# The Americans, Season 2. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123 "2014-02-24T17:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/101 "2014-04-10T17:40:04Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > I think Nina really did pass the lie detector. She revealed that she knows the FBI (and probably Stan) killed Vlad, but I think Stan believes she loves him in spite of that. > > I’m not sure if Nina is playing a double game; she appears to have real feelings for Oleg, but as he said, she’s a very good liar. The immediate question after asking if she knew who killed Vlad was “Do you understand why?” Which she also answered Yes. I’m sure the questions were written by Stan. He suspected she knew he had killed Vlad, but he had tried to explain why last season. Now, he really believes that she understands why he did it and loves him anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/102 "2014-04-10T22:26:26Z")
If Nina actually passed the lie detector test, and I’m still not sure if she did, the nude scene being playful with Oleg seemingly having duped Stan just feels like a set up for the ultimate “gotcha”. Nina’s fight is to stay alive, and for family to stay alive, but I don’t think the last chess move has been made. There’s too much unspoken for this to have such a neat and tidy ending. I don’t think Nina has love for either of the men, what she is doing is a means to the end. She just has to watch her back in the process. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/103 "2014-04-11T01:08:39Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > She just has to watch her back in the process. And I’ll volunteer to watch her front. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/104 "2014-04-11T04:06:41Z")
I was puzzled by the business with getting the key to the professor’s office and then—while the guard waited for the key back—rooting around in his desk for the lab access code. Philip is clearly a competent lock-picker, a much simpler way to get into the professor’s office that wouldn’t have left a trail with the security guard. And what guard would just give out the key to a professor’s office like that? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/105 "2014-04-11T08:43:24Z")
I feel like I’ve lost knowledge from hearing Professor LooksLikeGiamatti explain how it’s like some “Interstate Highway System”. Actually, that made sense. He made the rest sounds like it’s all made of Tubes - and perhaps that’s Philip’s takeaway. I liked the through-the-floor view of a PDP-10. I took a course in assembly programming on the PDP-11. I reckon Nina passed. Polygraphs are easy. They even covered that with the “appears to be some ambiguity” thing, and of course she rightly said “No.” I like how they had her avert her eyes to the upper-right - isn’t it said liars usually look to their left? Probably also bunk. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/106 "2014-04-11T08:59:05Z")
I’ve heard the “tighten your sphincter” trick before to pass polygraphs. It supposedly really does work, but it doesn’t make your lies look like truth. Instead, the idea is to do it before every single answer you give, and it muddies the waters enough that every answer looks the same. If you only do it for the lies, the lies will look different than the truth. > [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Can anyone guess why she might have made that instant decision to kill him and what that powder might have been that she added to his spoon? I assumed it was cyanide. > [@SaharaTea](#): > > I don’t think Philip had enough time to dispose of the body, but he knows how to kill someone so that it doesn’t leave much physical evidence. I’m not sure I follow. He has all the time in the world to dispose of the body, having gotten it out of the lab in his trash can. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/107 "2014-04-11T13:07:21Z")
One question. Was the guy with Phillip supposed to be the journalist guy from season one. If so, was that a different actor playing him? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/108 "2014-04-16T16:32:57Z")
I really enjoy this show but I’m sad to say there is so much of it that I just can’t follow. I don’t think it’s fair for me to ask for anyone to explain plot points to me because there are just so many that I don’t understand. I have watched every episode. But, sad to say, I just don’t understand how many of the events in this show fit together. Would anyone know if there is any source of info that summarizes the events in each episode and that maybe explains some of the underlying characters’ motivations? It’s really a lot of fun to watch this show. I just hate to have to admit that I need to watch all the episodes a second or third time in order to understand what is going on. I looked up the Wiki entry for this show in the hope that it might explain the plot of each episode. But it didn’t do that. Would anyone happen to know any other source that might explain the events in each episode? