Just finished it.

Quick take: thought it started strong, got a little redundant in the middle, kinda felt like it came close to jumping the shark with Paige finding out, but then really came on to close the story out and then I personally believe it may have had one of the greatest finales in the history of modern television. Thought they really tied it up well. I literally had to stop the episode like 4 times with a mix of anxiety and not wanting the show to conclude. The scene with Paige especially on the train platform comes at the viewer hard.

I gotta put this as a top 5 all time drama for me personally.

We watched that entire series a couple years ago (well, maybe more than a couple since I kept thinking of the mom character when that actress also had a role in The Rise of Skywalker). That was quality television right up there with 24.

Agreed! One of our favorites as well. Especially if you are a child of the 70s. Today none of that stuff would be possible, but back then it really could have been.

It is an outstanding show. It might actually be my favorite.

The drama, the nostalgia, the everything. I think the final episode actually blows any other final episode away by a long shot. Everything from the garage scene onwards is just tv excellence.

Here is the final season thread.

https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/2939913/1

My favorite memory at that time was on a completely unrelated thread, someone mentioned them being back in Russia. TCTTS hadn't seen the finale yet and was gonna give up on the show because he thought it spoiled it. Was trying to tell him that was like the fourth most important thing in the finale.
Wonder if he ever finished it?

oragator said:

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Here is the final season thread.

https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/2939913/1

My favorite memory at that time was on a completely unrelated thread, someone mentioned them being back in Russia. TCTTS hadn't seen the finale yet and was gonna give up on the show because he thought it spoiled it. Was trying to tell him that was like the fourth most important thing in the finale.
Wonder if he ever finished it?

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Can't imagine watching that whole show and skipping the finale. The finale took the show from a B+ to an A+. I'm still thinking about it this morning. Especially the train scene.

Yep. We even rewatched the series once. The finale was still a Rollercoaster of emotion, even knowing exactly what was going to happen, the finale is almost hard to watch. Guess that is what separates great from good.

oragator said:

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Here is the final season thread.

https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/2939913/1

My favorite memory at that time was on a completely unrelated thread, someone mentioned them being back in Russia. TCTTS hadn't seen the finale yet and was gonna give up on the show because he thought it spoiled it. Was trying to tell him that was like the fourth most important thing in the finale.
Wonder if he ever finished it?

---

My mind is blown that so many in that thread didn't like the finale. I thought the ending was unbelievably good.

The garage scene, the train platform with Paige. Geez it's crazy to me to not have liked all that .

At the time, everybody had predicted the finale to be a bloodbath and that it was going to be awesome.

Instead, no blood was drawn, and it was considered better than any viewers wildest dreams.

The second viewing put the show even higher on my list. There was a lot of nuance that I missed the first time. I now put it at #3 behind Breaking Bad and The Wire.

Gonna try to let some recency bias wear off before i decide my rankings.

But as of now series:

1 : Breaking Bad
2: Sopranos
3: The Americans

As of now finales:

1: The Americans
2: Breaking Bad
3: Friday Night Lights

Hmm.. I may have to give Friday Night Lights a try.

Another good finale is the very last 5 minutes of 6 feet under. I think the rest of the series is meh though.

As far as endings go, I have this one right up there with Justified. Very good series.

I felt the garage scene where Stan just lets them walk away was kind of clunky. I guess there had to be a final confrontation of some kind.

Though I don't think the ending was as strong as "Breaking Bad", it made absolute perfect sense in terms of the show and its focus. They did not end up dead or in jail. They made it back to Russia, but they had to give up their family in the process. I think the comparison to "Justified" is correct.

Supposedly the showrunners always knew from the beginning how they planned to end the show. I think the difference with "Justified" is the show latched on to the "we dug coal together" theme over time, with Boyd originally scheduled to be killed off at the beginning.

I think the garage scene is perfect. When I put myself in Stan's position, he says and acts just like I think I would in that situation. Even to the point of letting them go. Philip and Elizabeth are professional liars. But even we viewers, who know everything about them, still see Phillip as sincere. Because he sorta is. I think they had to rewrite that scene 1000 times to get it right. I usually (and probably naively) think I could have written things better or improved on them somehow. But everything I thought of prior to this episode airing was lame in comparison to what they actually aired.

And as this board knows, I'm almost always critical of these things. I can usually find lots of things to complain about. But I give this show a chef's kiss. I really wish they could do a follow up on what happened to everybody afterwards.

Yes, all the scenes with the three of them were great ending with the train platform. I also like her getting a drink of vodka when she got back.

And the FBI agent not knowing about his lady. Of course he could do a background check on her pretty easy.

Oleg's story ending with him being captured I did not like but I get it. The show had so much pertaining to people sacrificing for the betterment of their country.

LB12Diamond said:

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Yes, all the scenes with the three of them were great ending with the train platform. I also like her getting a drink of vodka when she got back.

And the FBI agent not knowing about his lady. Of course he could do a background check on her pretty easy.

Oleg's story ending with him being captured I did not like but I get it. The show had so much pertaining to people sacrificing for the betterment of their country.

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If we are to incorporate reality then I'd think Oleg woulda been part of a mass prisoner exchange within a year or 2 of Gorbachev coming in. He was a super likeable character for sure though.

My enthusiasm for the show really dipped with where they took things with Paige when she found out, but then that had to happen to make the finale work so well so it kind of redeemed that whole substandard arc.

LB12Diamond said:

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Yes, all the scenes with the three of them were great ending with the train platform. I also like her getting a drink of vodka when she got back.

And the FBI agent not knowing about his lady. Of course he could do a background check on her pretty easy.

