Jorge continues to look at the pilot episodes for the Best Series contenders of this year’s Emmys.
The Americans did a lot of things at once. It was a spy show, a family drama, a heavy exploration of the human psyche, a look into a broken marriage, and a workplace series, all neatly tied into one disguise-heavy package. That multi-tasking is what made it one of the greatest shows in the so-called New Golden Age of Television.
The series premiered in 2013, and ended this spring after six seasons, so the pilot may be a bit removed from our collective memories. But let’s take a look at the very first sequence of the entire show, anyway. It immersed us immediately in the world of these people, no explanations given, and put us on high gear from the get-go...
The Americans
“Pilot”
Written by: Joe Weisberg
[You can read the full script here.]
Even though the show would later reveal itself to have much more layers and complexities, The Americans is first and foremost a spy show. And it doesn’t hold itself back from letting us know that from the very start. On the very first scene, a woman (Keri Russell, in the first of her many glorious wigs) who we later discover is an undercover spy, tries to get information out of a “pasty bureaucrat."
However, the show operates in a different way that other spy shows before it. We are not introduced to any secret organization, government agency, or mission beforehand. We don’t know what information the characters are after, or even what their ultimate goal is. We don’t even learn that they are Russian spies until further on the episode.
The Americans throws us right in the middle of the action; no context or explanation. This gives out the sense that what is happening on screen is nothing out of the ordinary for the characters. It’s something that has happened before, and will continue to happen after. It’s routine.
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The show doesn’t hold any punches, and immediately sets up a sequence filled with adrenaline and immediate, possibly fatal risk. It barely gives time to set up the characters, when all of a sudden they are running away in allies, dodging bullets, and getting into car chases. Any other show of the genre would most likely save its big set piece for later in the episode (or even the season), but The Americans jump starts with it, maybe telling us that the most intense drama won’t come from action scenes, but human relationships.
The script describes these action scenes with incredible detail, with everything from Phillip’s blocking on the alleyway, to the steps and choreography in the fight, and the precise movements in the car chase. It also has the added trait of not only being incredibly technical, but also a suspenseful read. The writer makes sure that whatever tension exists on the page will translate effectively on screen.
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The last image of the teaser establishes everything about Elizabeth and Phillip: the roles they will be playing in both this professional dynamic and their marriage, and how they are going to be slowly subverted through the show.
Phillip is wounded, but doesn’t show it. Elizabeth looks out the window, worried. Phillip is the brains in the operation; Elizabeth, the heart. Through the series, their feelings on the undercover mission they are execution will reverse, as well as their marriage dynamic. At this point, not many things about their personal lives has been revealed. And yet, we know everything.
For a show about undercover Russian agents, The Americans was a surprisingly restrained and quiet look at the lives of two people who start questioning their loyalties to their country, each other, and their identities. From a first glance at the teaser, these complexities don’t seem to exist yet. But underneath what we see, under the disguises, and the gunshots, and the chases and the wounds, there are two of the most intriguing and compelling characters in television, just waiting to be discovered. As they try not to be.