The Americans Season 3 Episode 1 Review: “EST Men”
Most characters on FX’s The Americans have had to ask themselves “How far am I willing to go?” The context has been different depending on the character, but that question is at the heart of “EST Men,”...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 2 Review: “Baggage”
Among all the cold opens The Americans has done, the sequence for “Baggage” stands out as one of the series’ best. Three different short scenes all contribute hugely to establishing the episode and...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 3 Review: “Open House”
When the modernist poet Ezra Pound began to promote the mantra “make it new,” the idea was to innovate in the face of traditionalism. Pound took inspiration from classic Japanese art in general and...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 4 Review: “Dimebag”
Though manipulation has been a key component of The Americans since the series began, characters outside of the KGB and FBI are beginning to learn and become more aware of when manipulation is...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 5 Review: “Salang Pass”
As Philip gets sucked into some of the more murky aspects of his job as an undercover agent, Gabriel points out the obvious-but-difficult truth when struggling with personal morality: “You have a...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 6 Review: “Born Again”
After tiptoeing around what exactly must be done with Paige, “Born Again” forces The Americans to expedite her integration process. Nothing that Elizabeth says to her daughter on that bench at the end...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 7 Review: “Walter Taffet”
Part of the allure of doing a period piece is encapsulating a time and bringing it to life for a new generation. Historical fiction is a genre that flourishes because of that. People like being...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 8 Review: “Divestment”
Among the many challenges that most of the characters in The Americans face, pressure is chief among them. Even though Philip and Elizabeth are respected agents in charge of operations, those...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 9 Review: “Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric...
Two sequences in “Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?” (a title adapted from the Philip K. Dick novel that was, in turn, adapted into the film Blade Runner) are graphically memorable for very...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 10 Review: “Stingers”
There are plenty of long-term investments The Americans has made with its characters, and the series has been careful to cash in on them sparingly. Two episodes ago, Martha found out that Clark had...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 11 Review: “One Day in the Life of Anton...
When we think and talk about our favorite TV series, some of the most common reasons we give for being invested in a show are that the story is good and the characters are interesting. But what makes...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 12 Review: “I Am Abassin Zadran”
A relatively quiet hour before a hotly-anticipated finale that has many important storylines to address, “I Am Abassin Zadran” is mainly an exercise for The Americans in examining the prolonged effects...
View ArticleThe Americans Season 3 Episode 13 Review: “March 8, 1983”
On first consideration, “March 8, 1983” can feel like an underwhelming season finale for The Americans. Here is a series that has made a living off high-adrenaline climaxes following carefully-plotted...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 1 Review: “Antipasto”
Ever the eloquent performer for his own implied audience, Hannibal Lecter tells newcomer Anthony Dimmond (Tom Wisdom) that “one can appreciate another’s words without dissecting them…though, on...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 2 Review: “Primavera”
When The Beach Boys came out with Pet Sounds in May of 1966, it was largely in response to the genius of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul—that bird’s first major step into its more progressive, less commercial...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 3 Review: “Secondo”
In the gloom of Lithuania, Will Graham and Chiyoh come to agree on at least one thing: “All sorrows can be borne if you put them in a story.” Fiction as a coping mechanism is not something unfamiliar...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 4 Review: “Aperitivo”
Memory and trauma are inextricably linked. In the time following a traumatic event, memory plays a massive role in determining how someone deals with that trauma—using memory, for instance, actively in...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 5 Review: “Contorno”
As Season 3 of Hannibal progresses, Dr. Lecter continues to reveal bits of information about his past to Bedelia and to the audience. He used to keep snails in his garden for the firefly larvae to eat,...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 6 Review: “Dolce”
If these reviews have made semi-consistent references to “Mizumono,” it’s because that episode of Hannibal—the Season 2 finale—had such a tremendous impact not only on the series as a whole, but on...
View ArticleHannibal Season 3 Episode 7 Review: “Digestivo”
Though the events of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal have only taken place across 33 episodes, we have known this Will Graham since April 4th, 2013. In that span, the incredible change he has undergone has...
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