The Americans (FX)

[elfenix 34308]

Oh fuck!

 

 

[LongestHorn 759]

sprinkle in Tchaikovsky - thank you Shazam

[Don Johnson 4754]

Don’t want it to be over. 

[TexArcher 37977]

The "With Or Without You" sequence was spectacular.

I miss this show already.

[elfenix 34308]

Damnit is that it? I want more

 

[yoshi 137]

That finale was soft and weak.  Went out with wimper.  Disappointing.

[kevwun 15797]

Bullshit, that was great.  The mistake is trying to predict how a series will end.  The garage scene is an all timer in my book.

[TexasMan 10914]

Gruntled

[immortal13 4059]

Fucking most disappointing ending of all time

[Tuco 5076]

Not a shot fired. And I still liked it.

[Go Pokes 979]

Didn’t like

[AUS-97HORN 11809]

I am actually more than a little stunned that Paige stayed behind.  Yeah, I know she is hiding out in Claudia's old apt.  That might let her stay for a week or so, but after that, she has no money, no one she can turn to, and lets face it, that girl wasnt the most street-wise we have seen.  She could barely handle being a lookout, I cant see her living on her own very long without royally screwing herself

so she is going to what? take the ID her parents gave her, and go create a new life in New Mexico or some shit? it will be decades before she can even attempt to meet with Henry again.  Hell she has to try and find him first without giving up her own new identity.

on the other hand,  assuming the Soviets dont kill them, Phillip and Elizabeth should still be able  to send Henry a letter giving him an address to send a letter to if he ever wants- yeah it will be monitored by the FBI,  but he should still be able to stay in touch with his parents ( even though hes going to hate them for years), and as it turns out, in less than 4 years, he will be able to actually visit his parents in Russia, or maybe  they can meet in a random European Country once the Russian wall falls.  But its gonna be real, real tough for Paige to ever make contact with her family again. 

[RedDirtTexan 209]

Philip MINDFUCKED Stan with the "your girl may or may not be a Russian agent, just don't know, but maybe, so watch it." 

MINDFUCKED 

[immortal13 4059]

1 minute ago, AUS-97HORN said:

I am actually more than a little stunned that Paige stayed behind.  Yeah, I know she is hiding out in Claudia's old apt.  That might let her stay for a week or so, but after that, she has no money, no one she can turn to, and lets face it, that girl wasnt the most street-wise we have seen.  She could barely handle being a lookout, I cant see her living on her own very long without royally screwing herself

so she is going to what? take the ID her parents gave her, and go create a new life in New Mexico or some shit? it will be decades before she can even attempt to meet with Henry again.  Hell she has to try and find him first without giving up her own new identity.

on the other hand,  assuming the Soviets dont kill them, Phillip and Elizabeth should still be able  to send Henry a letter giving him an address to send a letter to if he ever wants- yeah it will be monitored by the FBI,  but he should still be able to stay in touch with his parents ( even though hes going to hate them for years), and as it turns out, in less than 4 years, he will be able to actually visit his parents in Russia, or maybe  they can meet in a random European Country once the Russian wall falls.  But its gonna be real, real tough for Paige to ever make contact with her family again. 

Fuck Paige. I don't care if she ends up hooking on the street. I never liked her whiney ass character. 

 

Wow, all that buildup to the finale and we get a whimper. I feel we deserved better. 

[TexasMan 10914]

This is going to come as shock to some of you, but people on sha-- Surly are hard to please. 

[trueut2003 73]

I am actually more than a little stunned that Paige stayed behind.  Yeah, I know she is hiding out in Claudia's old apt.  That might let her stay for a week or so, but after that, she has no money, no one she can turn to, and lets face it, that girl wasnt the most street-wise we have seen.  She could barely handle being a lookout, I cant see her living on her own very long without royally screwing herself
so she is going to what? take the ID her parents gave her, and go create a new life in New Mexico or some shit? it will be decades before she can even attempt to meet with Henry again.  Hell she has to try and find him first without giving up her own new identity.
on the other hand,  assuming the Soviets dont kill them, Phillip and Elizabeth should still be able  to send Henry a letter giving him an address to send a letter to if he ever wants- yeah it will be monitored by the FBI,  but he should still be able to stay in touch with his parents ( even though hes going to hate them for years), and as it turns out, in less than 4 years, he will be able to actually visit his parents in Russia, or maybe  they can meet in a random European Country once the Russian wall falls.  But its gonna be real, real tough for Paige to ever make contact with her family again. 

The only person who knows she knew anything is Stan. He already didn't tell Aderholt about the garage, so she can just claim ignorance.

