Everyone's favorite K G B family the Jennings is at it again. This time the spy couple is trying to ascertain missile defense technology. What makes the mission difficult is the Jennings' dead cohort had an unknown family. The Jennings have a new handler, and the handler is ruthless. The handler takes care of the dead cohort's family in a spy game way. The two sub stories blend together perfectly. The missile defense story is the hard edge spy story and the unknown family is the emotional story. The viewer is wondering how will the K G B handle these situations. When personal/emotional story overlaps with the hard edge of spying one sees how ruthless the spy game is. The ending left an impression with me. I give Gregory an eight out of ten
6 Reviews
Tense episode with more great performances
snoozejonc31 December 2020
The Jennings' receive information from another agent.
I enjoyed this episode for the tension, performances and character moments.
The plot is fairly downbeat and focuses on both story and characters equal measure. There are some important reveals, particularly for Elizabeth and it highlights how her feelings for Phillip have evolved during their time together. This gives significance to some of the interactions between them during the previous episodes. The events taking place revolve around a character who briefly appeared in the pilot and introduce two new characters, one of whom looks like she might be frequently recurring.
The McGuffin is related to a real life government initiative which any viewer can google and find out about, so this indicates to me the main point of The Americans will be the development the Jennings' relationship and the fate of the family with their espionage roles used to drive everything forward and explore numerous psychological themes in a more exciting way than a bog standard family drama. Much like The Sopranos did with Tony's gangster life.
All performances are excellent with the two leads as good as ever. Matthew Rhys conveys emotion and pent up anger fantastically well. I don't think his character needs all the jujitsu moves when his angry face seems like it could do enough damage on its own.
I enjoyed the cinematography and editing, particularly in the street scenes involving a character being tracked by both the FBI and the KGB. The entire episode has a tense atmosphere with a feeling that something pretty bad is going to happen which kept me quite hooked throughout.
Overall I rate it an 8.5, but for IMDB I round upwards.
I enjoyed this episode for the tension, performances and character moments.
The plot is fairly downbeat and focuses on both story and characters equal measure. There are some important reveals, particularly for Elizabeth and it highlights how her feelings for Phillip have evolved during their time together. This gives significance to some of the interactions between them during the previous episodes. The events taking place revolve around a character who briefly appeared in the pilot and introduce two new characters, one of whom looks like she might be frequently recurring.
The McGuffin is related to a real life government initiative which any viewer can google and find out about, so this indicates to me the main point of The Americans will be the development the Jennings' relationship and the fate of the family with their espionage roles used to drive everything forward and explore numerous psychological themes in a more exciting way than a bog standard family drama. Much like The Sopranos did with Tony's gangster life.
All performances are excellent with the two leads as good as ever. Matthew Rhys conveys emotion and pent up anger fantastically well. I don't think his character needs all the jujitsu moves when his angry face seems like it could do enough damage on its own.
I enjoyed the cinematography and editing, particularly in the street scenes involving a character being tracked by both the FBI and the KGB. The entire episode has a tense atmosphere with a feeling that something pretty bad is going to happen which kept me quite hooked throughout.
Overall I rate it an 8.5, but for IMDB I round upwards.
Review of Season 1: Episodes 1-3
8512223 February 2015
Greetings from Lithuania.
"The Americans" (2013-) first three episodes were good. It introduced us to a main characters so far, it gave us a plot (which i kinda fresh and original). The main characters aren't really deep written of shown yet, but i think we will get to that point - they are spies by the way, so it should be a mystery after all. From the first seconds of the pilot we are thrown into an action with no clear explanations, and later we are starting to see a bigger picture.
Acting of this show so far was OK, nothing special, everyone does they job good, with the exception of Keri Russell perhaps, which i think gives a best performance so far. Directing, script are good, they always show something interesting and so far it haven't dragged.
Looking forward to see how it will continue.
