Funny, those scenes didn't really bother me. Maybe I rationalized them as incorporating some of the fuzziness and exaggeration/melodrama of memory, rather than being "true" depictions. I don't know if that was the intended effect, though.

I stand corrected, thanks.

Thanks for that. That was my basic assumption (since Russian is hugely more important to the Americans than French was to Mad Men), but it's good to have some confirmation.

Yeah, I also know some real-life "Megans" (ma mère, par exemple) and there are several ways for them to get there. Mainly: a bilingual home environment, going to school in the language other than the one spoken at home, and/or living in a neighbourhood where most people speak the language other than the home language.

Ce sont mes propres critiques, asshole.

A few words here and there maybe, but carrying on entire conversations as if the lone anglo in the room isn't there? Not in my experience — which is quite real, thank you very much.

I know that kind of deliberate rudeness is shown several times, but I had a specific scene in mind, noticed during the marathon, where IMO they are not doing that, they're simply being casually ill-mannered without good dramatic/narrative reason.

Ruin the entire series? Oh, hell no. I wouldn't even say it ruined any entire episodes. A disappointing instance of miscasting, IMO the only real blemish on a great work, but not enough to ruin the whole thing.

I didn't have nearly as much of a problem with the accent she used when speaking English. That was obviously affected (by definition), but not too far over-the-top and plausible enough. On the other hand, the way she spoke French sounded entirely inauthentic (from accent to delivery), no matter where the character was…

And I understand that. I love The Americans, and if they've taken dumbass shortcuts with their handling of Russian, it doesn't really affect me. But I would still be at least a little disappointed if I found out they did, because it would represent a slippage of standards for an otherwise great show. (I have no idea…

Superficially, yes. You don't think it's a problem if an actor's piss-poor grasp of a language completely shreds some viewers' suspension of disbelief? In what is widely considered one of the, perhaps THE, finest television programs of all time, acclaimed for its attention to detail and authenticity?

In some scenes, absolutely (the Jaguar dinner comes to mind). In others, it seems like they're simply reverting to their native language, engaging in very mundane talk, as they would if they were alone.

She's been to the beach.

It is for me, because every time Marie spoke French it pissed me off and took me out of the story. Sure, she's a fairly minor character but important enough for that to count as a blemish.

I wouldn't say it's "truer", it's just a regional variant. And educated people don't speak some relict dialect, they speak something very, very close to standard French with a bit of a country-bumpkin accent and a smattering of specifically Canadian words, expressions and grammatical forms. It's a bit like American…

The tone-deaf casting of Ormond led to a cascading series of issues with the whole Calvet family. And her French plain sucks, no matter which side of the Atlantic she's supposed to be from.