The Americans

The Americans enthralls with its complexities, simplicities and overall derring-do.

Smart newcomer with a pair of leads that turns The Americans into a likely winner.

[An] absorbing spy thriller. [25 Jan/1 Feb 2013, p.113]

The Americans unfolds a thoroughly seductive tale of sleeper KGB agents.

It's too early to really judge Americans against Homeland, but if the latter is getting away from what hooked you in the first place, then you might find what you're missing on Americans.

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."

It's a fresh, compelling story about a couple of KGB operatives pretending to live the American dream as a married couple with kids in suburban Washington, D.C.

[A] smart espionage drama.

For all the excitement of the missions and the tension with the FBI neighbor, what really carries the show is the relationship between Philip and Elizabeth.

The Americans might take a while to find its footing--most shows do; but it already has a personality, a pulse of life.

Beyond the cat-and-mouse international intrigue, which deepens after the pilot, The Americans has an absorbing personal story to tell--one as familiar yet unusual as its aliens-among-us protagonists.

The juxtaposition of surface banality and the high-octane spy intrigue of their shadow identities gives The Americans a suspenseful kick.

The show is not without the occasional car chase, but its real strength is in its evocation of the schizoid paranoia of the double life of intelligence.

It's a premise that requires as much clever dramatic footwork as you might expect, and creator Joe Weisberg, a former CIA agent, handles the challenge.

The real fascination of The Americans can be found not in the lies Philip and Elizabeth tell the world, but in those they tell themselves.

As much as the series' pitch seems clear--it's another period series, with terrific design details, long story arcs, and complex performances--it is also something else, a reframing of what it might mean to be Americans, then and now.

By episode 2, though, after the crammed (and super-sized) premiere, [creator] Weisberg reveals a sure sense of detail that bodes well for the future of the series.

The Americans may be a tricky concept to sustain, because it means bringing the protagonists to the very brink of discovery on a regular basis. But for now, it's a daring tightrope walk, full of action and suspense.

The Americans is delightfully cunning, exactly the quality, along with fight scenes and ridiculous disguises, one desires in a spy show.

A solid spy vehicle for its strong cast.

It's a subtle, complex portrait of a relationship etched into an engaging espionage thriller set in 1981.

The evolution of the couple's relationship is as engrossing as the strong-arm spy stuff.

It's tense, engrossing, mildly ludicrous--and worth checking out before the Cold War melts. [11 Feb 2013]

While Rhys and Russell carry the domestic side of the story beautifully (with Russell having a particularly nice moment next week with the daughter), they're not, as yet, completely convincing as spies. In their defense, they're hurt in the premiere by a clumsy set of flashbacks that make you think the Soviets must have perfected an anti-aging drug that has now been lost.

[An] exciting but frustrating spy thriller from former CIA employee and writer-executive producer Joe Weisberg, skillfully captures the anxiety of the age.

The Americans benefits from convincing performances by the cast, but Weisberg's concept and writing in the first two episodes make the show much more than "just" a spy thriller.

If there's a downside to the Americans pilot, it's that it has some pace problems. The premiere runs long--an hour and six minutes--and spends time on flashbacks to Elizabeth in training 20 years earlier and the pair's first meeting.

The Americans has potential. The way it uses recent history as a reflector of modern deceits while bouncing the concept of patriotism around mixes nicely with the hang-by-your-fingertips story turns.

It'll take every ounce of writer/creator Joe Weisberg's strength to keep this from seeming like a watered-down Homeland, or, worse, a film idea stretched across 13 hours.

As a drama, The Americans struggles to crack a certain code; the concept is tantalizing, but the follow-through lacks the momentum that gets viewers to commit.

There are enough interesting ideas inherent in the material to warrant giving The Americans a chance, and interesting enough ideas that one wishes a little more attention were being paid to them, and a little less to the usual spy-jinks.

The Americans is an intriguing and provocative concept.... The execution, alas, initially isn't worthy of the premise, becoming fairly standard spy stuff, and relying heavily on awkward flashbacks to fill in the backstory.

Russell and Rhys seem adept at the disguises and stunts. But their characters are practically flipped from pilot to second episode, and some of the black humor here is awkwardly executed.