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The Americans: No Russian

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Posts

  • DoobhDoobh She/Her, Ace Pan/Bisexual 8-) What's up, bootlickers?Registered User regular
    I'd pay for FX access online

    ...do they offer that?

    Miss me? Find me on:

    Twitch (I stream most days of the week)
    Twitter (mean leftist discourse)
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    This show is pretty great yes

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    Oh hey

    They did what fucking Heroes was supposed to do and the thing that probably would not have completely fucked it up

    Awesome

    pretty sure heroes would have fucked up a second season anyways because the first season was actually pretty bad

  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    Nah

    First season was pretty damn good

    Even really liked the finale, they should have just left it at that and started fresh with new characters in a new city

  • useruser Registered User regular
    Dubh wrote: »
    I'd pay for FX access online

    ...do they offer that?

    The closest you can get is to pick up each show you're interested in, the next day after it airs on Amazon VoD, $1.99 Standard Def, $2.99 High Def.

    Steepish, but I am personally crazy enough to do this for some shows I especially like, Justified and Breaking Bad. Still overall way cheaper than paying for cable.

  • JandaruJandaru New ZealandRegistered User regular
    edited February 2013
    Wait, this show just started on New Zealand TV last week.
    I assumed the season finale would have aired in the States at least six months ago by now...

    Jandaru on
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  • PharezonPharezon Struggle is an illusion. Victory is in the Qun.Registered User regular
    Jandaru wrote: »
    Wait, this show just started on New Zealand TV last week.
    I assumed the season finale would have aired in the States at least six months ago by now...

    Clearly there's an error.

    jkZziGc.png
  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Okay, I watched the second episode tonight. I really, really liked it! It actually did a pretty solid job of correcting lots of my issues from the pilot. Softened the rough edges on the characters, fleshed out the relationships in more nuanced, interesting ways. And I'm really loving how cold war paranoia soaks every scene, which is a nice tonic to the boring-ass 80s worship that seems to plague our generation. It's also given me a little nerd-thrill in the scenes all in Russian, because the subtitles are simplified but the Russian is real. Like, the name that pops up in the subtitles will be "Vassilli" or something, but the name the character says out loud will vary based on the status of whoever's saying it - "Vasilli Petrovitch," or "Vasi" or "Vasilli." It's really subtle, and something I probably wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't read Brothers Karamazov last year.

    I think I'm officially totally on board with this show.

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Oh, and I loved the mirror plots in this episode, with both sides of the war exploiting/blackmailing innocent(ish) civilians for the sake of the Greater Good. It ain't subtle commentary, but I appreciate it all the same.

    The little jab towards the end about racism in the CIA office was another nicely ironic touch, showing how even the people fighting for "American freedom" have this inequality in their own ranks, and ain't totally free themselves. Again, it ain't subtle, but I still dig it.

  • FrankoFranko Sometimes I really wish I had four feet so I could dance with myself to the drumbeat Registered User regular
    is this show funny or...?

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Not as funny as your face.

    But no, not really. It's a spy drama. It has some killer jokes from time to time, and can score big laughs when it wants to (typically of an ironic or gallows-humor sort), but comedy ain't its main goal by a long shot

  • FrankoFranko Sometimes I really wish I had four feet so I could dance with myself to the drumbeat Registered User regular
    well, maybe I'll watch it, I dunno
    we'll see
    I'll think about it
    I SAID I'LL THINK ABOUT IT

  • TallaclasseeTallaclassee you ever seen a lion limber up before it takes down a gazelleRegistered User regular
    Sigh I was kinda hoping to break my topic posting cherry with an Americans thread. Love this show.

  • VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    This show is hitting all the right buttons for me.

    Also Matthew Rhys looks so dang familiar to me, but I can't figure out where I've seen him or who he reminds me of.

  • Tommy2HandsTommy2Hands what is this where am i Registered User regular
    okay so I'm watching the pilot and tusk just started playing this show is fantastic

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  • FugitiveFugitive Registered User regular
    Vann Diras wrote: »
    What did American Horror Story do, exactly? (I don't really care about horror, just curious)

    For its second season, it cut all ties to season one. Different setting, characters, everything. A few actors crossed over, but playing entirely new people.

    For a TV show, that's nuts. Having each season act as a standalone, longform story, with the only connective tissue being aesthetic and loosely thematic. It's the sort of format that would be amazing applied to all sorts of genres, if it's allowed to take off.

    shit

    this is what i've wanted from TV shows for a long time

    way to go, fx

    Yeah. Even though the show ain't my cup of tea, and I think Ryan Murphy is a knob and a half, it's a pretty big deal.

    I had no idea American Horror Story was Ryan Murphy's biz.

    How many racial and homosexual caricatures does it shoehorn in?

  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    there was a super super ridiculous homosexual ghost couple in the first season (yes really)

    I dont know about season 2.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • PharezonPharezon Struggle is an illusion. Victory is in the Qun.Registered User regular
    Great episode.
    Mags!!!

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  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Really dug tonight's episode. You know your spy show's on the right track when two people passing on the street without saying anything is tense fuckin' drama.

