dex14

Renewed through the 2017-18 season (the show's fifth of 13 episodes; sixth of 10 episodes.

ericmylad

DIRECTV SUBSCRIBERS: You may want to check your DVR & make sure this episode is still set to record tonight. I just happened to check my upcoming list & it wasn't there. For the hell of it, I checked my playlist & it supposedly recorded at 5:10 this AM. I checked & it was just an infomercial.

Not sure what the deal is with Directv & FX but there always seems to be scheduling errors with the two.

IDrinkMolson

^Earlier, I noticed the same thing happened on mine.

Deftones

same for me.

davidh777

Also, my Comcast is showing the running time as 74 minutes, if anyone still sets manual recordings.

dwells

Same here- glad I caught it in time....

Tom Banjo

Pretty low key finale. It'll be interesting to see the ramifications of Phillip's other son making his way to the US.

DWilson

Much like last year, the ending felt a little "soft". That's not necessarily a bad thing, but we're kind of conditioned to expect something bigger.

stingermck

What a snooze fest. Season was solid, but last night was a whimper. They should have done the martha stuff at the end.

DWilson

It's as if they have a master plan of how the story is going to flow regardless of "seasons" and such, and they just chop it off at 13, no matter where they're at. There are several story points that might have been more intriguing going into another season than warning Paige not to date the neighbor (there were more things going on, but that's the note we left on, and that should make it a "key" point). For example, they could have ended when Elizabeth killed the mugger in front of Paige, which would have left a lot of questions in the air, even though its not a huge plot-turn as it stands.

Thrush

I didn't even realise that was the season finale. Talk about limping home.

Surprised Stan and his partner didn't try harder to coax some info out of the guy while he was in the hospital.

RoyalTea

How would they have done that? Crandall already showed them he's willing to die for his cause by infecting himself.

PhantomStranger

For more drama, I would have ended the season with the guy infecting himself in the park. As others have said, I am guessing they are consciously writing the show more for binge watchers via streaming than anything else at this point. The showrunners haven't paid much attention to standard season structure the past couple of years.

It felt like several characters' fates were left up where we may not see them in recurring roles again. The USSR arcs haven't done much for me since Nina was shipped back to Russia.

I look forward to The Americans touching on the 1984 Summer Olympics, which was deeply patriotic for the United States with the Russians staying home in protest.

Thrush

Ask him some questions maybe? If he says no, what have you lost by asking?

mcnabb

Great season, underwhelming finale. Gotta watch the episode again as I was expecting shit to hit the fan, I may see it differently a second time with different expectations.

RoyalTea

How do you know they didn't do that? Just because it wasn't shown?

I've never seen Henry take a shit on this show. Should I conclude that Henry doesn't take shits?

Jackskeleton

I think taking a shit and just simply showing us that they are doing nothing are two different things. It really did come across as they didn't really try.

Thrush

Exactly

PhantomStranger

I don't think we got much from the back and forth between Stan and the dying scientist. That felt strangely underwritten for The Americans.

The Leonard Cohen song that played, 'Who By Fire', is appropriately about suicide.

slop101

And as usual, all the stuff in Russian doesn't seem to have any reason for existing, they're like non-sequiturs. They give almost no context for any of it.

uteotw

Yeah, good point. So both main guys are leaving? I like them both on the show (esp. the tall one) so I hope they're not gone.

Agree an almost too subdued finale. Love the show overall and wasn't expecting a "shocking twist," but did want more. I would love to see Stan's response if one day the whole family was just gone.

Luds

Nice season, somewhat underwhealming finale.

I want to see Paige kill Pastor Tim next season :P

johnnysd

Interesting, I thought it was pretty clear that Crandall DID say a lot about Philip and Elizabeth, not their names as he probably does not know them, but descriptions, how many kids they have, even just the fact that there is a married sleeper couple, enough for Stan to put together the pieces, in fact, his overly friendly everything is great attitude at the end of the show might indicate that he already has suspicions.

sleepyhead55

Stan did seem to perk up a little when Crandall mentioned that the agents were a couple. I bet the other agent and Stan will pick up on something (the mail robot and the elderly woman's death) and they will finally figure out that the Jennings are Russian spies.

I found this episode a little dull as well. I loved the beginning though when the FBI agents were staking out Crandall.

I'm not really sure how Mischa will fit into the next season. I hope they cut down on the scenes set in Russia next year. Those scenes have been really dull.

Osiris3657

I watched the season finale this morning. Not sure if you would call it binge watching, but I only started this show back in March or so. I've been interested in it since it debuted in 2013, but never got around to it until this year. Just too many things to watch.

Anyway, some general thoughts:

-the show is definitely a slow burn, but it's very good. There are times where I wish more action would happen, but in general, it's a very well written show with a great cast of characters.
-some of Philip and Elizabeth's disguises are horrendous. There was that one wig Philip wore (long dark brown hair) that made him look like a transvestite.
-I think it'll be a bad move on the writer's part if they really turn Paige into a spy. It just doesn't mesh with the character.
-breaking that woman's body apart so they could stuff her in a suitcase has to be one of the craziest moments on a show in the last few years.
-The Russian arcs are hit and miss. I like Arkady and Oleg, Nina is missed, but I don't care for the new lady that is going to take charge. Dull character.
-I liked Gaad, was surprised to see him killed off.
-I'm having a hard time with the Pastor Tim/Alice being friendly with Philip and Elizabeth. I know P & E have tried to convince PT that they are "good, peaceful" spies (I laughed at them bringing in the fake priest to help their cause), but come on, I think it's more logical and sensical that they would have tried to tell authorities and P&E would have had to kill them, despite what it would have done to Paige

Looking forward to watching this show live next year.