# New FX Series: The Americans (Starts Jan 30th) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172 "2013-01-24T02:09:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**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:** [April 18, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/281 "2013-04-18T20:34:11Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Refresh my memory …why does Elizabeth hate Claudia so much? Is it just the fake kidnapping to test her? You’d think that she would understand the need and get over it. The fake kidnapping was bad enough (& a very stupid way of testing loyalty), but Claudia crossed an even bigger line when she stuck Elizabeth in a room plastered with pictures of her children & made threats against them. Elizabeth’s children are her bersek button. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/282 "2013-04-18T20:55:47Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I’m strongly suspicious that Nina’s new job, and her being told about the bug in Casper Weinberger’s office, is all a test. I’ll be very disappointed if what happens is that she tells Stan, then they remove the bug, then the Russians know she’s a mole and bye bye Nina. WAY too obvious, and Stan and co. should be smarter than that. It would be very much spy-SOP to leave the bug in place and use it to feed the Soviets disinformation. Removing it would not only alert the Soviets of the probable leak, but it would also waste the opportunity to use the bug to their own ends. No way would they be that stupid, realistically. ETA: Not to mention, while the bug is in place, they can also be on the lookout for Soviet agents in the vicinity who would be listening in with a receiver, and follow them to see where that leads them. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/283 "2013-04-18T21:25:51Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > It would be very much spy-SOP to leave the bug in place and use it to feed the Soviets disinformation. Removing it would not only alert the Soviets of the probable leak, but it would also waste the opportunity to use the bug to their own ends. No way would they be that stupid, realistically. Realistically, I agree. But they were exactly that stupid in an early episode, when a similar scenario involving their car radios occurred. They switched frequencies or something as soon as they learned they were being tracked, which alerted the Russians and blew the operation to catch a defense industry mole. Fortunately, the Russian boss was equally stupid in not realizing his hot secretary offered him a blowjob out of the blue that same day. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/284 "2013-04-18T21:36:49Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Fortunately, the Russian boss was equally stupid in not realizing his hot secretary offered him a blowjob out of the blue that same day. Speaking of which, how have they not caught her yet? No matter how besotted the station chief was with her, after he was framed in a way that had to be done by someone with a lot of access to his office, he had plenty of time to think, and he had to be able to put two and two together then. Even the plane ride should have been plenty of time, if he didn’t get it instantly when he saw her as he was being escorted out of the embassy. Even if the KGB thought he might be lying to save himself, how hard would it be for them to put a tail on the hottie, and catch her in one of her ten thousand liaisons with Stan? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/285 "2013-04-19T03:14:00Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Quick idea: in the same way the The Wire centered on institutions failing the individuals that were part of them, might The Americans be taking the opposite approach, of individuals failing the institutions they serve? I’m thinking the theme of this series seems to be failure of commitments: failure of spouses, failure of partners, failure of organizations to their agents and to their ideals. > [@What\_the](#): > > Refresh my memory …why does Elizabeth hate Claudia so much? Is it just the fake kidnapping to test her? You’d think that she would understand the need and get over it. It started with the fake kidnapping, and the threats to her children, but she pegged it tonight with Claudia’s whole attitude toward them from the get go and her consistent behavior with them. Every step has been to strangle trust between Elizabeth and Philip. Witness Claudia’s manipulation by giving Elizabeth the name she desired while telling her he was off limits. Why do that if she didn’t suspect Elizabeth would disregard her instructions? As for the conversation with Philip, she walked in there expecting him to come home but then didn’t actually tell him that, and he didn’t know what she was there for, so he continued discussing by his understanding of the conversation. Then she got upset he wasn’t on the same page. WTF? He left to give her the space she needed. If she’s changed her mind, she owes it to him to tell him that, and not assume he can guess it because she brings beer. FAIL. