"Should we tell Paige about this?"
Well, I'll say that The Americans achieved just about the most natural exposition-delivering device I've ever seen on television. In an obvious development between the relationship of Paige and her parents, Phillip and Elizabeth tell Paige an update on their latest mission. Not only is it an important plot point, but boy did I need that update. Sometimes these plots can be too dense for me to follow and having a literal newbie to this thing get it explained to her was helpful. Granted, this is certainly not the first show or movie to have characters deliver exposition to a "new" character, but I don't think I've ever seen it done where it was, you know, a plot development and the natural next point in a relationship.
Paige can only handle so much though, at least right now. I have absolutely no idea what the endgame plan is for Paige - she turns to Russia, she rejects her parents, she dies? - I feel like literally anything could happen at this point. Her parents tell her this to distract her from Matthew with the theory being that she'll be so concerned with their mission, Matthew will seem unimportant. Which is true and is what happened, but damn: Paige is going to be even more stressed out than before. (Hypothetically, imagining what her parents are doing could stress her out more though than getting told what they are doing, even if they aren't strictly telling her the whole truth.)
They tell her for obvious reasons. The potential problem, as Elizabeth and Phillip understand it, is literally life or death for Russians. They don't need to pretend at all here. They are genuinely trying to prevent a disaster from happening. It's also the next logical step in gaining Paige's trust. Share specific details about a mission after trying the whole "be as vague as possible" strategy.
Paige seems to be trusting her parents more too. She employs the thumb trick when evading Matthew's question about what's wrong with her (with a helpful update on the progress of Stan and Laurie Holden's relationship - still going strong, Stan's crazy about her). She finds it remarkably easy to lie, even though she feels gross doing it. Like I said, this could go in about a million different directions and I'm honestly not sure in which direction that will land.
Phillip and Elizabeth get a lead from Gabriel to go to Oklahoma to further investigate the bugs. I'm not entirely sure they made much progress. The bug is a type of midge that destroys grain, but they found that out from Gabriel. Randy, that poor, poor guy, said that it was a weed killer and that they shipped 400 eggs to a location we are not currently privy to. But honestly, it's possible it's just a weed killer. Then again, it was curious at how top secret the whole thing seemed to be, which would certainly indicate there's something to their worries.
We also find out more information about Alexei, the apparently main source of this season. He unexpectedly left the country without telling his son or wife. So he's probably a traitor to the USSR. That's not a surprise in the slightest but it does help explain why neither his son or wife are happy with their move. Once again, he talks shit on Russia again and Elizabeth manages to not immediately strangle him on the spot.
Unless I missed it before, we find more details about Tuan too. He's from Vietnam so he is definitely very angry with the US for damaging his country. He seems weirdly convinced that the US is definitely going to destroy the USSR, which I found odd. You'd think he would think the US would lose given whose side he is on. He has an extreme hatred of Alexei. Honestly, I think it's about time to place bets on who kills Alexei between him and Elizabeth. I'll take Elizabeth.
In Russia, Oleg is trying to avoid being a traitor in his country and it's unclear if he'll succumb, but for now he knows the Americans have something on him. He missed his meeting with a secret agent, but they found him and placed a tape of him in his pocket that would probably not go over too well with his superiors. At least it seemed like he was good at his job, sweet talking the grocery store manager into giving up her source for the good groceries. She definitely seems like she's going to rat that person out. Stay tuned for the extremely slow burn on: food corruption in Russia.
Lastly, Stan and Aderholt try with little success to talk to a man involved with the Amtorg Trading Corporation. Wikipedia is not very clear on what the organization does, but it seems as if it was mostly dead during this part of the Cold War and became extinct when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1988. So I have no idea how this is relevant. Again, slow burn of The Americans happening here.
Notes
- We got a very quick flashback to Phillip's childhood. Matthew Rhys did that thing where he just stares at a mirror and with his eyes alone you can tell what he's feeling. Honestly it was a quick enough flashback that I'm not entirely sure what that scene was about except to point out how poor he was when growing up. I expected flashbacks to be a recurring thing throughout the episode, but nope. Just that two minute flashback.
- MARTHA IS ALIVE. That is literally all we get. She's shopping at the same place Oleg is.
