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(Cold) War: What is it good for? ‘The Americans’ Season 5 questions everything.

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7 years ago

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We’re one episode away from Season 5 finale of The Americans, FX’s critically acclaimed drama about a family of deep cover Russian spies living in Virginia during the height of the Cold War. And from there, we’re only one season away from the show wrapping up for good, an ending that producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have supposedly had in mind since starting the show in 2013. The fact that they’ve been guiding the show’s twisty narrative toward a set resolution for five years of betrayals, character deaths and spy craft that would make even John le Carré ‘s head spin is impressive, though I can’t imagine that there’s anything like closure or contentment in the 11 episodes to come. The Americans‘ take on historical drama has always been too sober and clear-eyed to offer any of its main players an easy out or peaceful ride into the sunset. And this season, arguably one of the its best, has set up the show’s multiple story lines to meet varying degrees of conflict, resistance, and potentially catastrophic failure.

Over and over again The Americans has asked what cause is worth devoting your life to, killing for, sacrificing your family’s happiness for? Is it country? Wealth? Religion? Season 5 has been about the toppling of those idols, how doubt and disillusionment can lead to a loss of faith. For Phil and Elizabeth, both lifelong loyal soldiers for the Soviet cause, it’s gotten harder to pretend like the things they’re asked to do for their country are justifiable. For their teenage daughter, Paige, her belief that religion would save her is being replaced by her new knowledge about her family’s identity and her understanding of how that makes them strong and noble. But even that faith is being built on the lies they tell her, the same lies they were told to be recruited. And so ultimately there is no one to trust, nothing to believe in. The imperfect authorities and institutions at the head of both sides of the Cold War are laid bare by the end of this season, as the show exposes both the crumbling and corrupt Soviet bureaucracy and the vapid materialism consuming the United States. Against that backdrop we see Phil, Elizabeth and everyone around them struggle to make choices about who to be and how to move forward in a world with so little certainty.

Except for Henry. Henry’s gonna be alright I think.

These days, when we throw around the word “dark” about a show or movie, we’re usually talking about a propensity for some really gruesome violence, an anti-hero with a particular edge, and/or an impressively high body count. And The Americans certainly has its share of “holy hell – are they really going to do that” moments – Phil and Elizabeth, our Soviet spy couple extraordinaire – take out plenty of people (enemies and bystanders) in the course of their “work,” not to mention that their collection of bad wigs is truly trauma inducing. But The Americans is dark in another way too, a way that’s fundamental to the show’s perspective on the world. It’s the idea that all of us, Soviet peasants standing in line for flour, middle class American kids playing video games after schools, spies and FBI agents covertly plotting each other’s deaths as they wave hello from neighboring houses in the suburbs – is lost and alone in this postmodern world, and that nothing can save us from that. It’s an existential horror that makes the thought of seeing another head bashed in pale in comparison.

The final episode of Season 5 of The Americans air this Tuesday, May 30th on FX

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Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

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13 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

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Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

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15 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

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16 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

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