It is illegally earned money. So he can't put it in a savings account. Apparently a lock box in a bank under a false name was either too much trouble or felt too criminal to him or something.

Yeah, probably feels like Shit Arlo Would Do.

Well working off the books in a field where you are not supposed to take outside work is illegal. And doing it on the clock is straight out stealing. (I don't know the law on that last, but ethically it sure looks like stealing to me.) So he's already doing shit Arlo would do.

Yeah, more or less, but I think it would be hard for him to acknowledge that.

Although he seemed to cop to not being in the right in this last episode after he lost both the money and the bartender (who's name I can never remember for some reason).

Did we know her name?

(That means I can't remember her either.)

And - I watched the first episode of The Americans and enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. And what an excuse to pull out the 80s music.

Did we know her name?

Lindsay.

Sumi,

I saw the ep too (with Beau) and up until the last third of the ep, I was planning to watch the 2nd episode. Now, The Americans is dead to me. I might pick it up again marathon style in the summer, but I have no interest in following it week to week.

The acting was pretty compelling in general, but overall I wasn't that interested in premise (these KGB agents who are 20-year veterans trying to exist undetected in the U.S.). Beau made a point, which I agree with, that this show probably should have started when the 2 agents had just landed in the U.S. Then we could be more caught up in the story as they transition to the U.S.

This could have been forgiveable, but when you get to the director/writing choices toward the end of the episode, I was just done. There is a point when the choose "In the Air Tonight" and I just groaned out loud. The use of "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac during scenes was a little odd (I love the song, but I'm not sure the rhythm of the song matched the tone of the scenes), but this perceived mismatch was amplified with the use of Collins' song.

Perhaps it is because I am way north of 30 that I associate "In the air tonight" with particularly dramatic scenes from "Miami Vice" and while I don't think that show has a lifetime claim to the song, I think another 80s song could have worked better. The song choices brought me right the fuck out of the show.

And on top of that, what occurred in the last part of the pilot episode in terms of plot was just ridiculous. It's almost like the first half of the show was written in such a way so that it wasn't really predictable, but the rest of the show made up for it double-time.

"Justified" is so superior to this program it isn't even funny. Not all dramas can compare to it in quality, but there is nothing now that will compel me to come back.

"Justified" is superior to many things actually. Although I'm getting tired of libertarians using my appreciation of the show to claim I want an AR-15 in every pot. Hello? Fiction? McFly?