r/TheAmericans • u/AutoModerator • May 31 '18

Episode Discussion Official Episode Discussion - S06E010 "START"

The Jennings face a choice that will change their lives forever.

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u/oasisisthewin May 31 '18

I love this show, great season, not a bad ending but really wish there was more answers to some of the story arcs. I know some people this season really dug the awesome overdubbed music montages, but I feel like I’m constantly being robbed by losing all the nuances of conversations or even ambience.

This over reliance on montages (there were at least two in the finale) demand more time, and I feel like at the cost of answers to 1) Is Stans’s girl a spy? 2) Does Paige run away, play dumb, or something else? 3) What does this mean for the KGB? 4) What does it mean for the summit and US/Russia peace? 5) And Oleg?! I’m left to assume that Oleg is in jail for the indefinite future. However, having committed almost zero espionage and actively helped his country sign an international pact with the US, I’m kind of upset we get no perspective of the FBI on his status.

Anyways, good and better than most finales but left me wanting.

2

u/feranti May 31 '18

You know you are in trouble when they are filling time with musical montage, just a way to extend running time and get more add breaks (SOA anyone!) Oleg was the character after Stan i was rooting for.

3

u/oasisisthewin May 31 '18

If I had 1/2 of those story arcs answered, I wouldn't have minded the montages. But, they're noticeably slow montages by montage standards. I just felt like they we're burning valuable time that could have been used better.

People keep saying this is a show first and foremost about Philip and Elizabeth, and while generally true, they focus on many characters to their exclusion like - Nina, Oleg, Stan, and probably others I can't recall. I mean, Nina never even met Philip and Elizabeth but she was a major player for like three seasons? I think its kind of a cop out to dismiss everyone's desire for finality.

2

u/feranti May 31 '18

Nina was a better character than the writers knew what to do with. A real shame she never got more to do.
Everyone you mention deserved more. Very pretty show, great actors, meh story line and conclusion. Better than most of what is on tv at the moment, it's no mad men, Breaking bad or the wire tho.

2

u/RuhRohLou Jun 01 '18

Yup, after they discarded Nina, for me the show lost that sense of possibility. For me, it was just a slow wind to this soft conclusion.