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/286 "2013-04-19T03:21:12Z")
Wanted to add the Soviets were right to not escalate again. The whole escalation was there fault in the first place - they put the hit out on the scientists and agents. Even though they tried to rescind it, it was their fault. And then the abduction and death of Stan’s partner - that was an unfortunate coincidence that just served to escalate the tensions further, because the Americans perceived it as a related event. Killing some low level KGB operative was not sufficient. “You kill us in our home, we go into yours.” Continuing that path could have turned the Cold War into a hot one. My other question regarding Stan’s partner: I’m not quite certain if he was pushing his authority with regards to a personal matter, or whether he was suspicious about what’s her name’s behavior at the office (slamming the file shut), and was thinking the guy coming out of her place just might be a spy. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/287 "2013-04-19T03:50:42Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > As for the conversation with Philip, she walked in there expecting him to come home but then didn’t actually tell him that, and he didn’t know what she was there for, so he continued discussing by his understanding of the conversation. Then she got upset he wasn’t on the same page. WTF? He left to give her the space she needed. If she’s changed her mind, she owes it to him to tell him that, and not assume he can guess it because she brings beer. Single fella, are ya? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/288 "2013-04-19T04:05:19Z")
The CIA sitting down with the FBI for any reason is just not very believable. This show needs to be about more than wig changes and semi-porn if it’s going to hold my interest. Right now it’s vacillating between a period cold war piece and a soap opera. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/289 "2013-04-19T04:15:09Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The CIA sitting down with the FBI for any reason is just not very believable. This show needs to be about more than wig changes and semi-porn if it’s going to hold my interest. Right now it’s vacillating between a period cold war piece and a soap opera. Yeah, there’s a fucking goldmine of plots there if they want to exploit the CIA & FBI’s communication problems. Just for fun they should do a story where a 3rd country’s (like Sweden or China) spies get involved. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/290 "2013-04-19T17:34:05Z")
The marriage plot has reached it’s conclusion and should end. It should not have even been attempted. Very stupid of them not to kill the CIA guy, he has already alerted the FBI to salient facts; a man and a woman, obviously a Zhukov protege, which would alert the FBI. Moreover, he saw her face. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/291 "2013-04-19T18:35:37Z")
Yeah, he saw her face, but she WAS obviously disguised. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t she have a scar across the right side of her face? I don’t think “Elizabeth” has that scar, does she? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/292 "2013-04-19T20:10:14Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > Yeah, he saw her face, but she WAS obviously disguised. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t she have a scar across the right side of her face? I don’t think “Elizabeth” has that scar, does she? No, she doesn’t have that scar. Remember, that rather obvious scar wasn’t just for the CIA guy. Anyone at the bar who saw her with the CIA guy would probably pick out the scar. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/293 "2013-04-19T20:44:33Z")
Just because I’m sometimes a touch dim… you folks saying the “marriage plot” should be wrapped up, you mean that the plot about them being separated should be wrapped up, right? 'Cause, y’know, if they weren’t married it’d be a different show… ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/294 "2013-04-20T18:01:03Z")
It looks like NOT killing that agent might have been almost as effective as killing him would have been - now that guy is being doubted and had to fess up with screwing around and I highly doubt he will ever get to go back to his old job - they will always wonder if he was compromised. I don’t think I would want either Elizabeth or Claudia as an enemy…so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/295 "2013-04-20T21:35:02Z")
