Knee-jerk review: FX's "The Americans"

1. Did we just find a new favorite show?  It may be too soon to tell, but we have very high hopes.  We will be back for more.
2. We've always been rather lukewarm on Kerri Russell, but she is no joke here as a fierce, rigid, rather humorless KGB agent pretending to be an all-American housewife.  She's got the goods.
3. Is "In the Air Tonight" still a powerful song in its own right (those are some seriously dark, foreboding lyrics) or is it more of a lazy way to reference the 1980s?  Should any serious producer ever include Phil Collins on a soundtrack unless there's clear irony present?  These are the questions we ask ourselves.
4. Speaking of music, what was that song that played over the opening operation?  Catchy and strange.
5. Remember pay phones?
6. Has there ever been a sub-par FX drama?  Even flops like "Dirt" or "Lights Out" were visionary and fearless in their own way.  This is what the freedom of cable broadcasting provides writers and producers.
7. That's some serious damage done by a barbecue fork.  Remind us not to ever make creepy sexual overtures to the underage daughter of a secret KGB agent.
8. Agreed, it's a pretty big coincidence that the FBI agent moves in right across the street, but we'll allow it given the conflict and tension such an arrangement will surely create.  It's easy to see the KGB agent and the FBI agent becoming friends, which will add another layer of complications for everyone.
9. Clever also that the writers painted the FBI agent as a habitually suspicious character, thus explaining why he does the rather extreme things he does at the end of the pilot.
10. It's a very strange feeling indeed to be rooting for the Evil Empire.

Tweet