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The Americans - Fianl Season (March 28)

81,856 Views | 630 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Stat Monitor Repairman
DeangeloVickers
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To steal a line from Hamilton
Dying is easy, living is harder

Oleg lost his family
Jennings family is destroyed
Stan lost his best friend and doesn't know if his wife is a spy

And for what?
What did Oleg get? He failed and got jail
Elizabeth didn't follow orders and killed "herself" protecting a comrade...and her not following orders....she lost everything except Phillip...her beliefs..everything...
Phillip lost the American dream....hell he talked again about staying
Stan lost his life a long time ago.

We all wanted a Stan vs Elizabeth USA vs Russia showdown..

I mean...what prize did anyone win????

Paige and Father Tim are probably in the best shape...and I wanted them to both get whacked in the early seasons
safety guy
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Thought we would see a present day paige or Henry in a state department job as an ending. Heck, everything is so up in the air, they could continue from here.
chiken
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Extremely disappointed with the series ending.
exitone
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/arts/television/keri-russell-matthew-rhys-the-americans.html
exitone
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aTmAg said:

Paige in her own spin-off?


I don't think so. She is not compelling enough. And no way she could ever get clearance for a govt job. Stan will always keep an eye on Henry out of love, and an eye on Paige out of fear.

I think the way the world plays out, they eventually are able to hook up in Switzerland or something for a tense family reunion.
Dr. Teeth
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Did anyone else think the end was going to be the two of them starting at a Moscow McDonald's and realizing it was all for pretty much nothing?
exitone
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Dr. Teeth said:

Did anyone else think the end was going to be the two of them starting at a Moscow McDonald's and realizing it was all for pretty much nothing?


That would have been brilliant. I think if it was a few years later in the timeline, they would have done that.
DeangeloVickers
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Stan should get more credit....what's worse jail or Russia?
exitone
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Final thought is they should have played out how this effected history. With Olegs message presumably not being delivered, a quick shot of news coverage on what happened or something.
Ol_Ag_02
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Dr. Teeth said:

Did anyone else think the end was going to be the two of them starting at a Moscow McDonald's and realizing it was all for pretty much nothing?


Yup. I did.
Agristotle
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That would have been a much better ending than what they gave us.
oragator
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JRandom thoughts...

Just like last week I love that they stayed in the show's long deliberate character for the finale.

The dialogue in the garage was amazing, even then you couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't from Phillip. Lies mixed with truth. And him dropping that Renee bomb on the way out was awesome, I do think that Stan underplayed it too much, should have been more emotion there.

I love how in the end they made Stan the sympathetic figure. That scene of him staring at her in bed was like he knew he had nothing left.

The Paige scene on the track was awesome. I thought it would be her under arrest as they rode past, but that was more impactful because it was her choice,

Love that they left the Renee thing in the air, the show was never about tidy little ribbons.

The flashback scene was pretty clear I thought. It was her thinking back on her job, and realizing her family was what mattered, and that she did have a real life after all.

For the last week I was thinking about how it might end, and low key middle of the night tepid bittersweet homecoming relief never came to mind.

Oh and one last musical montage, great choice in With or without You.

All in all, happy with it. Hope Oleg gets a break though, he was the most rational person on the whole show, Russian or not.

cbr
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Definite wow in a weird way. Initially I was like 'what?' Then I kind of like it. Honestly it was a pretty Brave and interesting ending. Paige and Henry were real Americans. The parents ...
Ol Jock 99
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The episode itself was great, but not a fan of how it ended. The garage scene, and especially the Paige scenes (track and Claudia's apartment) were great, but the ending was lacking. Oh well, no one bats 1.000.
DTP02
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Sasappis said:

I would have liked a little more closure and flash forward but this ending was absolutely in keeping with the show.


I think this hit the nail on the head. I said before the penultimate episode that I was worried about how a show that thrived on the slow burn would handle a closing frenzy, and they closed it very much in keeping with the show. It was very tense, but no over-the-top blockbuster type action finales.

I'll have to let it marinate for a while but my initial impressions are that it was very good and very fitting for the series.

I think they filmed Renee's turn and body language about a 100 times to get the right amount of business-like change of demeanor implying she's a spy but not making it explicit.

None of the resolutions were tidy, but they do all feel real and appropriate.
DTP02
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exitone said:

Final thought is they should have played out how this effected history. With Olegs message presumably not being delivered, a quick shot of news coverage on what happened or something.


They delivered the message to Arkady themselves when they got to Russia.
n_touch
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Quote:

Give us a scene that will stand out forever when anyone thinks of the Americans.
The garage scene will stand out for a while. Truth, Lies, Deception and wondering if as he processed it all if he would pull the trigger.
DTP02
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Yeah, the family was a non-factor, a prop, at the beginning (before the beginning really, in that flashback) of her character arc, and it's all that mattered in the end.
CoolAggie
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I think some of us expected a Breaking Bad type ending but instead it was a whole lot more like the show about another dysfunctional family, The Sopranos. Lots of questions left unanswered. I guess we'll just have to use our imagination about the future of the Jennings, Stan, and Oleg. At the end, everyone lost.
SeattleAgJr
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I would love a one time special in a few years. Set maybe 10 years later, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

It would be interesting if they could come back to the US and see their kids.

I know, not plausible, but I would be interested in it.
BMX Bandit
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Quote:

I would have liked a little more closure and flash forward but this ending was absolutely in keeping with the show.
This sums it up.


If you had told me yesterday morning that no one dies and Jennings go to Russia, I'd have been disappointed in the finale.

