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NFT: The Americans - Season 4 (spoilers)

ErichBarnes102 : 3/16/2017 5:53 am
Finally have a chance to catch up with this series on Amazon Prime. Just watched Episode 4. I probably should have seen it coming, but seeing Nina get killed like that was just brutal.

Annet Mahendru did a great job playing a very complex character. Very easy on the eyes as well. She'll be missed


Great show, and I salute their commitment  
jcn56 : 3/16/2017 8:20 am : link
to the annual gratuitous display of Keri Russell's keister.
RE: Great show, and I salute their commitment  
Mike from Ohio : 3/16/2017 8:33 am : link
In comment 13394748 jcn56 said:
Quote:
to the annual gratuitous display of Keri Russell's keister.


That shot was totally unnecessary, but very much appreciated.
Keri Russell's willingness to show off her ass is one of the show's  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 9:01 am : link
strongest elements.

They're really turning Stan into a sad sack, aren't they?
RE: Keri Russell's willingness to show off her ass is one of the show's  
Eli Wilson : 3/16/2017 9:33 am : link
In comment 13394800 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
strongest elements.

They're really turning Stan into a sad sack, aren't they?


Somehow I think Stan is being played by the new woman. Maybe she's Soviet and it hasn't come out yet.
This is season 4 spoilers  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 9:35 am : link
not season 5, so I won't comment too much, but my fears of turning it somewhat into "homeland" are being realized.

RE: RE: Keri Russell's willingness to show off her ass is one of the show's  
jcn56 : 3/16/2017 9:36 am : link
In comment 13394837 Eli Wilson said:
Quote:
In comment 13394800 Greg from LI said:


Quote:


strongest elements.

They're really turning Stan into a sad sack, aren't they?



Somehow I think Stan is being played by the new woman. Maybe she's Soviet and it hasn't come out yet.


Yeah, I got the same impression. A little too on the nose:

- She's into him, even though she's better looking
- She's into sports, loves beer

I mean, c'mon...
actually, I think she's CIA  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 9:36 am : link
The way the thing with Oleg went down wasn't exactly by the book, and now he's trying to butt heads with the CIA over putting pressure on Oleg in Moscow. I could see them wanting to keep an eye on him.
Homeland? Well, they're definitely turning Henry into Chris Brody  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 9:37 am : link
In two episodes, Henry's been on screen for about 30 seconds total.
RE: actually, I think she's CIA  
jcn56 : 3/16/2017 9:39 am : link
In comment 13394844 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
The way the thing with Oleg went down wasn't exactly by the book, and now he's trying to butt heads with the CIA over putting pressure on Oleg in Moscow. I could see them wanting to keep an eye on him.


I guess we need to caveat with SEASON 5 SPOILERS BELOW..




Yeah, but she appeared before the Oleg thing, didn't she? I thought he had mentioned her to Phillip before the CIA approached him re: Oleg.

I also thought the most obvious argument to not burn Oleg was the one they overlooked, that by leaving him in place and not pressuring him, since he came to them with intel before, it was just as likely he might repeat the process on his own if he found something alarming.
yep, he met the woman earlier. Forgot about that.  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 9:49 am : link
There IS something hinky going on there though.

One thing the show did again in the last episode that I've enjoyed is how the Russians have a ridiculously suspicious take on something fairly innocuous. They conclude that the US is somehow trying to weaponize insects to destroy the Soviet's food supply....because this one Soviet dissident works for the DoA and was sent to work at a greenhouse in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the place isn't guarded by more than a simple padlock and a basic greenhouse would hardly seem like a controlled environment for such research, but that's just the way they think. It's like when they took Al Haig's infamous "I'm in charge here" comment after Reagan's shooting to be a serious coup attempt.
Great show  
Ron Johnson 30 : 3/16/2017 9:54 am : link
I was hooked after the audio tape of Kerry having sex.
I'm still not clear  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 9:55 am : link
what is going on with Tuan and Phillip and Elizabeth and the Russian immigrants. Not sure the end game. Are they trying to flip the kid? and does Tuan think he's working for the Americans?
I bet the gal is CIA too  
5BowlsSoon : 3/16/2017 9:56 am : link
Definitely not Russian. Or at least so I think.

I absolutely love this show. They are not in a hurry to make things happen but they take their time with strong dialog and great character development.

