Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) are a suburban couple in Eighties America. They help their children with homework, get ice-cream together, and even bake brownies for new neighbours — they’re just your average, all-American husband and wife — except they’re not. Elizabeth and Philip Jennings are deadly KGB agents who work for the Soviet Union during the Cold War, while leading deep-rooted lives in Washington DC. Oh, and remember the neighbour for whom they baked brownies? He’s Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), an FBI counter-intelligence agent.
The Americans traces the tumultuous life and times of the Jenningses as they are torn between serving their country, and themselves. What makes the series fascinating to watch, is that it’s set in the Eighties. Not only was it a time of intense political intrigue, but also a time when supercomputers, location-tracking bugs and cars that could talk had no potential to exist. The spy games that the couple play involve good-old disguises (wigs included), kidnapping, Morse code, skin-burning chemicals and the occasional sexual favour. A lot about The Americans is reminiscent of Homeland , especially in the ways that the past and the present collide on screen, but The Americans is more dramatic, for it is as much about a war, as it is about marriage, and, at times, family. The Jennings’ marriage was a match that was made in the upper echelons of the Soviet spy directorate, but despite the great masquerade of it all, there are moments of tenderness and love that seep through their secret lives.
The creator of the show, Joe Weisberg, interestingly, is a former CIA agent. A lot of the show’s storyline is based on the stories and experiences he collected during his time there, as well as research. The Americans is excellent television, not only because of its fast, almost frenzied pace, but also because despite the surreal plot, it captures human frailty in a manner so accurate, that it is painful. Keri Russell is extraordinary as Elizabeth Jennings, the spy capable of breaking a man’s ribcage with her bare arms, but still outraged by the fact that her 13-year-old-daughter went underwear shopping without her. Matthew Rhys is brilliant as Phillip Jennings, the soft-hearted agent who is torn between serving his motherland and going against everything he was taught to believe in, and make his blissful false life, real.
What I found most enjoyable was how it almost forces the viewer to root for Elizabeth and Phillip, despite them being the bad guys. The fact that you want two Soviet spies to somehow wrangle themselves out of the dangerous situation they got themselves in and live happily ever after is a triumph on the part of the show. It will even have you believe that spies, on most days, are just like us.
(Season 4 of The Americans is presently being telecast on Star World Premiere HD.)
