Rewatching "The Americans", season 5

Things have been going slower, but I since I received a diagnosis for Long Covid in the meantime, I guess "The Americans" for me will therefore be forever linked to the global pandemic. Cheery times! But oddly fitting, given the material. I now finished the fifth season, and with only one to go, let's take a look back at what was what.

The fifth season is absolutely stellar. Together with the fourth, it marks the high-water mark for the series, providing a somber, depressing and glacially moving, yet absolutely compelling drama. Things are falling apart, but as of yet, the center holds. The one with a capital C at least does, and if you view Elizabeth as the center of the whole thing - which one should, given that Keri Russel has top billing on the show - this holds true for the Jennings' as well. 

 

Elizabeth is unwavering in her commitment to the cause, and oh boy, does this commitment get tested. There are two major "spy" storyline plots going on: the observation of a Soviet defector, using a faux family with a Vietnamese teenager as a proxy, and the investigation into and then acquisition of a mysterious grain research project. 

 

The Soviet defector in question is a scientist who had it with life in the worker's paradise, and who can blame him? While he enjoys the life in the Land of the Free, his wife and son Pasha have major problems assimilating into US culture and lifestyle. For the KGB, this is a wedge to drive mercilessly, and they do. They're pretend adopted son Tuan befriends Pasha, only to secretly make his life an absolute hell. Elizabeth meanwhile befriends the wife, nudging her towards the idea of returning to the USSR, where they will be blackmailed, used and discarded. 

 

While we're at the subject of Tuan, the young spy serves as a dark mirror to the Jennings at every step. Even more radical and committed to the cause than Elizabeth, he has no moral compass whatsoever, no qualms and is absolutely ruthless. Even Elizabeth is appalled, and that says something. Tuan is a cautionary tale about what happens when you descent into the rabbit hole - almost as if the universe wants to tell Elizabeth something about recruiting teenagers to the cause. 

 

Speaking of which, Paige is in a messed-up place if there ever was one. Without being able to take her decision back and ask for the blue pill, she has to live with the terrible knowledge of her parents' real occupation, torn between the strains that secret puts her under the dawning realization that this destroys every shred of hope she could have of ever living a normal life. 

 

Henry, meanwhile, is doing surprisingly well for himself. After being featured very little in the previous two seasons, he comes back to a more prominent role this season as a computer whizkid, surprising both the audience and his parents. He serves mostly to show how little connection the Jennings' have with their children, and how far removed from normal life they are. His relationship with Stan Beeman of all people is incredibly endearing to boot, so Henry's renewed presence is welcome. 

 

Pastor Tim, on the other hand, is leaving the narrative. Paige is already so accomplished a liar that she pretends to be drawn to the church while she has severed her emotional ties. Pastor Tim is way too perceptive to be fooled completely, but his concerns over Paige serve as fuel for reflection for Paige and her parents both, and when the KGB manages to offer Pastor Tim a job in what's basically Liberation Theology, everyone sighs with relief as the sword of Damocles is removes from his head and he's gone for good.

The most miserable person this season, as in every season, is Philipp. He is disgusted with the work is doing, has lost any fervor he ever might have had for the cause, and yet, like an addict, he returns to the work time and time again, becoming ever more miserable in the process. Despite liking American life, he dislikes the spy job much more, and so etches towards "retirement" in the US, despite the incredible damage this would do to Henry and Paige. Elizabeth is in complete denial; Philipp, meanwhile, just knows how bad it will be, but as with his job, he decides to ignore his inner voice and to do the wrong thing. He's consistent in that. The resolution of this dilemma, of course, will have to wait for the finale of season 6. 

 

Stan, meanwhile, has found a new colleague that's a much better fit than Amador from season 1 (good riddance). Aderholt is also an incredibly understated presence, softspoken and deliberate, and that fits the tone of the complete season to a "t". 

 

It's incredible how "The Americans" manages to be such a slow and silent show. The actors work with half-smiles, smallest movements of facial muscles, a half-raised brow, a sideways glance. Even to call this a look or a frown would be to overstate things; it's incredible how this show manages to keep you glued to the screen with so little. The contrast is especially stark considering how frantic the pace of season 1 was; it's almost glacial now. 

 

This silence, this understatement, together with the fascinating amorality of its protagonists, the bad things they do, is the main draw of "The Americans". It's like nothing else.