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Just started watching this. So far, it shows potential. It's set in 1981, and focuses on two Russian sleeper agents who are posing as an American couple. They are instructed to only speak English, even in closed company (which gives the writers and actors a bit of an out). They have two children who have no idea who their parents really are. Matthew Rhys plays Phillip, who is starting to become reluctant about working as an undercover agent. His wife Elizabeth (played by Kerri Russell) is the more devoted of the two to their cause. They go on missions while trying to maintain an ordinary, typical, American life. Meanwhile, across the street, FBI agent Stan Beeman, who is currently involved in the cold war operation against the Soviets, (Noah Emmerich) and his wife have just moved in, and Stan befriends Phillip. Stan suspects something is a bit off about Phillip, while Phillip discovers Stan might be keeping surveillance on them.

The leads of the show are pretty good, with Rhys being the standout. Russell is also pretty good, but there are times where I find it a bit hard to believe that she would be the mother of two preteen kids. Noah Emmerich is quite excellent as well (he played Jenner on The Walking Dead), and comes off as being very comfortable and natural in the role. I think this show has the potential to be very good. Hopefully this show will find its footing.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

^ That looks interesting as hell.

Which means it should have it's own thread.

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It will have its own thread if there are more than two people watching it. So far just two episodes have aired, so you could jump right in if you want to. I think there are about 13 episodes for the season.

Also, The Walking Dead returns this week.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I'm finishing the first episode right now, I've liked it a lot ! Perhaps my only issue is that these guys never utter a word of russian, with the exception of that notable "nyet" perhaps.

Other than that, watch it guys, it's pretty cool.

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Wow, that was quick! The power of suggestion!



Yeah, I noticed that too. That's what I mean when I say they're give an out, because they can just speak in English. It's a bit of a cheat, I think.

The whole mall dance sequence was kind of odd, and in fact, that whole bit where Phillip visited that guy seemed like padding.

I also find some of their interactions with the kids to be a bit vague. I mean, these are their children, but I'm not quite sure I get the sense that they're particularly close to them, although Elizabeth does make an effort in the next episode. Plus, I keep expecting one of the kids to show up when the parents are busy in their study or garage, doing some secret espionage stuff. And I'm not sure they quite nailed the double life aspect. You'll see Phillip play hockey with his son, and in another scene, stab a guy in the hand, but I feel like I'm watching two different characters. It's still early, though, so I'm willing to wait to see if the show works out some of the kinks.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

The power of a fucking brilliant banner you should say



At the very least they should've spoken a little when they met, I mean, something.



Yeah, there's a lot of aspects that could've been better developed, it's deffinitely a risk when you don't bring out the best in the very first episode, though maybe that means that these guys are committed to let the show take off as it progresses, we'll just have to see.

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Fuck this ! Episode Two was even better than The Pilot !

RUIBK ! I DEMAND THAT YOU WATCH THIS SHOW SO THAT T3CII CAN MAKE THE THREAD !

Mal watches the show too apparently, though he doesn't give a fuck about the forum anymore

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I'm actually curious about this show, and I want to watch it soon. Seeing some good notes makes me more willing to actually get around to watching it.

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@RealSlimCAvery

Ask and you shall receive. Here's your thread.

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

This looks good. I've been looking for a new, newish cool show that I could give a shit and write a spec script for, and this looks like it might be one. I hope I can get to see it soon.

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My unofficial and offical work-> http://www.youtube.com/movieboyandco

And so it begins...

SPOILERS


- I thought the episode was more focused than the pilot, and so it gave it more impact. It kind of felt like a standalone episode, and I wonder if that is going to be how the show initially operates? Will there be a deeper conspiracy, or will we find out more about the people who control these two agents? The tone of the series is often fairly naturalistic (at least as far as the FBI scenes are concerned), so I wonder how that will play out in later episodes? Since this is a pretty short season (13 episodes), hopefully it will be more serialized.

- I like the scenes involving Philip and Stan, since both guys are suspicious of one another, but neither is able to come out and say it. There's something kind of funny about seeing Stan standing there, eating caviar, and smiling benignly, Philip pretending he doesn't like it. I wonder how long they stood in that kitchen making idle chatter.

- There is a bit of an Alias element to the show with the characters wearing disguises. Philip seems to get the short end of the stick as far as disguises are concerned.


