Dreamwidth rambling

[frelling_tralk]

Er I hope this doesn't cause any offense, but today I actually unsubscribed from quite a few of the DW accounts that I first added when we were creating them as LJ back-ups. All of those accounts still have mutual access, but I decided that I want to start to try and keep up with my DW flist as well (or "reading list" I guess) now that so many people have left for DW, and at the moment I find that I'm mostly just reading the same entries again that I've already read on LJ, so I've unsubscribed to friends that I'm already in touch with on LJ

For the moment I won't be cross-posting and using my own DW, but I am going to try and keep up with my "subscriptions" over there (is it just me, or is DW awfully impersonal??), and read through it after I've read my flist

Comments

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just because we're used to LJ, but "subscribers" on DW and "followers" on tumblr just don't have the same cosy feel as my LJ flist does :( I prefer the mutual friending system where we can get to know one another properly. I have thought about it being fairly easy to manually cross-post to DW, and maybe I should consider it with so many moving there now, but at the moment I'm really meh about it. I consider myself to be primarily based on LJ, and so I really don't want comments in two different places for the same entry, but I know that if I did start cross-posting I'd most likely get people posting on the DW entry instead. And I really want to keep everything all in one place on LJ for the time-being, so I'm just going to wait and see how big the shift to DW is before I make any decisions on cross-posting I suppose. A fair few people and communities have moved there lately, but most of my flist are still here at the moment, so it's not like LJ is a complete ghost town

And all of my The Americans icons are by iwillnotdance, and I was very happy to find them :D I'm all caught up on the new season now, aside from the very latest episode which I'm hoping to watch tonight

[honeymink]

I know what you mean. Never really got used to the term "followers" on tumblr either. Yet, I kind of got used to the concept because well, it was different enough from LJ – so it didn't feel redundant having both. From my f-list, three or four people have moved to DW, so I guess I'm not feeling it as badly right now as others? But that can still happen I guess. It's true, it's probably that we're used to LJ... I'm still feeling like I need to tinker more with my DW layout to make it look like I want it to. I don't know. If I posted from DW, I'd still get the comments on LJ so I'd have to re-import them again so... yeah. Big hassle all that. I hear you.

Thanks for the link to the community. Once in a while I think about changing my icons... hm. Oh, you must tell me what you think of the episode once you've watched it!

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Will do :)

And well the other thing putting me off moving is that I have a permanent account here with over 200 icons, and lots of extra perks like comment tracking, it would feel like a real downgrade to move to DW and lose all that. I don't know if I would even be able to purchase icons and paid time on DW actually, because apparently they had problems with paypal and can only accept US credit cards?

[honeymink]

Excellent! The Americans and Reign are the only shows I'm seriously watching at the moment. (Though to be fair those past few days I watched a lot of telly since I can't move or do much post surgery.)

I know they don't accept Paypal. I'd purchased a paid account a couple of years ago because only that would allow me to code my own layout. But I'm not sure if I paid with my US or my German credit card anymore to be honest. And yes, I imagine that'd feel like quite the downgrade. I tell myself I don't post enough these days to actually justify a paid account anywhere anymore.

[shapinglight]

I don't know if I would even be able to purchase icons and paid time on DW actually, because apparently they had problems with paypal and can only accept US credit cards?

You can purchase icons and paid time on DW, and though you can't use PayPal, you can use any credit card.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

That's good to know, thanks! An email I got the other day confused me about whether it was just US credit cards that they accepted, because they were talking about it being possible to get other users to buy paid time on your behalf, and that seemed like a bit of a hassle

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

So I'm caught up on the latest episode now, and things are really starting to pick up! I think that they're definitely setting up Phillip to end up defecting soon, he's been questioning their orders for a while now, especially since finding out that they got it wrong about the grain, and now he even has Gabriel warning him about getting his children involved, and telling him how much it's eating him up to remember the innocent people he killed in the service of a ~higher purpose~ And then Elizabeth is letting her emotions get to her more and more now, even when she's trying to be as impersonal on her missions as she can. I can't see her ever betraying 'the motherland' though, so I'm guessing that those two are going to have a big conflict in the final season? Urgh I really want them to have a happy ending somehow, even though I know that they don't deserve it :(

And I'm almost as happy as Phillip and Elizabeth that Paige broke up with Matthew lol, I found that actor really annoying.

[honeymink]

Why don't they deserve it?

Oh, I actually like Danny Flaherty since he was on Skins – to me he was one of the few bright spots there. As for The Americans, not that I don't understand why Paige broke up with him – it's all a bit much. I liked the idea at the end of the last season where Elizabeth speculated that Paige is trying to work Matthew as a target.

