I'll watch it again...it was an awesome rec from youtube and I ended up binging all of your vids and sub'ing...now please get back to making more content :)
The point of the old lady wasn't that she was just an "innocent person caught in the wrong time and the wrong place", the point of the old lady is she told Elizabeth the truth about herself. I'll summarize it for you: "You aren't a good person, Elizabeth. You claim that you are helping 'normal people' because of your obsession with doing anything possible to enact communism, but *I'm a normal person.* This is the story of my life: I have harmed no one, I have lived a good life, I am who you pretend to protect and care about. And yet here you come to end me because I stand in the way of that thing which you value more than human life. You are a monster."
Agree. That episode was SO good. The actress who played the old woman, Lois Smith, is a veteran of movies and TV whose first major role was in _East of Eden_
Watched the show on your recommendation, got instantly hooked, until Season 5, I had to drag myself through that. But that final episode, when I saw Paige off the train my heart sank.
Yeah, this show definitely suffered under its own weight toward the end. I was actually a bit disappointed. I'd hoped that the end of the series would take place in the midst of the USSR collapsing. The Jennings family would essentially be stranded in the U.S. with no guidance from their Soviet handlers. I also think that having Stan discover who they are, but no one at the FBI has any stomach for it, or perhaps they just don't believe him, would have been a similarly downer ending for him. Just like in the actual finale, the Jennings essentially get away with everything, and they then get to stay in the U.S. I'm usually not a big spinoff or sequel fan, but that would have left the door open to continue the story.
Glad I'm not the only one who has this opinion. I think the show as a whole is great but the last season is the weakest. At least they wrapped it up before it got too bad.
@@bagelhunt The last season gets the most praise and awards. A hot take for sure. I suppose I can understand if you miss the "action" over a smart narrative.
I’m dying 😂 all the things you disliked about season 3 were my favorite parts. The old woman’s conversation with Elizabeth was one of my favorite parts of season 3. I don’t remember what I thought of season 5 but definitely remember the slowness. Season 6 was agonizing for the way it hit all the emotional climaxes. I’d like to do a full rewatch but it’s the kind of show I need to be in the headspace for, a bit like Mad Men. It’s not something I can rewatch on a whim and only pay half-attention to.
OMG he disliked that wonderful old lady scene? When I think back to the series, that's one of the scenes that comes to mind with how well they did it. I had to stop watching the video because he thinks Noah Emmrich's acting was one of the strong parts of the series...
Definitely disagree with his take on the old lady episode, which I thought was very moving. But definitely agree with him on Season 5; when I recommend the show to people, I tell them to straight up skip season 5, it's got so little going for it, and it's by far the worst.
@@danielsteffee7957yeah but I don’t think you can just skip over it though😂😂it’s stil a solid season just worst than the rest cause the show is all time great
The thing that really got me hooked on this show was how conflicted I felt about Philip and Elizabeth. Despite all the terrible things they did, I couldn’t help but like them. I kept going backwards and forwards between wanting them to get caught, and wanting them to get away with things.
I also have to agree with the music choice. I thought they did a stellar job of choosing a combination of hits and deep tracks that made it feel more organic and less like a nostalgia trip. One song I really wish they used at some point was the original Tears for Fears version of Mad World. I think it would’ve fit nicely with the tone of the show and been on the nose lyrically.
I loved all the seasons, including Season 5. And as a whole, it is simply superb. It is very clear that everything that happens at the beginning and the middle is important for how things turn out. It's all connected, and there are actually a LOT of payoffs - even during the "slower" sections of the show because this is essentially a family drama & not just a spy show, so the 5th season for example had a lot of family stuff that was important. I enjoyed all of it. The central performances were terrific, the writing was amazing, the show made you think & see things from a different perspective. It is absolutely worth watching and rewatching, because even when you know what's going to happen in an episode or the entire show, it is still captivating to watch. It is an internal drama of those people & it is a spy thriller. They created something truly superb.
Yes, exactly. That the show was a family drama hiding as a spy thriller was the point of The Americans. To approach it without that perspective dooms the reviewer to miss much of the nuance that was particularly present in S5. Otherwise, it was great fun to hear someone retrospect the show. It's one of my favorite TV series.
I checked this show out after enjoying a few of your other reviews, and it honestly floored me. Some of my favorite television on earth. Some day I'll make that Season 5 edit for you.
Now I can comment having watched the show. Definitely one of the best ever IMO, with one of the best endings. I agree with a lot of what you said, S4 and 6 being the best, S3 already being kinda slow and S5 taking it too far, though I don’t think S5 is that weak. Another show with barn burner of a finale is The Shield which I hope you check out if you haven’t already, one of the best ever IMO. Great video as always!
Your comments are very well thought out, very well articulated. I commend you for that. Thank you. It's your experience. My experience of the show was quite different, but I think that's marvelous. I've watched it through its entirety twice, and there are so many details that fly by. It's highly nuanced, and I really dig that.
Awesome video! It's great to see a underrated show get the attention it deserves. Could you make a retrospective on the TV show Mr Robot. It's my favorite show of all time. It's a masterpiece and season 3 and 4 went criminally under the radar. When it was the best parts of the show.
This is the only show I’ve ever watched, and I’ve watched a few that the ending stayed with me for quite while. I immediately wanted to rewatch it but waited a year and enjoyed it again.
Most people I know that loved the show were like me, teenagers/early 20's during the height of the cold war. To this day I'm still surprised we survived the cold war.
