FX’s The Americans doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It flies under the radar despite near unanimous praise from critics and its cultivated legion of fans. Now that Justified is over, maybe The Americans will get some more of the spotlight.
Much like Justified, this show thrives on it’s fantastic writing and amazing cast. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys brilliantly portray Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, Russian spies living near Washington D.C. during the Cold War (season 3 ends on March 8, 1983).
The espionage is a fantastic and nuanced genre that’s easy to do poorly. The Americans walks the line with equal parts grace and intensity. Each season builds on what comes before it, starting with the obvious secret agents, phone taps and bugged offices. But now, we’re well into the lives of the Jennings, not just Liz and Phil, but their kids. Their oldest, Paige (Holly Taylor, who’s really grown as an actress with the material given to her this year) has always been smart and a bit of a worry for her parents. She took center stage this year in the “domestic lives of spies” story this season. Turns out that Season 2’s major family arc was just the ramp leading to this.
Despite always watching their backs and doing dangerous missions for their home country, the pressure never got to the sustained level that it had this season. The collateral damage got pretty bad from this set of arduous missions. There was a lot of weight being shouldered and shifted around. Their required seductions and the guilt of killing is visibly wearing on them now (Phil the most…maybe).
There a lot of moving parts to Liz and Phil’s working lives and a lot of it came crashing into their home lives. They stuff so many lies into the deepest part of their brains that I don’t know how they can keep anything stable. Those stress fractures made for some of the best moments though. Liz is often used as a seductress for her roles in a mission, but she’s also tough as nails. One of her best scenes in the entire series came this year with handling a woman who came in to work late at night at the worst possible time. While Phil puts a bug on a mail robot that the CIA uses, Liz deftly talks the woman into overdosing to cover their tracks. It’s an amazing scene that puts Liz into an all new light.
Phil lashes out quite a bit too, he loses his cool far more than he ever has. Between Elizabeth, Paige, Martha and Kimmy, he’s being pulled apart in every way imaginable. Gabriel must be passing along unfavorable news about him to his superiors, it’s a real question on much more he can take.
The last scene was a real game changer, secrets are out and there is no turning back! Season 4 should be the best yet!