# The Americans Season 3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097 "2015-01-28T09:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 50
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/981 "2015-04-23T20:51:37Z")
This is a bit like going back to questions about how many Northrop facilities there could possibly be. There’s an awful lot going on in this 47-minutes and this ain’t one. Imo. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/982 "2015-04-23T21:14:25Z")
Nina much have one magic cooch to be worth all that trouble to try and get her back. I think it was quite amusing that in the end they instead decided to use the fake defector to get back an actual CIA guy. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/983 "2015-04-23T21:24:24Z")
I really not sure Stan and Ollie are thinking with their heads. First they have no clue shes not in a labour camp or prison but is working up a skill set as a honey trap and second, she can do a better job than those two combined - I think in those two scenes she just about gets enough to throw Anton down the salt mine. Much more focused this time than with the Belgian girl. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/984 "2015-04-23T21:48:51Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > This is a bit like going back to questions about how many Northrop facilities there could possibly be. There’s an awful lot going on in this 47-minutes and this ain’t one. Imo. So sorry. I didn’t mean to violate your thread with a plot point I found interesting. Please excuse the ever-living fuck out of me. ---
**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 23, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/985 "2015-04-23T22:21:10Z")
First off, I don’t think it’s any “magic cooch” thing going on here. I think that Stan feels a major case of the guilts. First for killing Vlad, he felt perfectly justified when it happened because of his partner but, after the fact, once he realized he was just some over-his-head schmuck, it played on him. Then over Nina, given that he got her into this position. Oleg, for his part, was there when Nina was trying to turn Stan. He knows that she did her best and feels that she shouldn’t be punished just because Stan got an attack of patriotism. Ironically, Oleg did the one thing that Stan wouldn’t, betray his country for her. (At first when I saw the posts referring to Oleg as Ollie I though it was just not catching the name but I didn’t get the “Laurel and Hardy” reference.) ---
**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:** [April 23, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/986 "2015-04-23T22:40:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I doubt they’d go directly from the checkpoint to the hotel. Anyway, I think back then you could still travel from one sector of Berlin on the E-Bahn, provided you had the right documents (with the KGB, no problem!). From one sector of Berlin _to another_, I meant to say. :smack: ---
**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 24, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/987 "2015-04-24T00:14:41Z")
I’d just like to say thank you and so long to everyone here who has made this season much more enjoyable by sharing your thoughts and comments. I have grown to respect and admire all of you and I wish you all the very best until next season. If I don’t talk with any of you until then, All my best and Peace Out! ---
**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 24, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/988 "2015-04-24T00:35:42Z")
> [@twuest](#): > > …Second, how are they going to get Paige on their side to train her if they kill Pastor Tim? He’s the one person in the world Paige trusts more than anyone. She confides in him, then he suddenly dies. Do you think if that happens, Paige–knowing what she knows— will think it’s just a wild coincidence? > > If so, she’s not as smart as we thought she was. The only possible way they could eliminate Pastor Tim and not make things worse with Paige would for him to use what she told him to try and blackmail her for sex or just outright molest her. That would require Pastor Tim to be working for the KGB all along, or for him to have been (a very stupid) pervert all along. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/989 "2015-04-24T00:59:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Whatever. Here is the abovementioned episode of _ **Columbo** _, timed to start at the beginning of the murder sequence: > > [https://youtu.be/yIxeJpLa2lU?t=989](https://youtu.be/yIxeJpLa2lU?t=989) Cripes! What did they do - record it by holding their iPhone up by the TV? They could have at least turned off the room lights. We’re living in the best time ever in the world for quality audio/video equipment, and people insist on making the worst recordings possible. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/990 "2015-04-24T04:44:31Z")
Copy protection makes it tougher, but yeah: that was pretty bad. Interesting though! I wonder if Rhys had deja vu over this. (As an aside, I think they were underestimating the strength and heft of a radiator there.) > [@E-DUB](#): > > Slacker inc. Good analysis on the way the phone relay system works. As I recall all the “coded communications” are disguised as sales calls of one sort or another. So that if communications are monitored it’s not suspect. Yes, agreed. Or perhaps the occasional charity drive for the school, stuff like that? > [@twuest](#): > > IIRC, during the conversation, Paige specifically uses the word “spies” during the Big Reveal scene. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like “…you guys…are…spies”? It came after Phillip says something to the effect that they “get information you can’t get in normal ways”. > > In addition, if she just thought they were Russians, I don’t think P or E would have warned her that the consequences of talking would mean, as P put it, “us going to jail for good”. > > Paige knows they are spies. It was interesting to learn in the insider podcast that they shot that scene with her adding “they are spies” in the call to Pastor Tim, but were all along intending to probably cut that in the editing process (which they did). > [@terentii](#): > > Yes, but… > > Don’t you think that with a call center like the one in the basement, wouldn’t the KGB use it to monitor the communications of their illegals? I mean, it would hardly be surprising to learn that the Centre ordered the Jennings’ phone to be tapped. Spies keep an eye on their fellow spies, I would think. > > How difficult would it be