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

[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.