It bugs me how they keep replaying the dad saying “hitting the pause button” over and over again in the “previously on” segments. The timeframe of this show is such that people probably wouldn’t be using that phase, even if they knew what a pause button was (and back then a lot still wouldn’t). A jarring anachronism made worse by repetition. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/296 "2013-04-20T22:10:38Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > It looks like NOT killing that agent might have been almost as effective as killing him would have been - now that guy is being doubted and had to fess up with screwing around and I highly doubt he will ever get to go back to his old job - they will always wonder if he was compromised. I think Claudia siccing Elizabeth on him was another plot hole — killing him would pretty much have ended any chance to keep a lid on the escalation, and I can’t believe that Claudia would violate orders to maybe start WW III, just because she lost a friend. So letting him go at least explains why we’re all still here today. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/297 "2013-04-21T14:15:59Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > It bugs me how they keep replaying the dad saying “hitting the pause button” over and over again in the “previously on” segments. The timeframe of this show is such that people probably wouldn’t be using that phase, even if they knew what a pause button was (and back then a lot still wouldn’t). A jarring anachronism made worse by repetition. Not sure about this. Certainly, casette tapes existed and were in popular use in the early 1980s, and were controlled by buttons. And apparently the first mass market successful VCR was in 1975. > [@TonySinclair](#): > > I think Claudia siccing Elizabeth on him was another plot hole — killing him would pretty much have ended any chance to keep a lid on the escalation, and I can’t believe that Claudia would violate orders to maybe start WW III, just because she lost a friend. So letting him go at least explains why we’re all still here today. I don’t think that’s really a plot hole, per se. We don’t know what motivates Claudia or what her true loyalties are, and I also don’t think it’s at all inevitable that one additional dead middle-level CIA bureaucrat leads to nukes flying. Remember that Claudia told Elizabeth not to kill him while letting her know his info, so the most obvious scenario is that Claudia wanted Elizabeth to disobey orders to get her in trouble, so that Claudia herself would have more power and influence in the relationship. Claudia could also have had a personal vendetta against that guy, or Claudia could be working for a secret faction in the KGB that wanted to escalate things for some reason, or any number of other such scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/298 "2013-04-21T18:35:39Z")
I think Elizabeth called it on Claudia’s motivations. She didn’t really care about Zhukov or that guy, she just wanted Elizabeth to violate orders again. If Elizabeth had killed the CIA guy, that would have heightened tensions, and Moscow would have likely decided that Elizabeth was not working out, she was out of control (violated two orders, escalated tensions, failed to stop the assassination) and either pulled her out or done her in. Especially with Claudia influencing the opinions about her. Why does Claudia have such a hard on against Elizabeth? It can’t just be the beating, she was harsh on them before that happened - that’s what caused the beating. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/299 "2013-04-22T23:53:16Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Not sure about this. Certainly, casette tapes existed and were in popular use in the early 1980s, and were controlled by buttons. And apparently the first mass market successful VCR was in 1975. VCR’s might have been released in the 70’s, but based on actually living through these times, I wouldn’t really say the VCR really hit mass market success until the mid 80’s, and then saying something like hitting the pause button would’ve still taken a few years after that to be something someone would say, not the early 80’s when this show is set. The VCR my family had back in the early 80’s (and we were still very much early adopters having one back then) didn’t even have a pause button. If you wanted to cut commercials out of a recording you had to attach a little wired doodad to the VCR and then flip a pause switch. Cassette tapes, unless you were some sort of audiophile or in the music industry you probably wouldn’t be using a pause button back then either, just a stop button. I’m not saying there was no way for anyone to know pause button back then, just it’s not something a (seemingly) normal adult would say to his kids and expect they would just get it. It’s like if someone made an internet reference in a show set in the early 90’s. Sure the internet existed at the time, but it’s not really something most people would have known about and tried to explain something to a kid by referencing it. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172/300 "2013-04-23T16:06:14Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > It bugs me how they keep replaying the dad saying “hitting the pause button” over and over again in the “previously on” segments. The timeframe of this show is such that people probably wouldn’t be using that phase, even if they knew what a pause button was (and back then a lot still wouldn’t). A jarring anachronism made worse by repetition. I found this really jarring too. I would have understood the concept of a pause button back then, since we first had reel-to-reel tape recorders, then cassette tapes. But it wasn’t a term applied to life, by any stretch of the imagination. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-fx-series-the-americans-starts-jan-30th/648172.md?page=16)