I do notice stuff like that. It has bugged me for the whole series that the Jennings’ house has ADA compliant doorhandles instead of ordinary doorknobs. Houses today (and especially public places like hotels) are built with lever doorhandles that are easier to manipulate than grasping a knob. My house was built in 1984 and has none of those handles. I also noticed the rumble strip on a highway once. Those didn’t come into vogue until fairly recently. Anachronisms like that bug me. I can see not wanting to repave an entire highway for a location shoot, but there is no excuse for the doorhandles being wrong on a studio set.
Did anybody else notice that when Phillip evaded the pursuers and got into the cab he put on a different accent talking to the cabbie. Even exhausted from being chased, he’s doing misdirection.
Yes (!) and I sense there’s something to all this continuing emphasis on spycraft. On the one hand, the spy training is shown to be ingrained as with the zharkoye incident, yet on the other hand really obscure Russian repertory rentals that I can’t even find today on torrents are left in the VCR. My guess is that this will come into play more than just a reference to Philip’s own garage experience. Some curious type will be trying to watch that Russian-language film when Stan drops by and gets the wrong idea.
In the “who will die” thread, nobody said Henry, but he could be sent home from school for bullying, make himself a sandwich and check out the Garage video in case it has any boobies (another way the world is different today! :D), trapping Stan (who already has a history of extra-judicial killings and who is at peak paranoia) in a closet with a clear view. Wacky antics ensue.
I’m not gonna say the tape wouldn’t fit in well with the zharkoye example as foreshadowing (and also Stan staring at the Jennings house as Philip inside is watching the tape), but Stan is already pretty convinced Philip and Elizabeth are the droids he’s looking for. Stan is someone who really trusts his instincts. Plus, he told Aderholt whom he’s close to, granted, but that also means he’s pretty much put his job or at least reputation on the line if he’s wrong.
So if it all comes down to the tape, that would feel a little anticlimactic to me.
Crazy that we only have a few more hours to be able to speculate about this show. We will of course then have lots more time to analyze, but speculation time is running short.
It would be much more damning evidence if it didn’t have English subtitles.
I don’t see how it could show anything really. I mean I get why it’s not a smart idea for them to have it in their house. Plenty of people watch foreign films and watching a Russian film wouldn’t be abnormal since I’m sure there’s plenty of news about Russia so people would be more interested in watching one.
It will be interesting to see how they wrap this one up in an hour tonight.
In one of the first seasons, when Henry broke into a neighbor’s house to play video games, I spotted a chrome and glass coffee table that was one of my first purchases after college. I still have it. It’s fun to spot other pieces of décor that I had/have from that period.
Finally caught up before the finale.
I don’t think it would be easier. It is just a way of hiding the trail. It may be possible to find a death certificate for Philip Jennings (1941-1941) that was filed in South Dakota. It is incredibly unlikely they’ll find one that was filed in Calgary, Alberta as that isn’t where an American LEO is going to look.
We still have issues with various databases not talking to each other, making it less-than-simple to find things that happened in different states. In 1987, I can’t imagine the thing that Stan was searching went very much farther than some federal databases. I’m sure it isn’t going through DC business & tax filings. I would also doubt that it did a good job of going through state criminal (or civil) information. A Philip Jennings who had committed 3rd degree burglary in Iowa in the 1970s isn’t going to show up. Arrest records for Elizabeth Jennings in Oregon for misdemeanors, wouldn’t be there. (The states would have had to computerize all of their back case files and then physically send them to the FBI who would then need to reformat and re-enter all of that information? The time and money for doing that weren’t there)
I’m just going to say one last time I’ll be surprised if Renee turns out to be anything more than a red herring.
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South African National Intelligence Service? Mossad? KAOS? Medellin Cartel?
Boy, she’s something for sure, I can’t wait to find out tonight! 
(Edit: Ironically after the hockey game where Russians like Ovechkin and Kuznetzov, (as well as Swedes of Russian descent born in Austria while their own father was enjoying a career playing hockey, like Burakovsky) are the most beloved people inside the beltway…)
There are still US counties that are not automated, and have to search by hand when a background check is submitted. It causes numerous delays in hiring where I work.
Me too, but if she’s not I’m guessing MOSSAD.
We’ll, that was completely underwhelming. What a waste after 6 solid seasons.
That was extremely moving. What a great ending.
Yeah, I agree…something of a letdown. I just read an interview with Russell and Rhys about the finale on the NYT site. I get what they were going after, but to me, it still fell a little flat.
YMMV, I guess.
Yeah, I thought it was great. We all knew Gorbachev stayed in power and this show was always abut the people, their inner conflicts, living doubleives much more than the specifics of any mission they were on. I thought the finale captured that feeling of “what was it all for” spectacularly. Stan’s confrontation and his deep sense of betrayal was so well done.
I loved the ending. I even loved that it never answers the question of whether or not Renee was some sort of agent.
Well, it wouldn’t be an Americans finale without Paige doing something incredibly stupid.*
I loved it. I got the ending I wanted (the two of them together).
Loved the show. Can’t wait to see what they do next.
*Really? What is her plan? She’s burned. The contacts she might have had are burned. The safehouses are burned. She has no money. She’s got no practical skills and few impractical ones. And she’s going to need to be on the run for the rest of her life. What is she thinking?
What about the Canadian authorities, before issuing things like passports?
I just finished watching the finale on-line. Not at all what I was expecting. Once again, Stan proved what a pitiful FBI agent he is.