Appreciate the video! just finished the series and theres hardly any analysis videos compared to what you see for other shows. I think the show was ahead of its time and im glad i only recently discovered it. I definitely hold this show among the greats like sopranos and breaking bad. I love Oleg and his final scene with Stan encapsulated everything i loved about the show. Agree about the amazing soundtrack and LOL to the comment about watching this at night with the lights off.. how i watched every episode!! One thing i love about the americans and the amazing acting is how much silent communication/ body language is used. Incredible stuff
This show isn't just dark and violent, its shockingly graphic for a TV show. I have a pretty strong stomach and had to look away at times! People being burned alive, throats slashed, hanged, shot point blank in the face, etc. And they show it all in graphic detail. I don't know what was worse, the decapitation of the van driver, the Russian courier traitor getting stabbed by Elizabeth directly in the throat and then hunting down his wife and slitting her throat from ear to ear. Or maybe breaking the bones on the body in the hotel room so they could smuggle it out in a suitcase. Damn, I had to look away when they started snapping the bones (and showing it!!!!) Somebody dies a horrible death in almost every episode. Don't let the kiddos watch this one........
14:40 - The choice of tunes throughout the series are hands down my fav from ANY tv series! I'm still pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of TALKING HEADS' 'Listening Wind' in the opening to the final season. Not just cuz it's my fav song by said band, but the fact it's such a deep cut! The Americans NEVER dissapoints with the dope choices of 80's music!!!!
If you ever read anything from John Le Carre, or enjoyed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I think you'd feel right at home with this show. I was even half expecting at the very least, a casual reference to the Smiley Saga, since they both feel very similar to each other. Swear to god I saw George Smiley in Phillip and Karla somewhere in Elizabeth.
I'm watching the Americans right now. My second try, but I'm glad I was able to push through the first few episodes and I'm now enjoying it tremendously. Very mixed feelings since I was born in the Soviet Union in the late 70's and USSR falling apart is real to me. I remember watching Reagan and Gorbachyov in the news vividly. The Soviet Union being dissolved the way it did brought chaos, poverty, unimaginable crime levels. Our 90's were your 20's. Gorbachyov is hailed as a hero in the West, but he is one of the most hated historic figures in our history though. Right after Stalin. Your video is awesome. It's interesting to see your prospective as a person who analyzed the show and as an American (no pun intended). Thank you.
I feel like there should've been an actual fight between Phillip and Stan in the end. A well-choreographed fight, maybe where Phillip has a handicap of some sort but still manages to bust out those rusty skills and show Stan what he was always capable of. _Then_ there should've been the big conversation, with a defeated (yet unmaimed) Stan cuffed to the wall or something and Phillip having 0 reasons left to hide anything. That's the conversation I wanted to hear, and it couldn't happen as long as the gun was in Stan's hand.
Finished "The Americans" in June and it's become my new number one favourite TV show of all time, and it's one of the best pieces of fiction I've ever seen. That said, I still have yet to see a single episode of Mad Men, Sopranos, Fargo, Dexter, The Wire, The Shield, Boardwalk Empire, Narcos, Deadwood (even though I've had the entire series on blu-ray for over 4-5 years now), or Better Call Saul. So we'll see if I feel the same way after getting through them (assuming I live long enough to do so). But yeah, it's a hidden gem in my eyes, and I'm so glad I picked it up off an indirect recommendation I saw from a trusted source months ago. I hope more people discover it and sing its praises, because ultimately I'd say its pros far outweigh its cons. (As much as I love it, I felt vindicated hearing you lightly rag on the gravedigging scene in season 5. It succeeds at evoking the tedium of the work, but that unfortunately has the side effect of making me feel bored.) Great video!
Just watched this after finishing the series... I enjoyed the references to Veep, In the Loop, GoldenEye, and Anthony Fantano. I do wonder how Claudia's disappointment didn't come back to hurt them; how can Claudia and the Jennings both be accepted back to USSR?
Claudia was a part of the losing faction of KGB, and Phil and Liz helped to prevent the coup. If anything, they will be accepted as heroes, and Claudia would probably meet Nina's fate.
Great video. I suggest you watch Boardwalk Empire. It had, imo, the greatest finale of any show I’ve seen to date. I got really heavy into television in 2005, so I got to see all the series you’ve mentioned. Except OZ.
I think the scene where Stan and Nina are watching the movie makes their relationship make sense. Stan has to hide everything from Sandra. Nina is the secret. He can relax and not worry about saying the wrong thing or endangering her. He could just sit and watch a movie. That is why the relationship makes sense. You don’t need anything else. Stan can relax with Nina. You could almost see it as selfish on Stan’s part because he is using her to comfort himself
Finished the show last night, fantastic series finale. Overall I'd give it an 8/10. The main characters were really well done and has some effective suspense and intrigue. However, the plotlines regarding spy operations can be complicated and hard to follow. The show could also be slow at times, especially in season 5. Was looking forward to watching this video when I was fully done. Keep up the good work! Perhaps do retrospectives on The Leftovers, Legion, and Twin Peaks?
Enjoyment is a weird word to use about watching an old women slowly die of an overdose, so I'll use Enthralled, but I mostly agree about season 5 comments
I think this was a criminally underrated show. It did get a bit slow for me at times, but the desire to know what would happen next. Personally I would like to have seen the show get closer to the fall of the USSR than it did. I felt like we got a taste of what the confusion would have done, but it would have been interesting to see them get caught in the middle of the collapse and how they would have reacted to it.
@Randy White of course I’m not denying that! When I say “underrated,” I’m saying in comparison to a show like Breaking Bad that has become imbedded in pop culture. Though it’s absolutely on that level of quality, it never really reached the same popularity.