Would you trust this man with your children's genitals?

- I like that they have Philip and his son playing hockey. The Miracle On Ice happened the year before, but how popular was hockey with Americans? I thought it was a nice clue about Philip's past.

- I think I missed it, but exactly what do Philip and Elizabeth do for a living?

- Elizabeth piercing her daughters ears...yeah, I had to look away.

- One final thing. The kids. I think they need to be given a bit more personality. They seem too happy go lucky, especially the son.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

That was a great scene, I think Noah Emmerich's great success here is how benign he seems most of the time, he's completely unthreatening, nice, and doesn't look like he has any sort of underhanded intentions or anything, and yet he does; not saying he's a bad guy at all, but the way he plays it is very appealing to me.



I thought about Alias as well, and yeah, Phillip's "disguises" are pretty shitty.

Hopefully if the show goes for another season they'll increase the budget of the clothing department



Travel agents.................can't believe you missed that !



The son is just a shitty shitty actor, that scene where they were doing ice cream olympics was a little painful for me to watch, as for the daughter, I like her, she's no Meryl Streep, but she does play a decent thirteen year old.

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Yeah, his character just seems good at his job, and he's easy to root for, despite the fact that he's not the star of the show.



Both episodes I watched I missed some scenes because I left the room, or in the case of the first episode, missed the opening minutes. I didn't really set out to watch the show, it was more like I stumbled across it.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

Fellow comrades...did anyone watch the Americans last night?

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I'll watch it later today.

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At the risk of this being me and t3cii, I'll still go ahead and write the latest episode's...........

T3CII BREAKDOWN !



- So, for starters, we get a pretty standard "I'm explaining you how I'm going to fuck you over but I'm not explaining you how I'm going to fuck you over" scene with the racquetball game; which shows a confident Stan Beeman subtly (perhaps unkowingly) boasting about how he will "catch" Phillip..............until he gets shot in the back...........figuratively speaking.

- To still speak of Stan, we got a glimpse of the dynamic with his new informant, and his subsequent realization that perhaps these myths about undercover russian spies in the US may not be such BS after all, to the dismay of some of his partners, chief among them............."mister baldy".

- Father-daughter time at the dinner ! Also, great appearence from Margo Martindale, an actress whom I can perfectly vouch for after such an excellent performance during her run on "Justified".

- Oh lord, Elizabeth HAS fooled around quite a lot huh ? Worthy of notice is just how connected Phillip and Elizabeth are, which at the same time also seems strange considering how these agents should be out of sight and as isolated as possible, or maybe I'm reading it wrong ?

- Loved the scene where the crew snatched Joyce Ramirez, the background track was quite mesmerizing, and it was a great bit of action the show seems keen on delivering, what with the "sambo fights" in the Pilot and the whole hostage operation (also with another fight) in the previous episode.

- A rather tense scene between Gregory and Phillip, I feel confident Phillip loves Elizabeth, he has demonstrated his feelings for her, I also feel confident that Gregory here is getting a knife in the eye in the near future..........should he return at least !

- I knew it, I KNEW that shit with Joyce was not going to go down as pretty as they thought it would; the bigger question though is...............did Phillip and Elizabeth knew ?

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Hey feliciano, I hope you don't take my lack of comments as me not being interested in the show, but I have been (and still am) a bit sick for the past few days.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

No worries man ! Hope you're getting better !

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I thought the latest episode might have been the best yet. The episode used the assassination attempt against Ronald Regan as its backdrop, and I like that the show uses these real life moments in history. I just wonder if they'll run out of relevant points in history to touch upon. Because the Cold War kind of fizzled out.

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I'll probably say it was also the best episode so far, they really managed to create a lot of tension with Reagan's assasination attempt, and it was all great; I'm personally glad to find out the characterization for both Phillip and Elizabeth (one being more committed to "the cause" than the other) is sticking for good, and that it wasn't just some ruse to get the show moving in it's first episode.

As the series missing a chance to back itself with history, I don't know, I feel the show is pretty focused on making the whole thing about Elizabeth and Phillip's relationship, as well as the way both see the war from completely different perspectives; I think something like the Reagan assasination is bonus in a series like this, I can't see it simply ending because they've hit a wall in terms of how much the Cold War lasted.

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