I for one am loving this Paige- Matthew love interest. It will be interesting to see where it goes. Personally, if I'm the parents, I could not trust that girl.

As for Stan, I applaud him being upset about what the CIA is wanting to do with Oleg. im upset too. I do not believe Stan got in touch with someone to warn Oleg though, so I'm thinking that may be a trap. Oleg is going to have to think this one out carefully.

I wonder how much extra Kerri gets paid to show off her great keister? Lol
I find Paige very annoying  
Ron Johnson 30 : 3/16/2017 9:57 am : link
And the storyline of her telling the minister about her family was a little over the top
do you all realize who Stan's new "gal" is?  
Mike in St. Louis : 3/16/2017 10:04 am : link
I didn't recognize her - Andrea (Laurie Holden) from The Walking Dead...

RE: I'm still not clear  
jcn56 : 3/16/2017 10:07 am : link
In comment 13394882 pjcas18 said:
Quote:
what is going on with Tuan and Phillip and Elizabeth and the Russian immigrants. Not sure the end game. Are they trying to flip the kid? and does Tuan think he's working for the Americans?


I think they're trying to work through the kid to get at the dad. How, exactly, remains to be seen, but there's a few ways they could do it. They're after information, and they figure he's in position to give it to them.
RE: I'm still not clear  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 10:11 am : link
In comment 13394882 pjcas18 said:
Quote:
what is going on with Tuan and Phillip and Elizabeth and the Russian immigrants. Not sure the end game. Are they trying to flip the kid? and does Tuan think he's working for the Americans?


Tuan doesn't quite make sense. He came from Vietnam as a young orphan among the boat people of the late '70s, yet he apparently became a committed Communist. Which is odd because, if you know anyone who was a boat person, they are some of the most bitter opponents of Communism there is. Somehow he then became a committed enough Communist to become a Soviet operative?

I imagine they're going to use the kid to spy on his father, or someone exert pressure on the father.
RE: RE: I'm still not clear  
jcn56 : 3/16/2017 10:13 am : link
In comment 13394907 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
In comment 13394882 pjcas18 said:


Quote:


what is going on with Tuan and Phillip and Elizabeth and the Russian immigrants. Not sure the end game. Are they trying to flip the kid? and does Tuan think he's working for the Americans?



Tuan doesn't quite make sense. He came from Vietnam as a young orphan among the boat people of the late '70s, yet he apparently became a committed Communist. Which is odd because, if you know anyone who was a boat person, they are some of the most bitter opponents of Communism there is. Somehow he then became a committed enough Communist to become a Soviet operative?

I imagine they're going to use the kid to spy on his father, or someone exert pressure on the father.


Never underestimate the ability to sway weak minded fools. Exhibit A, John Walker Lindh.
oh, sure.....but from that community, it seems like a stretch  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 10:18 am : link
A guy in my high school class escaped Vietnam with his family on a boat as a toddler, and if you didn't know he was Vietnamese you'd swear he was a card-carrying member of the John Birch Society. Dude DESPISES Communists.

What's funny about the Soviet refugee family angle - the father's bitter rants about the shortages in the USSR mirror Philip's own remarks in the first or second episode of the series, when he hints at wanting to defect. "The food's pretty good here, and the power is always on"
But Tuan thinks he's working for Americans  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 10:24 am : link
right? He mentioned watching the communists burn his entire family, didn't he? I would be surprised if he supported communism. Or was he saying the Americans burned his family? Which might make a little more sense for him to be working against America.

I admit I don't hang on every word of the show so I definitely could be mistaken here, but I took Tuan to think he's working for Americans spying on Russians, and he doesn't realize he's working for Russians posing as Americans, and actually spying on Russians for Russia not America.
no, he knows who he's working for  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 10:29 am : link
That little spiel was him telling P&E what he says to other people to paint the picture of the typical Vietnamese refugee. He blames the Americans for the deaths of his family members. Remember him saying how disgusted he is by the Russian father turning his back on his homeland?
How does that whole setup  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 10:45 am : link
work? he's a 14-year old Vietnamese kid that lives alone and occasionally has his parents come visit?

no one finds that strange?

