FX is a
channel that I have gained more respect for over the recent years. The shows it has are usually as well thought
out as any on premium television and it has simply become a network known for
trusting showrunners to do their thing and just create really good TV. Such was the case with the show Louie, through which the network lays
claim to the guy many agree is America’s funniest of the moment, Louis CK. They have for a long time had the cult
favorite It’s Always Sunny in
Philadelphia and even shows which I’ve seen almost none of, such as Justified, but from everything I have
heard and seen of them are also really good.
But my favorite at this point has to be The Americans.
The
title was the first thing that appealed to me.
It summons a jingoistic part of me, which, as I started watching, was
quickly leveraged me to root for the main couple, who feel as strong of
feelings for their country as I and a large chunk of us felt, say, just after
9/11. And while the commercials for the
show pressed onto your cerebral cortex with visual stimulation and even the
opening credits built a fantastic fast-paced montage of Soviet and American
images juxtaposed, the scenery in the show (save the people) seemed
purposefully dull. That also juxtaposed
nicely with how fine-tuned and fast-paced the plot and character development
became.
The
first season was exceedingly tight, and bore itself like a show already hitting
its prime. They weren’t afraid to
dispatch or scale back the roles of certain characters. And everything about the backstabbing,
camaraderie and intrigue made me want to have participated in an era that I
only lived during about four years of.[i] There is a good amount of action and
suspense, as well as misunderstandings and screw-ups that add to the authenticity
of the show. Some of the most dastardly
things these people do aren’t even physically violent. Philip (the husband), has his alter-ego Clark
marry the secretary at his neighbor’s
FBI division, who he has convinced he’s an Internal Affairs investigator, so
that he can continue to use her as his informant.
What
strikes me about it too, that brings special appeal to me, is the magnitude of
how serial it is. So much so, that I
can’t really tell you what has happened episode to episode, but more just over
the course of one season of another. As
I’m starting to figure out some of the beats of shows, I start to see where
they head sometimes. Since the end of
last season, Philip and Elizabeth’s oldest, Paige, has started to stop trusting
her parents. Earlier this season, it led
to a fantasticly awkward encounter in her parents’ bedroom at night. But as a parallel of their relationship with
her, the couple has had to deal with the aftermath of a massacre which left
their best friends’ oldest an orphan.
This all seems to be pointing to a watershed moment where Paige either
learns the truth or is told it. And
while the show has in no way been predictable, this event would actually contradict
one of the central tenants of the show.
But I also think it would strengthen the Jennings’ as a family and the
Philip and Elizabeth’s identity as both a couple and operating partners.
The season finale a couple weeks
ago also did not disappoint. At the risk
of spoiling too much, I’ll just say that this show has an uncanny ability to bring
everything full circle, both in respect to themes addressed throughout the
season as well as the collision courses of certain characters. There are very
few wasted scenes or characters, and while there is no giant cliff-hanger
ending, it’s clear we are in for so much more in coming seasons.
What appeals to me in this tv show
as much as anything, is what it really gives me of the 80’s. Since I mostly see that decade from the
perspective of what music and movies we get from them, there is very little more
appealing to me about it than the Cold War.
But they do a good job of showing how bland I think we all truly
understand it was, and maintaining the distinct J’ ne se quoi of the decade.
The little I remember of it from my own life is a lot of beige. I remember boxy cars and I wish I remembered
more sweaters. Sooo many sweaters… Fashion-wise, it’s not better than the
sixties, of course. But when viewed
through the espionage side, it’s way more fun.
Just as espionage without as much technology as today is itself way more
fun.
[i]
Although even as late as ’95-’96 (which I remember most of), I think there were
enough leftover feelings and suspicion around the country, and from my parents
more specifically, that I probably got a little taste of it.
