dex14

MrX

The scene with Elizabeth and the old woman was fantastic.

johnnysd

It was close to unwatchable. My life is not better for having watched that, it really really bothered me, which I know it was supposed to but damn.

Decker

Yeah, that's Keri Russel's Emmy submission tape right there. That was very, very emotional and well done.

The bookstore kid who got shot in the face -- that wasn't much fun to watch either.

RoyalTea

considering how people at the FBI are on edge after finding the bug in the pen, isn't the first thing they do when they get the repaired mail robot back from the shop is to sweep it for bugs?

Or is that just part of the plan?

I'd have to think that a bug inside the office of a high ranking official will gather much better intelligence than a bug inside a robot that wanders the hallways. Are they just planting this bug in the hopes that the FBI finds it?

Raul3

A classic The Americans episode. Most of the time Philip is the one with heavy weight in these classic episodes, but it was Elizabeth turn, and she delivered! Really amazing scenes.

About the robot. The FBI needs to find someone. The KGB wants to protect Martha. If they kill Martha they lose her, and the FBI/CIA will research everything about her, getting closer to Philip. So, the FBI will find the bug in the robot, and now they will find a dead person. So, they will think that they got the person/s they were looking for.

uteotw

Yup, between that and the kid getting shot, I greatly disliked this episode. Two brutal murders (following the burning tire around the neck from last week), nothing with the Paige storyline, Martha makes pasta (I can only hope she's playing Clark). Really losing me fast.

Jackskeleton

that elderly murder was far worse than the tire one, if you ask me. ugh. such a brutal episode

Decker

Great Vanity Fair article about that scene

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...electric-sheep

Deftones

While I agree it was well done, was Keri Russe.l that good? Sookie Stackhouse's grandmother was infinitely better in that scene than Keri Russell ever was.

kenbuzz

Damn. I thought this was a new Sheep game thread.

sleepyhead55

While I did like the episode, I really didn't need to see that old woman die. I just could have done without it, that entire conversation seemed a little too long for my tastes.

I almost wished they spent more time on the Stan-Oleg-defector side plot. I found the forced cooperation between the two enemies (Stan and Oleg) entertaining and interesting.

Damfino

I agree with those who liked the episode.

It's important for us to remember that Philip and Elizabeth are the enemies in this show and this is just another disturbing murder that serves to remind us that they are ruthlessly evil spies.

Decker

Exactly. I like that the old lady (Betty) kind of works as a surrogate for the audience in this scene : Why are you doing this? What do you get out of killing innocent people?
Harsh stuff that needed to be explored. She's never had to speak honestly with an outsider before.

Keri was really good in that scene. She's usually shown as the hard, heartless half of the "marriage" and you never get to see her conflicted or doubting. That's why this scene was such a revelation. And FWIW, after I posted here, I saw that Alan Sepinwall said almost the exact same thing that I did:

RoyalTea

I don't normally yell at the TV, but when the old lady asked where Elizabeth's mother lived, I was screaming "don't say Russia, make up a lie!"

My heart just sank when she told the truth.

Raul3

You also need to be a little older, been at least a kid in the 80s to understand some things that happen in this show. It was the cold war, the world could end in any second.

Kids these days can watch that scene, Elizabeth says that she's from Russia, and don't know that the old lady is already dead.

PhantomStranger

It was definitely a very powerful, intense episode. Is Martha possibly working now for the FBI as a double agent?

If anyone deserves an Emmy on The Americans, it's Matthew Rhys. He's made Philip the most believably conflicted character on television.

Deftones

I'm not saying she wasn't good, but Lois Smith was infinitely better than Keri was.

Decker

Agree 100%. Maybe this year with no Bryan Cranston, no True Detective actors and no Jeff Daniels (probably ineligible this year with new rules and only six episodes ), hopefully there will be space for Rhys. Assuming the Emmy voters ever watch this show.
BTW : Have any of you heard Rhys talk in his own voice? He sounds closer to the Lucky Charms leprechaun. His American accent puts Hugh Laurie and Damian Lewis to shame - and theirs are damn good.

PhantomStranger

I haven't heard his native accent but it wouldn't surprise me. I've heard the theory that Europeans grow up with so much American television that they more easily adapt our accent than the other way around.

Rex Fenestrarum

I didn't get that, either. How did Philip and Elizabeth know the robot was already fixed? And if it's not fixed, how do they know the part they put the bug in isn't the defective one that will be replaced the next morning?

I also liked that the part they bugged appeared to be a standard ATX power supply... about 13 years before such things existed. But that's overthinking it, though.

Rex Fenestrarum

No doubt you're right, but it's often interesting to see the disparity in the quality of faux American accents on UK TV.

Dexter Fletcher - probably most famous for playing "Soap" in Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels - had a totally believable American accent in Band of Brothers. A few years later, he played a concierge on the BBC's Hotel Babylon. Towards the end of the show's run - when the writers were clearly running out of ideas - there was an episode where an American author (played by Fletcher) came to the hotel, and swapped jobs with the concierge (also played by Fletcher). In this episode, Fletcher used the awful "all Americans are from 1940s Brooklyn" accent that so many English actors default to. Blech.

Seems like the more likely the show is to be exported, the more willing the BBC (and\or the actors) are to come up with a believable accent. If there's no chance it'll be seen outside the UK, screw it: fake Brooklyn or Texas will do. Thankfully, the BBC usually just hires American actors to do American accents these days.

mphtrilogy

Really enjoyed the ending at the scrabble table as well.

The end game has begun, Phillips all in to protect his family, your move handlers....

Deftones

Renewed for a 4th season.

Decker

Didn't think there was a doubt, but nice to hear anyways. Hope they bring Claudia back, maybe in a struggle with Gabriel for the loyalty of the Jennings.