[ousuxndallas 65]

Great finale! The copper got his collar, but let them go. In the end, they all lose. Loved ones, trust. All gone.

[WBT 20614]

Great finale.  The garage scene and the With or Without You montage ending with the jump shock of Paige standing on the platform were great moments

And the guy above is right, Paige can say that she knew nothing until her parents came and told her to pack up for Russia and that she couldn't do it and ditched them at the border.

[APMP 688]

Forced to live knowing you'll probably never see your kids again. I can't even imagine.

[RPM 26322]

That long travel scene with no dialog was fantastic. Felt like I was watching a Coen brothers movie. I was expecting the final song to be Fleetwood Mac. 

[Topper13 3368]

 

Я буду скучать по тебе

[TexasMan 10914]

9 minutes ago, RPM said:

That long travel scene with no dialog was fantastic. Felt like I was watching a Coen brothers movie. I was expecting the final song to be Fleetwood Mac. 

Staying with the current year, something from Tango In The Night. So I assume Little Lies? 

[APMP 688]

I didn't expect Stan to arguably commit treason so that the 14 year old kid of murdering Russian spies had somebody to look after him.

Also interesting - leaving Renee unresolved.

[SpiralOut 1818]

Honestly, I think the show went out being true to itself.  It was never about Russia v. USA or being spies or any of that stuff.  It was about two married people and their family. 

They lost everything and only have each other. 

The garage sequence and the train sequence are some of the best television I've ever seen.  Flat out.  And poor fucking Stan.  As if his life wasn't blown up enough Philip just drops that last poison pill on him about Renee. 

Gonna miss this show.  Had the balls to slow-burn itself all the way to the end.  Understood how to build its characters and stay true to them and how to keep the story about them. 

[DanRydell 799]

Philip MINDFUCKED Stan with the "your girl may or may not be a Russian agent, just don't know, but maybe, so watch it." 
MINDFUCKED 

While the effect was mindfucking Stan and almost certainly ending his marriage regardless of the truth, I read that as an act of friendship by Philip, not spycraft.

[aggie08 21505]

I assume that, by them not being executed the second that they cross the border, it was the show's way of letting us know that Stan delivered the dead drop to the appropriate parties, and any anti-Gorbachev factions in power have been removed?

[aggie08 21505]

Philip was always the truly angry one, not Elizabeth. The show spent years agitating the rage bubbling up inside him, beneath the surface. I thought it would lead to something; instead, he found EST. Meh.

Edited May 31, 2018 by aggie08

[BigOrange1 6442]

the middle of that episode, from the point that stan confronts them in the garage to the point where paige gets off the train, is some of the best television i've ever seen.  wow.

[Dr. Teeth 5845]

I thought it was pretty flawless. Great music and ending. The garage scene was a perfect ending to that friendship. 

I didn’t need a shoot out or action. We get that every week. I think this is exactly the ending that this deserved. These two are essentially fucked. They have no clear future, no family and no one but each other. 

And their phone call to Henry and their reactions to Paige were how you win Emmys. 

[austingirl 2191]

I didn't expect it to go out in a blaze of glory a la Breaking Bad. I didn't exactly expect this either. What exactly did Stan tell Henry, and what happens to Henry now? Could he legally stay with Stan?

When they were driving in the car at the end, I thought Philip was telling the driver to pull over because he realized they were about to be taken care of like Adriana in The Sopranos. Kept waiting for the turn into the woods. So Elizabeth fucking up the Gorbechev plan didn't get them excommunicated? I really thought that it was going to ruin their relationship with The Center and that they were going to leave them in the US.

[austingirl 2191]

8 hours ago, RedDirtTexan said:

Philip MINDFUCKED Stan with the "your girl may or may not be a Russian agent, just don't know, but maybe, so watch it." 

MINDFUCKED 

I kind of wanted them to pan out and show her talking with the Cigarette-Smoking Man and us to find out Stan was shacking up with a double-crossing US operative whose last name literally means Red Cave.

[Jograves 357]

I really liked it. Everyone loses in this game. I thought it was pretty poignant. 

I feel for Stan the most. Loses his best friend, his neighbors and maybe/probably his girlfriend. How does he stay on with the FBI? He was working counter intel for 7 or 8 years, had spies living across the street who befriended him, and they slipped through his fingers. 

