Finished: season 3 of The Americans

[lizbee]

1. I'd like a special DVD feature that's just Gabriel and Claudia commenting on every episode. Maybe also episodes of other series, too. Like Taystee and Poussey's Literature Hour, the Orange Is The New Black spin-off that should be.

2. I cheered when Gaad called Stan out for his boy's own adventure approach to DIY espionage. Then booed when Senior FBI Guy was like, "Well, it's what Reagan would have done!" "What would Ronald Reagan do?" is a terrible approach to international espionage, even -- maybe especially -- during the Reagan administration.

2a. OTOH, to the surprise of no one except Stan (and maybe Oleg), he can't singlehandedly save Nina.

3. I really like Tatiana, and it's mostly because her appearance reminds me of Barbara Wright. Like, there's a lot of '60s throwbacks in certain female characters, the ones we're meant to read as dowdy -- see also: Martha -- but it's especially strong with Tatiana. (I looked up the actress, and there is no resemblance whatsoever in real life.)

4. I generally like the AV Club and its commentariat, but, uh, sure, Elizabeth has just seen her mother for the first time in twenty years, is about to lose her forever, has come face to face with the philosophical void between herself and her daughter, and Reagan is using the language of her daughter's religion to vilify her people, but yeah, okay, she really needs to prioritise the feelings that Philip isn't even communicating openly.

Elizabeth, basically, gets a slightly lighter version of the Skylar White/Betty Draper vitriol, as in, how dare she have priorities and neuroses that aren't exactly lined up with her husband's, and also how dare she not be a supportive angel in the house at all times? See also any discussion of their parenting -- "Elizabeth's a terrible mother, oh, look, Philip just acknowledged his children briefly, BEST DAD EVA!" Guys, come on -- they're BOTH terrible parents.

5. In conclusion, Team Elizabeth. I guess. I mean, if I had to pick someone.

6. (TEAM PAIGE.)



Next: to start my rewatch of Babylon 5 while I wait for season 4 to finish so I can binge that.

Comments

[nonelvis]

I want a Gabriel and Claudia spinoff. Never mind whether I ship them (although I do); they just snark together so beautifully.

Also, that A/V comment really was pure Skyler-level shade. Literally all it was missing was the actual word "bitch."

[lizbee]

"JUST TEA." Ooh, now I can read your fic!

Much as I usually enjoy AVC discussions, the whole thread for the finale was terrible. Elizabeth is cruel and selfish! How dare Paige not be totally on board with her parents being KGB spies?

Also -- unpopular opinion -- I kind of like Pastor Tim? He's a bit slick, but he seems sincere in his desire to help Paige have a good relationship with her parents. Even after Philip had him genuinely fearing for his safety!

[nonelvis]

Ooh, now I can read your fic!

I wasn't going to say anything, I SWEAR, but if you want to read it, I'm not going to stop you :D

Pastor Tim: I wish I could like him, because I agree that he's sincere, and he's frankly one of the only genuinely decent human beings on the show. I will freely admit a large part of my bias against him is my mistrust of organized religion (even my own) -- but honestly, I won't be surprised if he and Alice somehow survive even if no one else on this show does.

[lizbee]

I will freely admit a large part of my bias against him is my mistrust of organized religion...

Hey, you and Elizabeth both!

[sorryforlaughing]

Pastor Tim is absolutely, utterly sincere in his beliefs and principles (despite all those AV Clubbers who were blithely convinced he was obviously a child molester, speaking of Grandpa Gene), so while I don't dislike him it's fun to make fun of him. It's the long-distance equivalent of knocking the schoolbooks out of his hands.

[lizbee]

He's HILARIOUSLY trendy, and is going to be really, really sad when his church takes a sharp turn for the Right in a couple of years, but ... yeah, the "he is clearly a child molester" thing is half of why I like him in spite of everyone else. Everyone's all super-impressed at how good Paige is at lying to her parents, yet blames Tim when he believes that she has parental permission to donate her money or crash at his place for the night.

[sorryforlaughing]

Sometimes I want to say to some of these people (and the "If two adults more than five years apart in age sleep together it's pedophilia" crowd), "You don't even see how much more this says about you and your subconscious than it ever will about these characters."

[lizbee]

It's the "Pastor Tim is clearly a child molester" meme going on SIMULTANEOUSLY with cheering on Philip and Kimmie that gets me!

