games without frontiers, war without tears
I wanted to write a post about The Americans and why it is AMAZING and you should watch it and then get super into it so that there's a bigger fandom for it by the time season 2 comes around! And then I realised how ridiculous this icon would be if used for said post, and I kind of lost some time giggling to myself, because WOW, INAPPROPRIATE!
But the point about the greatness of The Americans is still true. So here are some reasons to love this show.
- It's a spy drama set in the Cold War, except the main characters are KGB undercover agents living as Americans. And they actually do that justice. At least as of season one, it is compelling and brilliantly realistic and not at all condescending to anyone on either side, and as a massive nerd I just have to LOVE how unusual that is. This is not a show that would have been made even five years ago, I think, and not just because the big Illegals bust that inspired a bunch of the show hadn't happened yet.
- It helps it's written by an actual ex-spy. Who has done a TON of research, and also employed actual Russian speakers to play most of the Russian-speaking parts. (The there are three big exceptions to that, but there is an excellent in-show reason why those characters speak English with American accents!)
- Everyone in it is just staggaringly good, and they all have really, really good stuff to work with. There are smaller parts on this show, but there are no bad parts. But Kerri Russell and Matthew Rhys (hey, Hornblower fans, do you remember when everyone shipped him with Ioan Gruffudd?!) just SHUT IT THE FUCK DOWN. They are amazing.
- The women are completely valued, and while there is quite a lot of sex and violence and some sexual violence, it's not gratuitous and it's never at all about the woman being titilating. I think this show is quietly one of the most explicitly feminist things on TV and I really love that. (I can and will go into LONG DISCUSSIONS about this.) Actually, everyone on it is valued. There aren't that many non-white faces, but those that are are important, and characters with meaning and agency.
- Arguably, the whole show is about going "okay, right, those people over there who you think are scary? They're PEOPLE." And goddamn, it does that in a complex, engaging, plot-engaging way that I just love.
- And it does that while having some of the most compelling relationships I've seen in drama in a long while, up to the point of massively shipping the main het couple. Which, yo, never happens. I almost invariably find the main het couple boring. But not Elizabeth and Philip! Who are wonderful and flawed and believable and they have this amazing, complicated, grown-up relationship that just KILLS me. Like, I want to go "THEY TALKED ABOUT THEIR KIDS AND IT MADE ME WANT TO CRRRRYYYYYY" and also "THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUUUUCH BUT IT HUUUURTTTTSSSS" a lot.
- (Also? They quite literally get married (by the KGB), have kids, fall in love. HAHAHA. Er.)
- Basically, please watch this show so I can write less pathetic posts? Or join
theamericans on Dreamwidth and talk about the show, or, like, flail with me here!
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/108612.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
But the point about the greatness of The Americans is still true. So here are some reasons to love this show.
- It's a spy drama set in the Cold War, except the main characters are KGB undercover agents living as Americans. And they actually do that justice. At least as of season one, it is compelling and brilliantly realistic and not at all condescending to anyone on either side, and as a massive nerd I just have to LOVE how unusual that is. This is not a show that would have been made even five years ago, I think, and not just because the big Illegals bust that inspired a bunch of the show hadn't happened yet.
- It helps it's written by an actual ex-spy. Who has done a TON of research, and also employed actual Russian speakers to play most of the Russian-speaking parts. (The there are three big exceptions to that, but there is an excellent in-show reason why those characters speak English with American accents!)
- Everyone in it is just staggaringly good, and they all have really, really good stuff to work with. There are smaller parts on this show, but there are no bad parts. But Kerri Russell and Matthew Rhys (hey, Hornblower fans, do you remember when everyone shipped him with Ioan Gruffudd?!) just SHUT IT THE FUCK DOWN. They are amazing.
- The women are completely valued, and while there is quite a lot of sex and violence and some sexual violence, it's not gratuitous and it's never at all about the woman being titilating. I think this show is quietly one of the most explicitly feminist things on TV and I really love that. (I can and will go into LONG DISCUSSIONS about this.) Actually, everyone on it is valued. There aren't that many non-white faces, but those that are are important, and characters with meaning and agency.
- Arguably, the whole show is about going "okay, right, those people over there who you think are scary? They're PEOPLE." And goddamn, it does that in a complex, engaging, plot-engaging way that I just love.
- And it does that while having some of the most compelling relationships I've seen in drama in a long while, up to the point of massively shipping the main het couple. Which, yo, never happens. I almost invariably find the main het couple boring. But not Elizabeth and Philip! Who are wonderful and flawed and believable and they have this amazing, complicated, grown-up relationship that just KILLS me. Like, I want to go "THEY TALKED ABOUT THEIR KIDS AND IT MADE ME WANT TO CRRRRYYYYYY" and also "THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUUUUCH BUT IT HUUUURTTTTSSSS" a lot.
- (Also? They quite literally get married (by the KGB), have kids, fall in love. HAHAHA. Er.)
- Basically, please watch this show so I can write less pathetic posts? Or join
theamericans on Dreamwidth and talk about the show, or, like, flail with me here!
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/108612.html. Please comment there using OpenID.