I would have liked more back story with him and how they got connected.
I get the sense that he's late teens/early 20s  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 10:48 am : link
Just playing at being a high school kid.
and they used the cover of an airline pilot and flight attendent  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 10:48 am : link
to explain the frequent absences.
BTW, now that they're in 1984  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 10:55 am : link
They need to have one of the songs from, um, 1984 on the soundtrack. I have very strong memories of my uncles, who were teenagers at the time, spending much of the summer at our house and listening to that album with them over and over.
I have a feeling that the daughter will end up telling the boyfriend  
steve in ky : 3/16/2017 11:11 am : link
and they will have to kill Stan's son because of it.
RE: I find Paige very annoying  
steve in ky : 3/16/2017 11:15 am : link
In comment 13394885 Ron Johnson 30 said:
Quote:
And the storyline of her telling the minister about her family was a little over the top


I agree, the worst story line of the entire series.

Of course now they have completely ignored it even though they went from wire tapping them because of their concerns about them telling authorities of their true identities. It's not believable they would leave that big of a loose end that could so easily expose them.
RE: BTW, now that they're in 1984  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 11:17 am : link
In comment 13394982 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
They need to have one of the songs from, um, 1984 on the soundtrack. I have very strong memories of my uncles, who were teenagers at the time, spending much of the summer at our house and listening to that album with them over and over.


True, or Born in the USA which I know you love, I think it came out in '84
Synchronicity came out about that time too, no?  
jcn56 : 3/16/2017 11:41 am : link
The Paige storyline could be much, much worse. Also submitted for evidence, Dana Brody. They didn't know where they were going with that one and just decided to keep going full steam ahead.

Now, if we're talking suspension of disbelief, it's that the Army decides to bury a body contaminated with a highly contagious infectious disease in the backyard of Fort Meade (?), and a team of Russian spies just waltzes right in and digs it up.

Did the Army not have enough money for gasoline to burn the fucking guy?
Yes, Dana Brody was much, much worse  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 11:46 am : link
I don't mind Paige at all. She's a bit annoying, but that's because teenagers tend to be annoying in real life. I think the part is well written and well acted.

I agree with jcn - no way they bury William rather than cremating him.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure it was Fort Detrick in Maryland  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 11:47 am : link
That's where the Army's bioweapons lab is.
I find the Paige  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 11:49 am : link
story line as annoying as Dana Brody and I feared they'd feature it too much. Only 2? episodes or so in to the season, but it seems her story is 50% of each of the episodes. don't care about her teenage love life drama and the complexities it presents, don't care about her learning to defend herself, don't care about her and the weird relationship with the pastor and his wife (granted it hasn't come up this season yet), just find the whole plot to be cheap filler.

Maybe Paige is a slightly better actor, but I find the story line tedious.
I agree the Paige story lines are awful  
steve in ky : 3/16/2017 12:29 pm : link
Ideally the children would just be a small percentage of the show and mostly just in order to show the struggles they encounter trying to juggle a "normal" American life with two children vs that of their second life of implanted Russian spies.
Couple comments  
Gary from The East End : Admin : 3/16/2017 12:48 pm : link
Tuan hates America because American military action killed his family back in Vietnam.

I like the Paige story line. It's pretty realistic and it's some random thing off on the side. It's showing the damage that the Jennings' work is doing to their family.
The show is more a show about families and relationships  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 3:20 pm : link
than a purely action-driven spy drama. It's always been that way.
I guess I just generally don't  
pjcas18 : 3/16/2017 3:26 pm : link
like teens in some adult drama shows.

I like the family aspect, but less on the kids side (the way they use Henry is great; less is more) and more of the friction between Philip and Elizabeth especially the struggle I found believable of them being "thrown' together into a marriage for the greater good of their homeland.

I don't find anything Paige does to be realistic, but how would I know. None of us knows what is realistic.
RE: yep, he met the woman earlier. Forgot about that.  
bradshaw44 : 3/16/2017 3:42 pm : link
In comment 13394870 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
There IS something hinky going on there though.

One thing the show did again in the last episode that I've enjoyed is how the Russians have a ridiculously suspicious take on something fairly innocuous. They conclude that the US is somehow trying to weaponize insects to destroy the Soviet's food supply....because this one Soviet dissident works for the DoA and was sent to work at a greenhouse in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the place isn't guarded by more than a simple padlock and a basic greenhouse would hardly seem like a controlled environment for such research, but that's just the way they think. It's like when they took Al Haig's infamous "I'm in charge here" comment after Reagan's shooting to be a serious coup attempt.


