Welcome to GAMbIT’s coverage of The Americans, which hilariously aired right after Captain America tonight.
I had almost forgotten how devastating this show can be. It’s a quieter show than you’d think; for a story of espionage, it’s much more about actual spycraft, and less about ten minutes of subterfuge followed by an extended car chase. It is by turns elegiac and suspenseful, and the sense of paranoia and impermanence permeates every scene.
“Comrades” is a Philip-heavy episode, which is a nice change of pace from season one, which I thought centered a lot on Elizabeth (not that that’s a bad thing). Matthew Rhys delivers an amazing performance, showing Philip to be a ruthless killer (as he kills two Afghani arms dealers, he ominously intones “The KGB is everywhere”) as well as a loving father. This is no new observation, but it’s one that bears repeating. He and Elizabeth truly love their kids, which makes the lies they tell that much more heartbreaking. Only we, the viewers, and Philip and Elizabeth know the truth – this makes us complicit, it makes us co-conspirators, and sometimes that knowledge can be hard to handle.
That, I think, is the theme of “Comrades,” if not the entire show: the truth. The Americans is not the only show on TV to address the nature of the truth – AMC’s Mad Men does it with aplomb – but it, along with creator Joe Weisberg, has a viewpoint that is distinctly its own. Philip tells his daughter Paige “It’s important that we trust each other,” and minutes later is asking his wife how often she thinks their daughter has checked to see if they’re home. Stan Beeman tells a fellow agent “You can trust me,” and is immediately shown canoodling with this Russian mole girlfriend, watching The French Lieutenant’s Woman. You can’t trust either of these men, and as viewers we have the same passive role as readers of a history book. We have the power of omniscience but not of interference. Tonight’s most memorable scene comes after Philip and Elizabeth walk into the hotel room of fellow KGB agents Emmet and Leah, only to find them and their daughter massacred. On his way out of the abattoir, Philip passes Emmet’s son, who he has to pretend not to know. Philip ducks into a stairway as the boy enters the hotel room; try as he might to avoid them, the young man’s anguished cries follow Philip down the stairs. No doubt his parents discussed the importance of trust as well.
This makes me wonder: who are the titular Americans? Is the title ironic, or is it critical? This episode’s carnival setting is apt, as both Philip and Stan represent funhouse-mirror versions of the straight-laced American suburbanites they purport to be – both killers and philanderers. Is that what Americans are? What do we mean when we say “Trust me”? Can it ever really be true? What The Americans asks is, how well can you really know someone? Philip, for instance, had no idea that Elizabeth had been raped back in Russia. Nina doesn’t know that Stan killed Vlad. Martha doesn’t know why her husband “Clark” spends nights away from home. Are we, as humans, as Americans, capable of handling the hard truths? Moreover, do we want to? These are heady questions, and if tonight’s stellar installment is any indication, The Americans is on the right track to provide some answers.
A Few Thoughts
– “Comrades” was, among other things, expertly directed, by West Wing vet Thomas Schlamme
– Not a whole lot of Stan tonight, but Noah Emmerich continues to impress
– I know I didn’t get into plot much, but when I sat down to write this all I could think of what the philosophical spiral “Comrades” sent me down
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