The Americans Review: The Good Russians
The Americans is a unique TV Show
that describes in large detail the life's of two soviet sleeper agents in the
US during the 80's Cold War. Elizabeth (Carry Russell) and Philip (Matthew
Rhys) were pared together by the KGB to infiltrate the US and help the KGB keep
taps on the FBI.
It is
fascinating to see how different the two sleepers are. Philip is open minded,
adaptive, knows how to blend in every environment and even thinks about
defecting to the other side (in the first episode) .while Elizabeth is cold,
rough, never compromises, hates everything America stands for and a true
believer in the soviet cause. No matter how impossible the job
Elizabeth's superiors give her and her partner / husband. She
always believes in the soviet propaganda no matter what.
while Philip sees the cracks in the soviet wall but decides to wait, deep
inside eager that Elizabeth will finally see that the soviets are using them
both as expandable pawns, giving them impossible missions to complete.
One of
the interesting things that got me hooked in the Americans was the dynamics
between Philip and Elizabeth. It seemed like they both know everything about
each other and deep inside love each other but they are constantly turn apart
by granny and most of all each other stubbornness. What was more unique was the
sexual freedom both had; Philip and Elizabeth had to engage in sexual
intercourse with various partners (an open relationship) as a part of their
job. Strangely all the sleeping around with bunch of strangers didn't affect
their own relationship.
One of
the negative issues I had with the series was the events which featured the
supporting cast of the Americans. For example the angle with Stan Beeman (Noah
Emmerich) and Nina (Annet Mahendru) was very predictable and consumed too much
screen time. The fact that Noah Emmerich lacked basic acting skills didn’t help. His acting through the first season of the Americans wasn’t convincible. On the
other hand Annet gave us an excellent performance (the girl speaks fluent Russian)
and I’m not surprised that Annet Mahendru was signed as The Americans cast
regular for season 2. The thing with Clark (Philip) and Martha Hanson (Alison
Wright) was boring as well. The fact that for some reason Martha repulsed me
ruined those scenes completely.
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| The Americans Season 1 poster |
Granny’s
(Claudia) angle throughout the entire season was very vague we couldn’t see her
agenda clearly. Only towards the end (in the last episode) creators of the show
revealed her true colors. The problem was that she was so mysterious the entire
season and in the last episode she revealed all of her cards. It just looked
rushed and misplaced.
photo credit: Mom's Tunics via photopin cc
Sasha is the founder and editor of Cool Reviews Rule. He is very passionate about Movies, TV Shows and some Books. His favorite genres are: Action, Fantasy, History, Horror, Sci-fi and Adventure.
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Martha repulses me too. I hope they kill her off quickly next season. It's not even so much the actress's looks, but the character's awful personality and the stupid expressions she makes while going gaga over "Clark." I wish they would take her off the screen almost completely and give more time to the interesting characters people actually care about like Elizabeth and Philip.
ReplyDeleteglad that im not the only one that noticed that
ReplyDeleteYeah, and I worry that because she's now a regular we'll have to see her more. I can tolerate the amount they showed her last season, for the most part, but if episodes are going to start being more heavily about Martha and her dimwitted ways, I worry it will ruin the show. I want to see Elizabeth and Philip, Nina, Arkady, Stan, Sandra, Philip and Elizabeth's family and Paige getting suspicious. I know they really had fools like Martha who gave the KGB information, but there's a reason I picked a smart show to watch like 'The Americans' instead of Jerry Springer. I want to watch smart characters the majority of the time, not dumb ones. Anyway long winded way to say I totally agree!
ReplyDeleteif she is a regular, she will start taking even more screen time. we cant do nothing about that, unless she will grow a brain and start thinking for herself to discover she is being played. maybe than her scenes will be tolerable.
ReplyDelete["The fact that for some reason Martha repulsed me ruined those scenes completely."]
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because she's loud about expressing sexual pleasure? Why is that disgusting? Would it help if she was a whore? Men can express their sexuality anyway they can, but women can't?
This sexist double standard really disgusts me, and not this belief that Martha is disgusting because she's loud in bed.
I don't really care for the fact that Martha is loud during the "act".
ReplyDeleteWhat's being a whore got to do with anything?
The problem with Martha is her characters blatant stupidity, Martha is being played the entire season. Militant feminists like you @rosie1843 shouldn't relate to females like Martha. Women like Martha shame the entire female gender. instead of defending Martha you should go against her. If you choose to protect women like her than i pity you like i pity her.