The scene at the gym gave me the feeling that they are playing Phillip. That's the first time I thought Stan may be on to them.
interesting take  
Greg from LI : 3/16/2017 3:49 pm : link
Not sure how Stan meeting a woman is a way to try to snoop on Phillip, though.

I wish they'd make Stan more dangerous again. In the first season, he was a fairly sharp guy - he cornered Nina and flipped her, and he was suspicious of Phillip and Elizabeth initially, plus he murdered Vlad. Since then they've made him kind of hapless. Aderholt seems to have a lot more on the ball than Stan these days.

Also, since Stan mentioned it, I wouldn't mind them finally finding out what happened with Gaad. Why were the Soviets trying to talk to him?
RE: interesting take  
bradshaw44 : 3/16/2017 4:12 pm : link
In comment 13395471 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
Not sure how Stan meeting a woman is a way to try to snoop on Phillip, though.



I can't put my finger on why or how that would work but it just came off that way to me. Maybe its just to get a second set of trained eyes on them and in conversation with them to help make a judgement maybe. It just really struck me that way for some reason.
RE: interesting take  
steve in ky : 3/16/2017 4:14 pm : link
In comment 13395471 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
Not sure how Stan meeting a woman is a way to try to snoop on Phillip, though.

I wish they'd make Stan more dangerous again. In the first season, he was a fairly sharp guy - he cornered Nina and flipped her, and he was suspicious of Phillip and Elizabeth initially, plus he murdered Vlad. Since then they've made him kind of hapless. Aderholt seems to have a lot more on the ball than Stan these days.

Also, since Stan mentioned it, I wouldn't mind them finally finding out what happened with Gaad. Why were the Soviets trying to talk to him?


I agree about Stan, he is a different person than early in the show.

That's why my dark horse theory has Paige spilling the truth to the boyfriend/son which leaves them no choice but to kill the son, which turns Stan into a man with a mission and notches up the tension and the dynamic between he, them and the show in general. Basically makes him more dangerous to them again similar to the original premise.
And I agree about Stan  
bradshaw44 : 3/16/2017 4:15 pm : link
He was much more intuitive/cunning in season 1. For instance, when he broke into Phillips garage and looked in his trunk.
If you kill Matthew  
5BowlsSoon : 3/16/2017 6:08 pm : link
I'm thinking Paige would definitely know it was her parents and this would cause her to tell some one, so I don't think they could go that way.
Very interesting theories  
Stu11 : 3/17/2017 8:29 am : link
Yea there is definitely something off with the blonde and Stan. Stan is breathing fire to get into the racquetball court, then suddenly he has Philip saunter over with him and surprise surprise the blonde is coming out of the workout. I agree with Greg, I think they do the Paige story line well. Yes she can be annoying at times(what teenage girl isn't?) However unlike Dana Brody they have always had a clear game plan and stuck to it with a clear arc- her curiosity at the beginning leading to them telling her, and slowly getting her involved a bit without overwhelming her. One thing I love how they have worked in international/strange bed fellows players that assisted them along the way- South Africans, a Vietnamese boat person and even Gregory and the black liberation movement. What a different world it was.
The gym blonde  
well...bye TC : 3/17/2017 8:44 am : link
is from TWD. Andrea was it?
I agree on the Stan stuff  
Stu11 : 3/17/2017 9:11 am : link
However he has gone through a ton as a character- in season 1 he was coming off being deeply embedded for months inside a White Supremacist group, which I think shook him to his core. Also the effects of it help cost him his marriage. For a guy that keeps the hours he does with his job, it wasn't that easy in that era to just jump back on the horse. There wasn't all the online dating/social networking that there is now. I don't mind how he's evolved. I think its real interesting the evolution of Elizabeth/Phillip. Season 1 started with her being the soulless dedicated soldier to the cause, while Phillip was questioning it. Now while Phillip isn't necessarily a dedicated soldier, he has settled into and accepted his role. Elizabeth on the other hand while still really dedicated has done a lot more soul searching. I think her mother's death was huge. She looked at her mother's life and really looked inside herself and is really is not sure that's how she wants to live her whole life that cold.
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