- More slow incremental progress on Mischa coming to America - He needs to go from Yugoslavia to Austria and his mom's source has gone to prison, so he's dealing with an unknown here. This guy seems perfectly willing to screw over Mischa.
- "You think it would be fair to put that burden on him?" Man Elizabeth is good. It's not that it would be wrong to tell him the truth, but THINK about how Matthew would feel? As if Elizabeth gives even a single shit about Matthew. I also thought Elizabeth gave some pretty bad advice to Paige about relationships, but I suppose it's not terrible advice in the spy business.
- Phillip somewhat agreed with Alexei about why Russia has such problems growing their own grain and Elizabeth responded with tenderness instead of lashing out. Those two are in a good place right now.
- Ok I can't be the only one who laughed at that final line right?
Playlist
"Old Flame" - Alabama - 1981 country song that accompanied some good ole fashioned banging
"More Than This" - Roxy Music - 1982 pop song that accompanied some good ole fashioned murdering
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
The Americans "Pests"
"They used to have a Lincoln. Now they have a Reagan"
Due to the nature of the Cold War, both the Russians and Americans are developing technology and toxins that would destroy the other side in unconventional ways. Usually in a war, it's relatively simple: shoot the other guy. Sure, it's more complicated than that and you still have to be creative in order to win, but you can be direct. Here both sides had to get extremely creative in ways to destroy the enemy.
In 1984 - at least in this particular show, which is usually based off facts - it's now a war on food. According to intel by the Russians delivered via Gabriel, the Americans are trying to infect food with a deadly pathogen. Phillip and Elizabeth are both aghast at this revelation, because it was understood that there were unspoken rules in this cold war. But if one side is willing to contaminate food - and let's face it the Russians are 100 percent also willing to do the same - then it leads nowhere good.
I confess: I really love Alexei Morozov. I am as certain as one can be that he is going to die, probably at the hands of a seething Elizabeth, but for now, I'm glad he's alive. He's got an infectious enthusiasm for all the options he has for food. He probably loves America as much as the most patriotic Americans. Anyway, this scene was kind of a rehash of last week's scene: he praises the food options, talks shit on Russia. We do find out his son, Pasha, really misses living in Russia. It's teenager talk, but he'd rather die there than live in America.
We also get a bit more backstory on Tuan, whose entirely family was murdered. It usually takes me two or three times to understand everything going on, but basically I don't actually know where Tuan is from and whether his country was bombed by Russia or America. Sorry. He had an earlier scene where he explained "he's one of them" because "have you seen what communists did to my country?" which implies that it was Russians, but I don't really know why he'd be spying for them if that were the case. Either way, there's his motivation. He also calls Pasha weak and that he can get him to do anything he wants. He's definitely a good addition to the cast.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth checks out a farm and sees... something. She doesn't know either. She breaks into a greenhouse and discovers crops as far as the eye can see. She's browsing through and eventually finds herself by a collection of crops with bugs everywhere. Literally everywhere. I got itchy just watching that scene. This seems to be proof enough that the Americans are tampering with the food. Whatever rules the Cold War had before, the goalposts have moved.
The Americans are breaking the unstated rules in other ways too. Stan and Oleg had a good rapport, understanding, and due to that, both were able to avoid a disaster. Oleg has moved to his home country, investigating fraud among the very rich - no real news on that yet - but the FBI has taken this as a sign that they need to turn him as an agent. This suddenly and dramatically lowered Oleg's odds of living past this decade. Stan is pissed at this, and understandably so. Oleg essentially just saved the fucking world and in return, he's going to get fucked. They are going to use his humanity against him.
In other Stan news, the pathetic grade school pining last episode has morphed into a full blown relationship with at least one great date. Due to the fact that the show talks about Stan's love life a ridiculous amount in these two episodes - like seriously who gives a fuck - and that she's played by Laurie Holden and, let's face it, she's out of his league - something tells me she's way more important than simple love interest would suggest.
The most obvious route to go is that she's an agent too, which would make sense. It'd be weird if they didn't tell the Jennings this though. But honestly, his dick already got him into hot water with Nina so that appears to be the way to make Stan vulnerable. Then again, remember how that ended. He ultimately chose his country. The show reminds us here that Stan is a good agent too. He notices that Paige is not happy. He loves the relationship between Paige and Matthew, but he picks up on her general "off-ness."
