The Americans; season 5 (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
601

I’ve asked myself the same question every season 5 episode. I think because I’ve invested in the previous 4 seasons, which were much better. So I’m hoping for writer redemption in season the 6th. I think the fall of the Soviet will bring an interesting resolution to the story and I’m keen on seeing how the writers handle it for all the characters. But if next season is like this last one, I’ll probably just lose interest and give up.

Boris Yeltsin was a drunken lout whose dubious contribution to the world was Vladimir Putin.

Your weird Russian fetish aside, it’s true that prior to the 90’s Russian R&D was largely based on stolen western technology, sponsored and bastardized by Soviet military/intelligence. Even simple short wave radios (to secretly listen to Voice America) were often sourced from Western Europe by average citizens.

So yeah, Russian hackers were late to the party. But they became very quick learners.

602

I’m (pretty much) w/ Quicksilver. This past season reminded me of previous series (Bones, House…) where at some point I was asking myself, “Why did I previously LIKE this show?”

Not sure I feel as strongly as QS - and there is little else on that I want to watch. But it definitely does not excite me like the first few seasons. If the next season does not improve IMO, I might not even stick with it to the end.

603

How old do you think most Russian hackers are?

604

I’m sure they vary. But the St. Petersburg hacker described in this 1995 article, who stole millions from Citibank, was born in 1967, making him a couple years older than Henry.

605

Next season is the end.

606

This whole season was so boring and the writing was terrible. Instead of writing something meaningful, they just relied on the actors to pull all the weight. So many chances for good lines just replaced by “I don’t know” (meaningful stare)

607

The answer to that question can be used for a lot of shows.

Say you’ve been following a show along since the beginning - maybe The Americans, maybe Bones, maybe Enterprise, maybe Castle, maybe Burn Notice. The show may or may not have ever been amazing, but it has been pretty good. Good characters that you care about. Good plots. Some weak episodes, but a lot of good ones.

The one season, the quality drops. Stories seem half finished, plot points get dropped. Characters start acting out of character. Or an annoying character trait that was merely a small part of a person become their major characteristic. Or the show starts a new story arc that just seem stupid.

So what do you do? Often, you wait it out, see it the writers can get back on track. Maybe it’s just temporary. Maybe they’ll manage to salvage the season and write something that will make the weak episodes, if not good, at least not stupid.

But at some point, you finally realize the creators have lost it, and lost you. But the thing is, you can’t always tell while it is going on when that point is reached. Or even worse, you realize they have been writing a different show than you thought - where the ostensibly good guy is really a jerk, where the creators aren’t writing about a lovable scoundrel, but an actual sociopath, AND they expect you to root for him.

For example, Burn Notice has so many places that could be considered breaking points. Did the show lose it when Michael helped Simon escape? When Ansen came on? When Michael murdered his CIA boss? When he started working for James?

These annoyances just add up until one day, you realize you’re done. Of the five shows I mentioned, I reached that point with four of them and just quit watching. I can’t even watch early Bones episodes any more, but not so with Castle or Burn Notice.

The Americans aren’t there yet, but one more year like this (or worse) and I may retroactively hate this season as well.

608

Seems maybe the others who liked this season have wandered off until next year and it’s mainly haters left. Interesting.

Personally, I thought Enterprise got better as it went along.

I have only seen a couple episodes of Bones, but it is one of my wife’s favorite shows. What about it went off the rails? I would be curious to pass that along to her and see what she says.

609

Yeah, but the first couple of eps aren’t. And if they don’t grab me…

610

I often find critics more insightful. That’s why I never buy anything on Amazon unless I read the 1 star reviews.

611

The Americans is one of only two shows that are “must see TV” for me, and have been for the past 3 years. I am a fan.

But I think I could have skipped season 4 entirely and not missed a thing.

Remember the first two seasons? The on-the-edge-of-your-seat drama? P&E being part of TEAM of people doing daring, but precisely-planned, operations? All of that has been missing in season 4, and regardless of how season 5 progresses, there is no finale setup in season 4 that would have made the 13 episodes worthwhile (unless Tuan ends up at Henry’s boarding school and Elizabeth runs off with the wheat guy and Phillip marries Stan’s girlfriend and Gaad’s killers are found by Oleg trying to steal Martha’s baby).

