Spoiler alert: To Russia, without love
By ANIRUDDHA GUHA
Is The Americans the best drama on TV currently? Yes.
Did last week's season three premiere live up to the first two seasons' brilliance? Hell, yes. If you haven't got around to watching the Joe Weisbergcreated spy drama set against the turbulent Cold War period in the 1980s, you are missing out on some quality television.
Show creator Weisberg was a CIA operative himself, so the workings of both, the American counterintelligence agencies and their Russian counterparts, are pretty authentically recreated, and the technology of the time duly inculcated in the narrative. Weisberg and his team of writers never takes moral sides the KGB isn't the villain, nor is the FBI. They are just two factions trying to outdo each other.
The show's biggest triumph, however, is its ability to deftly depict the complexities and emotional conflicts of a married couple. Russell is the patriot a sort of Russian Carrie-fromHomeland who puts the “cause“ ahead of everything else, while Rhys is the practical one, torn between loyalty to his country of birth and a growing affinity for the American life.Thrown in the mix is Noah Emmerich, who plays the Jennings' new neighbour and an FBI officer. All three actors pack in strong performances, and the marvellous Margo Martindale pitches in with a guest role.
The first two seasons give you 26 pulsating, tightly-constructed episodes, full of emotional upheavals, thrilling sequences and fascinating character interplay. Season three seems to be continuing in the same vein.Rahul Khanna, who featured in a small role as an ISI operative last year, gets a bigger part in the ongoing season. Also introduced is Frank Langella, which means things should only get better from here on.
A suitable ally of the show is the British six-part thriller, The Game, about the MI5 foiling Russian ploys in the 1970s.Unlike The Americans, which painstakingly builds character motivations and relationships over season-long arcs (and hence, ensures greater pay-offs), The Game is a straightforward spy thriller and, much like a James Bond movie or a pageturner, best enjoyed at one go.
The show opens in 1971 Poland, where British spy Joe Lambe is arrested and his Russian lover shot at. A year later, Joe is back in London after some backroom dealings, suspiciously involving his boss and MI5 head Daddy (Brian Cox).The action kicks off when Soviet agent Arkady decides to defect and leak information about Operation Glass, a deadly mission undertaken by the Russians. A weird assortment of characters are introduced: the insecure Bobby Waterhouse, the chirpy Alan Montag, his wife and field agent Sarah, Daddy's secretary Wendy, and the outsider Jim Fenchurch, all of who work with Joe and Daddy to subvert the mission.
Several strands Joe's painful back-story, the possibility of a mole in the MI5 ranks, murder, double-crossing agents and Operation Glass unravel in a neatly-executed first episode, with show creator Toby Whithouse revealing his cards at the very onset. From then on, The Game gives you little room to breathe thanks to some witty writing, while 1970s London provides a marvellous Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-ish backdrop to proceedings.
The Game is as relentless as The Americans is restrained, but both deliver engrossing and entertaining Cold War tales.
Is The Americans the best drama on TV currently? Yes.
Did last week's season three premiere live up to the first two seasons' brilliance? Hell, yes. If you haven't got around to watching the Joe Weisbergcreated spy drama set against the turbulent Cold War period in the 1980s, you are missing out on some quality television.
The Americans, which first aired in 2013, is about two Russian spies living, and working covert operations, in the US.Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) seem like ordinary suburban Americans, working as travel agents and rearing two US-born kids. In reality, though, they are undercover KGB recruits, passing on valuable intel to Russia and eliminating opposition.
Show creator Weisberg was a CIA operative himself, so the workings of both, the American counterintelligence agencies and their Russian counterparts, are pretty authentically recreated, and the technology of the time duly inculcated in the narrative. Weisberg and his team of writers never takes moral sides the KGB isn't the villain, nor is the FBI. They are just two factions trying to outdo each other.
The show's biggest triumph, however, is its ability to deftly depict the complexities and emotional conflicts of a married couple. Russell is the patriot a sort of Russian Carrie-fromHomeland who puts the “cause“ ahead of everything else, while Rhys is the practical one, torn between loyalty to his country of birth and a growing affinity for the American life.Thrown in the mix is Noah Emmerich, who plays the Jennings' new neighbour and an FBI officer. All three actors pack in strong performances, and the marvellous Margo Martindale pitches in with a guest role.
The first two seasons give you 26 pulsating, tightly-constructed episodes, full of emotional upheavals, thrilling sequences and fascinating character interplay. Season three seems to be continuing in the same vein.Rahul Khanna, who featured in a small role as an ISI operative last year, gets a bigger part in the ongoing season. Also introduced is Frank Langella, which means things should only get better from here on.
A suitable ally of the show is the British six-part thriller, The Game, about the MI5 foiling Russian ploys in the 1970s.Unlike The Americans, which painstakingly builds character motivations and relationships over season-long arcs (and hence, ensures greater pay-offs), The Game is a straightforward spy thriller and, much like a James Bond movie or a pageturner, best enjoyed at one go.
The show opens in 1971 Poland, where British spy Joe Lambe is arrested and his Russian lover shot at. A year later, Joe is back in London after some backroom dealings, suspiciously involving his boss and MI5 head Daddy (Brian Cox).The action kicks off when Soviet agent Arkady decides to defect and leak information about Operation Glass, a deadly mission undertaken by the Russians. A weird assortment of characters are introduced: the insecure Bobby Waterhouse, the chirpy Alan Montag, his wife and field agent Sarah, Daddy's secretary Wendy, and the outsider Jim Fenchurch, all of who work with Joe and Daddy to subvert the mission.
Several strands Joe's painful back-story, the possibility of a mole in the MI5 ranks, murder, double-crossing agents and Operation Glass unravel in a neatly-executed first episode, with show creator Toby Whithouse revealing his cards at the very onset. From then on, The Game gives you little room to breathe thanks to some witty writing, while 1970s London provides a marvellous Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-ish backdrop to proceedings.
The Game is as relentless as The Americans is restrained, but both deliver engrossing and entertaining Cold War tales.