The show got axed, last two seasons were rushed. I think the slow bits were the actual show, it was a drama set during cold war about spies, and not really a cold war spy thriller that is a common trope. Think of it as what The Wire is to cop shows - the action sequences were rarely the highlight. The Americans suffered from lack of popularity that Breaking Bad and especially Game of Thrones enjoyed at the time, imo it's the best running show of its time due to the scope of it. It portrayed the cold war paranoia as well as the humans pitched against each other who were not too different from each other - compared to say, most popular spy cinema where it's good vs evil or all emphasis on an antihero.
@@TheCyberSpidey - that's really not the case. The show got seasons 5 and 6 greenlit at the same time, to allow the writers to craft the end the way they wanted. That double-greenlight might have been unprecedented, I'm not sure, a couple of other shows have replicated it since. Either way, it was a brilliant and bold decision by FX's John Landgraf.
Thanks, I didn't see every episode so you filled in the blanks. The end reminds me of the conclusion to "La Femme Nikita" with Pita Wilson, where the show steamrolls to a logical conclusion. Loose ends are taken care of, some surprising acts of courage emerge, and not everything ends happily but it ends.
Stan being a douche in season 1 has two points to it: 1. Philip and Elizabeth are our (anti-)heroes, and when those are still new, you need a catalyst to help the audience root for them. Stan isn't really their direct nemesis, but he is a stand-in, the personification of their enemy. 2. During the Cold War, both sides did horrible things. You can't be taken seriously as a show if you try and portray US intelligence services as virtuous, because that wasn't what was happening.
I absolutely loved the first four seasons of this show! We were watching Season 5 as it aired but lost interest somewhere along the way... By the time season 6 came out we had forgotten all that was going on, figured we should do a rewatch of the previous seasons first and at least finish the arduous Season 5, but we never did and still haven't seen the last season 😅 Maybe one day!
I watched the whole series once. I started again two days ago and got to the third season and decided to just jump to the end. I think that's all I wanted. I wanted to see these characters again but I wasn't up to the drawn out toil of them going through seasons 3, 4 and 5 again. Id love to know what happened to these characters after the end. I guess one big reason I liked this show was that it was so familiar. The 80s was my first decade of adulthood. The show was pure nostalgia in a way that TV from that time isn't. Maybe I long for a time when you could be anonymous in the world. No ubiquitous cameras and background checks and security at every station. People (and spies) could move through the world unobserved and unsuspected.
I'm ngl I really did like this show and have very little bad things to say about it, but in regards to season 5, I accidentally skipped from episode 4 to I believe 7 and went completely unnoticed until the end of the 8th episode
I think this is great analysis but I need to disagree with your thoughts on the old lady in season 3. I think that is the window into elizibiths mind that makes her as a character for the rest of the show. So we’ll acted by both Elizibith and the old woman it brought me to tears by the end.
1:24 I have to say, I don’t watch series finales - they are almost always a letdown/destroy everything they’ve built in the many years they ran. I trusted “The Americans” and loved the show so much that I broke my own rules and watched it… and I was so, so happy that I did. Finally, a show that didn’t ruin it all in the final minutes.
Great video, but I think you're way too hard on Season 5. I found the series utterly enthralling from start to finish, and while 5 isn't one of the best ones it's certainly far from bad and I was never bored. It is less eventful than the other seasons but still beautifully written/directed and acted. Darkroom, Dyatkhovo and the season finale were all amazing episodes, and I actually loved the eerie sequence of digging up William's body. I think maybe only Season 1 I would consider not quite a masterpiece because it has a slightly more conventional feel and cheaper look to it. But S2-6 is some of the best TV I've had the pleasure of viewing. Especially 3, 4 and 6. You're dead on when you say that S3 really was a big step up in terms of the quality of the direction. From there to the end the show just knocked my socks off.
@@raymondsims7042 it just appeals to my interests, i've always liked the idea of disguises, spy stuff is great, the premise is great and the execution of it was really well done. i never really liked the wire, just bored me, some of the criminal characters are interesting but i did not care about the police characters and "police trying to catch everyday criminals" isn't that exciting i guess, well made show though. i know why people like it, i just don't.
@@zackkorth2410 ok I respect that mate I love both shows, I do think the wire is quite a bit better than every show. I also think it has a far far larger and better cast than the Americans, but I respect you having the Americans at number 1.I think it would number 9 for me
Good recap. But the finale was brilliant. Yes the garage scene was the climax, but to say the rest of the finale was "useless" is very stupid. The MacDonald's scene, the U2 song, the train scene with Paige, and the last shot as the couple contemplate being back in Moscow - all fantastic iconic images
look up person of interest, its really good, i mean really good, and getting better and good finale. And unerderrated still somehow. Like thats also nolans best batman media, somehow.
The biggest problem I had with the series is the unlikely scenario of targeting Paige as a KGB asset (as part of the Centre's "second-generation illegals program)-----notwithstanding everything else, she's still just a kid; kids talk. In real life, sooner or later, no matter her training or mindset, she'll let something slip, and that would be the downfall of everything. Paige herself is something of an anachronism throughout the series...she certainly doesn't act like any teenager I've ever known; more like a girl in her late twenties/early thirties (much of her dialogue with her parents and others was -*-far-*- more mature than a typical 13-16 year old would be). And during the episodes where Philip and Elizabeth--AND Gabriel!!--- are arguing over bringing Paige into the fold, I noticed that certain key arguing points were not utilized which would have been used in real life in such a situation: for example, PHILIP could've reasoned with Elizabeth that what would she think of HER daughter potentially having to use her body in "honeypot" situations, as Elizabeth had many times, in order to get information from a source or achieve other ends?? Or the likely LIABILITY factor of trusting kids in "cloak-and-dagger" situations...Paige just simply speaks way too maturely for a typical teenage girl of the time...