    They layered on the dramatic irony a liiiiitle thick with the
    Cut from "I guess travel agenting isn't that dangerous" to the trunk full of weapons
    But I think the make up for it with
    The ongoing motif of communication difficulties, both technical and interpersonal, plaguing intelligence agencies and marriages alike.

    It ain't exactly subtle, but they never lay it on too thick.

    Also, here is a fun song about the Reagan assassination, and Alexander Haig's infamously poor word choice:

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3GIWwF1fXs

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Hmm, wonder why that didn't imbed.

  • Rock Lobster!Rock Lobster! Registered User regular
    gotta add http:// to the beginning
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3GIWwF1fXs

    Steam | BNet: Eits#1367
  • PharezonPharezon Struggle is an illusion. Victory is in the Qun.Registered User regular
    I'm kind of annoyed how they keep portraying Elizabeth as the one we're not supposed to root for.

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  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    Oh man, I've started watching this on Hulu (episodes posted 8 days behind the broadcast schedule, ugh)... and it's pretty good. Favorite line from the pilot?

    "Just getting into space is an accomplishment."

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  • ErlecErlec Registered User regular
    I like the show even though it feels like I'm the wrong target audience (I have not lived through the 80s, no personal memory of the soviet union, not american). I do enjoy the fact that both sides are the right side (although I fear they will tend to antagonize the FBI agents more) and there's alot more then both sides are saying (also real grateful that they started talking in russian after the pilot, most annoying thing for me in the pilot). Hopefully the quality won't dip throughout the series.

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  • Munkus BeaverMunkus Beaver You don't have to attend every argument you are invited to. Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Really dug tonight's episode. You know your spy show's on the right track when two people passing on the street without saying anything is tense fuckin' drama.

    They layered on the dramatic irony a liiiiitle thick with the
    Cut from "I guess travel agenting isn't that dangerous" to the trunk full of weapons
    But I think the make up for it with
    The ongoing motif of communication difficulties, both technical and interpersonal, plaguing intelligence agencies and marriages alike.

    It ain't exactly subtle, but they never lay it on too thick.

    Also, here is a fun song about the Reagan assassination, and Alexander Haig's infamously poor word choice:

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3GIWwF1fXs

    The show is about marriage, it just happens to have spies.

    Also, last weeks episode just went up on Hulu for people who want to get caught up to watch tonight's episode.

    Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
  • jkylefultonjkylefulton Squid...or Kid? NNID - majpellRegistered User regular
    This is a fantastic show.

    For those on the fence, there's a marathon of all five episodes on Friday. Good DVR fodder.

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  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    One thing that I'm really digging about this show, but it only clicked tonight that I'm digging it:

    In most spy stories, the spies are saving the world. They might get their hands dirty, they might damn themselves in the process, but the endgame is "lives are saved via these actions." The question they usually ask is, "How much can you justify to save a life?" Even a show like Homeland, which gets into some moral-shades-of-gray territory, has an overall goal of preventing big terrorist acts. But on The Americans, the actions of intelligence agencies on both sides of the conflict constantly make things worse. They get shit wrong, act off of assumptions, and regularly destroy civilian lives. Which is kind of refreshing to see. And sadly still relevant, given that we're still in a war that was started with bad intelligence.

    I'm sure it's been explored elsewhere, in stuff I haven't seen yet, but I'm liking it a lot here.

  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    It's also an interesting take because while yes, they're spies, history tells us that ultimately, their side lost. So it's not about the missions, it's about the couple and how they have to deal with their cover and their kids.

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  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    A not-insignificant part of me hopes desperately that they'll veer suddenly into alternate history

    That would be the shit

  • PharezonPharezon Struggle is an illusion. Victory is in the Qun.Registered User regular
    Loved this week's episode a ton.

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  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Just now catching up on this week's episode. That's one hell of a cold open.

  • VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    Ahaha, dang Elizabeth
    "Show them your face! Show it to them!"

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Rest of the episode more than lived up to the cold open. Easily my favorite episode to date.

    This feels like it's shaping up to be one of the truly-great debut seasons, if it can keep this up. Having a really strong episode six or seven seems to be this weird indicator for how solid a show's first season is gonna be overall. Seems to be when everything fully clicks in to place. Like, for instance, Breaking Bad's episode six was "Crazy Handful of Nothin'" (aka the one with fulminated mercury). Homeland's episode seven was "The Weekend." Mad Men's episode six was "Babylon," where Peggy started her upward climb. That's some good company to be in.

    I've gotta start stumping harder for this show. People need to be watching it.

  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    And it has been greenlit for a second season two.

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  • godmodegodmode Southeast JapanRegistered User regular
    This show is pretty good. I'm not hooked yet, but it's good.

  • PharezonPharezon Struggle is an illusion. Victory is in the Qun.Registered User regular
    Never drink tea.

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  • Dead LegendDead Legend Registered User regular
    God, I love this show.

    diablo III - beardsnbeer#1508 Mechwarrior Online - Rusty Bock
  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Really, really enjoyed the latest episode on a thematic level, and thought the final scene was a real stunner. But did this feel rushed/overstuffed to anybody else? Like, I think it could've been spread out over two episodes easily, and everything could've had some more room to breathe. Some moments were sped through so quickly that I felt they didn't resonate quite as much as they could've.

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