The Americans Season 5

It’s hard to believe that “The Americans” is winding down already and this season ramps up the tension building to the 6th season series finale. The stakes have never been higher for deep cover KGB operatives Philip and Elizabeth Jennings leading their double life as seemingly normal travel agents. Adding to the challenges for our spy duo is the fact that their kids are growing up and naturally becoming more observant. Paige (Holly Taylor) figured things out a season or two ago and is gradually being brought into the fold. Mom’s giving her self defense lessons in hand-to-hand combat and confiding details of their operations to her. Guileless Henry is growing up too but he is still unaware of what his parents are up to. Later on he shocks the family with suddenly demonstrating academic prowess and desire to go to an elite New Hampshire boarding school. Noteworthy are the performances from Frank Langella (Gabriel) and Margo Martindale (Claudia) as Philip and Elizabeth’s KGB handler’s. They don’t get tons of screen time but what they do get they make the most of it. Langella’s nuanced turn as the kindly gentleman spy with dark secrets is most convincing and his scenes with Rhys and Keri Russell are very believable. Despite his paternal manner it’s surprising when Philip’s son escapes the USSR traveling to America looking for his father and Gabriel intercepts him sending him packing never telling Philip. Martindale is always a strong presence; her style is more of a “tough love” approach that contrasts starkly with Gabriel. At one point before Gabriel returns to Russia he confides in Philip that he did “terrible things” earlier in his KGB career. Later after a meeting with Claudia, Philip remarks to Elizabeth, “When Gabriel was shooting people back home what do you think she was doing?” What indeed? I’m pleased to see that finally with Season 6 complete that Rhys and Russell have been nominated for well deserved Emmy awards as has the series as well. This season Philip and Elizabeth take on yet another false identity, this time as an airline pilot and flight attendant wife with an adopted Vietnamese teen son who is already a spy. They are working a Soviet defector who’s a grain expert and is suspected of aiding the U.S. in devising ways to compromise Russian wheat crops. Elizabeth remains as dedicated as ever as Philip continues to become more disillusioned with what they’re doing. Much of this season involves food, along with this primary plot we also follow the activities of KGB Agent Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) who has returned to Moscow. We find Oleg and a partner tasked with investigating rampant corruption in the Soviet food distribution system. Fans will be pleased to see poor dupe Martha shopping in some dreary Soviet grocery store which we later find out later is actually a special access only facility for high ranking people. Towards the end of the season it looks like unhappy Martha may get to adopt an orphaned girl. Oleg’s also under pressure as the CIA is trying to use his information leak about ‘illegal’ William and a deadly virus to FBI agent (and Jennings neighbor) Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) from last season to cultivate him as a source. When Stan finds out he sticks his neck out at work and risks his job to get the CIA to back off of Oleg who he thinks was just doing the right thing. Speaking of Stan he also gets a new girlfriend who Philip suspects just might be “one of them”! There’s much more going on than what I’ve mentioned and the suspense keeps ratcheting up. Eventually Philip and Elizabeth conclude it’s time to return to Russia and start planning their exit. Just as they’ve made up their mind to take the kids and leave Philip discovers his 17 year old asset Kimmy’s father has just been promoted to head of the CIA’s Soviet division. This news obviously puts a different angle on their plans and we’re left wondering what will happen when the series ends. Thanks to the internet you can find out what transpires in the final season but I’m waiting for the DVD release to see how “The Americans” will go out; it should be some heck of a ride.

We watched the entire series of this show. We watched about four episodes per week. We came to closely identify with many of the characters and our feelings for all of them varied over time. We were very sorry to finish the last episode and even though it is been a few months since then we still feel a sense of loss at not having more to look forward to. It really was that good.

The Americans is a fantastic Cold War-era spy series. While the spy intrigue is outstanding, it is the human element that makes the series uniquely different. The series captures plausible emotions and thoughts of all the characters, humanizing all and letting the viewer see the contrast between daily life and their professional roles - Soviet spies vs. mom & dad, FBI counter-intelligence agent vs. husband and dad.

here are Russian spies. they look and act like people from New Jersey. they go to work at the travel agency. When they come home and help the kids with the homework, they give each other furtive glances about murders and robberies and betrayals they are working on. the kids never see it.apparently. Neither does the FBI agent who lives next door. the characters often reminisce about the old days in Russia, after the war, when they had no food, barely knew their dying mother, a set up for why they joined this farce. Discovery what they are fighting for, or against, is the heart of this series. while one sighs a sigh of relief that dad got home ok because he's just so good at being a spy, at all manner of murder, there is simply too much violence, too much murder in this series. While Some of the more lofty themes are interesting, like the moral decision to steal anthrax from the US and give it to the USSR, exciting stuff, the characters are all drawn in kind of emotional shades of depression, as if the director is so depressed, all the actors end up acting that way too. No one is ever, well, happy. A contrast would make the dilemmas more compelling. There are no bursts of color, -not like in the first couple seasons. It is quite the opposite, in fact, of the marketing posters that drew most of us to check out the series.Inducting their daughter into their murderous campaign, sleeping with many other people in order to blackmail them - or worse, the soft bullet for betrayal. the moral dilemmas with their own unwitting manufactured American family. manufactured, literally, from the bodies of these two Soviet agents. They kind of like it here, after all. They seem to be fighting for the past, like everyone else. But one endearing actor is their handler. In his eye, in his voice, i hear why he joined, what he stood for, and how he sustains himselfas the administrator of death and life. Frank Langella. and for some reason, he is not even listed in the first 15 actors on IMD..Rhys is a great actor, I always like him. But Langella actually seems like an old commie, accepting the poverty and austerity of hislife as a sacrifice for a greater good. when he speaks of Russia I really feel a longing. he pulls the script together.but I think it's overrated as interesting as it may be to imagine spies living next door.

Very suspenseful !! Hate to see this show come to an end !!😞

Manages to sustain interest in delving further into the psychological impact on the lead characters, Philip and Elizabeth, and their children, and what will happen if and when they cease to be active operatives, and plenty of interest from the other strands of their handlers, the FBI characters, poor Martha and other characters in Russia. The production has done very well to sustain interest through 5 series without just being repetitive or more extreme, leading to final resolution presumably in Series 6.

The brakes were applied to season 5 with a slowing of the pace. I suspect that it'll be seen as a 'gearing up' for the final season. I was glad to see the character of Paige improving. In seasons 2,3 and 4 I thought she was an absolute pain in the ar*e. I also thought Laurie Holden was an interesting addition to the cast. Not quite good enough for a 5 star rating but an enjoyable season nonetheless.

Again this DVD arrived promptly and completely sealed as if brand new. I bought this DVD to add to the rest of the collection that I already have. Overall I am happy with this DVD and it was reasonably priced too.

Series was great but ended strangely! I don’t know whether it leaves the door open for another series or not....The 3rd disc malfunctioned near the end of the last episode but didn’t seem to miss much. Pity though.

Amazing last season to a thoroughly enjoyable show. Brilliantly well rounded characters. Right up to the end you do not know if they will be caught or not. I will not spoil it.