Tag Archives: The Americans

WTA 34- Interview with Alison Wright

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It’s end of season special time! And we have brought back the amazing Alison Wright aka Martha Hanson to recap Martha’s incredible character arc! We also have our good friend and frequent contributor Kathleen Lewis joining in for the fun. In our chat, we recap all the wild swings with Martha in Season 3, talk about acting in general, and answer some terrific listener questions.

We love to hear your thoughts about The Americans so please send them to us! You can email text or audio feedback to watchingtheamericans@gmail.com or signal us (we have replaced the operator!) at 919-907-0542. Follow us on Twitter @WatchAmericans. Please like us on our Facebook page Watching The Americans. And if you do enjoy the show, kindly rate us or better yet rate and review us in iTune

WTA 33- Season 3 Episode 13 March 8, 1983

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So many people have a bad day in the Season 3 finale of The Americans we can hardly keep track! It’s Season 3 Episode 13 “March 8, 1983” written by Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields and directed by Daniel Sackheim. The original air date was April 22, 2015.

Paige and Elizabeth journey to West Berlin where they meet Elizabeth’s dying mother. Gabrielle confronts Philip who is becoming more and more unglued. Philip visits another EST seminar where he meets and talks with Sandra. Stan reveals to Gaad that he has been working Oleg and has him on tape confessing treason and Zinaida’s role as a double agent. Gaad furiously tries to have Stan fired and is overruled by the Deputy Attorney General. Philip kills FBI computer specialist Greg and frames him for bugging Gaad’s office. Paige and Elizabeth return home, and Paige tells her mother she doesn’t think she can lie to everyone like her parents do. Philip tries to tell Elizabeth how he is feeling about what he has done and she turns away from him. Elizabeth tells Philip she believes Paige is doing fine with her new knowledge, while Paige weeps in the room next door. She calls Pastor Tim and tells him she is in pain, and that her parents aren’t who they say they are – the are Russians!

We have your latest news! First up we have a great interview by Alan Sepinwall from Hitfix with Joe and Joel and their view that ‘it may be that our sense of bad is changing’. Next up is a piece from Grantland all about Spies in the House of Love, and we wind up with the HuffPo revealing 7 Reasons ‘The Americans’ Was So Addictive This Year.

We have good things for you in history and tech this week! We start with Anton and Nina in their Siberian labor camp, then we listen to President Reagan’s Evil Empire Speech. For tech we fire up the trusty Commodore 64 Computer, pack up our Samsonite Suitcases, and call Pastor Tim on our stylish Princess Phone.

Plus we get your great thoughts about the Season 3 finale!

We do so love to hear your thoughts about The Americans so please send them to us! You can email text or audio feedback to watchingtheamericans@gmail.com or signal us (we have replaced the operator!) at 919-907-0542. Follow us on Twitter @WatchAmericans. Please like us on our Facebook page Watching The Americans. And if you do enjoy the show, kindly rate us or better yet rate and review us in iTunes!

WTA 32-Season 3 Episode 12 I Am Abassin Zadran

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Poor Martha and Paige! It’s their time to shine in The Americans’ Season 3 Episode 12 “I Am Abassin Zadran” written by Peter Ackerman & Stuart Zicherman and directed by Christopher Misiano. The original air date was April 15, 2015.

Paige continues to angrily question her parents about her history and place in the world. She escapes by going to Pastor Tim and Alice’s house, and Philip and Elizabeth take her back home. Stan makes an unexpected visit to Martha. He later confronts Aderholt about his insinuations and accusations. Lisa’s husband Maurice inserts himself into her undercover work for Michelle. Oleg and Tatiana attempt to persuade Arkady to continue Operation Zephyr in the FBI using the Mailbot. Philip and Elizabeth meet Mujahideen leader Abassin Zadran and goad him into attacking his fellow leaders. Claudia returns and Gabriel meets with her to discuss the Jennings. Martha is picked up by Hans who takes her to meet Clark. She shares her panic with Clark who tries to reassure and calm her. Martha continues to unravel, calls home, and prepares to go there. Clark arrives and stops her by revealing more of himself by removing his toupee. He is not bald!

Two fun news items await us! First is a great interview with fan favorite Margo Martindale who gets candid in the Hollywood Reporter about her role as Claudia and what may be in store next season. Then we take a look at the latest and greatest review from Alan Sepinwall from Hitfix and his What’s Alan Watching review of this episode. Alan writes some of the best stuff out there so do check it out!

Lots of history and one bit of tech are here this week! We start by saying farewell to Hawkeye and the gang on the last episode of M*A*S*H called “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”, then take a break to read about feudal Japan in Shōgun while we nosh on a delicious Kolach. Next we journey with Gabriel to Sergach and catch a showing of the great dark film King of Comedy. Finally, we wind down and we mean down with Ultravox’s “Vienna”, played of course on our vintage clock radio.

WTA 30-Season 3 Episode 11 One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov

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This week’s episode of The Americans allows us to breathe a bit after last week’s shocking revelation. A bit! It is Season 3 Episode 11 entitled ”One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov” written by Stephen Schiff & Tracey Scott Wilson and directed by Andrew Bernstein. The original air date was April 8, 2015.

