April 17, 2013

Spies Like Us


Spies Like Us

The Americans, on FX, is a brilliant period drama that recreates the 1980s with only minimal anachronisms but plenty of tension, plot twists, double-dealing and moral relativism.

The basic premise is that Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) are Soviet illegals living in America – just outside DC – posing as a married couple that runs a travel agency (which must be doing well, because they are never there). They have assumedly been brought up in a secret training program that Americanizes them, because they have no accent or affectations. They are fully assimilated Americans (having been in the country well over a decade) and even have two pre-teen children (yet who is caring for and watching for the children when they are caught up in missions is something of an offscreen mystery – "I'll call the sites Philip says before one meeting"). 

Meanwhile, early in the series an FBI agent, who happens to be working in counterintelligence (spy hunting and countering KGB activities in the US) moves in across the street with his family. Improbable yes, but the whole premise is improbable if you look too closely (so don't!), and the coincidence does make for more interesting plot developments. So, why not?

Over eight episodes, several story arcs have developed, most revolving around the shades and varieties of loyalty – to state, to spouses, to agencies – and how they intersect and conflict with one another. The FBI agent falls for his mole in the Soviet embassy. The KGB learns about their mole and for a time even the Jennings are suspected, and tortured. Meanwhile, the Jennings try for a time to make their sham marriage into something real, only to realize they are both just too wrapped up in lies and deceit to know what is true any longer. 

"We have to deal with all sorts of things in our work," Elizabeth says at one point, "and it requires that we be a certain way." Exactly.

Of course the line comes off better on screen than it does here in writing. Add to that some stylish filming and superb musical choices – Fleetwood Mac's Tusk during the first episode's chase scene was a brilliant choice, and David Bowie's Under Pressure at, well, you know, a tense moment – and it makes for excellent viewing. But for "mature audiences" only, because, you know, there's lots of sex in the world of espionage...

Certain facts had to be manipulated to make the plots work (not the least of which the fact that, to public knowledge, there were no illegals caught in the US during the 80s), but they are magnifications of the strange political realities of the Reagan era (and who remembers what really happend 30 years ago anyway), so they work.

A few episodes in, Star Wars and the effort to create a missile shield becomes the main focus of concern and operations for both sides, and there is plenty of fodder there. But mostly it is great fun to watch these agents struggling to crack conspiracies without the use of cell phones and the internet, or to watch a lovestruck mole drop a needle on an LP. Good stuff.

Now, eight episodes in, the plot lines are sufficiently developed and the characters well enough fleshed out that the main spy vs. spy tension is more of a set decoration than the main driver of events. Increasingly, it is tensions within each service – FBI agents suspecting other agents, KGB controllers setting one agent off against the other ("I know you'd throw yourself on a fire for the Motherland. Him… I'm not so sure."), wife and husband suspecting one another – that is moving things along.

And it all works: the too-perfect chameleonic disguises of the Jennings, the mostly native Russian of the KGB actors (a breath of fresh air), and even the tough-talking John Boy (er, Richard Thomas) as an FBI boss.

How long it can last is hard to say. After all, Star Wars was announced in 1983 and Gorbachev arrived two years later, and serious lessening of tensions was not far behind. But then, there will always be spies. As the KGB mole says to her FBI controller (played by Noah Emmerich, who one senses is going to have even bigger moral quandaries facing him soon – I mean, c'mon the safe house has got to be bugged, right?), pointing out that, while the FBI are basically cops who think like cops (catching bad guys and locking them up), spies think differently. For them, it is about keeping assets in place and milking them for everything they can get. 

Here's hoping The Americans has plenty more to give.


The Americans is on FX Network Wednesdays at 10. The last few episodes are also available for viewing on Hulu and on FX.com.

You Might Also Like

1983: The Scariest Year
  • March 04, 2013

1983: The Scariest Year

Ambassador Jack Matlock had a front row seat for the final days of the US-Soviet Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. While working on his article, 1983: The Scariest Year (Mar/Apr 2013), Russian Life Publisher Paul Richardson conducted an email interview with Matlock, which is produced here in its entirety.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955