Whenever I’m evangelizing for The Americans (which is often), I say the following: As with other complex shows, you have to start with the first season of FX’s drama about ’80s Soviet spies embedded in suburban Virginia, and watch every episode in order. Even then, you probably won’t get hooked immediately. The show is more violent than what I usually go for, and during an early episode in which a mother and baby were clearly in danger, I declared to my husband that if they were dead by the end of the hour, then The Americans and I were parting ways.
Slight spoiler alert:One of them died and one didn’t. Thus, I persevered, and by the next episode, the show had gotten into my bloodstream. It was so suspenseful and smart, so magnificently detailed without showing off its details, so expertly controlled in its pacing, that I found myself thinking about it while I wasn’t watching. Even though there’s a lot of good TV these days, it had been a while since I’d been truly obsessed.
Another thing I say when evangelizing is that if you’re married, it’s a really fun show to watch with your spouse. This is because it’s about both spycraft and marriage: KGB agents Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are posing as an ordinary American couple, and they’re the parents of a teenage daughter and younger son. After living and working together in America since the ’60s, often while sleeping with their targets or informants in the line of duty, Philip and Elizabeth have only recently fallen in love with each other—which makes their relationship complex in ways both steamy and thought-provoking. Continue reading Curtis Sittenfeld: Here’s why you should be watching The Americans
