# The Americans Season 4 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496 "2016-01-28T15:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/421 "2016-05-24T23:13:30Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I don’t think there is any reason not to approach him. There’s no risk of his being a double agent, because the whole thing would be about his selling information, not going to do anything for them. Of course there is a risk of his being a double agent. How did you reach that conclusion? Even if he were only handing over information (which would, of course, be benign), at the same time he would be observing them- who he meets, where the dead drops are, the kind of information they are asking for. That’s him being a double agent and that’s a huge, unnecessary risk for the KGB to take. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/422 "2016-05-26T03:47:34Z")
I laughed out loud at Stan’s lame “roast in the oven” joke while Keri Russell was holding a huge salad bowl in front of her belly. Her pregnancy has really become obvious. So now Paige has seen exactly what her mother can do to a person. This should be interesting. ETA: The show’s been renewed for another two seasons, so the showrunners are already mapping them out. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/423 "2016-05-26T13:50:44Z")
Best dinner ever. I’d have milked that scene for another couple of minutes, at least. Nailing Don, twisting Tim in the wind, slicing a jugular - another upbeat week for mom. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/424 "2016-05-26T14:42:34Z")
Well, now we know why they needed a sixties-ish female computer expert. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/425 "2016-05-26T15:17:43Z")
Called it! (Well maybe not here) but I’ve been waiting for that final scene for a while, at least since Elizabeth & Paige were walking around a bad area and Elizabeth kind of half told Paige about Gregory. I was expecting an attack then. This worked better, as Paige was beginning to believe that her parents were just making friends and influencing people. Now she knows that they’re lethal. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/426 "2016-05-26T15:55:04Z")
True, but she also knows what could have happened if mom didn’t have all those skills. I half expect Paige, once the shock wears off, to ask for the martial arts training. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/427 "2016-05-27T00:51:27Z")
That? Was awesome. I think it could have been interesting to show Elizabeth kicking ass in a similar situation before Paige knew anything, or with her brother present instead. Maybe both of them should have been there, so they could each have had their own reactions. Holly Taylor would have had a dream–though very difficult–task for an actor: to play Paige as a teenaged girl who is shocked and horrified by what her mother can do, but then has to try to act herself (so, “meta-acting” if you will: Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell do it all the time, but they’re so smooth we don’t see the second level of the character’s struggle to act most of the time). What Paige then would have to do is not to compose herself, exactly, because that would seem weird to her brother. But she has to pretend this is a complete shock in the same way it is to Henry, and while not asking the questions she’s dying to ask when Henry’s not there, to still ask “how did you know how to do that?” and “why aren’t we calling the cops?” etc. Oh well, still a cool scene. Like a lot of people, I had been struggling to see how they were going to get Don to give up the codes. It makes a lot more sense that they weren’t going to get him to give them up at all. But of course, the whole thing would have gone south if he simply said they should go outside and talk. Fun to see how they play Pastor Tim like a fiddle. > [@E-DUB](#): > > Well, now we know why they needed a sixties-ish female computer expert. Ohhhh…right! I totally forgot about that. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/428 "2016-05-27T01:06:36Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > True, but she also knows what could have happened if mom didn’t have all those skills. I half expect Paige, once the shock wears off, to ask for the martial arts training. Was it Paige or Henry that saved the other one from the skeevy pervert back in season one? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/429 "2016-05-27T01:18:34Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Like others, I’m wondering why E said she would miss her Korean (woman) friend, when a successful blackmail would mean they would continue as friends, as if nothing happened. > > My wife’s guess is that E only has so much time in each day, so she needn’t _bother_ continuing to cultivate her friendship, but instead focus on other “tasks.” Now we know! But shouldn’t Elizabeth be worried that she might bump into either of the Koreans in the grocery store or something? Is she ready with an explanation in case this happens, a la Mark Twain (“rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated”)? ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/430 "2016-05-27T01:26:14Z")
That’s a risk with all the DC-area marks. Maybe they shadow them to make sure their movement patterns do not overlap theirs (most people are pretty consistent and predictable in this respect). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/431 "2016-05-27T03:31:07Z")
Their disguises are such that people who know the real people will not be fooled (they have mentioned Beeman) but those who know the “character” might be. The disguises highlight features the real people don’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/432 "2016-05-27T03:59:48Z")