In this episode, more and more pressure mounts as Martha expresses worry over her interview with agent Taffet. Paige continues the adjustment into her new reality. Gabriel informs Elizabeth that her mother is close to death, which prompts Phillip to lobby for a visit. As Elizabeth is making strides on one front, at the hotel; she’s hit with an untimely ultimatum from Lisa’s husband. Anton Baklanov slips further into Nina’s emotional grasp.

We have a couple of items in the news for you. The Atlantic believes the long-anticipated revelation has reinvigorated The Americans, and Vox states that The Americans is on one of the best runs of episodes in TV drama history!

Cool history and tech await us this week! We begin with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s compelling novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, then we take a look with Agent Gaad inside the FBI Vault – Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, and we lament the demise of the United States Football League with Oleg and Tatiana. In tech of yesteryear we swing a pulwar, and then we check into that hotel with its fancy EECO hotel management system.

WTA 29-Interview with Kelly AuCoin aka Pastor Tim

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We couldn’t resist, and he couldn’t say no to our request…Kelly AuCoin, aka “Pastor Tim” on “The Americans” is back with us in a special episode for you!

After Philip and Elizabeth’s mind-blowing revelation to Paige last week, we checked back in with Kelly to find out the scoop on his performance in the episode, his terrific opening scene with Matthew Rhys, and his thoughts on how he approaches Pastor Tim. Plus, we get to talk just a bit about his new role in Season 3 of “House of Cards”!

WTA 28-Season 3 Episode 10 Stingers

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This week’s episode of The Americans has to rank as the best of the season, and one of the best of the whole series so far! It is Season 3 Episode 10 entitled ”Stingers” written by showrunners Joel Fields & Joe Weisberg and directed by Larysa Kondracki. The original air date was April 1, 2015.

To recap this week: Pastor Tim drops into the travel agency and has an interesting interaction with Philip. In a movie theater’s bathroom, Zinaida is shown to be leaving a message, confirming she is a double-agent. In Siberia, Anton tells Nina that he needs photographs to aid his work. Tatiana tells Arkady that someone is sabotaging their operation with agent “Willow”. After retrieving a tape from the briefcase belonging to Kimmy’s father, Philip and Elizabeth learn Pakistan’s ISI is sending someone to the U.S. to discuss America’s CIA involvement in Afghanistan. Elizabeth checks into a hotel to set up a contact for her plans to spy on the people coming to meet with the CIA. Henry and Stan bond over films and games. Paige, at Pastor Tim’s urging, confronts her parents about their secrecy. They confess to being Russian spies but caution her about not telling anyone. This blows everyone’s mind!

We lead off with the GREAT news from EW that The Americans is renewed for season 4! Then Vulture has an exposé exploring if The Americans and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are connected, and we visit the incredible view of the Soviet Hockey team’s later history in the recent documentary Red Army.

There is so much history to cover this week, beginning with Adam and the Ants monster hit “Stand and Deliver”, followed by the lucrative trade in Pirated Videos, one of which we saw this week: the movie Tron. We also see another movie, Tootsie, then play Strat-O-Matic while watching the soap opera General Hospital, and then regale ourselves with Eddie Murphy’s SNL classic Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood. In tech of yesteryear, we once again learn more about ancient telephones and what happened if you left a telephone off the hook which would lead to a permanent signal, and then we unwind by firing off a few Stinger Missiles.

WTA 27-Season 3 Episode 9 Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep

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We have a surprise for you this week! Our good friend Kathleen Lewis joins us as guest host for this week’s breakdown of The Americans latest episode entitled ”Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?”. It was written by Joshua Brand and directed by Stephen Williams. The original air date was March 25, 2015.

In this episode, Elizabeth tries to dismiss Hans, who has other ideas. He kills Todd and asks Elizabeth to take him back. Martha gets it together and tries acting as if things are back to normal with Clark. She tells him the FBI mailbot is being repaired offsite. Gabriel sends Philip and Elizabeth to bug the FBI mailbot, and they are discovered by the owner of the repair shop. Elizabeth forces her to commit suicide. Stan and Oleg act like buddy cops in an ill-advised and convoluted plan to secure Nina’s return. Philip confronts Gabriel, telling him that he will protect his family because no one else will.

The better this season gets, the more the press is talking about it. There were so many great stories about the show, starting with Slate on why the Hula-Hooping girl in Kimmy Schmidt’s credit sequence looks so familiar, then New York Times ArtsBeat revealing why

you should trust the organization, and ScreenRant’s opinion that ‘The Americans’ is better than the alternatives. We follow with Indiewire’s fascinating review of this week’s episode, Inquisitr’s report that Harrison Ford’s film ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ is set for 2016 production, and we wrap up with Grantland’s piece Crime and Punishment: ‘The Americans’ Soars in Its Brutal Third Season.