[Skipper 6136]

I agree with what appears to be the majority on here and thought it was an awesome finale.  Not what I expected but Philip and Elizabeth "getting away with it" while simultaneously losing what really mattered to them at the end and living alone in a home they don't recognize feels like the perfect end to the series.   Glad they didn't take the easy route most finales take with a major shootout/primary character death as most expected.     This has definitely been one of the best shows on TV the past few years and is easily in my top 10 (probably top 5).  Really going to miss it.

[Tuco 5076]

 

9 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

I am actually more than a little stunned that Paige stayed behind.  Yeah, I know she is hiding out in Claudia's old apt.  That might let her stay for a week or so, but after that, she has no money, no one she can turn to, and lets face it, that girl wasnt the most street-wise we have seen.  She could barely handle being a lookout, I cant see her living on her own very long without royally screwing herself

I think she is assuming she will get arrested, but is giving her parents a few days head start.  She's not going to hold up to interrogation, and they will certainly interrogate her.  But, she really hasn't done much.  She hasn't killed anyone, broken into any facilities, etc.  She was a lookout and she took some pictures in public.  "Accessory to..." is going to be her charges.  I think any decent lawyer will build a defense that she was brainwashed by her parents from an impressionable age and point to her return to Washington as an escape from their control.  She's not doing twenty in Leavenworth.  Given a choice between 2-5 in a fed pen or a lifetime in Russia, she picked the first.  

 

 

9 hours ago, RedDirtTexan said:

Philip MINDFUCKED Stan with the "your girl may or may not be a Russian agent, just don't know, but maybe, so watch it." 

MINDFUCKED 

And, intentionally or not, a great play.  They were already pushing a loyalty question with Stan.  His loyalty to his government vs. their friendship to the point where he would have to kill them.  Then at the last second, Philip throws Renee on the scale.  If Philip and Elizabeth go down, so does the woman he loves.  So does his whole non-FBI life.

 

9 hours ago, WBT said:

Great finale.  The garage scene and the With or Without You montage ending with the jump shock of Paige standing on the platform were great moments

And the guy above is right, Paige can say that she knew nothing until her parents came and told her to pack up for Russia and that she couldn't do it and ditched them at the border.

And a great song considering Stan's relationship with Renee. "I can't live, with or without you." He is proper fucked.

 

3 hours ago, BigOrange1 said:

the middle of that episode, from the point that stan confronts them in the garage to the point where paige gets off the train, is some of the best television i've ever seen.  wow.

My favorite moment was before that, when Elizabeth recoils and gasps when Philip explains they need to leave Henry. 

 

But certainly, as with the rest of the series, there was a considerable amount of unrealistic shit with the finale.  There is no way Claudia leaves behind a full bottle of vodka.

 

Edited May 31, 2018 by Tuco

[RedDirtTexan 209]

Are they setting it up for a movie? The wall falls, etc., and the search for the Jennings kids begins? Dealing with post-Cold War stuff? Trump, Comey, Putin? 

I'd stand in line for a ticket to that. 

[Jograves 357]

They were still liars to the bitter end though, when they told Stan they didn't kill people. 

[tx 3 putt 77060]

I was hoping Phillip and Elizabeth got bullets to the head as the final end game 

 

[RTF Horn 46]

Man, what a great ending episode.  I'm really glad they chose to avoid the "super shoot-em-up" cliche.  That's the "American" way to go.  The way they did it, just sadness all around.  Philip and Elizabeth have nothing.  They started with nothing and through all their life decisions they end up with nothing but pain.  That's probably a fate worse than death...having to leave Henry and then Paige leaving them.  I was just hit of how everyone has a sad ending...P&E, Paige even if she can convince the FBI she never knew anything, they'll still be watching her like a hawk for the rest of her life AND she loses her parents and probably her brother...she doesn't even have Claudia either...completely alone.  Henry, jeez imagine having your neighbor tell you in 1987 your parents were fucking Russian spies and have fled the country.  Oleg, rots in jail when he had a choice to leave his life and family in Russia.  He loses his life, Nina, his parents, his country, his wife and kid.  Oleg's dad lost both of his sons in pointless ways.  Stan...man, just brutal having to go through that with the Jennings and then he'll worry every day of his life if his wife is a spy and also it'll weigh on him how he did so many traitorous things since he came back to DC.

I don't understand how the border officers couldn't recognize Philip & Elizabeth.  Their disguises weren't THAT great and it should've been a slam dunk.

I just love the planning that P&E did.  They had a specific set of passports and those particular disguises in place only for that moment of if they have to flee.  Brilliant.

What a great show, great ending.

[Tuco 5076]

2 hours ago, austingirl said:

So Elizabeth fucking up the Gorbechev plan didn't get them excommunicated? I really thought that it was going to ruin their relationship with The Center and that they were going to leave them in the US.