for the Feds to detect such a system? I don’t know. I think the _phone company_ would notice the tap after a while. Point is, we were never shown that the basement call center was tapping anyone’s phone. It worked as a place to receive calls via numbers given out under false pretenses, or to call and warn/coordinate illegals. We’ve just never been shown any evidence that anyone’s phone is continuously tapped. If they could do this, why are they hiding bugs and so on? > [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > I really not sure Stan and Ollie are thinking with their heads. First they have no clue shes not in a labour camp or prison but is working up a skill set as a honey trap and second, she can do a better job than those two combined - I think in those two scenes she just about gets enough to throw Anton down the salt mine. > > Much more focused this time than with the Belgian girl. The writers and showrunners this season have consistently maintained that Nina is not “working” Anton, but rather is absolutely sincere in the things she says to him, including her no longer wanting to throw others under the bus to help herself. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/991 "2015-04-24T05:06:46Z")
SlackerInc - thanks for mentioning that. I guess we take it at face value but I am having a very hard time accepting it. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/992 "2015-04-24T05:38:02Z")
You’re welcome. They say that in season two, there was disagreement in the writers’ room as to whether Nina was being sincere with Stan, sincere with Oleg, or neither. But this year they are unified in believing she is sincere with Anton. ---
**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 24, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/993 "2015-04-24T11:07:26Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > SlackerInc - thanks for mentioning that. I guess we take it at face value but I am having a very hard time accepting it. I reckon Annet Mahendru sold the scene where she sits on the bed and all but tells Anton she’s a honeypot. I don’t think that _itself_ was an act. What writers say publicly is a kind of meta-spoiler. Also, if Annet hadn’t nailed that scene - then why are the writers confirming it? If the director did his/her job - and in this case he did - why would writers have to confirm what we saw? As for other next-season theories, I reckon that either the KGB or Phil/Liz themselves tapped Paige’s/The-House phone. It’ll be up to The Centre to decide whether to off any/all of them. I don’t want to hear what the writers think. The teleplay’s the thing! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/994 "2015-04-24T11:10:16Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > I don’t want to hear what the writers think. Then don’t click the spoiler box. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/995 "2015-04-24T11:26:21Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > I reckon Annet Mahendru sold the scene where she sits on the bed and all but tells Anton she’s a honeypot. I don’t think that _itself_ was an act. And yet she implicitly offers him sex between putting down the tray and sitting on the bed. The two scenes between them are so difficult to read. I guess it’s intentionally ambiguous. She could throw him under, she could, as he explains, set her mind free or, perhaps - the most likely option - she reports back and says he’s 100% on board and working himself to death. ---
**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 24, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/996 "2015-04-24T11:38:10Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Then don’t click the spoiler box. 😛 I _always_ click the spoiler box! 🙂 I simply think, that a writer or director should put it in the screen and leave it up to us to decide what to think. I guess it’s cool to know what they thought back in season 2. As for the Nina character, I have no idea what future she has or can have. But with such a great actress, she certainly will be prominent. (I am not a writer for this show) ---
**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 24, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/997 "2015-04-24T11:56:48Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > And yet she implicitly offers him sex between putting down the tray and sitting on the bed. > > The two scenes between them are so difficult to read. I guess it’s intentionally ambiguous. > > She could throw him under, she could, as he explains, set her mind free or, perhaps - the most likely option - she reports back and says he’s 100% on board and working himself to death. It seems to be true - that he really is working hard He just got some pics from the B-2/F-117/Some Stealth Stuff. In 1983, _**that (stealth)**_ technology was everything. The nuke race had run its course. Missile shields (aka ‘star wars’) were a dream. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/998 "2015-04-24T15:00:07Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Copy protection makes it tougher, but yeah: that was pretty bad. Interesting though! > I wonder if Rhys had deja vu over this. No kidding. We were watching it and I said, “Do you think he’ll put on gloves?” And sure enough, there they are. A young Phillip! (I’d never heard his real accent before - that was unexpected.) As for turning Paige, and how to handle what Pastor Tim knows, they can deal with it in a spy fashion: When P&E find out Paige told Tim the truth, they should calmly take her in the car, say they have to talk to Tim, and when they get there, calmly and brutally slice both Mr and Mrs Tim’s throats right in front of Paige, then turn to her and shout “YOU DID THIS! We TOLD you not to tell anyone! Actions have consequences, Paige!” That ought to resolve the issue of Paige being recruited, one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/999 "2015-04-24T15:50:52Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > It seems to be true - that he really is working hard He just got some pics from the B-2/F-117/Some Stealth Stuff. In 1983, _**that (stealth)**_ technology was everything. The nuke race had run its course. Missile shields (aka ‘star wars’) were a dream. Those pics were taken by the Northrup lady, right? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097/1000 "2015-04-24T16:03:59Z")
Yep, Lisa took them with the camera at Northrop. Made me laugh in this epi when P was playing with the computer guys toy - wearing his black gloves. Not a healthy sign 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-3/711097.md?page=51)