Love your review! So fun to watch and your narration and summary is the best. I found this when debating to skip season 5 and you helped me decide to skip it. Saved 10 hours. I think the two weakest things in the show 1) paige. She should have been killed off in season 2. Her acting and single face for everything ruined a lot of scenes and I started to skip them. Some child actors just don't work. 2)An FBI agent living across the street would have found it odd when his neighbors keep leaving in the middle of the night.
I heard about this show & saw the rave reviews, it seemed like something I would like, love a spy/espionage story but I could never really get fully onboard, I lasted 2 seasons before giving up, this is a compliment to Russell but I really hated Elizabeth as a person, I don't know if I felt like she was a person I just wanted to rebel against if I was Paige or I just hated the type of parent she was to Paige, to me she was just a horrible person who I felt no empathy towards.
I enjoyed the first two seasons of the show, but I stopped after that. The plot is great and the setting is a lot of fun, but the characters flip flop around too much for me and will turn on a dime to some new world view, only to change back a few episodes later. Especially Phillip, he'll be like "Wow this is too fucked up for me and I want to quit and just be a normal American now." and then like the next day go back to building a life with a mark and making her fall in love with him. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a great sound, idk why Quantumania got to use it when it would have worked much better in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Californication using Rocket Man is probably my favorite use of an Elton John song. Them getting caught at the end and having interactions with the people they've lied to this whole time already makes it a better ending than Dexter. I do think it would have been better to see them react to the USSR falling apart and yeah like you said, everything they did was for nothing, although the Cold War never really ended; regimes just changed and the US focused on other parts of the world for a while. My biggest gripe with the show is how pro US it can get, like oh isn't it sad how every time they try and do the good thing it turns out the US was the ones doing the good thing and how sad it is that they'll miss the good old USA and McDonalds. As if we weren't doing equally fucked up shit the whole time, I know that isn't really the point of the show, but I find a "both sides are equally evil and you picking a side makes you the butt of the joke" is better than "you picked the wrong side and you're the butt of the joke".
This is a reupload due to a copyright issue with background music in the original. Please show it some love!
I'm doing my part!
Lol i was about to ask if it was.
😎👌
I'll watch it again...it was an awesome rec from youtube and I ended up binging all of your vids and sub'ing...now please get back to making more content :)
I wouldn't have gone back and watched it otherwise, so in a weird way, I'm kinda glad it was.
The point of the old lady wasn't that she was just an "innocent person caught in the wrong time and the wrong place", the point of the old lady is she told Elizabeth the truth about herself.
I'll summarize it for you:
"You aren't a good person, Elizabeth. You claim that you are helping 'normal people' because of your obsession with doing anything possible to enact communism, but *I'm a normal person.* This is the story of my life: I have harmed no one, I have lived a good life, I am who you pretend to protect and care about. And yet here you come to end me because I stand in the way of that thing which you value more than human life. You are a monster."
My favourite scene of the whole show. Was really surprised Slip Maker just brushed it off.
This is the best scene in all of movie history!
Agree. That was the best scene in the show up to now.
This scene is the only time I cried my eyes out watching the show
Agree. That episode was SO good. The actress who played the old woman, Lois Smith, is a veteran of movies and TV whose first major role was in _East of Eden_
The acting of Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys and Alison Wright (Martha) was top notch
I love Keri Russell. SEXY!!!
Watched the show on your recommendation, got instantly hooked, until Season 5, I had to drag myself through that. But that final episode, when I saw Paige off the train my heart sank.
That scene literally took my breath away.
Yeah, this show definitely suffered under its own weight toward the end. I was actually a bit disappointed. I'd hoped that the end of the series would take place in the midst of the USSR collapsing. The Jennings family would essentially be stranded in the U.S. with no guidance from their Soviet handlers. I also think that having Stan discover who they are, but no one at the FBI has any stomach for it, or perhaps they just don't believe him, would have been a similarly downer ending for him. Just like in the actual finale, the Jennings essentially get away with everything, and they then get to stay in the U.S. I'm usually not a big spinoff or sequel fan, but that would have left the door open to continue the story.
Same. Fell off infact, had to get back on to finish. Hardly seemed worth it.
Glad I'm not the only one who has this opinion. I think the show as a whole is great but the last season is the weakest. At least they wrapped it up before it got too bad.
@@bagelhunt The last season gets the most praise and awards. A hot take for sure. I suppose I can understand if you miss the "action" over a smart narrative.
I’m dying 😂 all the things you disliked about season 3 were my favorite parts. The old woman’s conversation with Elizabeth was one of my favorite parts of season 3. I don’t remember what I thought of season 5 but definitely remember the slowness. Season 6 was agonizing for the way it hit all the emotional climaxes. I’d like to do a full rewatch but it’s the kind of show I need to be in the headspace for, a bit like Mad Men. It’s not something I can rewatch on a whim and only pay half-attention to.
OMG he disliked that wonderful old lady scene? When I think back to the series, that's one of the scenes that comes to mind with how well they did it. I had to stop watching the video because he thinks Noah Emmrich's acting was one of the strong parts of the series...
Definitely disagree with his take on the old lady episode, which I thought was very moving. But definitely agree with him on Season 5; when I recommend the show to people, I tell them to straight up skip season 5, it's got so little going for it, and it's by far the worst.
@@danielsteffee7957yeah but I don’t think you can just skip over it though😂😂it’s stil a solid season just worst than the rest cause the show is all time great
Fun fact: Henry Jennings ended up playing in the NHL under the name "Wayne Gretzky."