I was so happy to see Mail Robot again! Yay! But then…I grew a little concerned when Stan and Aderholt started discussing Mail Robot’s trip to the fixit shop and the collateral damage it involved. Given the way this show is wrapping up so many ongoing plotlines and writing off so many long-running characters, I started to wonder if Mail Robot just might the next on the list of casualties for this season…Nina, Martha, the A.A. woman, Gaad, please not Mail Robot too! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/433 "2016-05-27T12:31:42Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > True, but she also knows what could have happened if mom didn’t have all those skills. I half expect Paige, once the shock wears off, to ask for the martial arts training. Yeah, I know TV =/ life, but for whatever reason that final scene made me think that you never see them practicing their marksmanship or fighting. I used to do a lot of MA, and the whole point was to practice, practice, practice so that your movements were instinctive and reactive, rather than intentional. Even something like footwork fades if not practiced. I haven’t fought for 10 years, and I still could probably throw a decent punch at an unexpecting, unskilled opponent, but anything more and I suspect I’d trip all over myself. I’m starting to like Tim. (Found it interesting that P/E refer to him as “Pastor Tim”, tho neither of them attend the church, whereas he introduced himself to Stan as Tim.) So cluelessly well-intentioned that he thinks he can pastor to a pair of soviet agents. Can’t stand his wife, tho. I had forgotten the request for the old female computer expert. Sure felt bad for the Korean couple. Thought is somewhat odd, tho, that E felt so torn up about them, whereas she flat out killed countless other folk- like the old lady in the repair shop. Neat the way they pulled that thread back. They really have to give Paige something to do other than look concerned. Is Stan really going off the rails, or is this all an act? TV, so I suspect the latter. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/434 "2016-05-27T13:11:05Z")
Neither of them have shown much hesitation in doing what is necessary or taking much pleasure in it. back in season 1 she seemed genuinely concerned at the maids’s son’s condition and relieved when she could administer the antidote; last season she was hesitant to kill the old lady and had to be ordered to do it by Philip. I do wonder what the sex screaming lady’s role in the Rezidentura is. She is running operations independent of Arkady. Maybe, Oleg is playing her, Arkady trusts him. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/435 "2016-05-27T13:49:20Z")
Dinsdale wrote: “Thought is somewhat odd, tho, that E felt so torn up about them, whereas she flat out killed countless other folk- like the old lady in the repair shop.” Compartmentalization. She knew them, she _liked_ them. They weren’t nameless strangers. They weren’t “players”, who take their chances. They were just two people who had the misfortune of being between her and her objective. You know, it might turn out that they weren’t even _able_ to get the info from his office. (They won’t know until all the stuff gets looked at.) Then E will _really_ feel like shit. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/436 "2016-05-27T14:18:37Z")
Am I right thinking Philip hasn’t killed anyone since the airport bus? They’re definitely slowing down. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/437 "2016-05-27T17:21:43Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I do wonder what the sex screaming lady’s role in the Rezidentura is. She is running operations independent of Arkady. Maybe, Oleg is playing her, Arkady trusts him. She’s a part of the biological warfare division which officially doesn’t exist. She’s the one running the virus smuggling ops. She told Oleg that during one of their post-coital sessions. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/438 "2016-05-27T18:44:23Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > …Like a lot of people, I had been struggling to see how they were going to get Don to give up the codes. It makes a lot more sense that they weren’t going to get him to give them up at all. But of course, the whole thing would have gone south if he simply said they should go outside and talk. It’s true that they couldn’t be certain he’d ask them up to his office, but the situation had been set up–over months–to make it more likely that he would. They knew that he genuinely cared about his wife (or at least consistently behaved that way), and that his wife had been fond of “Patty.” So it seemed unlikely that he’d fob them off with an outdoor conversation–he would have felt obligated in some way by the chain of positive emotion to treat them with as much courtesy as possible. The writers did a great job; I, too had been guessing along the lines of some sort of pressure on Don to reveal the codes. This didn’t come out of nowhere, yet was a surprise—the best kind of television writing! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/439 "2016-05-27T20:22:13Z")
So now, they are done with Don? I guess I always expected there to be a blackmail approach, which I never really understood. They still could try that angle, tho I the writers might realize that it would be pretty implausible. I wondered why E called that number for her messages. Any thoughts as to whether that was for ANY type of message she might receive, or only those for this particular mission. Watching it, I supposed the latter. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496/440 "2016-05-27T22:09:12Z")
I think they are done with him. If this didn’t work, it didn’t work. I assume IRL many gambits do not in fact work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-americans-season-4/744496.md?page=23)