For some reason I cannot see Phillip defecting though. He's had plenty of opportunities and reasons over the seasons and never took them. I always figured the only reason he'd get out is if Elizabeth did.

What I'm wondering about is where this thing with Henry is going. He is clearly gifted in an up and coming field what with where technologoy is headed, and I think their next handler, someone younger than Gabriel (someone like Kate back in s2), will realise that Henry is a bigger asset than Paige to the Centre. I just can't even begin to imagine where they'd start with their recruitment.

I wonder if this thing with Oleg is actually going anywhere.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Why don't they deserve it?

All the people that they've killed and the lives they've ruined makes it hard to justify them getting a happy ending imo, this season alone they killed that lab guy so ruthlessly, only to find out afterwards that they were the ones not asking the right questions

And I just found Matthew such a typical teenage boy that he really annoyed me, both him and Pastor Tim always make me want to hit fast-forward :P

I agree that Phillip doesn't want to defect without Elizabeth, and that's what's always held him back, but he's been so miserable with what he's doing for so long that I can see the show giving him a turning-point soon. But you're right that it is hard to see him ever walking away without Elizabeth, so who knows what the writers have planned

I feel like Henry is being set up as a future FBI agent actually, he seems to really hero-worship Stan, and his parents never have any time for him. You're right that he most likely would be a much bigger asset to the Centre than Paige though, she's so upright morally that even telling the smallest lie tears her apart, there's no way that she'll ever make a KBG agent!

[honeymink]

Life has led me to the conclusion that we don't deserve anything. Things just happen or they don't. Your behaviour doesn't figure into it. *shrugs*

I'm thinking back to the beginning of the show where they discussed with each other that they would never let themselves get caught but die first. So it's hard for me to imagine an ending at this point. It's also a question what s6 has in store for us – will it be a continuation timeline-wise or will they do a fast forward to the fall of the iron curtain? I don't read interviews/spoilers so I don't know if the showrunners have ruled that out. In case they haven't. Perhaps that's their chance to slip away.

It's either that or die. Or Elizabeth needs a really harsh wake-up call that makes her question everything. I suppose one thing that makes me doubt that they will defect before 1989 is that Phillip knows the Centre caught up with Irina and executed her when she defected.

Hah, yes that's right Henry was hero-worshipping Stan for a while there, hasn't he. Remember how he had a picture of Sandra in a bikini and Paige found it? *lol* I also agree with your assessment of character – Henry, other than Paige, doesn't have these moral hang-ups and therefore would make a better agent. I don't think he has a strongly developed sense of patriotism either, yet unlike Paige Elizabeth can't expect to bond with him over ideology. So I wonder what a possible incentive might be.

Well for what it's worth, I share your annoyance when it comes to Pastor Tim.

Did you watch the short-lived drama Allegiance last year? I thought it was unfortunate how it was advertised since it didn't have much in common with The Americans except that there was a family spying for the Russians but totally different era and circumstances. Anyway. I digress.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

It's also a question what s6 has in store for us – will it be a continuation timeline-wise or will they do a fast forward to the fall of the iron curtain

I'm really hoping that it does end on the fall of the Soviet Union, I need to see Elizabeth's reaction to that. And also to the fall of the Berlin Wall! It's a pretty big time-jump from the early 80's though, and they never seem in a rush to move the timeline along any faster (hence the problem with the Henry actor starting to outgrow the part when he's only supposed to be like 12/13 in the show!), so I get the feeling that they're probably not planning to end it that far ahead. Maybe it will wrap up a few years before then, with hints of what's coming?

And Elizabeth has been so harshly indoctrinated that I don't see her ever walking away from her mission, that's what makes me think that that's eventually all coming to a head when we see Phillip questioning everything, and talking in EST about how he dreads his job every single morning. I can picture it all blowing up into a really massive confrontation if Phillip ever does get frustrated enough to decide that he really can't do this any more. But at the moment who knows, even with how much he hates what he does, he was still very firm recently on it needing to be him and Elizabeth working together...

And I haven't seen Allegiance, no

[honeymink]

Yes, we are still in 1984 or 1985 right now – so it would be a pretty big time jump.

You never know with TV – on the one hand, good shows want to do something that isn't too expected and Phillip defecting would be just that. On the other hand, good shows don't do anything too outlandish just for the sake of a twist. And I think we can agree that this ia s a good show so I just don't know.

The reason I brought up Allegiance was because it took place in the here and now and it addressed how Katya, the main character, got her children to work for Russian Intelligence. So it came with some interesting twists and turns, especially in light of her own family history during (the fall of the) Soviet Union.