Nice
Wait..what??
No, no. It was Sergei Federov.
Unlikely----the real Wayne Gretzky was already in the NHL at the time that Henry was a kid...!!!...
The thing that really got me hooked on this show was how conflicted I felt about Philip and Elizabeth. Despite all the terrible things they did, I couldn’t help but like them. I kept going backwards and forwards between wanting them to get caught, and wanting them to get away with things.
I felt this way about Philip and not at all about Elizabeth.
I also have to agree with the music choice. I thought they did a stellar job of choosing a combination of hits and deep tracks that made it feel more organic and less like a nostalgia trip. One song I really wish they used at some point was the original Tears for Fears version of Mad World. I think it would’ve fit nicely with the tone of the show and been on the nose lyrically.
I loved all the seasons, including Season 5. And as a whole, it is simply superb. It is very clear that everything that happens at the beginning and the middle is important for how things turn out. It's all connected, and there are actually a LOT of payoffs - even during the "slower" sections of the show because this is essentially a family drama & not just a spy show, so the 5th season for example had a lot of family stuff that was important. I enjoyed all of it. The central performances were terrific, the writing was amazing, the show made you think & see things from a different perspective. It is absolutely worth watching and rewatching, because even when you know what's going to happen in an episode or the entire show, it is still captivating to watch. It is an internal drama of those people & it is a spy thriller. They created something truly superb.
Yes, exactly.
That the show was a family drama hiding as a spy thriller was the point of The Americans. To approach it without that perspective dooms the reviewer to miss much of the nuance that was particularly present in S5.
Otherwise, it was great fun to hear someone retrospect the show. It's one of my favorite TV series.
Minority opinion: I *liked* the "Oleg and the corrupt supply chain" storyline. Recall this was just before the USSR collapsed.
I enjoyed it a lot as well! It was a nice little reminder of what it's like 'back home', and the Jennings have no idea
I checked this show out after enjoying a few of your other reviews, and it honestly floored me. Some of my favorite television on earth. Some day I'll make that Season 5 edit for you.
I'm still in the middle of this series, on season 3, so I'll come back to watch this in full. Thanks for making this!
Enjoy!!
@@cj-hw3pv can u suggest other show like the Americans
Now I can comment having watched the show. Definitely one of the best ever IMO, with one of the best endings. I agree with a lot of what you said, S4 and 6 being the best, S3 already being kinda slow and S5 taking it too far, though I don’t think S5 is that weak. Another show with barn burner of a finale is The Shield which I hope you check out if you haven’t already, one of the best ever IMO. Great video as always!
The Shield is so underrated
Yea Shield was awsome.
@@paullesniak3791the shield and the Americans both make my top ten shows list
Thank you so much for this. I started the show because of this and was even more impressed than I expected!
Started the show after watching this video, perfect time to rewatch it having finished it.
I loved the original, surprised to see it re-uploaded
Your comments are very well thought out, very well articulated. I commend you for that. Thank you. It's your experience. My experience of the show was quite different, but I think that's marvelous. I've watched it through its entirety twice, and there are so many details that fly by. It's highly nuanced, and I really dig that.
At 13:42 "it'll be easy peasy lemon squeezy. No it won't it'll be difficult difficult lemon difficult" was awesome 👍😂
Awesome video! It's great to see a underrated show get the attention it deserves.
Could you make a retrospective on the TV show Mr Robot. It's my favorite show of all time.
It's a masterpiece and season 3 and 4 went criminally under the radar. When it was the best parts of the show.
Best show ever. Season 3 especially, it’s probably the best season of television I’ve ever watched.
And just like that you got your wish
And just like that you got your wish
And just like that you got your wish
And just like that you got your wish
This is the only show I’ve ever watched, and I’ve watched a few that the ending stayed with me for quite while. I immediately wanted to rewatch it but waited a year and enjoyed it again.
Have you ever watched six feet under? In my opinion that’s the best finale ever
@@raymondsims7042 I watched it when it aired but not consistently, I have heard the ending is very good.
@@ditroia2777 yeah man if you get some free time check it out top three show and the best finale ever and it’s not close in my opinion.
@@ditroia2777aww man you’ve got to watch it!! Show us absolutely incredible top three in my opinion and yeah the ending is the best I’ve ever seen
Most people I know that loved the show were like me, teenagers/early 20's during the height of the cold war. To this day I'm still surprised we survived the cold war.
Appreciate the video! just finished the series and theres hardly any analysis videos compared to what you see for other shows. I think the show was ahead of its time and im glad i only recently discovered it.
I definitely hold this show among the greats like sopranos and breaking bad.
I love Oleg and his final scene with Stan encapsulated everything i loved about the show.
Agree about the amazing soundtrack and LOL to the comment about watching this at night with the lights off.. how i watched every episode!!
One thing i love about the americans and the amazing acting is how much silent communication/ body language is used. Incredible stuff
This show isn't just dark and violent, its shockingly graphic for a TV show. I have a pretty strong stomach and had to look away at times! People being burned alive, throats slashed, hanged, shot point blank in the face, etc. And they show it all in graphic detail. I don't know what was worse, the decapitation of the van driver, the Russian courier traitor getting stabbed by Elizabeth directly in the throat and then hunting down his wife and slitting her throat from ear to ear. Or maybe breaking the bones on the body in the hotel room so they could smuggle it out in a suitcase. Damn, I had to look away when they started snapping the bones (and showing it!!!!) Somebody dies a horrible death in almost every episode. Don't let the kiddos watch this one........
grow a couple
@@puppylove2493 Nobody asked you so shut your pie hole..........
