The Americans on FX

To me it's making both sides look incompetent. Neither side looks sympathetic.

 

Noah Emmerich is one tough bastard.

 

Also the sex scene last night, I don't know how it would be possible to be more explicit on non-premium TV.

 

"I think I have a cola here." Great line.

 

Yeah, not sure how they got that by the censors.

 

What censors? I thought the FCC had no jurisdiction on cable networks. Besides, last week's scene came much closer to X-rated than this week's.

Anyway, I watched it and, as is typical of this show, it kind of took my breath away. Stan shooting the Russian in the head only after congenially getting him to admit he was KGB over "American fast food" was brilliant.

I liked that we got to see a bunch of highly trained spies and officers acting out rash impulses. That was the theme of the episode. This is what happens when spies forget to act like spies for a second. This is why Elizabeth's guard is always so high, why Stan distances himself from everyone, why Phillip wants out of the game. These were very real stakes with very real repercussions. I'm wondering if Phillip ever disguises himself as "Clark" again. Surely Martha will be exposed for her role in all this.

But really, this was Stan's episode, and he was amazing. The flashback scenes were really well done. The scene with Stan and Nina in the car was gripping; you could see how much it hurt him to hurt her, but you could see him not caring about it. Nina became the enemy again, if only for a moment.

The stuff with the kids didn't work quite as well, mostly because Paige is not a very good actress. She fumbles over several lines and emotions, which becomes more noticeable when Henry nails them. It must be very, very difficult to cast child actors.

 

Stan's interrogation was a pseudo-Pulp Fiction rip off. Embarrassing.

 

That's absurd. The scene was similar only in the presence of a burger.

 

And it was actually a chicken sandwich ... a brilliant callback to Stan's whole "soft mouth" conversation earlier.

 

The guy who plays Stan should be a shoo-in for a supporting actor Emmy. Sorry, Jesse Pinkman and Boyd Crowder. This character is the best part of an amazing show, and the writing in the "soft-mouth" scene could've been a reach or bungled or stupid, but it was neither. It was great.

I kind of wish the Chris character had crossed paths with Philip at the party at Stan's house, even on the way to the bathroom or something, but whatever. Or if Martha had maybe attended, even after Philip left, just to have worlds colliding. This show isn't making many mistakes, though.

Also, Pulp Fiction is one of my favorites ever, and I never would've thought that was even inspired by the Big Kahuna burger scene, let alone a ripoff of it.

 

I just got done watching the episode and I don't even know what to say. I get a little tired of the Zach/Kelly drama with Phillip and Elizabeth, but when the knife went into Amador, I literally yelled out "Holy motherfucking shit."

Amador confronting Phillip was obviously going to happen after last week. But in the back of my mind, I was always expecting the classic TV tease where it looks like something serious is going to happen, but somehow they get out of it with the status quo intact (like when Elizabeth gets stuck in an FBI trunk). Even when the fight started, I expected Phillip to be ready to make a break for it.

But as soon as the knife goes in, you realize that you thought shit was real before, but in fact shit got real at that moment. Best moment of television I've seen in years.

 

I think Phillip said "Oh, shit!"