So obviously I'm way late to this party, but I just got caught up on the first season of The Americans, and wow do we have a winner. This clever spy thriller has an amazing premise. The leads are Soviet Spies. And they're sympathetic. Even more surprising is the reveal that this show isn't really a spy thriller at all but rather a meditation on marriage, and a will they/won't they type love story between our two leads, despite the fact that they're already married. Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings, or actually Mishca and Nadezhda, are an interesting couple that really intrigued me and kept me coming back all season long to see what would happen with them even when the spy thriller parts of the show fell short for me. I highly recommend everyone check this series out.
The best part of The Americans is the focus on Marriage and fidelity. Phillip and Elizabeth have been married for nearly twenty years at the start of the series, and yet both are engaged in relationships outside of their marriage for work purposes. Their views on their marriage and their affairs are very different though. Phillip sees his marriage as real, and his relationship with Martha as purely work required which makes his marriage to her near the end of the season sort of darkly ironic. Elizabeth on the other hand has always seen her marriage to Phillip as simply part of her cover, and considers her true love to be her recruit Gregory. This changes during the pilot when she sees Phillip truly loves her and she dares to explore the possibility that she could love him as well. The other major meditation on marriage and fidelity comes from Agent Beeman whose marriage with his wife is strained by his work, and he later turns to having an affair with his informant. It's ugly and messy, and yet it feels real. All these people are dealing with their marriage in a context of having a very complicated and dangerous occupation, but in a way the infidelity isn't really a result of their occupations, it's more a result of the couples being old and tired and wanting some change.
The Pilot is the best episode of the season, which isn't to say the rest of the season disappointed, but the Pilot hooked me and kept me hook. The reason it was so good was because it set up this intriguing reversal of our typical Soviet/American rivalry, introduced our characters, and also introduced the major changes that you need to start a series. Both Stan moving in next door to the Jennings' house, and Elizabeth getting an inciting incident to reexamine what her relationship with Phillip means to her.
If there's a weakness to the first season, it's the season finale "The Colonel" backing off from doing anything crazy. I'm not complaining, since the episode itself was very good, tense with a lot of clever reversals that kept me thinking something major would change, but in the end, no one died and no one was caught. That was probably a good thing considering I still think the current show's formula has plenty of room to breathe, but coming off of Breaking Bad where every season ended in such an explosive way, it was sort of a let down. The big thing the finale did give us was Elizabeth finally letting Phillip back in, which I hope sticks. Their relationship troubles kept me intrigued this season, but the constant shifts sort of got old, and I want season two to explore building on their relationship rather than the will they/won't they type drama.
On of the great things about this series, was that it managed to get us to cheer for the Soviets. The Jennings are a sympathetic couple, and even though the Soviets as a whole are still very shadowy and sinister, the way they misinterpret the U.S. and our rhetoric is also somewhat quaint and charming. They're outmatched and watching them deal with real historical events such as the Star Wars project, and actually believe Reagan's far fetched schemes shows just how little the Soviets understand the U.S. and why they really have no chance against us.
So what do I expect to see in Season Two of The Americans?
1. Elizabeth and Phillip will face new relationship issues, but will face them together.
2. Elizabeth will continue to turn against her Soviet masters.
3. Phillip will have to find a way to end his relationship with Martha.
4. The kids will close in on their parents' secret.
5. Nina's role as triple agent will be discovered.
6. Claudia will end up being caught by the FBI.
7. Elizabeth and Phillip will seriously consider turning on the KGB.
8. Elizabeth will sleep with at least three men that aren't Phillip.
9. Stan's wife will leave him.
10. Paige will get a major storyline in season two.
11. Agent Gaad will discover the bug in his office.
12. One episode will legitimately shock me with a twist this season.
13. This season won't back off changing the formula for Season Three.
So there you go, I can't wait for Season Two of The Americans.
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