@Don Gorleone balls is what I think they mean
I cringed when Elizabeth blew the AIr Force General's head off!
I couldn’t watch the suitcase scene, could barely stand to listen.
I wonder if Philip was able to meet and connect with his other son in Russia after the finale
Oh yeah! I forgot about the son.
Haven’t watched this video yet, but very exciting to see people talk about the Americans, such an under appreciated gem of a show.
14:40 - The choice of tunes throughout the series are hands down my fav from ANY tv series! I'm still pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of TALKING HEADS' 'Listening Wind' in the opening to the final season. Not just cuz it's my fav song by said band, but the fact it's such a deep cut! The Americans NEVER dissapoints with the dope choices of 80's music!!!!
Watched the show on your recommendation, got instantly hooked
Your video actually made me watch the show, i'm on season 5 right now so i'll be back when i finish it
Are you back yet?
If you ever read anything from John Le Carre, or enjoyed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I think you'd feel right at home with this show. I was even half expecting at the very least, a casual reference to the Smiley Saga, since they both feel very similar to each other. Swear to god I saw George Smiley in Phillip and Karla somewhere in Elizabeth.
I'm watching the Americans right now. My second try, but I'm glad I was able to push through the first few episodes and I'm now enjoying it tremendously. Very mixed feelings since I was born in the Soviet Union in the late 70's and USSR falling apart is real to me. I remember watching Reagan and Gorbachyov in the news vividly. The Soviet Union being dissolved the way it did brought chaos, poverty, unimaginable crime levels. Our 90's were your 20's. Gorbachyov is hailed as a hero in the West, but he is one of the most hated historic figures in our history though. Right after Stalin. Your video is awesome. It's interesting to see your prospective as a person who analyzed the show and as an American (no pun intended). Thank you.
I feel like there should've been an actual fight between Phillip and Stan in the end. A well-choreographed fight, maybe where Phillip has a handicap of some sort but still manages to bust out those rusty skills and show Stan what he was always capable of.
_Then_ there should've been the big conversation, with a defeated (yet unmaimed) Stan cuffed to the wall or something and Phillip having 0 reasons left to hide anything. That's the conversation I wanted to hear, and it couldn't happen as long as the gun was in Stan's hand.
Finished "The Americans" in June and it's become my new number one favourite TV show of all time, and it's one of the best pieces of fiction I've ever seen. That said, I still have yet to see a single episode of Mad Men, Sopranos, Fargo, Dexter, The Wire, The Shield, Boardwalk Empire, Narcos, Deadwood (even though I've had the entire series on blu-ray for over 4-5 years now), or Better Call Saul. So we'll see if I feel the same way after getting through them (assuming I live long enough to do so).
But yeah, it's a hidden gem in my eyes, and I'm so glad I picked it up off an indirect recommendation I saw from a trusted source months ago. I hope more people discover it and sing its praises, because ultimately I'd say its pros far outweigh its cons. (As much as I love it, I felt vindicated hearing you lightly rag on the gravedigging scene in season 5. It succeeds at evoking the tedium of the work, but that unfortunately has the side effect of making me feel bored.) Great video!
The Americans is in my top ten for sure.
This is the best show that I've seen in very long time. Is there a show similar to this?
Homeland
28:42 is the most I've laughed at a RUclips video in a long, long time. Also, the show and this retrospective kick ass.
Just watched this after finishing the series... I enjoyed the references to Veep, In the Loop, GoldenEye, and Anthony Fantano. I do wonder how Claudia's disappointment didn't come back to hurt them; how can Claudia and the Jennings both be accepted back to USSR?
Claudia was a part of the losing faction of KGB, and Phil and Liz helped to prevent the coup. If anything, they will be accepted as heroes, and Claudia would probably meet Nina's fate.
Love your videos! Giving this reupload some good ol algorithm juice.
28:44 "So I tied an onion into my belt which was the style at the time.." LOOL
watched the show on hulu and loved it
Great video. I suggest you watch Boardwalk Empire. It had, imo, the greatest finale of any show I’ve seen to date. I got really heavy into television in 2005, so I got to see all the series you’ve mentioned. Except OZ.
I think the scene where Stan and Nina are watching the movie makes their relationship make sense. Stan has to hide everything from Sandra. Nina is the secret. He can relax and not worry about saying the wrong thing or endangering her. He could just sit and watch a movie. That is why the relationship makes sense. You don’t need anything else. Stan can relax with Nina. You could almost see it as selfish on Stan’s part because he is using her to comfort himself
Finished the show last night, fantastic series finale. Overall I'd give it an 8/10. The main characters were really well done and has some effective suspense and intrigue. However, the plotlines regarding spy operations can be complicated and hard to follow. The show could also be slow at times, especially in season 5. Was looking forward to watching this video when I was fully done. Keep up the good work! Perhaps do retrospectives on The Leftovers, Legion, and Twin Peaks?
43:46 Matthew Rhys sold that fake break so well that it appeared in following episode recaps long past the point of relevance.
Enjoyment is a weird word to use about watching an old women slowly die of an overdose, so I'll use Enthralled, but I mostly agree about season 5 comments
s4 is probably my favorite. Just the idea of bio-chemical warfare chills me to my core, and the lassa virus takes it all to a whole new level!
