The Americans

I am an American and when I was in high school around 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president, and I was taught in school in no uncertain terms that the Soviet Union was our enemy. So here I am 4 decades later, astounded to find myself watching a TV series about Soviet agents impersonating Americans on American soil, and cheering them on to succeed!

This is not because I'm a sympathizer with Russia (quite the opposite, actually) but rather because Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys are so good at portraying their characters, I want to watch them continue what they're doing. I don't want to see them found out, arrested, or killed. That would ruin the fun!

These performances are amazing. They are Soviet agents from Russia, who have to pretend to be a normal American middle class couple in the suburbs. Raising a couple of kids who have no knowledge of their parents' real identity. While they are pretending to be Americans, they also have to assume alternate identities in the course of their spy work.

Meanwhile, as if all that wasn't enough, even though their work requires them to "be American" 100% of the time, they still must remain loyal to their motherland, and not get caught up in American capitalist values or consumerism, even though constantly being surrounded and enticed by it. I can't imagine what kind of mental gymnastics this would take.

Anyways this series is pretty amazing. I've been mostly isolated at home for the past 3 years (as of 2023), watching a lot of streaming video, and "The Americans" stands up there with the best.

I've heard about this show countless times mostly in the US media. I figured it was a very politicized show with the same old message "US = Good, RU = Evil" This is what kept me from giving the series a go. Only in late 2018 I've started watching and to my surprise It's not the case. The show manages to give a fair and near unbiased view about Geo-politics, fractions, countries. espionage, ideologies. Without telling you what to think or how to feel about it. It doesn't demonize any side neither does it glorify the other. For those whom refuse(d) to watch for the same reasons as me, if still curious just give it a try! It's actually a good show

The fifth season's first episode featured the "Americans" digging a hole - a BIG hole. The scene goes on a long, long time. This is pretty much how the whole season feels. The show downshifts a gear or two, the payoff is elusive, and you wonder where it's all going; until, that is, the end finally does come, when it's a shocker. It is all done quite intentionally so as to set up the final season.

The Sixth Season of "The Americans" continues to fire on all cylinders: character development, acting, suspense, photography, writing and spy craft, all are splendid.

The focus is increasingly on Philip and Elizabeth, their relationship and inner development, while the other characters recede somewhat into the background, like subsidiary planets orbiting about a double star. Under extreme pressure to prevent disaster, they commit acts that may cause many viewers actually to come to hate them. in the end, no one gets off unscathed, and everyone is simply striving to stay afloat amidst the wreckage....

Which, in a way, is the point:

On the surface, "The Americans" is one of those "mismatched buddy" shows: a young couple teamed together purely for reasons of expediency. However, it runs much deeper than that. Beyond maintaining the charade of a false identity and masquerading as someone you are not, lies the complexity of their developing relationship: exploring the nature of love when you live with someone who lies for a living; understanding what drives them, the far reaching consequences of their choices, & the rationalization of their acts of violence.

At the heart of "The Americans" is a family infected by the conviction that loyalty to country overshadows family or one's own soul. As viewers, we're asked the tough questions: If the couple wore blue instead of red, would it change anything? Are spies heroes - or pawns? Is patriotism formed by rational choice - or the product of where we're born? At what point is the loss of one's humanity too high a price?

The Americans is one of the best spy shows ever created. There are a million to choose from but The Americans is a true top among the best. It follows to KGB spies (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) posing as Americans in suburban Washington D. C. at the height of the Cold War during the Regan administration. We watch as the pressures of the job and raising their unknowingly American born children out them at risk of being discovered. To make it even worse, their best friend neighbor (Noah Emmerich) is an FBI agent who job is to uncover Soviet spies. I can't recommend this show enough. Just go watch it, but make sure you give yourself a lot of time because you're going to want to binge it as fast as you can. I loved every second of every episode!

I don't want to repeat everything that has been already said about this series.

However, I think Keri Russell's presence in this series is the key to everything. Only her could have this cold outside look hiding a wounded soul that hangs on to what she believes in.

It is not only about the plot, but also the human toll the Cold War claimed in its path.

I think the series is very well rounded in terms of casting and writing. It has a rhythm that keeps the audience on edge.

This is, in my humble opinion, the best of the genre since Alfred Hitchcock gave us Topaz and The Torn Curtain. I give it a 9.