dex14

Renewed for a 3rd season.

Mattrk

I think

dwells

Wow, wow, wow- that was an unbelievably great episode....

~~ PAL ~~

Wow, did not see the angle of "Project Second Generation" at all.

Having said that, if they are going down this road, it would be completely unrealistic if kids are involved in missions by next season. It took years of training for those two to be field ready. I would actually prefer to see them fight the Centre on this and see what the fallout would be.

Decker

That was a great finale. Didn't see any of that coming. Sad ending for poor Nina. And poor Fred as well.
I do wonder why Larrick killed everyone who even looked at him funny, but kept Phillip and Elizabeth alive to turn them in. The Paige angle will be interesting next year. At very least it'll beat giving Paige more and more doubting looks.
Middle of the night surprise motel vacation!

And who knew Paige as fourteen. I thought she was at least 26.

RoyalTea

Wouldn't it be a little risky to involve the kids on missions? Isn't the goal to keep the kids squeaky clean so that they'd be able to withstand the background check scrutiny to get a high level gov't clearance?

uteotw

Only answer:I'm really glad Stan didn't do it. He's crossed the line a little and almost did a lot, but I would have hated for him to do it.

Decker

I agree. It's much more interesting to see how close Stan came to betraying his country without actually doing it. I'm sure Nina appreciated the note though. I so liked her character. I hope they come up with some way to keep her around.

JohnSlider

I've actually been thinking for the last few episodes that Paige's pastor was someone from the Centre preparing to turn her. I didn't see the Jared thing coming at all. Interesting twist on what I was expecting. Great episode.

johnnysd

I thought he was going to pull them over and rescue Nina directly. Interestingly, it looks like they would really have traded her for the software. I loved seeing this super valuable software program on a single 5.25" floppy. Most realistic show in terms of computer technology I have seen.

uteotw

TOTALLY. He even turned the little lever down once the floppy was in. I think this show nails the time period as well as Mad Men does. Loved the song "Twilight Zone" in there too--such a great choice. I find this show superb.

Decker

Instead he gets "arrested for loitering".

RoyalTea

Did anybody notice that in Stan's dream, Martha took some documents from the mail robot? Is his subconscious aware that she's a spy?

Red Dog

An up and down season, and hard to follow, but damn, it all came together in this tremendous finale. Love the direction it took. Paige is already predisposed to it given her politics.

bootsy

I did enjoy this season as a whole. Excellent finale and I've always wondered if they would even entertain the idea of having their kids or one of them as spies. I listened to the podcast on Grantland with the showrunners and they made it seem up in the air if the Oleg character and a couple of other characters would be back next season. I hope they do. They did say Nina will be back. Not a surprise.

~~ PAL ~~

To be fair, everything they do are fairly high stakes and risky. However, they already did involve their kid in the season opener, during the exchange with Fred. Assuming both Elizabeth and Phillip are on board, which they are not, to get Paige ready will still take years of training. That's why I said that it would NOT be realistic to have her in on the missions.

PhantomStranger

I thought this was a good finale marred by a couple of very improbable sequences. The ruthless American assassin suddenly decides after previously wiping out his contacts that he'll turn Elizabeth and Philip in and accept his punishment? Yeah, I didn't buy that at all in the story.

The reveal about Kate and the kid was interesting but I wish they had laid the groundwork for it better over the season. I did not think much of the teen's acting all season. He had one facial expression the entire season, no matter what scene he played. I think I would have been more impressed by the twist with a better performance from that character. I admit I did not completely see that coming but I figured Kate and him had a relationship of some kind.

I'm a little nervous about the future direction of The Americans, the Stan/Nina relationship was the most emotionally compelling aspect of the series.

mnementh

Nope- the computer display scrolled too smoothly to be authentic.

Philly30

maybe next season will be set a few years in the future

RoyalTea

But they're not recruiting kids to be spies as kids. They're recruiting kids to become sleeper spies after they've gotten gov't clearance after graduating college.

Not only would Paige not be a spy as a kid, they'd probably have to shut down Elizabeth and Philip from active missions.

PhantomStranger

Pretty heavy spoiler news for next year, so read with caution...

joliom

I agree. I wish they would make his character less of a dumbass, though. The show would be a lot better if he was really sharp and saw all the angles in every situation. It would really add tension to the show if he were a better foil. I was hoping we'd find out that he's been playing possum the whole time with Nina and working some kind of masterful double-cross. But no, he just fell for it hook, line and sinker. And the honeypot, no less - the most basic gambit in espionage.

Thrush

Yeah, one of the things I liked about season 1 was that Stan was a legit threat to Phillip and Elizabeth. He was cold, calculating and ruthless at his job. They turned him from a bulldog into a lovesick mope whose losing his wife and his girl. He and the FBI were threats last season now they're essentially puppets.

I still enjoyed the season though.

PhantomStranger

Stan can't be too good at his job or he would quickly uncover all of the plots surrounding him. Just like Elizabeth and Philip have to be uber spies for the story to work in the long run.

bootsy

I don't think Stan is a dumbass at all. He's still shows that he is on it with the investigation into the shooting of Jared's parents and being involved with Nina's lie detector test. Cut him a little slack his wife is cheating on him and leaving him and he's conflicted with Nina and that entire situation. That's quite a distraction when already being an FBI agent.