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/109 "2014-04-16T16:36:17Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > The immediate question after asking if she knew who killed Vlad was “Do you understand why?” Which she also answered Yes. I’m sure the questions were written by Stan. He suspected she knew he had killed Vlad, but he had tried to explain why last season. Now, he really believes that she understands why he did it and loves him anyway. I would think that any outsider to Nina and Stan’s relationship would know that a lady as beautiful and attractive as Nina would never be in love with a plain (ostensibly boring) man like Stan and would be able to either tell Stan or tell someone else in the FBI that something untowards is going on between the two of them. It just seems so bizarre that Nina would be in love with Stan - so unlikely that could be on the level. Wouldn’t every intelligence agency have someone who could just look at each of their agents together with their paramours and make a prima facie evaluation whether their relationship makes any sense? Nina being in love with Stan just doesn’t seem to make any sense to me. Does it make any sense to any of you? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/110 "2014-04-16T16:44:00Z")
As a postscript to my above post asking for a source that recaps and/or explains the episodes, I found a Wiki entry that briefly explains the episodes in Season Two - [The Americans (season 2) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Americans_%28season_2%29) There is also a corresponding entry for Season One: > **[The Americans (season 1)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Americans_%28season_1%29)** > > The first season of the American television drama series The Americans premiered on January 30, 2013, and concluded on May 1, 2013. It consisted of 13 episodes, each running for approximately 45 minutes, except for a pilot of over an hour. FX broadcast the first season on Wednesdays at 10:00 pm in the United States. The series is produced by DreamWorks Television. The Americans was created by Joe Weisberg. > Set in the 1980s during the Cold War period, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth (Keri... I’m still looking for a more detailed explanation. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/111 "2014-04-16T16:54:34Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Thanks for the correction. She is still providing the FBI with good info and feeding her boss crap. I still think she is going to turn on Stan for killing the attache. I’m only up to E3 but I thought the walk-in worked the oppsite way; Nina gave Stan just enough for Stan to find him and the walk-in found out nothing in the embassy. Stan’s now in love with Nina and his standing in the office is tied to her - Nina is working him. Surely? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/112 "2014-04-16T16:57:34Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Is anybody else unsure as to what game Nina is playing? Is she, after a moment of doubt during “The Oath”, still providing Stan with legitimate intel? Or is she playing Stan for Oleg? Or is she playing a “double game” on both men using her feminine “wiles” just hoping to survive? I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one who admits to being unable to follow the plot as it applies to Nina. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t think that is any fault in the script. I think it is my own shortcoming in that I don’t seem to be able to follow each episode’s plot and then tie them together and understand just how those events relate to each other. It certainly does not make any sense to me that Stan would ever buy into a woman as beautiful as Nina would ever be in love with him. That just does not make sense and since Nina has some powerful motivations for “pumping” Stan, I would think most people who knew she had told Stan that she was in love with him would know there was something wrong with that relationship. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Believing that Nina is in love with Stan makes as much sense as believing that Bill Clinton was in love with Monica. That just never made any sense to me. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![tsm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@tsm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsm)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/113 "2014-04-16T17:10:55Z")
Renewal for season 3 announced today: [Private Site](http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/04/16/the-americans-renewed-for-season-3-by-fx/254643/) ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/114 "2014-04-16T20:32:39Z")
Geez, what high standards some people have. Stan isn’t Brad Pitt, but he’s a big, strong, good-looking man with an exciting job. Look at the women that pasty, greasy, skinny musicians get, even before they become famous. Look at pro golfer [Jason Dufner](http://bostonherald.com/sports/golf/2013/08/pga_champ_jason_dufner_back_on_manhattan_rooftops), and then look at his wife. Of course everyone should be suspicious of Nina, but not because Stan is so hideous. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/115 "2014-04-16T21:56:35Z")
