The Americans on FX

And you know the anti-Russian viewpoint is really going to chap Elizabeth's ass.

 

I can't believe the FBI/CIA got her. There was a sense of finality to that story line when they jumped ahead 7 months and the stress of that time seemed to be lifted from Phillip and Elizabeth. There is going to be some shit going down with Paige and the pastors here soon. The new FBI bossman is going to be interesting

 

I've posted this in another thread I think, but it would have been interesting if the show had started on a timeline some months earlier and shown the family watching the Miracle on Ice.

 

Hey, we should get Red Dawn some time next season.

 

I believe the movie carefully avoided pointing the finger at either nation for launching the first strike and just mentioned that both had used them in conflict in Europe that preceded Armageddon.

 

I really, really thought Martha was going to die in this episode. Even made a side bet on it. I was surprised at how quickly she was dismissed, even before the title sequence. I kept waiting for a lone gun shot or the plane to explode. Maybe I'm just used to the show killing someone for which it no longer has use.

At this point, I have to believe Martha's gone and that storyline is wrapped. There's no reason to resurrect it, and there really was a feeling of finality to Phillip watching the plane fly away. I have to stretch to come up with a reason she would reappear.

 

My guess is Martha will be back, at least in storyline. I agree with whoever made the comment earlier that she is/was pregnant. They made the reference to her abortion and the fight between Phillip and Elizabeth and the reference to her staying despite Phillip getting his son's mother pregnant.

 

I think she might be done for this season, but she's definitely back in a future one. Phillip also kept insisting that he wanted to send word to her parents, and it seemed like he wanted updates on her progress.

I do really love the show's unusual pacing. The Martha-on-a-jetplane thing would have been the end of the previous episode for most shows. But because they loaded it into the front of this week's episode, I was just tense and on edge from the jump. No show makes my spine tingle as much with dread for the running time as much as The Americans. Also, really like Frank Langella as Gabriel. His quiet intensity when he's pissed off at their breakdown, great stuff.

 

Did that departure remind anyone of the end of Casablanca? I kept waiting for Philip and Gabriel to walk off arm-in-arm ... "Loiue ..."

 

A real-life, much more recent version of "The Americans":

The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies

 

Thanks for posting. In case anyone was curious, the written note on the rolodex says, "Ivan, call me"

 

Yeah, after reading that I came away thinking it could provide an interesting direction for the show. Stan and the FBI find them out, but instead of arresting them right away, they spy on the spies.