In our history segment we read Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and mark our place with Post-It Notes. For tech of yesteryear we debate whether Henry is playing Coleco Football or Tandy Electronic Football II.

WTA 26-Season 3 Episode 8 Divestment

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We didn’t think it possible to be more uncomfortable with the doings on The Americans, but we are again! It happens in this week’s episode entitled ”Divestment”. It was written by Lara Shapiro and directed by Dan Attias. The original air date for the episode was March 18, 2015.

This week the show begins just where we left off last time, with Philip and Elizabeth and Ncgobo interrogating their hostages. Ncgobo decides to execute Venter in a grisly manner, and Todd confesses he has a bomb. Later, Elizabeth releases Todd unharmed. Taffet continues his investigation into the source of the bug in Gaad’s pen, and Martha becomes more and more on edge. Nina is visited by one of her jailors who informs her the work she has done has reduced her sentence to 10 years. She can go free if she can seduce Anton Baklanov, who appears to be stalling in his work on Soviet Stealth tech. Martha confronts Clark, asking “who are you?” and getting a conflicted answer. Later, she and Clark lie in bed, together, alone.

We have found some good news items for you this week. We start with the socialist site Jacobin on communists for austerity, then hear from EW with a biblical, ‘binding’ theory of The Americans, The New Yorker’s opinion that The Americans is too bleak, and that’s why it’s great, good ratings news via Headline Planet, and wind up with the WSJ Blog’s interview with Alison Wright on Martha, Mail Robots and Pen Maintenance.

For our history segment we examine divestment from South Africa, visit Berkeley, the home of the Free Speech Movement., join the African National Congress, and witness the gruesome practice of Necklacing. For tech of yesteryear we dust off our trust Microfiche reader!

WTA 25-Season 3 Episode 7 Walter Taffet

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Action returns and joins incredible character moments in a brilliantly directed episode of the latest episode of The Americans entitled ”Walter Taffet”. It was written by Lara Shapiro and directed by Noah Emmerich. The original air date for the episode was March 11, 2015.

The action really ramps up this week! We begin with Philip listening to a shortwave radio broadcast about the situation in Afghanistan. He sees Elizabeth making notes about Paige for a report to the KGB and confronts her about it. He is more alone than he has ever been, ending up sharing bad pizza and bad beer at Stan’s house. Stan sees Sandra who asks him for a divorce, and he later has the chance to share some of his undercover past with his son Matthew. Adderholt questions Stan about Nina, and later in Gaad’s office Adderholt discovers the bug Martha planted in a pen. Walter Taffet arrives to investigate the source of the bug. Martha begins to unravel, trying to destroy the transmitter. She asks Clark to see his apartment and he takes her to it. Moscow sends a member of the African National Congress to aid in the kidnapping of the South Africans that Hans discovered. In a rare moment of openness, Elizabeth apologizes to Philip about Paige and he then reveals that he has a son in Afghanistan. Elizabeth and Philip orchestrate the taking of the South African agent and his college student source to the sounds of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

We found some interesting articles for you to check out. First was an interview with showrunners Weisberg & Fields in Variety, followed by more good news in the ratings front via

Headline Planet, and then a fascinating everything old is new again piece in The New York Times revealing that Putin has vanished, but rumors are popping up everywhere.

Great stuff awaits you in history, beginning with Paige reading the history book From Reconstruction to the Present Day by the iconic modern historian Richard Hofstadter. Next up we meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, learn who shot JR, revel in the brilliant song The Chain by Fleetwood Mac , and eat some Campbell’s Chunky Soup. In tech of yesteryear we fire up our old Shortwave Radio, revisit the year 1982 in computers and try to avoid detection sweepers.

WTA 24-Season 3 Episode 6 Born Again

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It’s all about the characters this week on the latest episode of The Americans entitled ”Born Again”. It was written by Tracey Scott Wilson and directed by Kevin Dowling. The original air date for the episode was March 4, 2015.

Paige finally gets her baptism at the hands of Pastor Tim while Elizabeth and Philip look on. Philip is able to get a listening device planted in Isaac Breeland’s briefcase while deflecting Kimmy’s advances. Both Elizabeth and Philip try to tell Paige something to help her be prepared for what they know is coming, but she is only confused by the conversations. Stan and Tori have dinner at the Jennings’ and later share an intimate moment. After the death of an old friend, Stan sees Sandra and Matthew. Nina is able to get a confession from Evi with the expected sad outcome. Gabriel meets with Philip and vaguely blackmails him into pursuing Kimmy sexually. He later meets with Elizabeth and pushes her buttons to get the results he needs. Elizabeth takes Paige to a gritty part of the city to discuss her role in “civil rights” and push her daughter to think there is more to do than just protest how things are.

We have a lot of history to cover this week! We start with the concept of being Born Again, suffer through the early 1980s recession while consoling ourselves with Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn. Next we learn about Reagan Administration and the Anti-apartheid movement, South Africa’s National Intelligence Service, listen to some cool Pink Floyd and contemplate the made up Brands for TV and Movies. For the first time since we started, there wasn’t any tech of yesteryear that we hadn’t seen!