I felt the same way about Mad Men: the first couple of seasons, with the secret identity and visiting brother and all that: once that resolved, the level of drama, of tension, largely dissolved for me.

To be as charitable as I possibly can be: I don’t think it is a problem with the episode writing; it is the overall story arcs as determined by the show runners. I presume each episode writer is given plot points that must be hit; the trouble is, the plot points suck.

612

One of the main jobs of real life illegals is to provide support to agents who come in on short duration and specific missions. The first two seasons had that; not so much anymore.

They did a lot more bread and butter spy stuff in the earlier seasons. As they have gone on; I think they dropped a lot of those for “exciting TV”. Which has made the show worse.

613

Opinions seem to vary on that. The point that I most often hear other fans refer to as the “shark jumping” moment is when Zack Addy is revealed to be Gormogon’s apprentice. But, since I was never more than ambivalent about Zack, I was unaffected by this revelation; Frankly, I was glad that the show was rid of him.
Others have said that their breaking point was the never-ending Pelant storyline.
Neither of those things did it for me, although that second one really annoyed me. For me, the decline of the show began at the end of their 100th episode, when Booth finally professed his feelings to Brennan, and she left him hanging. I mean, I’ve grown used to seeing shows milk the URT/UST an indeterminate length of time, because of reasons, but that was the most blatant I can ever remember it happening. From my point of view, it was like the whole series had been leading up to that moment… and then, they blew it. I kept watching all the way to the end, mostly due to inertia, but the magic was gone after that.

614

It’s still very good, but I agree the show needs to get back to Actual Spy Stuff and less of the “Oleg asks people questions in Russia” or “Oh look, it’s Martha again” stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Oleg character and I think the actor portraying him is doing a great job, but the storyline is not adding anything to the series. Neither is the whole storyline with Phillip’s son - total waste of airtime, IMO - and while I’m glad Martha seems to be making the best of a bad situation in the USSR, I hope that’s pretty much the last we see of her.

615

I read that to my wife, and she said she could relate with your perspective, but she still liked a fair number of episodes after that.

616

Fair enough. Off the top of my head, the only episodes I enjoyed after that were S6E23, “The Change in the Game,” and S8E06, “The Patriot in Purgatory.”

617

One of my favorite podcasts is The Watch, with Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan (you may know them as the dudes from the “After the Thrones” postgame show on HBO). Chris doesn’t watch “The Americans”, but it has been one of Andy’s favorites. So he invited a fellow fan (who said previous seasons were his #1 favorite show on TV) to talk about their mutual disappointment with the season. It’s pretty harsh, and I disagree with them, but I suspect many of you will agree vehemently with their take. So, you’re welcome. :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s the June 8 episode, #157, and currently the second one down on this page–if they can be linked individually, I’m failing to discern how:

The segment starts at the 24 minute mark and goes to the end, about 17 minutes.

618

I wouldn’t disagree with anyone who said that this was the weakest season. Hopefully they bounce back for the final stretch.

Still, there were some good moments. My favorite was “Phillip gets dumped”.

619

We just watched the last episode and both my wife and I really enjoyed this season. It was filled with a bunch of subtle gut punches that ratchet up the tension. Both P&E are starting to realize that they’re trapped: if they go home, Henry ends up like Pasha, if they stay they go to jail and if they run, some day a hit squad will be executing them in their dining room.

I took Elizabeth’s scene with her closet that she suddenly realized that for all her talk about rejecting consumerism, she had slowly been seduced by the comfort she decries. It was a moment of clarity for her. It’s also why she took a hardline with Philip when he told her about the tape; she doubles down because she has gone too far to go back now. Elizabeth is more brittle than Philip, she can’t process all the horrible things she’s done unless it is for a greater good, there is no turning back for her.

Philip’s sense of duty is more to his family than the cause. He’s not serving the KGB, but his house on a Falls Church cul de sac. He’s not wrong when he tells Elizabeth: you need me.

It was a slow season, but I thought rewarding. It’s a very subtle show that thrives in the quiet moments.

620

Nice analysis!