I'm relieved that the KGB's days of planting incriminating evidence are (allegedly) over. There is only so much "Poor Oleg" tension I can handle.

"We're not all as attractive as you are, Elizabeth" made me laugh out loud. No, we're not, Philip, we're not, indeed. And I like to think that it was Keri Russell even more than "Elizabeth" who gave the smiling, loving, warmly reassuring response: "but you are." Her confidence in Philip's ability to get Deirdre back…

That's a great guess. I could only come up with Liberace and his partner/ex, but HBO has already covered that, so Murphy is unlikely to want to cover old ground. I tried to think of big gay music stars with the sort of fun flamboyance that Murphy is drawn to (like, say, Elton John or Boy George), but none were in a…

I snorted at the irony of Bette Davis railing against Katherine Hepburn for being a snob who ignored her, dismissed her, and basically looked down on her, even though Bette felt they were equals, in her opinion.

Last week, VF had an article on the possible subject matter of Season 3 (a gay feud) and, in it, they quote Ryan Murphy on his meeting Bette Davis weeks before her death. The relevant bit on Bette/Joan:

What a heartbreaking episode. My heart genuinely hurt for Joan Crawford during the Trog scenes, and I literally winced when she put on the mask over her nightgown, leaning against the cave wall in despair. (The mournful accompanying lyrics of "this is the Ennnnd!" were too on the nose for me, but everything else was…

I'm guessing it's a camera lens or filter that adds a blue hue to things in order to subconsciously/visually suggest iciness or extreme cold. But it's just a guess based on similar sorts of blue lighting in scenes in other shows that I've seen, usually done to create the same symbolic suggestion or meaning.

Thank you! I was hoping for precisely such details. You did a super job. How hard was it to find the Russian cars? Or where did you get them?

There's also the fact that she's so much out of stiff, awkward, dorky Stan's league. Lol. Plus, his first encounters with her at the gym didn't sound like the epitome of smoothness and seductiveness. But both those things seem *so* obvious that they add to the double-think scenario, the way spy agencies would wonder…

He's definitely a master of the "You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar" school of thought. He's finessed the honey, Claudia the vinegar of bluntness.

Thank you! Much appreciated! If he ever tweets a response to the question about which countries or specific locations, I hope you'll let us know.

I can't get a read on it either. She seems so obviously a spy that I keep thinking that it must be the biggest red herring ever. Plus, on more than one occasion, this show has totally zigged when I thought it was going to zag.

Maybe Arkady and Martha can have a meet cute over empty supermarket shelves. Later, he shares​ his KGB-provided scotch as she teaches​ him the Kama Sutra. ;)

I miss Arkady!

Interesting. This season as well? I had thought/read that was the case for the quick, passing Moscow scenes in earlier seasons, but, this season, the buildings seemed so legitimate, I really started to wonder.

I thought I saw the same thing, matched by some relief later during their conversation in the field. It contrasted with Philip's stiffened body language and frisson of jealous concern in the earlier episode's bedroom scene when Elizabeth was talking about Gorp Guy.

I agree, he wouldn't have chosen any political party or side, period. As you said, render onto Caesar, the focus on how individuals treat each other, no organised religion, and all that jazz. It's why the presumption that he'd have aligned himself with a political group left my jaw agape. I think it would have done…

That's what I thought. It looks damn real. But I also wondered if The Americans had/has the budget for filming in Moscow as well as in various parts of the US. (Those wheat fields can't be in upstate NY.) And there are a sufficient number of Moscow scenes for it to involve more than just a day or twos stay. Can't be…

I very much thought the same things regarding the points raised in your last paragraph. I also wondered what Pastor Tim would think about conservative Christianity and politics today. I read an article on Slate or the Atlantic on that topic last week, which included a sentence about how some or many conservative…

Does anyone know if they filmed the Moscow scenes against a green drop or in Moscow itself? I've been wondering about S5 non-NYC filming locations but couldn't find any articles on it.