barbarian.  However, Vikings manages to do the impossible: makes us sympathize with these barbarians.

Filmed on location in Ireland, one of the show's greatest strengths is its landscape.  It is just beautifully shot.  With 70 percent of its scenes filmed outdoors, the show thrives on seeming authentic.  It's probably an underrated aspect: if the setting is inadequate, Vikings probably doesn't succeed.

Vikings is also very clearly singular in its mission.  The entire first season was written by the creator, Michael Hirst.  While that can certainly be a burden (See: Downton Abbey), it can also be a strength if that man is a really good writer (See: True Detective).  I'm going to say that Vikings is in the middle of those two shows, but much closer to True Detective than the former.

Hirst is the right man for the job and not just because the end product tells me so.  He has considerable experience writing historical fiction.  He has created two other shows, The Tudors and Camelot, and wrote another movie, Elizabeth (which was well reviewed and stars Cate Blanchett if you're interested).  And to a person with no knowledge of viking history, but who has done a little research, it appears as if he is combining different aspects of differing viking cultures, however it's mostly accurate to the period.  Of course, I'm assuming most of you won't be complaining about anachronistic details on this show if you're like me with little knowledge.

Vikings benefits heavily in my opinion from casting mostly unknowns.  More importantly, these unknowns can act.  Vikings is in such a different setting and such a different time period, highly recognizable actors could somewhat ruin the experience.  There's only two actors who are somewhat famous, Gabriel Byrne and Donal Logue.  Byrne is virtually unrecognizable and probably the weakest part of the show.  He plays the main antagonist and is never really that compelling as his lone defining character trait is that he's really fucking evil.  Logue fits in much better, although doesn't appear until later in the season.  (I also may be letting Terriers influence my opinion of Logue)

The star of the show, Travis Fimmel, is a revelation.  With piercing, blue eyes and a sly grin, Fimmel plays Ragnar Lothbrook as a cunning, enigmatic man.  You never get the sense that you know what he will do, but you are interested to find out.  He is patient, smart, and clearly a cut above the rest of the vikings.

While Fimmel carries the show, Gustaf Skarsgård steals scenes.  It's hard to explain how fun it is to watch him play Floki.  He is a squirrely, thrill-seeking shit starter.  Also awesome is Ragnar's wife Lagertha, played by Kathryn Winnick.  She's a shield maiden and as big of a badass as any man on this show.  Yes, women also kick ass on this show, not just men.  Also notable is the portrayal of Athelstan, as played by George Blagden.  Athelstan is our audience surrogate, a Christian priest who is taken as a slave of Ragnar's.  The interactions between Blagden and Fimmel are some of the most compelling and is what I'm talking about when I say the show goes beyond what it needs.

The interactions between Blagden and Fimmel mostly center on religion, namely the pagan and Christian religions.  This is a pretty important part of the show in fact as it is responsible for a lot of the disdain between England and the vikings.  Both are afraid and insulted by each other's.  That is except Ragnar, who seeks out knowledge about the Christian religion.  Don't worry, Ragnar is not "enlightened" to follow Christianity.  That would be troublesome.  No, the show deftly handles religion without seeming to posit an opinion one way or the other.

I can't believe I wrote eight paragraphs before talking about the greatness that is the battle scenes.  The battle scenes are in all but one episode and all of them are fantastically done.  They aren't just action for action's sake as the battles reveals a part of the fabric of viking culture.  They are efficient, almost workmanlike in their battle strategies.  They are necessarily brutal and cold, worthy of any stories you may have heard of vikings.

I mentioned before that the show is beautiful, but it's not only because of the location.  The three directors called upon for these nine episodes, all do a marvelous job.  The first three episodes are directed by Johan Renck, who directed three Breaking Bad episodes including the great "Hermanos."  The next three are by Ciaran Donnelly, previously affiliated with Hirst on The Tudors.  And the last three are by Ken Girotti, who has directed 89 television shows including Orphan Black, 24, and Rescue Me.  The talent of the directors certainly shows in these episodes.

Unfortunately, the show has some weak spots.  Whether due to the acting or the writing, Rollo as played by Clive Standen is never really that great of a character.  Rollo, Ragnar's brother who vies for Ragnar's position and respect, is a bit one-note.  He mostly exists to provide opposition to Ragnar and not much else.  (In my opinion, he's poorly written as Standen does what he can)  In the battle scenes, he almost always recommends attacking immediately without thinking.  The show seems to have a bit of a problem with writing compelling or interesting villains as Byrnes' Earl Haraldson is similarly uninteresting. (In my opinion, Byrnes didn't bring his A game to this role and is part of the reason the character falls flat)

But overall, Vikings has managed to create a semi-realistic world that is completely foreign to our own.  They strike a tough balance between making the vikings clearly different, yet relatable enough not to alienate the audience.  It's a tricky balance that the show has thus far pulled off.  With great acting, gorgeous scenery, and well-done battle scenes, Vikings is a show you should probably be watching.

Grade - B+

Playlist

1. "Baby Blue" - Badfinger

2. "The Vampyre of Time and Memory" - Queens of the Stone Age

3. "Woman with the Tattooed Hands" - Atmosphere

4. "I'm Not a Part of Me" - Cloud Nothings

5. "Cross My Mind" - Twin Forks