You know who does not love the relationship between those two? Phillip and Elizabeth. They are fucking terrified of it in fact. They have reason to worry. Paige and Matthew have progressed to boob-touching. I don't know if it's because the show has put me so effectively into Phillip and Elizabeth's shoes or what, but I do not feel comfortable watching those scenes. The making out is painfully realistic - natural, but very awkward looking for two teenagers - and that goes a long way towards making me want to move the fuck on to the next scene.
All things considered, they are taking it pretty well. The self-defense classes continue and they are going to start teaching her ways to not accidentally tell him things. The rubbing of the thumb and index finger seems particularly helpful if you want to calm down. Funny how that works. I might actually do that the next time I'm stressed. They apparently don't care if she has sex, which I find weird, but makes sense because of how they use sex for their job. In all, I do think this was a lesser episode of The Americans - but that's still pretty good for most shows.
Notes
- I've never actually taken self-defense classes and the creators attention to detail is good enough that I trust this is actually a technique, but the casually swinging your arms and hitting that target does not seem useful to me.
- Also, I think in TV (and movies of course), sound effects are added after production - what you hear is not necessarily what you would actually hear if you watched the scene being filmed in the background - and the strength with which she was swinging her arms was considerably weaker than the noise that was supposedly coming from her hitting the target. I don't know if I was the only one noticing that.
- IMDB informs me that Holden is in six episodes of this show. She's probably a more important character than Stan's last girlfriend (who was also considerably out of his league. Sorry Noah Emmerich)
- Interesting that this episode was written by the creators themselves. Usually more important things happen when creators write an episode. Oh well. It was directed by Chris Long, his second straight episode of the season.
- I suspect the people who found the digging scene boring will not like this episode either. Just a guess.
Due to the nature of the Cold War, both the Russians and Americans are developing technology and toxins that would destroy the other side in unconventional ways. Usually in a war, it's relatively simple: shoot the other guy. Sure, it's more complicated than that and you still have to be creative in order to win, but you can be direct. Here both sides had to get extremely creative in ways to destroy the enemy.
In 1984 - at least in this particular show, which is usually based off facts - it's now a war on food. According to intel by the Russians delivered via Gabriel, the Americans are trying to infect food with a deadly pathogen. Phillip and Elizabeth are both aghast at this revelation, because it was understood that there were unspoken rules in this cold war. But if one side is willing to contaminate food - and let's face it the Russians are 100 percent also willing to do the same - then it leads nowhere good.
I confess: I really love Alexei Morozov. I am as certain as one can be that he is going to die, probably at the hands of a seething Elizabeth, but for now, I'm glad he's alive. He's got an infectious enthusiasm for all the options he has for food. He probably loves America as much as the most patriotic Americans. Anyway, this scene was kind of a rehash of last week's scene: he praises the food options, talks shit on Russia. We do find out his son, Pasha, really misses living in Russia. It's teenager talk, but he'd rather die there than live in America.
We also get a bit more backstory on Tuan, whose entirely family was murdered. It usually takes me two or three times to understand everything going on, but basically I don't actually know where Tuan is from and whether his country was bombed by Russia or America. Sorry. He had an earlier scene where he explained "he's one of them" because "have you seen what communists did to my country?" which implies that it was Russians, but I don't really know why he'd be spying for them if that were the case. Either way, there's his motivation. He also calls Pasha weak and that he can get him to do anything he wants. He's definitely a good addition to the cast.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth checks out a farm and sees... something. She doesn't know either. She breaks into a greenhouse and discovers crops as far as the eye can see. She's browsing through and eventually finds herself by a collection of crops with bugs everywhere. Literally everywhere. I got itchy just watching that scene. This seems to be proof enough that the Americans are tampering with the food. Whatever rules the Cold War had before, the goalposts have moved.
The Americans are breaking the unstated rules in other ways too. Stan and Oleg had a good rapport, understanding, and due to that, both were able to avoid a disaster. Oleg has moved to his home country, investigating fraud among the very rich - no real news on that yet - but the FBI has taken this as a sign that they need to turn him as an agent. This suddenly and dramatically lowered Oleg's odds of living past this decade. Stan is pissed at this, and understandably so. Oleg essentially just saved the fucking world and in return, he's going to get fucked. They are going to use his humanity against him.
