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Let's go back to the Reagan era. Imagine The Soviet Union starts training young people from an early age to only speak English, so that it becomes flawless. They are trained in technology, fighting skills, weapons, and other clandestine skills. Then they are put together as a couple and placed in America with new perfect identities. This is the premise of The Americans. Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) are travel agents in the Ronald Reagan America. They have a nice home in suburban Washington D.C. and even have two children, Paige and Henry (Holly Taylor and Keidrich Sellati). But they have a dark secret. They are Russian spies.
To add to the interesting storyline, an FBI agent in Counter-Intelligence moves in across the street. He has a wife and a son that Paige seems to sometimes be interested in. Henry definitely likes hanging out in Stan Beeman's home. Stan, played by Noah Emerich, is the said FBI agent. After Stan's wife leaves him, he allows Henry to sort of fill in as a surrogate son until Stan's son comes back to stay. Also in the storyline Stan gets romantically involved with a Russian KGB woman Nina (Annet Mahendru). This leads to them both compromising themselves.
Also they are asked to recruit Paige, so that she can someday be hired by the FBI or CIA. That is turning into an interesting process.
Stan Beeman's boss at the FBI is played fabulously by Richard Thomas. I feel for the position he, Agent Frank Gaad, was always put in by the inept Agent Stan Beeman.
There are many great additions to the cast here. The Russians: Claudia (Margo Martindale), Gabriel (Frank Langella), Arkady Zotov (Lev Gorn), and Oleg Burou (Costa Ronin).
This is a fascinating story and a great show. When President Reagan was shot and Alexander Haig announced "I'm in charge here" to the Russians it meant this had turned into a military coup. Along the way Phillip turns an FBI secretary (Allison Wright) and under his false identity, of Clark Westerfield, married her. That is the extent to which they will go to gain surveillance and information.
I have seen four seasons. A fifth will premier very soon. I am very much looking forward to it. If you have amazon prime you can review the whole show. I am not certain about Hulu. But see this. Even if you have to rent it season by season from you local video store. It's worth it.
Grade: A