But seeing it happen, the way it did, was a gut wrenching emotional roller coaster. It was a fantastic ending to the show and kept in line with the entire series.
aTmAg
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We know what happens. Gorbachev stays in power, and the Soviet Union collapses.

That means Gorby would get the message, would clean house at the KGB, and would trade for Oleg.
SWCBonfire
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I was expecting worse things. Henry got the holywood ending. Everything else was left unresolved with no clear direction (other than what we can infer from history) ... probably like a real-world case.

Loved this show and I'm grateful FX stuck with it. Hopefully they have a model to monetize it through streaming, because I bet more people will end up binge watching it than watched it live.
Marauder Blue 6
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With the Violence warning at the end of each commercial break, I kept expecting someone to die. Ultimately, it was the family that died. I thought it was fitting. I'll miss it.
Ol Jock 99
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My only real issue is I just can't see Stan letting them go. Not after what they've done. Not after brutually killing his Russian agents in front of their kid.
aggiedata
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Ol Jock 99 said:

My only real issue is I just can't see Stan letting them go. Not after what they've done. Not after brutually killing his Russian agents in front of their kid.
They lied and were convincing about it. Stan didn't want to believe that anyway. Then Phillip hit him with taking care of Henry. Then for good measure, Phillip threw the bomb at Stan about his wife. It short circuited his thought process. The wife bit was purely to get Stan off balance.

Sazerac
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A little unsatisfying
DTP02
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aggiedata said:

Ol Jock 99 said:

My only real issue is I just can't see Stan letting them go. Not after what they've done. Not after brutually killing his Russian agents in front of their kid.
They lied and were convincing about it. Stan didn't want to believe that anyway. Then Phillip hit him with taking care of Henry. Then for good measure, Phillip threw the bomb at Stan about his wife. It short circuited his thought process. The wife bit was purely to get Stan off balance.




Stan was already letting them go at that point. IMO the warning about Renee was a gesture of friendship. Everything Philip says after "We had a job" (I think it was) was the truth; Philip saw they were getting nowhere with lies so he went with the truth.
DallasAggie97
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I'm assuming that Stan will look through Rene's background and she'll be exposed if she is KGB.

I'm hoping that P&E told Arkady, who then relayed the news to Gorbachev's people, which would pave the way for a swap for Oleg.

Also assuming that The Bureau will keep a close eye on Paige (and Henry).

Would there be anything prohibiting the kids from visiting the USSR to visit their parents?.
jamesf
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A good review of the finale here, from Alan Sepinwall:


Quote:

It's not what I expected, or maybe even wanted, but it also felt right, and the slow and painful deployment of each new development left me riveted. Even the long driving montage at the end felt pregnant with suspense, because there was always the possibility of something bad happening at the border crossing, or when they made it to Arkady, given the continued existence of Claudia's anti-Gorbachev faction.

At the beginning and at the end, The Americans was the story of a marriage and a family. The marriage survives the story; the family does not. Maybe years in the future, I'll look back and feel as if I needed more out of the conclusion, even as each individual moment was spellbinding. Or maybe it'll be as Elizabeth says to Philip, speaking to him in her mother tongue for possibly the first time since Father Andrei married them years earlier:

"We'll get used to it."

AggieEP
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I will add to the chorus saying they were a bit disappointed with the finale, we waited 6 years for the confrontation between the Jennings and the FBI and what we got just didn't feel like it matched up with the buildup.

I get the symbolism of the death of their family and their uncertain future in Russia being pretty tragic, but I'm not as sure as the rest of you that the ending fits totally with the show. We've seen Stan be ruthless throughout the series, and while this season he hasn't been, he seemingly forgot about the murder of his partner (by Phillip) the turning of his secretary (by Phillip) and the murder of Gadd (KGB thugs) all of which deeply affected him at the time. I get his emotional reticence to take down a family he considers friends, but the betrayal should be enough to force his sense of justice to either take them in to the FBI or die trying. I thought that scene was set up for Elizabeth to kill Stan thinking that was the right move only to finally totally break Phillip into giving up feeling the total guilt of the consequences of his actions.

Also, perhaps the worst part was that Oleg who has in my mind become the real hero of the series, a man actually willing to risk everything for his principles on multiple occasions, gets no resolution and no speaking lines in the whole finale. We see his family so his pain is heavily inferred, but I would have loved to get one last Stan/Oleg moment.

But, still enjoyed the 6 seasons and I don't envy writers who have to please fans.
Hub `93
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Maybe at the end Stan finally realized that he should care about who's in charge in Russia. Oleg couldn't pass along the message, and Stan wouldn't, but P&E could. Perhaps it was the push over the cliff in addition to his friendship with Philip and caring about his family that made him let them go. Stan's butt was in a sling professionally either way over living across the street from active Soviet spies for so long.
BMX Bandit
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agree with that. Telling about the wife was definitely a gesture of friendship.
Bird Poo
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During the final Stan scene, the acting displayed by Phil and Elizabeth was just jaw dropping. They had to go from friendly neighbor "why do you have a gun pointed at me" to "yeah, we're your mortal enemy".

Some of the scenes where Phillip or Page were just staring into the distance were unnecessary and contributed to the slow finale. However, I loved the entire series.

Anyone else notice that Elizabeth, the entire series, never breaks down and cries? She has to abandon her son and her daughter abandons her. But she never cries. Her eyes might get moist or her voice might crack, but I thought that was a cool way of showing her true character. Come to think of it I'm not sure Phillip ever got emotional until the end.
TriAg2010
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I really wish the happy family sitting together at McDonald's would have been eating frozen yogurt. It would have made a great throwback to Episode 1.
 
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