Oleg's story ending with him being captured I did not like but I get it. The show had so much pertaining to people sacrificing for the betterment of their country.

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One of the things I liked about the series, other than Philip and Elizabeth (for obvious reasons) the Russian characters were played by actual Russians. I thought Oleg was an incredibly tragic character.

torrid said:

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LB12Diamond said:

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Yes, all the scenes with the three of them were great ending with the train platform. I also like her getting a drink of vodka when she got back.

And the FBI agent not knowing about his lady. Of course he could do a background check on her pretty easy.

Oleg's story ending with him being captured I did not like but I get it. The show had so much pertaining to people sacrificing for the betterment of their country.

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One of the things I liked about the series, other than Philip and Elizabeth (for obvious reasons) the Russian characters were played by actual Russians. I thought Oleg was an incredibly tragic character.

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I agree

Nina, Oleg, Gabriel, the head guy. They all did great and the show made you feel for them. Oleg was my fav, he nailed it.

Oleg's last line to Sam about, yes he would do it all.

Will ask one question.

Elizabeth's dream when they were flying back to Russia. What was up with all the art?

I really didn't get that either. Why throw a "it was all a dream" snippet in, when everything else was so great?

On the Paige thing, to me it made sense. A reasonably smart kid was going to start to question some of the stuff that was going on with their parents. Even in that time where we were not near as connected. As a parent now, I could see the desire to share the truth with your kid in that situation, even without the explanation of potentially having an agent that was legally an American citizen. Keeping in mind that they had no way of knowing how things were going to shake out and would have believed it could go on for generations.

That is what made it so great. There were so many levels and plot lines and relationships, that they did a damn good job of keeping going and wrapping up. Combined with the nostalgia aspect and the family aspect, with as someone the Paige's age who now had kids, was pretty cool both from the kid and parent perspective.

The opening episode where they kept playing Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" over and over to build the underlying tension was just pure genius and pure heroin as it hooked us in for a great ride.

Top 5 for us.


Oh, and her butt.

Nina's? Right?

And it's the only show to ever have a kid walk in on their parents in that position.

A few episodes in, I want to like this show but I am having a difficult time empathizing at all with Soviet spies as the protagonist here. Am I the only one? Is this a silly reason to abort?

Don't abort man, maintain course and speed.

f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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A few episodes in, I want to like this show but I am having a difficult time empathizing at all with Soviet spies as the protagonist here. Am I the only one? Is this a silly reason to abort?

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Yeah, they are Russkies and yeah, they are the protagonists. It is not a pro-Soviet show. I recommend sticking with it. This show is full of great characters and managed to captivate my wife, who is not really into shows like this.

And Keri Russell

f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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A few episodes in, I want to like this show but I am having a difficult time empathizing at all with Soviet spies as the protagonist here. Am I the only one? Is this a silly reason to abort?

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I mean its not much different than watching Tony Soprano's life play out on the Sopranos. Or Vic Mackey's life play out on The Sheild. Or Jax Teller's on Sons.

These shows all have flawed or even evil characters and whether you are rooting for them or not, they are interesting to follow.

That said, the Americans DOES also have some very likeable and root-worthy characters too aside from Phillip and Elizabeth.

You should stick with it, I'm telling you the payoff is great.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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A few episodes in, I want to like this show but I am having a difficult time empathizing at all with Soviet spies as the protagonist here. Am I the only one? Is this a silly reason to abort?

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I mean its not much different than watching Tony Soprano's life play out on the Sopranos. Or Vic Mackey's life play out on The Sheild. Or Jax Teller's on Sons.

These shows all have flawed or even evil characters and whether you are rooting for them or not, they are interesting to follow.

That said, the Americans DOES also have some very likeable and root-worthy characters too aside from Phillip and Elizabeth.

You should stick with it, I'm telling you the payoff is great.

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Never watched any of those. The closest parallel I have seen in my experience is Breaking Bad, but with that one too I was a latecomer since the first thing anyone said about it was that it's about a drug dealer. And with that one I must say at least Walter eventually paid the ultimate price. Knowing that these protagonists not only live but make it back to Russia just turns me off. Not sure I will pick it back up.

You'll be missing a great show if you abort!! I may have to go back and watch again!

f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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A few episodes in, I want to like this show but I am having a difficult time empathizing at all with Soviet spies as the protagonist here. Am I the only one? Is this a silly reason to abort?

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If it makes you feel better, it make the Soviets look bad, and (without going into much detail) the protagonists start realizing that they are working for the bad guys.

Certain ones, not all lumped together. And that lis a long pay off.

LB12Diamond said:

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Certain ones, not all lumped together. And that lis a long pay off.

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I don't want to give stuff away. My basic point is that this show does not make the Soviets look good.

aTmAg said:

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LB12Diamond said:

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Certain ones, not all lumped together. And that lis a long pay off.

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I don't want to give stuff away. My basic point is that this show does not make the Soviets look good.

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And trying also not to give away too much but as one who grew up with the Cold War and watched the Soviet Union collapse, the realization of one by one of the more youthful protagonists that the Soviet Union is evil and just a house of cards is fascinating and captivating. It also shows the paranoia that the Soviet system instilled in its citizens. This series is hands down the best series I've ever seen.

Incredible show. We watched it last year. Maybe our favorite show we've watched together. As 70s-80s kids, we were ENGROSSED. To watch a show based on something we weren't sure was an urban legend or actually happened was flat out captivating.

And the moral dilemmas the two of them are forced to deal with in different ways. What a show.

And Keri Russell loves to get naked.