They didn't rely on the Center to get back to Russia.  They had their passports, cash, and disguises stowed away prior to their falling out with the Center.  In other extractions the Center helped out with, they used a cargo ship or private plane from relatively local exit points.  The Jennings were on their own. I guess the Center could have burned them by calling the FBI with all the known passport aliases, but they wouldn't want the Jennings talking to the FBI, and they had their own shit to worry about. 

[ousuxndallas 65]

Also, great bit of acting by Keri Russell on the train.  She never breaks character in the show (EVER) when she's in disguise throughout her time as a spy.  But, she can't help but be 100% herself when she sees Paige on the platform.  If someone were watching, she just gave up her cover.  Very subtle acting choice, but very realistic.

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

9 hours ago, SpiralOut said:

Honestly, I think the show went out being true to itself.  It was never about Russia v. USA or being spies or any of that stuff.  It was about two married people and their family. 

They lost everything and only have each other. 

The garage sequence and the train sequence are some of the best television I've ever seen.  Flat out.  And poor fucking Stan.  As if his life wasn't blown up enough Philip just drops that last poison pill on him about Renee. 

Gonna miss this show.  Had the balls to slow-burn itself all the way to the end.  Understood how to build its characters and stay true to them and how to keep the story about them. 

 

This all of it. 

Last night I hated the fucking ending and was pissed that there wasn't blood spilled. But going back over it, I agree it couldn't have ended any better. 

And the garage scene was amazing, laying all of their cards on the table, how their whole relationship genuine just wrapped up in a shit sandwich that didn't make the feelings or relationships any less real. 

I hated Paige and her character but that was some pretty damn fine writing to have her grow up right at the very end to go it alone (or with Henry)

Great show. 

 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52524]

10 hours ago, RPM said:

That long travel scene with no dialog was fantastic. Felt like I was watching a Coen brothers movie. I was expecting the final song to be Fleetwood Mac. 

Was coming here to say that from the dire straits to u2 to the classical, there was a long stretch of very little dialogue where the characters and the audience are mulling over the choices that were just made and the repercussions of those choices. 

[kevwun 15797]

After sleeping on it, that was about as good of a series finale as you are going to get.  It never was as popular as it should have been, but it should go down as one of the great drama series.

[aggie08 21505]

1 hour ago, Jograves said:

They were still liars to the bitter end though, when they told Stan they didn't kill people. 

I was hoping for a bit more of "Were you the ones that killed my partner?!" standoff culminating in some kind of listing of all the terrible things they're done, but, sleeping on it, it works better unsaid. 

Plus, it would have ruined the Paige surprise. Of course she ditches her parents if she just found out, beyond mere suspicion, that they've killed more people than the plague. She leaves them for much more complicated reasons.

Edited May 31, 2018 by aggie08

[TrashMaster G 17563]

8 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

I was hoping for a bit more of "Were you the ones that killed my partner?!" standoff culminating in some kind of listing of all the terrible things they're done, but, sleeping on it, it works better unsaid. 

Plus, it would have ruined the Paige surprise. Of course she ditches her parents if she just found out, beyond mere suspicion, they're killed more people than the plague. She leaves them for much more complicated reasons.

This is it, right here.  Yes, they lied to Stan in the end, but that was all about Paige.  Philip would have come totally clean with Stan had Paige not been there.  They had one kid left at that point and didn't want to lose her too.

Of course, that just pumps up the tragedy of Paige leaving them at the train station.

The finale was incredibly well done.

[PilotsError 2294]

One of the best series finales ever.

[TrashMaster G 17563]

And to me, Oleg was the most tragic character of all.  He wasn't a spy, he was just a guy doing a job for his country.  For him, it was never about idealism, it was about serving the country he loved.  He lost the woman he loved.  He lost his brother.  And in the end he lost his wife, son, parents AND his country.  All for trying to do the right thing, what could even be seen as the right thing by BOTH sides of the Cold War.

[PilotsError 2294]

23 hours ago, PilotsError said:

I think she's his wife now.

I have bad vibes for Oleg.  I think the last time we see him he has the thousand yard stare in a jail cell.

yup.

[Don Johnson 4754]

http://www.vulture.com/2018/05/the-americans-series-finale-oral-history.html

 

Great interviews with the cast on the finale.

[kevwun 15797]

Oleg might get swapped since the Gorbachev faction won the power struggle.  When Arkady told his dad that it wasn't possible to get him back through a trade, he thought his side had lost.