My man said tankie. He knows his shit.
it's not a show to binge imo. the gaps between episodes and seasons must help. i don't recall ever being bored
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Oh my, what’s that noise? Oh, I know, it’s your daily reminder to COVER THE SHIELD YOU COWARD! ❤️
Here to show support
I think this was a criminally underrated show. It did get a bit slow for me at times, but the desire to know what would happen next. Personally I would like to have seen the show get closer to the fall of the USSR than it did. I felt like we got a taste of what the confusion would have done, but it would have been interesting to see them get caught in the middle of the collapse and how they would have reacted to it.
Thats what I thought the ending would be about, I was pretty surprised to hear that wasn't the case
@Randy White of course I’m not denying that! When I say “underrated,” I’m saying in comparison to a show like Breaking Bad that has become imbedded in pop culture. Though it’s absolutely on that level of quality, it never really reached the same popularity.
The show got axed, last two seasons were rushed. I think the slow bits were the actual show, it was a drama set during cold war about spies, and not really a cold war spy thriller that is a common trope. Think of it as what The Wire is to cop shows - the action sequences were rarely the highlight. The Americans suffered from lack of popularity that Breaking Bad and especially Game of Thrones enjoyed at the time, imo it's the best running show of its time due to the scope of it. It portrayed the cold war paranoia as well as the humans pitched against each other who were not too different from each other - compared to say, most popular spy cinema where it's good vs evil or all emphasis on an antihero.
@@TheCyberSpidey - that's really not the case. The show got seasons 5 and 6 greenlit at the same time, to allow the writers to craft the end the way they wanted. That double-greenlight might have been unprecedented, I'm not sure, a couple of other shows have replicated it since. Either way, it was a brilliant and bold decision by FX's John Landgraf.
Thanks, I didn't see every episode so you filled in the blanks. The end reminds me of the conclusion to "La Femme Nikita" with Pita Wilson, where the show steamrolls to a logical conclusion. Loose ends are taken care of, some surprising acts of courage emerge, and not everything ends happily but it ends.
Love seeing a video essay about my favorite show of all time, nice!!!!
It’s definitely in my top ten as well it’s excellent
Stan being a douche in season 1 has two points to it:
1. Philip and Elizabeth are our (anti-)heroes, and when those are still new, you need a catalyst to help the audience root for them. Stan isn't really their direct nemesis, but he is a stand-in, the personification of their enemy.
2. During the Cold War, both sides did horrible things. You can't be taken seriously as a show if you try and portray US intelligence services as virtuous, because that wasn't what was happening.
This is funny. Just watching this a year later we find out the Iron Dome doesn't work either
That Fantano joke was hilarious
You got me. I’ll watch it again
No mention of Gregory! 🙃
Not many fans of the Show like Gregory.
I absolutely loved the first four seasons of this show! We were watching Season 5 as it aired but lost interest somewhere along the way... By the time season 6 came out we had forgotten all that was going on, figured we should do a rewatch of the previous seasons first and at least finish the arduous Season 5, but we never did and still haven't seen the last season 😅 Maybe one day!
Just watch season 6 and Forget about 5. 6 is so good and 5 so inconsequential since there’s a time skip that you wont regret it.
I watched the whole series once. I started again two days ago and got to the third season and decided to just jump to the end. I think that's all I wanted. I wanted to see these characters again but I wasn't up to the drawn out toil of them going through seasons 3, 4 and 5 again. Id love to know what happened to these characters after the end. I guess one big reason I liked this show was that it was so familiar. The 80s was my first decade of adulthood. The show was pure nostalgia in a way that TV from that time isn't. Maybe I long for a time when you could be anonymous in the world. No ubiquitous cameras and background checks and security at every station. People (and spies) could move through the world unobserved and unsuspected.
I'm ngl I really did like this show and have very little bad things to say about it, but in regards to season 5, I accidentally skipped from episode 4 to I believe 7 and went completely unnoticed until the end of the 8th episode
I think this is great analysis but I need to disagree with your thoughts on the old lady in season 3. I think that is the window into elizibiths mind that makes her as a character for the rest of the show. So we’ll acted by both Elizibith and the old woman it brought me to tears by the end.
Commenting to boost the video.
One of the best shows ever
1:24 I have to say, I don’t watch series finales - they are almost always a letdown/destroy everything they’ve built in the many years they ran. I trusted “The Americans” and loved the show so much that I broke my own rules and watched it… and I was so, so happy that I did.
Finally, a show that didn’t ruin it all in the final minutes.
not sure why you needed that dog whistle in there when you talked about the star wars program
With Putin coming to power the speech of Martindale aboyt how the kgb will come back in power was prophetic.
Doesn't sound like my kind of show, but I still enjoyed the video.
Don't know how? I saw almost every show in all seasons, and this review left a lot out!😁
why watch this crap..the real show is great
One of my favourite ever shows ugh I’m dying
Great video, but I think you're way too hard on Season 5. I found the series utterly enthralling from start to finish, and while 5 isn't one of the best ones it's certainly far from bad and I was never bored. It is less eventful than the other seasons but still beautifully written/directed and acted. Darkroom, Dyatkhovo and the season finale were all amazing episodes, and I actually loved the eerie sequence of digging up William's body. I think maybe only Season 1 I would consider not quite a masterpiece because it has a slightly more conventional feel and cheaper look to it. But S2-6 is some of the best TV I've had the pleasure of viewing. Especially 3, 4 and 6. You're dead on when you say that S3 really was a big step up in terms of the quality of the direction. From there to the end the show just knocked my socks off.
The series also explored faith and religion with a very interesting perspective.
I got the bell icon on just for you slip
i think it's the best show ever made.
Really? I’d give the wire that title, but the Americans definitely makes my top ten. What makes you put the Americans at number 1?