Here’s a brief summary of Nina’s arc: Stan catches Nina buying contraband and threatens her; exposure of her crime would get her sent back to Moscow in chains, so she agrees to turn double-agent. During her double-agent time with Stan, Nina realizes that she can manipulate and control Stan, using him for her own (and Mother Russia’s) benefit. So she goes to her section chief and comes clean on the contraband, getting caught by Stan, and turning double-agent. Her section chief decides to keep her in play with Stan, turning her into a triple-agent. They collude to feed Stan real but generally meaningless intel to keep him on the hook so that Nina can get intel from Stan. Around this time, New Guy falls in lust with Nina. He uses his connections to find out Nina’s story. He doesn’t get the whole puzzle, though; some of it turns out to be super-duper double classified. While he could use his connections to get that intel, doing so would probably play his hand too much, possibly “using up” those favors. Instead, he decides to confront/bluff Nina to see if he can get her to break. Nina, of course knowing that New Guy is blind with lust for her, immediately seduces him when he confronts her. This effectively neutralizes him from her point of view. The section chief decides to further play Stan, using New Guy to tell Stan that New Guy discovered Nina, and New Guy can out her to her superiors. If Stan really loves Nina he’ll help New Guy, which basically he does. This gives further proof to section chief that Nina owns Stan. The only person we’ve seen Nina show true feelings for is the guy Stan shot in the head and tossed in the dumpster. The show has given us no reason to believe that she cared for the old section chief (who she got arrested and deported), Stan, or New Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/116 "2014-04-17T12:02:18Z")
Ellis Dee, I want to thank you very much for that summary of Nina’s plot line. It was an excellent summary. Very thorough. Yet very simple to understand. When I read your summary, I had to scratch my head and wonder how I could have had such trouble trying to follow the show and understand what was going on with her. I still have no answer for that. I can’t recall another TV series that I enjoyed so much but that I had such a hard time following some of the plot lines. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/117 "2014-04-17T12:04:56Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Geez, what high standards some people have. Stan isn’t Brad Pitt, but he’s a big, strong, good-looking man with an exciting job. Look at the women that pasty, greasy, skinny musicians get, even before they become famous. Look at pro golfer [Jason Dufner](http://bostonherald.com/sports/golf/2013/08/pga_champ_jason_dufner_back_on_manhattan_rooftops), and then look at his wife. > > Of course everyone should be suspicious of Nina, but not because Stan is so hideous. It is true that there are several examples of plain looking men (or men that just don’t seem very attractive) who have paired with extremely attractive women. But, in my experience, those cases are just very rare. They are very hard to find. IMHO, in most cases, a woman link Nina would never pair up with a man like Stan unless she had some ulterior motives. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/118 "2014-04-17T12:16:57Z")
Do I understand this one plot-line correctly about Phillip & Elizabeth’s son? Did he really enter into his next door neighbor’s home (Stan the FBI agent) in order to play Intellivision? If so, that was very interesting in that they showed he was up to something nefarious. We didn’t really know what it was he was up to and it was quite a surprise to learn that he had such a strong need to play that video game system that he would illegally enter his neighbor’s home in order to play that video game. As I recall, when Intellivision was introduced to the market, it was touted as some special kind of video game. It was supposedly unlike any other video game. It apparently had some very different ways to challenge and improve one’s intelligence. I recall that at the time, it sounded like a bunch of baloney to me. But I never recall every hearing whether there was any truth to that or not. Does anyone know if Intellivision really was a “special” kind of video game? I don’t get the appeal it had that would motivate a young teenage boy to actually break into a neighbor’s home (I’m not sure it’s fair to say he “broke in”) just to play some video games. It seems very strange to me now that anyone would knowingly illegally enter an FBI agent’s home just to play video games. Why wouldn’t he get a job instead and save up and buy the game? Was Phillip that strongly opposed to that video game such that he would not allow his son to buy one? Even if the boy worked and saved up to buy that game? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/119 "2014-04-17T13:33:58Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > It seems very strange to me now that anyone would knowingly illegally enter an FBI agent’s home just to play video games. Different neighbor. That wasn’t the Beemans, it was another neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123/120 "2014-04-17T13:38:16Z")
Stan is the stupidest spy ever! Not thinking anything past his dick. Geezer it’s uncomfortable to watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-2/682123.md?page=7)