In other Stan news, the pathetic grade school pining last episode has morphed into a full blown relationship with at least one great date. Due to the fact that the show talks about Stan's love life a ridiculous amount in these two episodes - like seriously who gives a fuck - and that she's played by Laurie Holden and, let's face it, she's out of his league - something tells me she's way more important than simple love interest would suggest.
The most obvious route to go is that she's an agent too, which would make sense. It'd be weird if they didn't tell the Jennings this though. But honestly, his dick already got him into hot water with Nina so that appears to be the way to make Stan vulnerable. Then again, remember how that ended. He ultimately chose his country. The show reminds us here that Stan is a good agent too. He notices that Paige is not happy. He loves the relationship between Paige and Matthew, but he picks up on her general "off-ness."
You know who does not love the relationship between those two? Phillip and Elizabeth. They are fucking terrified of it in fact. They have reason to worry. Paige and Matthew have progressed to boob-touching. I don't know if it's because the show has put me so effectively into Phillip and Elizabeth's shoes or what, but I do not feel comfortable watching those scenes. The making out is painfully realistic - natural, but very awkward looking for two teenagers - and that goes a long way towards making me want to move the fuck on to the next scene.
All things considered, they are taking it pretty well. The self-defense classes continue and they are going to start teaching her ways to not accidentally tell him things. The rubbing of the thumb and index finger seems particularly helpful if you want to calm down. Funny how that works. I might actually do that the next time I'm stressed. They apparently don't care if she has sex, which I find weird, but makes sense because of how they use sex for their job. In all, I do think this was a lesser episode of The Americans - but that's still pretty good for most shows.
Notes
- I've never actually taken self-defense classes and the creators attention to detail is good enough that I trust this is actually a technique, but the casually swinging your arms and hitting that target does not seem useful to me.
- Also, I think in TV (and movies of course), sound effects are added after production - what you hear is not necessarily what you would actually hear if you watched the scene being filmed in the background - and the strength with which she was swinging her arms was considerably weaker than the noise that was supposedly coming from her hitting the target. I don't know if I was the only one noticing that.
- IMDB informs me that Holden is in six episodes of this show. She's probably a more important character than Stan's last girlfriend (who was also considerably out of his league. Sorry Noah Emmerich)
- Interesting that this episode was written by the creators themselves. Usually more important things happen when creators write an episode. Oh well. It was directed by Chris Long, his second straight episode of the season.
- I suspect the people who found the digging scene boring will not like this episode either. Just a guess.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
The Americans: "Amber Waves"
"Nothing scares those two." - Gabriel
"Everything scares those two." - Claudia
Welcome to the fifth season of The Americans, the greatest show currently on television. The show wastes no time in the premiere episode of the penultimate season. Here's a show completely unafraid to throw you into the proceedings with no context and little indication of what exactly this has to do with the show we love. It trusts the viewers to put the pieces together. That could lead to a slightly frustrating experience when first watching it, but believe me when you rewatch the show, you'll be grateful they didn't hold your hand. Also I'm bringing back my episodic reviews of The Americans. Obviously.
The fifth season starts with an unknown, later revealed to be Tuan Eckert. He befriends a lonely Russian transfer student, who can barely speak English. He clearly does not want to be there as being a Russian who can barely speak English in the middle of the Cold War is high on the list of undesirable places. Pasha plays son to Elizabeth and Phillip in this episode. For maximum confusion, he comes home to them and calls them mom and dad and to make matters weirder, both are wearing disguises. Actually, it would have been weirder if they weren't.
It seems clear that they are targeting the Russian transfer student because of his father. He hates the ever living shit out of Russia. I actually thought Elizabeth would strangle him on the spot. He also touts the beauty of being able to get food wherever you want in America. This dude is not long for this world. Anyway, he has something to do with agriculture. Russia's farming in the post-credits scene does... not look good. It looks like food within the Soviet Union would be an important plot point throughout this season. The Jennings cultivating (sorry) a source that is connected with agriculture and Oleg investigating food corruption.