[sorryforlaughing]

.....people are cheering that on? Jesus, Philip certainly isn't!

BTW, it also occurs to me that none of these people seemed to have anything to say about how Jared actually was sexually groomed by the Center, but then, there's that underage boy/adult woman double standard yet again.

[lizbee]

AND LOOK HOW WELL THAT TURNED OUT.

[sorryforlaughing]

"The Center wants you to prepare your daughter for a second-generation life in espionage. The fact that this ended in unparalleled disaster the last time we tried it is no need to worry now, and by the way, did you get that disease sample that could singlehandedly take out an entire city?"

[lizbee]

"We need you to go out and seduce a troubled teenage girl slightly older than your daughter. While you're at it, please consider how great it would be to have your own daughter doing this line of work."

[sorryforlaughing]

"You know that one murder of a perfectly harmless bystander that haunts you to this day because he reminds you of someone who could've been one of your own children? We kind of need you to go out and do that six more times this week."

[lizbee]

NOT EVEN THE MAIL ROBOT IS INNOCENT ANYMORE.

[sorryforlaughing]

WE HAVE OUR SEASON TAGLINE!

[lizbee]

At least Martha got to have some outstanding sex. Poor, poor mail robot.

[sorryforlaughing]

"I'd like a special DVD feature that's just Gabriel and Claudia commenting on every episode."

Oh my God, I would pay so much money for this.

The AV Club commentariat is also terrible about Paige, who is never allowed to have a normal reaction to the discovery that her parents' entire life is about betraying everything she's ever been taught to hold dear. Normally the place is paradise compared to the likes of Tumblr, but when they have a blind spot it's a massive one.

[lizbee]

The AV Club commentariat is also terrible about Paige, who is never allowed to have a normal reaction to the discovery that her parents' entire life is about betraying everything she's ever been taught to hold dear. Normally the place is paradise compared to the likes of Tumblr, but when they have a blind spot it's a massive one.

I love Paige so much. In terms of "media franchises that would also make great YA novels if you shaved the serial numbers off", I Thought My Parents Were Just Having Affairs But It Turns Out They're Betraying My Country is great.

[sorryforlaughing]

Has everyone over there forgotten just how shitty it can be to be a teenager under perfectly normal circumstances? Now add a mother whose idea of a good punishment is to haul you out of a sound sleep and make you scrub down the kitchen, a father who tears apart your Bible because it might usurp his parental authority, AND OH YEAH, that whole "spies for an enemy nation" thing?

[lizbee]

Much as Elizabeth's punishment is straight out of the KGB Psychological Torture Handbook, I'd take it over Philip screaming any day. But that's just my personal preference for not being shouted at. Give me some sullen, sulky midnight scrubbing!

(This cheery thought brought to you by me trying to figure out why I keep feeling like Elizabeth is the less abusive parent even though they are both terrible.)

[sorryforlaughing]

Oh no, I would take it in a heartbeat over Phlilip's stone freakout, not least because there was at least a grain of truth in what Elizabeth said (about how true adulthood often involves working yourself exhausted doing crap you just don't want to do) and didn't involve destroying one of her prized possessions.

"(This cheery thought brought to you by me trying to figure out why I keep feeling like Elizabeth is the less abusive parent even though they are both terrible.)"

As horrible a job as she's doing at it, Elizabeth seems--to me--like she's at least shown Paige a sliver of her actual self, like how she (Elizabeth) let her guard down the smallest bit in that trip to Germany. Philip, even when he does talk about his past, he's dead set on keeping the mask of that persona on so tight (one of the reasons for which you'll see in an S4 flashback) that I don't think he knows who the hell he is anymore.

[lizbee]

Yeah, "Philip Jennings" is about as strong and meaningful an identity as "Don Draper". But even Don managed to be more or less honest with Sally by the end of the series.

[sorryforlaughing]

BTW, we see more of Tatiana (whom I also like) in S4. It spoils nothing to say that she, too, is not quite what she seems.

[lizbee]

I didn't believe people when they said I'd come to love Oleg, but now I just want him and Tatiana to get married and become corrupt oligarchs in the post-Soviet landscape.

[sorryforlaughing]

I detested Oleg when I first met him, now he's slowly become a favorite. And yes, I am rooting for those two crazy kids even knowing it'll probably end in misery.