@@raymondsims7042 it just appeals to my interests, i've always liked the idea of disguises, spy stuff is great, the premise is great and the execution of it was really well done. i never really liked the wire, just bored me, some of the criminal characters are interesting but i did not care about the police characters and "police trying to catch everyday criminals" isn't that exciting i guess, well made show though. i know why people like it, i just don't.
@@zackkorth2410 ok I respect that mate I love both shows, I do think the wire is quite a bit better than every show. I also think it has a far far larger and better cast than the Americans, but I respect you having the Americans at number 1.I think it would number 9 for me
Good recap. But the finale was brilliant. Yes the garage scene was the climax, but to say the rest of the finale was "useless" is very stupid. The MacDonald's scene, the U2 song, the train scene with Paige, and the last shot as the couple contemplate being back in Moscow - all fantastic iconic images
I said “wordless” not “useless”
Oz was insane, every episode was "when keeping it real goes wrong "
one of my favourite shows
look up person of interest, its really good, i mean really good, and getting better and good finale. And unerderrated still somehow. Like thats also nolans best batman media, somehow.
OZ is one of the best shows i ever saw.
Really? I thought Oz got very very stupid, convoluted, poorly written, messy, and downright bad. I’m not sure I’d consider Oz a good show.
The biggest problem I had with the series is the unlikely scenario of targeting Paige as a KGB asset (as part of the Centre's "second-generation illegals program)-----notwithstanding everything else, she's still just a kid; kids talk. In real life, sooner or later, no matter her training or mindset, she'll let something slip, and that would be the downfall of everything. Paige herself is something of an anachronism throughout the series...she certainly doesn't act like any teenager I've ever known; more like a girl in her late twenties/early thirties (much of her dialogue with her parents and others was -*-far-*- more mature than a typical 13-16 year old would be). And during the episodes where Philip and Elizabeth--AND Gabriel!!--- are arguing over bringing Paige into the fold, I noticed that certain key arguing points were not utilized which would have been used in real life in such a situation: for example, PHILIP could've reasoned with Elizabeth that what would she think of HER daughter potentially having to use her body in "honeypot" situations, as Elizabeth had many times, in order to get information from a source or achieve other ends?? Or the likely LIABILITY factor of trusting kids in "cloak-and-dagger" situations...Paige just simply speaks way too maturely for a typical teenage girl of the time...
Biggest hassle with the show - when the spies started wearing disguises you couldn't tell who they were!!!
yeah real hard...two people who are always together is a lot for a weak brain
@@puppylove2493 EXC-U-U-U-U-U-SE ME-E-E-E!!!
maybe get some ginko biloba?
I wish they would have continued/fast-forwarded the story line all the way to the USSR collapse and their surviving the collapse etc.
Love your review! So fun to watch and your narration and summary is the best. I found this when debating to skip season 5 and you helped me decide to skip it. Saved 10 hours. I think the two weakest things in the show 1) paige. She should have been killed off in season 2. Her acting and single face for everything ruined a lot of scenes and I started to skip them. Some child actors just don't work. 2)An FBI agent living across the street would have found it odd when his neighbors keep leaving in the middle of the night.
2:34 Uh oh 😆This just made the list 🤣
The moral center of the show is Oleg. Stan is a bad guy.
These ppl are truly “glowing in the dark”
The Navy seal subplot is a play on without remorse.
US didn’t pay for iron dome and star wars wasn’t built enough to say “it didn’t work”. it was barely on the drawing board
Started thinking about "Homeland" for some reason
So good
I heard about this show & saw the rave reviews, it seemed like something I would like, love a spy/espionage story but I could never really get fully onboard, I lasted 2 seasons before giving up, this is a compliment to Russell but I really hated Elizabeth as a person, I don't know if I felt like she was a person I just wanted to rebel against if I was Paige or I just hated the type of parent she was to Paige, to me she was just a horrible person who I felt no empathy towards.
Is this a re-upload?
Spoiler:
Tbh to Stan’s assholishness in the first season, you could attribute it to how he’s just going through his divorce
Knowing that ultimately, the KGB fell apart due to incompetence and lack of funding kind of spoils the ending
just finished the americans the other day and i miss it so much already :,(
Star Wars did work. Maybe not as a defensive weapon but it was one of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR.
Golden age was sopranos to end of justified
I enjoyed the first two seasons of the show, but I stopped after that. The plot is great and the setting is a lot of fun, but the characters flip flop around too much for me and will turn on a dime to some new world view, only to change back a few episodes later. Especially Phillip, he'll be like "Wow this is too fucked up for me and I want to quit and just be a normal American now." and then like the next day go back to building a life with a mark and making her fall in love with him. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a great sound, idk why Quantumania got to use it when it would have worked much better in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Californication using Rocket Man is probably my favorite use of an Elton John song. Them getting caught at the end and having interactions with the people they've lied to this whole time already makes it a better ending than Dexter. I do think it would have been better to see them react to the USSR falling apart and yeah like you said, everything they did was for nothing, although the Cold War never really ended; regimes just changed and the US focused on other parts of the world for a while. My biggest gripe with the show is how pro US it can get, like oh isn't it sad how every time they try and do the good thing it turns out the US was the ones doing the good thing and how sad it is that they'll miss the good old USA and McDonalds. As if we weren't doing equally fucked up shit the whole time, I know that isn't really the point of the show, but I find a "both sides are equally evil and you picking a side makes you the butt of the joke" is better than "you picked the wrong side and you're the butt of the joke".
10/10❤
It was an amazing show but this video was just a subpar retrospective, if it can even be called that
You forgot to mention the hilariously stupid glass door death of Stan's boss. Talk about anti-climactic!
50:08 💀
Review Power by Starz