Speaking of Oleg, this episode is just an introduction to his new digs. He decided to come home to comfort his mother, who has still not gotten over the death of her son. He is living in Moscow, specifically Lubyanka, which is the headquarters of KGB. His new boss seems nice. His boss (whose name I did not get) will be primarily investigating popular people who use bribery, extortion and such to take control of food. He believes it is the "chief threat against the Soviet Union." So we'll guess we'll be getting an inside look at the self-destruction of the Soviet Union for the rest of the series that's mostly just been hinted at so far.
Paige does not appear to have improved her relationship with her parents whatsoever since she saw her mother kill a mugger in front of her. She's having nightmares. Elizabeth's solution is to teach her basic self-defense. I'm not actually sure this will help her with her nightmares, but it's a good idea nonetheless given that they are spies. Neither parent wants her to be with Matthew, but that does not appear to deter her much.
Speaking of which, there's a really weird dynamic going on between the Beeman family and the Jennings family. Apparently, both Henry and Paige started eating with Stan on a semi-regular basis for dinner. Stan also just comes over with beer later in the night to discuss how great it is that Matthew has Paige. Stan is happy, because Matthew is happy and because he has a crush on a girl at the gym. Stan has never seemed like a high school boy more than there with his "I met someone" actually meaning "I handed her a cup of water."
Lastly, Gabriel gives them a job and the show sure takes its time with this job. It's a simple job, but it takes forever and is highly dangerous. I guess no job is truly simple if it's really dangerous. They figure out the location of William's body (from Gabriel) and dig it up. It is dug really fucking far into the ground. The show expresses this point by taking about 8 minutes for the digging scene alone, though I did not count. They eventually get to him and CUT OFF A PIECE OF HIS SKIN. Jesus. Poor William. He didn't want to give this disease to the Soviet Union because he knows what it can do, which is probably part of why he was willing to kill himself and yet it gets out anyway.
All is going well until, Hans falls into the hole and cuts his hand on William. Hans was a minor character with no character development, but the actor portrayed with a naive innocence that made him sympathetic. So I was sorry to see him go. He somewhat stupidly was delighted at how it didn't hurt and didn't realize that he was going to need to die. Like I said, the actor did a good job giving him a naive innocence that was obviously an intentional part of his character. He sure went out like an idiot though.
Notes
- Mischa is on the way to America. For an idea of how good The Americans are at this, there's a tense scene where he needs to get past airport security. Despite the fact that he's obviously getting past it, I still felt tense. Not to mention, as a person rooting for the Jennings to somehow get out of this and live happily ever after stop laughing at me, it's probably better if the son doesn't reach Phillip.
- Claudia and Gabriel are aware that Mischa is missing and think he might be visiting Philip. They do not tell Philip this. I'm sure this will go splendidly for all.
- There's a great shot when Oleg is with his mother. The camera zooms in on a picture of his brother, but in the background is a mirror with Oleg and his mother talking right above it. It's a good way of expressing that neither of them have put his death behind them.
- The AV Club review of this mentions that the, well, mention of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics places this episode around February 1984.
- Any bets on how quickly the Russian father dies? The Americans tends to zig when I expect it to zag, but I'd still find it hard to believe he makes it out of the season.
- I was promised more Henry. I do not actually care if Henry is confined to one scene for the rest of the series. But I was promised.
- "What's the right time?" - Elizabeth ponders to Phillip about when to go back to Russia. Yeah you guys are never stepping foot in that country again - I'm guessing.
- Paige is reading The New Hotel Hampshire by John Irving (1981), which appears to be a coming-of-age novel. I haven't read this book, but sometimes shows like to make points about the show with quick shots of books or TV series reflecting the characters' reality.
- RIP Hans
Soundtrack
- "That's Good" - Devo
- There also appeared to be a Russian sung version of "America the Beautiful"
"Everything scares those two." - Claudia
The fifth season starts with an unknown, later revealed to be Tuan Eckert. He befriends a lonely Russian transfer student, who can barely speak English. He clearly does not want to be there as being a Russian who can barely speak English in the middle of the Cold War is high on the list of undesirable places. Pasha plays son to Elizabeth and Phillip in this episode. For maximum confusion, he comes home to them and calls them mom and dad and to make matters weirder, both are wearing disguises. Actually, it would have been weirder if they weren't.
