Two Russian spies are in conflict over what to do with a captured defector.
I enjoyed this first episode of The Americans as it sets up a pretty intriguing concept and contains a number of solid performances.
The idea of a spy thriller from the perspective of Russian sleeper agents living a family life in the US is an excellent basis for both compelling plot lines and exploring themes about identity, trust, marriage, parenthood and political ideology. It's hard to tell if all this or more will be done from watching one episode, but I'm holding out lots of hope.
Right from the start we are informed who the characters are, what motivates them and what challenges they are likely to face in the series. I found all this to be an effective hook to watch more.
There were several memorable scenes, particularly those showing the seemingly conflicting motivations between the two central characters and some clues to how the feel about each other.
Sexual predators, sexual violence and the use of sex as a weapon was tackled in numerous scenes which were quite interesting. Some satisfying moments of justice were served, yet I get a feeling that the theme will be continued particularly from the perspective of the Elizabeth.
All performances were excellent and made the central characters highly watchable.
The cinematography was good but nothing particularly earth-shattering. I enjoyed the editing and the use of popular music to keep things interesting and define the period setting. On that note the period detail was pretty good but a lot more subtle than the likes of Stranger Things which prides itself on colourful 80s retro symbols in every scene.
My only negative is a rather obvious lack of effort to make Keri Russell look younger in the flashback sequences, but in the grand scheme of things it's not the end of the world.
For me this is an 8.5/10 but as always on IMDB I like to round up.
I enjoyed this first episode of The Americans as it sets up a pretty intriguing concept and contains a number of solid performances.
The idea of a spy thriller from the perspective of Russian sleeper agents living a family life in the US is an excellent basis for both compelling plot lines and exploring themes about identity, trust, marriage, parenthood and political ideology. It's hard to tell if all this or more will be done from watching one episode, but I'm holding out lots of hope.
Right from the start we are informed who the characters are, what motivates them and what challenges they are likely to face in the series. I found all this to be an effective hook to watch more.
There were several memorable scenes, particularly those showing the seemingly conflicting motivations between the two central characters and some clues to how the feel about each other.
Sexual predators, sexual violence and the use of sex as a weapon was tackled in numerous scenes which were quite interesting. Some satisfying moments of justice were served, yet I get a feeling that the theme will be continued particularly from the perspective of the Elizabeth.
All performances were excellent and made the central characters highly watchable.
The cinematography was good but nothing particularly earth-shattering. I enjoyed the editing and the use of popular music to keep things interesting and define the period setting. On that note the period detail was pretty good but a lot more subtle than the likes of Stranger Things which prides itself on colourful 80s retro symbols in every scene.
My only negative is a rather obvious lack of effort to make Keri Russell look younger in the flashback sequences, but in the grand scheme of things it's not the end of the world.
For me this is an 8.5/10 but as always on IMDB I like to round up.