The Americans — the best drama on TV right now

Have you watched The Americans? Somehow this series stayed under my radar in the past 3 years. I guess there are just too many good shows on TV these days, and not just on major networks anymore.

If you haven’t started watching it yet, I’d recommend watching it soon; you’ll love it.

The series follows Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, a couple living in the suburbs of Washington DC, in the early 80s. They’re travel agents and have 2 teenage kids. Their youngest son Henry spends a lot of time with their neighbor Stan; he works at the FBI, and often brings home confiscated bootleg VHS tapes. What better neighbor can a family hope for?

Well, there is that one little detail: Elizabeth and Philip are in fact Russian. They came to the US together years ago, and now pose as a married couple. They lead several operations to turn government officials, steal confidential information, and do just about anything that could help their country win the war.

Within the course of 4 seasons, we learn to know them intimately. We discover their work, their struggles, the lengths they have to go to to keep their real identity a secret. We also see how that double identity and the lies affect their lives as parents, as friends, and as husband and wife.

A Russian spy’s life in the US is quite busy:

• They deal with their daughter finding her way through Church and faith.
• Their FBI neighbor is a family friend.
• They’re masters of disguise; they better be, considering the neighbor mentioned above.
• “The Center”, aka KGB, assign them mission after mission, regardless of their situation as parents or as couple.

The show is even hard to watch at times. Sure, The Americans is very far from the life I live. Yet, like with Breaking Bad, the writers have done a great job at making me feel close to the main characters. I can often relate to their struggles as parents, their suburban life, their friendships, their relationships. In a way, it hits close to home.

All in all, this show is an almost perfect mix of emotion, action, lies, and love. Isn’t this what drama should be? Watch it, and let me know what you think.