It seems clear that they are targeting the Russian transfer student because of his father. He hates the ever living shit out of Russia. I actually thought Elizabeth would strangle him on the spot. He also touts the beauty of being able to get food wherever you want in America. This dude is not long for this world. Anyway, he has something to do with agriculture. Russia's farming in the post-credits scene does... not look good. It looks like food within the Soviet Union would be an important plot point throughout this season. The Jennings cultivating (sorry) a source that is connected with agriculture and Oleg investigating food corruption.
Speaking of Oleg, this episode is just an introduction to his new digs. He decided to come home to comfort his mother, who has still not gotten over the death of her son. He is living in Moscow, specifically Lubyanka, which is the headquarters of KGB. His new boss seems nice. His boss (whose name I did not get) will be primarily investigating popular people who use bribery, extortion and such to take control of food. He believes it is the "chief threat against the Soviet Union." So we'll guess we'll be getting an inside look at the self-destruction of the Soviet Union for the rest of the series that's mostly just been hinted at so far.
Paige does not appear to have improved her relationship with her parents whatsoever since she saw her mother kill a mugger in front of her. She's having nightmares. Elizabeth's solution is to teach her basic self-defense. I'm not actually sure this will help her with her nightmares, but it's a good idea nonetheless given that they are spies. Neither parent wants her to be with Matthew, but that does not appear to deter her much.
Speaking of which, there's a really weird dynamic going on between the Beeman family and the Jennings family. Apparently, both Henry and Paige started eating with Stan on a semi-regular basis for dinner. Stan also just comes over with beer later in the night to discuss how great it is that Matthew has Paige. Stan is happy, because Matthew is happy and because he has a crush on a girl at the gym. Stan has never seemed like a high school boy more than there with his "I met someone" actually meaning "I handed her a cup of water."
Lastly, Gabriel gives them a job and the show sure takes its time with this job. It's a simple job, but it takes forever and is highly dangerous. I guess no job is truly simple if it's really dangerous. They figure out the location of William's body (from Gabriel) and dig it up. It is dug really fucking far into the ground. The show expresses this point by taking about 8 minutes for the digging scene alone, though I did not count. They eventually get to him and CUT OFF A PIECE OF HIS SKIN. Jesus. Poor William. He didn't want to give this disease to the Soviet Union because he knows what it can do, which is probably part of why he was willing to kill himself and yet it gets out anyway.
All is going well until, Hans falls into the hole and cuts his hand on William. Hans was a minor character with no character development, but the actor portrayed with a naive innocence that made him sympathetic. So I was sorry to see him go. He somewhat stupidly was delighted at how it didn't hurt and didn't realize that he was going to need to die. Like I said, the actor did a good job giving him a naive innocence that was obviously an intentional part of his character. He sure went out like an idiot though.
Notes
- Mischa is on the way to America. For an idea of how good The Americans are at this, there's a tense scene where he needs to get past airport security. Despite the fact that he's obviously getting past it, I still felt tense. Not to mention, as a person rooting for the Jennings to somehow get out of this and live happily ever after stop laughing at me, it's probably better if the son doesn't reach Phillip.
- Claudia and Gabriel are aware that Mischa is missing and think he might be visiting Philip. They do not tell Philip this. I'm sure this will go splendidly for all.
- There's a great shot when Oleg is with his mother. The camera zooms in on a picture of his brother, but in the background is a mirror with Oleg and his mother talking right above it. It's a good way of expressing that neither of them have put his death behind them.
- The AV Club review of this mentions that the, well, mention of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics places this episode around February 1984.
- Any bets on how quickly the Russian father dies? The Americans tends to zig when I expect it to zag, but I'd still find it hard to believe he makes it out of the season.
- I was promised more Henry. I do not actually care if Henry is confined to one scene for the rest of the series. But I was promised.
- "What's the right time?" - Elizabeth ponders to Phillip about when to go back to Russia. Yeah you guys are never stepping foot in that country again - I'm guessing.
- Paige is reading The New Hotel Hampshire by John Irving (1981), which appears to be a coming-of-age novel. I haven't read this book, but sometimes shows like to make points about the show with quick shots of books or TV series reflecting the characters' reality.
- RIP Hans
Soundtrack
- "That's Good" - Devo
- There also appeared to be a Russian sung version of "America the Beautiful"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)