S1 E11 "Covert War" | The Illegals: The Americans Rewatch Podcast

But let's get right into it.

We talk about the context of the history of when this aired and also just a little bit of the creative people who put the episode together.

And I thought that they did a great job.

And it seemed very obvious to me when I was watching it.

And then I went back and looked and I was like, I wonder if a woman directed this.

And they did.

Nicole Castle, I hope I'm saying her last name correctly.

Nicole Castle directed this.

She's an American filmmaker.

She made her film debut with the drama film The Woodsman.

She has directed episodes of Cold Case on CBS, The Closer, The Killing, Vinyl on HBO, and of course, The Americans.

And then it was written by Joshua Brand, who we've seen many times, has contributed to the show.

And was also the creator of St.

Elsewhere and Northern Exposure.

And it was also written by Melissa James Gibson.

So there is a woman writer on this.

She is a Canadian-born playwright.

She is based in New York.

She graduated from Columbia University.

And I added this just because Yale School of Drama is so good.

She has an MFA in playwriting from Yale University.

And she was a writer of this episode with Joshua Brand, and also she's written episodes of House of Cards, which is like a show I forgot about because Kevin Spacey's terrible.

So in its original American broadcast, Covert War was seen by an estimated 1.81 million household viewers.

And it was generally received.

It was received generally with positive reviews from critics.

But let's get right into it.

We talk about the context of the history of when this aired and also just a little bit of the creative people who put the episode together.

And I thought that they did a great job.

And it seemed very obvious to me when I was watching it.

And then I went back and looked and I was like, I wonder if a woman directed this.

And they did.

Nicole Castle, I hope I'm saying her last name correctly.

Nicole Castle directed this.

She's an American filmmaker.

She made her film debut with the drama film The Woodsman.

She has directed episodes of Cold Case on CBS, The Closer, The Killing, Vinyl on HBO, and of course, The Americans.

And then it was written by Joshua Brand, who we've seen many times, has contributed to the show.

And was also the creator of St.

Elsewhere and Northern Exposure.

And it was also written by Melissa James Gibson.

So there is a woman writer on this.

She is a Canadian-born playwright.

She is based in New York.

She graduated from Columbia University.

And I added this just because Yale School of Drama is so good.

She has an MFA in playwriting from Yale University.

And she was a writer of this episode with Joshua Brand, and also she's written episodes of House of Cards, which is like a show I forgot about because Kevin Spacey's terrible.

So in its original American broadcast, Covert War was seen by an estimated 1.81 million household viewers.

And it was generally received.

It was received generally with positive reviews from critics.