If you’re not watching The Americans yet, you’re a muppet

WHY are you wasting your time watching MKR and The Big Bang Theory when you could be engrossed in one of the best shows on TV?

REVIEW

WHILE many Australians are busy watching My Kitchen Rules or The Big Bang Theory, they’re missing out on one of the best shows on TV.

If you’re not watching The Americans by now, you need to rectify this. Immediately.

About to start its fourth season this week on Foxtel, The Americans is one of those shows that is universally praised by critics but has a relatively small audience in Australia.

The drama hasn’t had the kind of exposure enjoyed by other prestige programming like Game of Thrones or House of Cards. Yes, it’s got plenty of thrills that keep the plot moving, but it’s also more thoughtful and much more devoted to character development than its flashier cousins.

Conceived by Joe Weisberg, a former CIA officer turned high school teacher turned TV writer, The Americans is ostensibly a spy drama about two KGB operatives who have been living undercover as a suburban family whose clandestine activities involve all kinds of espionage. But at its heart, it’s a story about a marriage in the most unusual of circumstances.

On the surface, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) appear to be completely average — they work in a travel agency and live in the suburbs around Washington DC with two kids. The truth is as adolescents in their native Russia, they were picked by the KGB and coupled off in an arranged marriage and dropped in the US as sleeper agents.

All in the family.

The resourceful pair is tasked with collecting intelligence, and other much nastier work, for Mother Ruski in the dying decade of the Soviet experiment against the backdrop of Reagan-era America. Some of that can involve particularly brutal and gruesome networks and seducing various people useful to their cause.

The spy elements of the show, and how the Jennings contend with having an FBI agent for a neighbour and friend, are gripping and riveting viewing — as you would expect, there are a lot of close calls in the espionage game.

But it’s the relationships that underpin The Americans — particularly how Elizabeth and Philip relate to each other and their kids. Cut from different cloths in terms of ideology, temperament and how they approach challenges big and small, this is a marriage that has to balance the mission with loyalty to their children and themselves.

Their kids, American-born Paige and Henry, initially have no inkling to their parents’ true identities and what they really get up in the laundry room. But they’re not just set pieces to the older characters. They are well-developed, multi-layered people, especially Paige as she grapples with adolescence, her faith and her place in this world of moral compromise.

Some of the most significant moments in the show’s history have played out not in the field stealing state secrets but in the family home, around the kitchen island. So despite the outlandish premise, this is a relatable family.

The Americans is a superbly written and well-plotted piece of work with high-calibre acting that rewards deep investment from the viewer. It’s not afraid to let a plot or character point play out with patience when it’s warranted — something that is all too rare in TV.

SPOILERS FOR SEASONS ONE TO THREE FOLLOW

For those who have been watching, and loving, The Americans, season four promises more of the same intrigue, but with even higher stakes.

Yes, we have moved into biological weapons, as the title of the first episode, “Glanders”, suggests. If you’re not sure what Glanders is, Google it – it’s a particularly devastating disease. Or better yet, save yourself the nightmares and don’t Google it.

But the vicious developments in their spy lives are far from the only challenges for Elizabeth and Philip. The first episode back picks up immediately from the season three finale and Paige has blurted her parents’ secret to Pastor Tim. So how long before our master spies’ cover is blown?

“Glanders” is a compelling set-up for the rest of the season and a reminder of why you wait nine months for The Americans to return every year.

The Americans season four starts on Soho on Foxtel at 8.30pm Wednesday April 13. Seasons one and two can be found on iTunes and Presto.

Continue the conversation on Twitter with @wenleima.

So many wigs.