# I love “The Americans” but c’mon… **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 31, 2023, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083 "2023-01-31T01:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/21 "2023-02-01T19:58:49Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > A huge problem I have always had with this show is any and all of the conversations where people express positive feelings about the USSR… A longing to be there, a delight at returning, the idea of that somebody would be happy to be there. Favored members of the party likely have a better experience than others. Access to nicer living arrangements, consumer goods, automobiles, food, vacation areas, etc., etc. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/22 "2023-02-01T20:14:26Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > A huge problem I have always had with this show is any and all of the conversations where people express positive feelings about the USSR… Phillip and Elizabeth had been away from the USSR for something like 20 years when the show takes place. I took those sorts of conversations as a sign that they were viewing their memories of Mother Russia through rose colored glasses. And they probably just dismissed anything negative they heard about life in the USSR in the present day as American propaganda. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Still, I want to see the follow on, where Elizabeth settles down in mother Russia in her fifth floor walkup with no hot water and intermittent heat, and she has to stand in line for a meager ration of bread. And the sign on the door of the meat market, in this perfected Communist state, says “You do not need meat today.” Riding around in the Skoda taxis, remembering the Camaro, and she says, “You know, maybe America isn’t so bad.” Too late! I always kind of figured that as KGB agents, they were treated as heroes after returning home, and like the post above mine mentions, that would have gotten them access to nicer things than the average Soviet citizen. Sure, they did foil their coup attempt against Gorbachev, but I don’t know if the higher ups actually found out about that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/23 "2023-02-01T20:26:13Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > that would have gotten them access to nicer things than the average Soviet citizen. Those things I listed _were_ the nicer things! 🙂 Yes, I know, they put Rudolf Able on a stamp, despite not actually accomplishing anything except getting caught. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/24 "2023-02-01T21:41:20Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > A huge problem I have always had with this show is What, they didn’t make it look like the grimmest place on earth (or the moon, for that matter) enough for you? Every scene set in the Soviet Union looked like it was filmed through a wet sock. Sunless, joyless, cold, outdoors, indoors, every single shot. I had a hard believing anyplace could ever look that unrelentingly gray. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/25 "2023-02-01T22:58:34Z")
I feel like EVERYTHING I have ever seen about Russia, especially the Soviet era, makes it look ghastly. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/26 "2023-02-02T00:27:46Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I have no memory of them getting a child for Martha. That makes me happy. Poor Martha… Her handler took her to a playground where she could watch little kids having fun. I don’t remember if they were going to give her one to look after or not. There was a scene where she was alone in her new apartment frying potatoes or something. That’s about all we saw of her life in Moscow. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/27 "2023-02-02T03:24:20Z")
I think it was made clear that she was going to get a little girl. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/28 "2023-02-02T06:01:45Z")
I don’t remember that, but…I won’t argue it, either. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/29 "2023-02-02T08:22:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Her handler took her to a playground where she could watch little kids having fun. I don’t remember if they were going to give her one to look after or not. If I recall correctly it wasn’t explicit. They knew that Martha really wanted a daughter, and the handler pointed out that all of the children were orphans. Martha seems to connect with a young orphan girl, and I think the handler even says something to Martha like “we want you to be happy” or something along those lines. The implication is that Martha adopts the young girl and finally gets the daughter that she always wanted. I wouldn’t exactly say Martha lives happily ever after (it is the Soviet Union, after all) but it is a happy-ish ending for Martha. We don’t actually get to see Martha take the young girl home, but I think the implication is pretty strong. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/30 "2023-02-02T22:35:39Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > always kind of figured that as KGB agents, they were treated as heroes after returning home, and like the post above mine mentions, that would have gotten them access to nicer things than the average Soviet citizen. This is true, but even the highest ranking members of the nomenklatura only enjoyed a lifestyle comparable to middle class Americans. It wasn’t anything like how oligarchs live. Also life is _really_ going to go downhill for Nadezhda and Mischa when the USSR collapses in a few years. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/31 "2023-02-03T01:25:05Z")
They’ll probably open another tour bureau and clean up selling vacations to places like Egypt and Majorca. In a few years, that’ll be big business. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/32 "2023-02-03T19:34:11Z")
Your memory is astonishing. I just watched it a couple of days ago when did you watch it? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/33 "2023-02-03T22:53:55Z")
I watched it a couple of years ago. I saw commercials for it when it first came out and I didn’t think that I would like it. A lot of people said it was good, but then every time I watched a trailer for it I thought meh, that’s not going to be good. Then I finally watched it on Amazon Prime and really liked it. I think the trailers that they put out for it don’t do the show justice. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/34 "2023-02-04T01:07:37Z")
I hated when Liz dropped the Cuda on the guy in order to create a job opening. I mean, no gearhead is going to work on a car with just a jack. I had my first jackstands before I could drive. Plus, she killed him to create a job opening! Fuckin’ DIE, Elizabeth! ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/35 "2023-02-04T08:42:27Z")
Yeah, Elizabeth’s body count was pretty major. Y’all remember the old woman who liked to work late? That one stuck with me from the first time I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/36 "2023-02-04T10:32:46Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I mean, no gearhead is going to work on a car with just a jack. Unfortunately, I know one personally who did. He was killed when the jack slipped. So, sadly, this one is actually plausible. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/37 "2023-02-04T17:31:43Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > no gearhead is going to work on a car with just a jack Besides, she taught him a valuable safety lesson. Bet he never did that again. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/38 "2023-02-04T18:01:26Z")
I’ve always wished Paige had read about the sailor who was murdered because of her playing “Spy.” That might have knocked down her lofty ideals a bit. From a purely practical point of view, Elizabeth should have killed the kid she seduced. She was taking a big risk by letting him get away. They killed the entomologist for no reason at all. The guy was terrified. If they had just knocked him out and left quietly, the cops would have had a mystery with no answers. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/39 "2023-02-04T21:47:07Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > And they probably just dismissed anything negative they heard about life in the USSR in the present day as American propaganda. And they also made a point of blaming a lot of the USSR’s problems on behind the scenes manipulations by the US. Elizabeth at least was clearly portrayed as a true believer in everything the USSR and communism stood for, so it wouldn’t be too hard for her to rationalize believing the propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083/40 "2023-05-18T18:18:11Z")
My wife and I just finished watching all six seasons. Seasons 1-3 were interesting and well-paced, but then 4-6 really started dragging. We had never before made it through an entire series, although we did try, with The Queen’s Gambit, Breaking Bad, and Ozark. After a while it just feels like a soap opera and they’re holding us hostage. We had to work to finish The Americans, but we made it. I didn’t really like the ending. Elizabeth should have killed the college kid. Pastor Tim and his wife should have been killed. Stan should have taken Philip, Elizabeth, and Paige prisoners. In the end it was just meh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-americans-but-c-mon/979083.md?page=3)