TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: The Americans is a spy thriller of the highest order, with evocative period touches and strong chemistry between its leads.
Episodes
The Americans: Season 1 Photos
Tv Season Info
Cast
as Philip Jennings, Phillip
as Elizabeth, Elizabeth Jennings
as Paige Jennings
as Chris Amador
as Stan, Stan Beeman
as Henry Jennings
as Sandra Beeman
as Nina
as Martha Hanson
as Arkady
as Nikolai Timoshev
as Colonel Zhukov
as Mark Bartholomew
as Deputy Attorney General Warren
as Pasty Bureaucrat
News & Interviews for The Americans: Season 1
Critic Reviews for The Americans: Season 1
All Critics (50) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (6)
The Americans is the best new television drama since Homeland because, like that similarly sticky, Silver Age show, it uses its killer concept as an ellipsis, not an exclamation point.
There's something really entertaining and thought-provoking about watching people caught up in double lives.
Rhys and Russell are shockingly good as the multifaceted Philip and Elizabeth, who shed identities like snakes shed skins.
The show keeps its tongue out of its cheek and actually creates decent suspense, along with some chewy moral dilemmas to keep the brain stimulated if not taxed.
The Americans isn't just a heart-pounding action drama; by presenting heroes who are also villains, it also confronts viewers with TV's deepest moral dilemma since The Sopranos.
A gripping Cold War spy thriller - Alias, say, without the sci-fi digressions and with less ridiculous get-ups - and an equally intriguing domestic drama.
Audience Reviews for The Americans: Season 1
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Yet another strong tv series for FX, courtesy of the people behind the equally excellent Justified, The Americans is an intimate look at family drama, aided by compelling and very well executed spy games. The ending was a big cop out for me and some episodes that preceded it were much stronger than this one but it was adequate and set the stage for what's to come very well. It's a series that doesn't really get to the next level, it's a bit safe but everything it does, it does so remarkably.
Super Reviewer
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