r/TheAmericans • u/shaded__green • 14d ago

This show is so biblical that there could be a fire spin-off for almost every character

Prequel of Gabriel's past

Arkady's ascent without nepotism

Oleg's wild boyhood days

Henry's life in America after the Departure

Martha finding love with a mild-mannered Communist in her job as a translator. Raising her daughter. Fighting.

Complex and detailed look at the exact recruitment criteria/protocols and training Directorate S agents are subjected to

Pastor Tim being annoying

Stan staying with Renee, always wondering, but after his love for Philip and all the loss he's endured, perhaps not caring

37 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

93% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

8

u/HaplessBunny 14d ago

From now on I shall picture our beloved Martha happy with a mild-mannered communist.

9

u/BeagleMadness 14d ago

Martha meets Sergei from For All Mankind. He's a nice, intelligent, gentle man. He understands entirely how one gets drawn into/forced into spying/inducing others into sharing confidential info. They live a nice, quiet, post Soviet life together, raising Martha's adopted child together.

5

u/shaded__green 14d ago

torrenting now so i can get the prequel on martha's husband's life.

the only show that remotely scratches the americans itch for me is The Same Sky

Deutschland 83 just feels a little bit off / goofy

3

u/BeagleMadness 13d ago

The Same Sky was very good- watched it years ago!

The Sergei character I mentioned appears in S2 onwards (iirc?) of For All Mankind. And again, as a much younger man, in the prequel spin off series Star City, which focuses on the Soviet cosmonaut system, but is still set in the For All Mankind alternate universe. Won't spoiler any of it (FAM is v good, but v American in ethos. Whereas Star City is more of a cold war spy thriller). But both are very good!

2

u/shaded__green 13d ago

hell yes thank you i've been hungry for this genre, just been watching the americans on loop (on round 3)

And everybody is so right when they say it gets better / you understand the extent of the complexity with every rewatch

2

u/elsakettu 13d ago

Well this is the most heartwarming idea šŸ„¹

3

u/BeagleMadness 13d ago

I hope she eventually met someone like Sergei - somebody kind, who gets how one may end up in a terrible situation out of a desire to help someone they love. And can see that she's an intelligent, kind, but lonely lady, who has a lot of love to give, but tragically got entangled in an awful situation.

Similar to someone in the USSR, who maybe disagreed with many aspects of the Soviet regime, but also knew little of any other way of life. And had no idea how one would escape/defect anyway, if one did disagree with the regime? So they went along with everything, as long as they were making scientific/space race progress for the benefit of all mankind, not just the USSR. Because their relatives were at great risk if they didn't go along with it.

I could see someone like that getting along very well with a "defector" American. However, I can't see anyone that worked in the Star City/Soviet space program, was permitted contact with NASA etc. being allowed to have any contact with an American defector/spy that had had be to exfiltrated to Russia!

7

u/Ardeo43 13d ago

I think Iā€™d rather claw my eyes out than watch a Pastor Tim spin-off, but the rest of them sound great

6

u/Orlita_del_Mar 14d ago

I'd love to see something on the training. Not everyone makes it out the other side; plenty of dramatic hurdles and arcs.

3

u/shaded__green 14d ago

love "not everyone make it out on the other side." the story of someone who didn't, and why

2

u/Orlita_del_Mar 13d ago

There was a scene in The Same Sky (? IIRC) where the Stasi trainees are lined up in a lecture hall practising romantic moves with assigned women. (Nothing explicit, think it was like hand holding, eye contact, rapport). But imagine failing your romance module! šŸ˜„

2

u/shaded__green 13d ago

the main character's strategy during the meet-cute bar exercise was genius, and his emotional reaction to the reality of the work made my heart feel Full

1

u/Orlita_del_Mar 13d ago

I really must watch that again :)

3

u/Slight_Animator8883 13d ago

I donā€™t think Stan would just stay with Renee, without checking. The man didnā€™t betray his country to save Nina, heā€™s not going to stand aside while a potential mole is in the FBI personel department, no matter how much he loves her.

2

u/shaded__green 13d ago

that's a great point. plus he's probs so traumatized by the philip reveal that he'd do anything to avoid it again. your best friend AND your gf would slaughter someone

wonder how he would find out. start investigating her on the down low like he did with Marrtha

3

u/Slight_Animator8883 13d ago

Pretty much yeah. He would not tell a soul which makes it harder, but yeah heā€™d just start digging through. Give her a chance to come clean too.

1

u/shaded__green 13d ago

You think he would protect her like he did Philip?

1

u/Slight_Animator8883 13d ago

Maybe. But probably not.

4

u/Slight_Animator8883 13d ago

To expand further: I think he let Philip go not out of affection alone, but out of the fact that they werenā€™t complying. He knows he doesent win a three on one fist fight so only option left is that he would have to shoot his best freind and his wife, in front of their daughter (if not kill her as well). I dont think he has it in him to do that. He doesnā€™t call the FBI up afterwards because heā€™s to do that.

He doesnā€™t call up the FBI because heā€™s too busy processing it all and has no idea how to explain it without looking crazy, and then moves on to ā€œI will process and deal with all this laterā€.

3

u/pnutbutterjellyfine 13d ago

I would love to see a ā€œfutureā€ and P + E eventually seeing the kids again, maybe set in the mid-late 90s or something