The Americans on FX

Kornheiser has talked about it a lot on his radio show. He was off last week, but he wasn't sure that he survived the editor's cut

 

I guess it's pretty cool to be cast as a drunken relic of the 70s.

 

I'm interested in the Paige recruitment only as far as it affects Elizabeth and Phillip.

I just love this show. I love the differences and similarities they draw between Stan's life and Elizabeth/Phillip's life. The pressure and the toll it takes on their family lives.

 

Great episode. Didn't take Stan long to figure this one out, and loved the scene at the end with Sandy where he spills his guts about Nina.

 

RIP, Nina Sergeevna. Had to happen, though, for the sake of show's credibility.

Body count actually a little low so far, although tension is quite high. Loved Elizabeth's Natasha Fatale impression at the bowling alley. Still having a hard time forgiving her for offing nice old lady Betty last season. But the ice surrounding her actually appeared to melt somewhat in Episode 4.

 

It was really well past time. In an interview with Sepinwall, the producers said that this was the plan all along, and that the Nina role wasn't expanded because the actress. I'm not sure I believe them.

The tension in this show is unbearable at times. I wonder if they would have the balls to kill Philip off. Likely not.

 

Yep.
I'm curious to see how Oleg reacts.

 

We discussing Elizabeth's character change after the episode, specifically her change of mind regarding the solution for Pastor Tim.
The difference between a really well written show like this and say TWD, is 'The Americans' earns character change. You see Elizabeth change gradually over time as a result of the events in the story rather than 180 degrees turns out of nowhere accompanied by explanatory soliloquies.
Even when it's not great, this show is just very well done.

I'm still not sure why we've gotten so much of the Nina storyline, but the actress has been very good.
Did Oleg's father lie to him? Will this cause Oleg to act against Soviet interests?
Knowing how well the show is done, I know there will be some downstream consequence of Nina's death.

 

I suspect the die was cast for Nina before Oleg's dad had a chance to seriously move on it.

Will there be any Russian spoken on the show anymore? The Rezidentura hasn't received any scenes in a long time, and there's no longer anything to show in the USSR. Oddly, Arkady and John-Boy have had about 12 seconds of screen time between them this season. They were big players in the first two seasons.

 

Nina really sealed her fate with trying to smuggle out a letter. I think she had a shot until that, at which point the authorities just got tired of her shit.

 

It could also be that Oleg's dad did not intervene because he didn't want to tie Oleg down to his mother for the rest of her life. Or to facilitate what he saw weakness in his son with respect to Nina.

Regardless, I'm sure that turning him will be a plot line for the rest of the season.

 

Could well be Oleg's father had no time to intervene on Nina's behalf.
Could also be that Oleg won't believe that.
Or maybe his father lied and will claim he had no time to intervene. Perhaps he realized that Oleg's connection to Nina was a liability.
It certainly looks like the possible emotional fulcrum for flipping Oleg.