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No one who watches The Americans can claim Philip and Elizabeth Jennings — Soviet spies posing as married American suburbanites in the 1980s — are a perfect couple. They have crippling trust issues due to the secretive nature of their work. They routinely have sex with other people as part of their jobs. And they’re not above killing innocent people to maintain their cover.

But just because they’re bad people doesn’t mean they’re a bad couple. If you look beyond all their homicidal cloak and dagger honey trapping, and their frequent lies to their children (who have no idea what their parents do for a living), you’ll see Philip and Elizabeth, “Philizabeth,” possesses many admirable couple qualities. Heck, if Walt and Skyler were this functional during their own suburban criminal activity, Breaking Bad would have ended much differently.

So without endorsing murder, spying, child neglect, and serial infidelity, we submit that Philip and Elizabeth from The Americans are one of the best couples on TV — and they can teach us a lot about marriage. Here are 10 lessons we’ve learned:

1. Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.
Both Elizabeth and Philip frequently have sex with their intelligence assets to pry information from them (Philip has even married one of his sources — Martha, a naive FBI secretary who thinks Philip’s name is “Clark”). Both are fully aware of the other’s extracurricular activities in the service of Mother Russia, but they talk about it only when necessary. In last month’s season premiere, Philip… er, “Clark” spends the night practicing the Kama Sutra with his other wife. After he returns the next morning, Elizabeth simply asks him if he got any usable intel. Philip responds with a simple “no,” and they move on. So the next time you’re tempted to, say, quiz your significant other about her exes, or ask him which one of your friends he’d “Shag, Marry, Kill,” think of Elizabeth and Philip, who know it’s OK to keep some matters on a need-to-know basis. Continue reading 10 Things We Learned About Marriage From ‘The Americans’

“Think of all the military families… it would be perfectly normal for a 16 year-old to say, ‘I’m going to go into service,'” she said.

The Russian spy couple is back.

The Americans star Keri Russell promises that the third installment of the FX period drama, bowing Wednesday, will be just as much about marriage as it will be about turning tricks and kicking ass.

In the previous season, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings were starting to look like an actual married couple. But that sense of normalcy doesn’t last long. A wedge, once again, is driven between the two when they respond differently to the Center wanting to recruit their daughter, Paige. Phillip, less loyal to his homeland, can’t bear to see his daughter enter into their dangerous world, while Elizabeth believes Paige deserves to know the truth about who she is.

Russell says that upcoming episodes explore challenges that any married person can relate to, with more top-secret missions, affairs and, of course, wigs along the way. “For me being a woman that reads films, this is a good f—king job,” Russell said of her complicated female character. “Of the last things I’ve read, you’re a girlfriend. You got two scenes going, ‘Are you OK?'” This is so much better than that.”

Here, Russell explains Elizabeth’s perspective, talks her onscreen sexual relationship with co-star Matthew Rhys, and reveals her favorite cover identity. Continue reading ‘The Americans’ Star Keri Russell on Season 3: Is it Sexist to Not Recruit Paige?