What's the last show FX has successfully launched on Wednesdays at 9 in the spring? My guess is nothing (I do not consider Dirt a success).

They should take what they can get and give it another year in a better slot.

It was a stupid and conscious decision by the writers to make the main characters a little more than amoral killers, but it was inconsistent with everything else we've seen from them. They knew the mother was going to be killed as career KGB spies.

It's a fine line, because the audience is supposed to identify with the main characters even though they are Russian spies bent on destroying America. It's a difficult task that works better in a short-run series or movie. Philip is just about the only relatable character, as a man trapped in a loveless marriage with a wife that owes more allegiance to her country than him or their children.

I was confused about the relationship between Elizabeth and that other dude. From previous flashbacks, it looked like she and Phillip were dumped here together when they were quite young. When would she have had a relationship with that other guy?

Before she got pregnant for the first time. At that point in time Phillip was just an assignment for her and she didn't really have an emotional attachement to him.

I was too busy going "What in the world made this American decide to just work for Russians just like that?"

I know they had to have found people to turn but at the same time its like "What in the world makes you think siding with the Russians is going to be better?"

They at least tried to explain away that the guy was a wild-eyed political idealist, though it was never that convincing. I doubt the Russians ever had a single African-American in their employ as covert operatives in the real world.

Unless I misheard it, they said they met working for the SCLC, a 1960s civil rights organization once rumored to have communist influences within it.

The Russians had a lot of soft ops in America, trying to foster Communist beliefs. But the KGB hardly trusted their own people, much less random Americans, to fulfill covert ops. Only potential assets inside the American government would have been let in on the knowledge they were working for the KGB.

Well, I'm not going to nitpick it. The SCLC explanation worked for me.

Finally watched this tonight and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Liking the show a lot, but the writers need to watch letting stuff into the dialogue that doesn't fit the times. I know there was something in a previous episode that caught my attention as out of place, and in this one the black guy says "you better check yourself". Were people really saying that in the early 80's?

There probably isn't a writer on the show over 30 or 35.

Joel Fields has been working in Hollywood since 1987. Joe Wesiberg is on his second career after working in the CIA. They're the two credited writers in IMDB.

Great catch because when he said that I immediately thought the same thing. We weren't saying that in the early 80s. That term started becoming popular in the early 90's as far as I can remember. Especially when Ice Cube's song came out. I don't know I'm from the Midwest maybe it was an East Coast thing and the rest of the country just got it late.

Well, yeah, it was a great episode. This show is growing and growing in me.

The Phillip character is just that great. The actor is doing an amazing job there.

Keri Russell stopped by the Today show to plug this series and a new movie. It was kind of odd in that she wasn't an announced guest but just someone who seemed to be in town and just walked up to the crew as a random invite.

They really need to stop airing Dark Skies spots during this show. When I'm trying to fast forward through the commercials on my DVR I find myself wondering why J.K. Simmons just appeared and birds keep flying into their windows.

Can't wait to see how they react when their kids watch Rocky IV

Or when the Americans beat the USSR to win the gold medal in 1980's Winter Olympics.

Or when 1991 arrives and the USSR falls.

We're past that. Reagan is in office.

Im just catching up on this show. Is this the third ep
Anyway seems interestingg and one really has to pay attention to whats going on.

It gets a little hard for me to follow who is who sometimes.
Who is the Cashier from Seinfled replacing and who is she?

BTW the stuff in Philly bugged me a bit because that wasn't even close to what the "EL" looks like there.
minor nit.