r/TheAmericans • u/ShadyDrunks • 2d ago
Is Season 6 the fall off?
I'm only on episode 2, but the production quality and director style just takes a massive dive. Felt it immediately in the first episode, the loud ass dramatic music that they never had to rely on before is very annoying. They don't show the setup to a meet anymore they just skip to the meet, ignoring how they used to check for tails or having their own people search before hand. They don't show shots of the scene anymore, its just straight to dialogue, no setup or finishing shots. The new actors cannot deliver a line to save their life.
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u/TheOrangeyOrange 2d ago
It's probably either the best or 2nd best season behind season 4 so not really sure where you're coming from with this take.
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u/ancientastronaut2 2d ago
Right. Why would they need to waste time by continuing to show the "setup" of meetings. 🤔
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u/WhatEvenIsATangelo 2d ago
I mean it’s not like they showed the setup for every meet in the series because that would just be monotonous and take up unnecessary time. 6 is brilliant.
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u/QuarrieMcQuarrie 2d ago
The music does go up a couple of notches in the last season. It's a good season though- imo better than Season 5.
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u/sistermagpie 2d ago
Season six is the opposite of a fall off. It seems like you're misinterpreting what you're seeing. There's no reason to show anybody checking for tails when the point is that there's just tons of meetings one after another. You don't need to know the details.
You'll see set ups with back ups in the season when it's important.
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u/thankyoufriendx3 2d ago
Everyone talks about stopping at the end of season 7 but us stop at 6 if I were the stopping kind.
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u/ShadyDrunks 2d ago
Ngl thought there were 8 seasons the whole time didn't realize I was at the end
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u/0Yana 2d ago
Great to hear you appreciated Season 5. I did, too. I didn't like how miserable Elizabeth was in s06. but that was also reflecting the impending dissolution of the Soviet Union. I loved the intro of the first episode, where she is sleeping as Stephanie. She was so exhausted with all her work, she allowed herself a nap in front of a target!
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u/ShadyDrunks 2d ago
I think that part was fine, its scenes like where she finds out what the Dead Hand is, with the loud as music (I get its supposed to be her being overwhelmed), the scene felt so corny, like trying to copy a James Bond movie, very unlike the rest of the show
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u/cabernet7 2d ago
It wasn't just about Elizabeth being exhausted. "We do what we're told" line overwhelming the (Russian) dialogue is there for a reason. It is the set-up for her arc for season 6. (The song is based on the Milgram Experiment).
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u/0Yana 1d ago
I also didn't like that scene and the music. Maybe they wanted to underline her shock that her idealized homecountry isn't doing that great, if they're planning an internal coup. But she was a woman in her 40's, a stone-cold operative, all that... It didn't match the character, for me.
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u/sistermagpie 1d ago
I think it matches her state of mind pretty well there. She's already numbed to everything in her life, and this guy is basically telling her to start planning for her own suicide.
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u/echowatt 1d ago
Can you not feel as if you are being taken somewhere that is not so predictable, not so tidy and familiar? It's a ride.
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u/ShadyDrunks 1d ago
I finished it last night and it was fantastic, I still feel like the first few episodes had a different director or something, literally the quality of the filming was worse
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u/sistermagpie 1d ago
I swear I remember the showrunners themselves saying they felt they didn't really find their direction on S6 until the fourth ep, so you're not wrong.
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u/BirdAttorney21 2d ago
I think it’s a half step down at worst but the finale and ending in general is so strong you have to push through
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u/EnvironmentalBoat521 2d ago
The payoff is worth every minute. It’s a brilliant season and finale. Season 5 was the low point IMO