"The Americans" (2013-) first three episodes were good. It introduced us to a main characters so far, it gave us a plot (which i kinda fresh and original). The main characters aren't really deep written of shown yet, but i think we will get to that point - they are spies by the way, so it should be a mystery after all. From the first seconds of the pilot we are thrown into an action with no clear explanations, and later we are starting to see a bigger picture.
Acting of this show so far was OK, nothing special, everyone does they job good, with the exception of Keri Russell perhaps, which i think gives a best performance so far. Directing, script are good, they always show something interesting and so far it haven't dragged.
Looking forward to see how it will continue.
Skylab was an X-ray laser platform? No way!
bongoz14 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Thank you producers for that great in-joke. Of course, by the time this series is set, Skylab was scattered over Western Australia. Still, it was an interesting bit of (hidden) levity in an otherwise powerfully dramatic episode.
I'm beginning to understand the tagline "All's fair in love and Cold War". "The Americans" is a genuine boy-meets-girl love story, even if the boy and girl have been married with kids for fifteen years. You want Phillip and Elizabeth to really get together, even though it's genuinely dangerous for them to do so. I defy anyone to not watch that final hand-holding scene to the fade-out to see how it ended.
In this episode, we're reminded how dangerous and ruthless their situation is. Gregory knows about them now, but they're his only contact. Will that be enough to keep the secret? Their new handler "Grandma" has been shown to be totally heartless. If she found out they were falling in love, that would be it for Phillip and Elizabeth. They know the business they're in. I'm sure they knew the eventual fate of the baby's mother during the handover to Grandma. I felt it myself.
Man, this series is good. I'm telling all my friends.
I'm beginning to understand the tagline "All's fair in love and Cold War". "The Americans" is a genuine boy-meets-girl love story, even if the boy and girl have been married with kids for fifteen years. You want Phillip and Elizabeth to really get together, even though it's genuinely dangerous for them to do so. I defy anyone to not watch that final hand-holding scene to the fade-out to see how it ended.
In this episode, we're reminded how dangerous and ruthless their situation is. Gregory knows about them now, but they're his only contact. Will that be enough to keep the secret? Their new handler "Grandma" has been shown to be totally heartless. If she found out they were falling in love, that would be it for Phillip and Elizabeth. They know the business they're in. I'm sure they knew the eventual fate of the baby's mother during the handover to Grandma. I felt it myself.
Man, this series is good. I'm telling all my friends.
A little more emotional layer peeled back.
axlrhodes22 November 2021
Great dynamic thrown into Phillip and Eluzabeth's relationship history and present tense. Both actors play it superbly. I particularly loved the end of episode morning scene between them both in the kitchen. Phillip's tears at Elizabeth's admission. We wonder who the real 'they' are...this gives us a glimpse.
The Americans Gregory
dalydj-918-25517514 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
MARGO MARTINDALE!! Yes the actress has finally come onto the show and while I still have my problems with the show I have to admit she at least made a good impression on me. Last week's story did not interest me but the one this week seemed more important because of how it ended quite dark with someone actually being killed. The funny thing about the show is the disguises Philip and Elizabeth have especially since ever week it seems they get smaller and the characters look the exact same if they did not wear these disguises. As I mentioned before Margo Martindale made her first appearance show and originally I thought she would be playing someone working with the FBI but she is given the more interesting character as a KGB agent that the Jennings must report to instead of Gabriel. The past relationship the show tried to set up between Elizabeth and Gregory did not seem believable to me maybe because it involves Elizabeth and I just have such problems with Keri playing the character. She did come off better this week especially in her final scene where she breaks down to Philip showing the character is starting to lose her once hard Russian edge. Matthew continues to be so great on the show that it's becoming too repetitive for me to say it. This episode was better then the first two however Stan as a character does nothing for me and I hate all the focus the show is bothering to put onto him.
EPISODE GRADE: B+ (MVP: Margo Martindale)
EPISODE GRADE: B+ (MVP: Margo Martindale)
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