The Americans: Season 5

In a certain sense, there are few shows on television more frustrating than The Americans. Right off the bat, let me say - the show is great. It's always been great, and if anything it's gotten better. But I find myself, every year, wanting it to be the prestige drama of the decade, this brilliantly plotted tragedy mixed with sociopolitical commentary and occasional kickass spygamery. If executed perfectly I really do think The Americans could and would be the greatest show on television. But it's just too damn slow, too low-stakes, too content to spin some wheels and increase the tension rather than pushing its characters to new breaking points. These all time great shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad were excellent because they knew when to rev the engine and when to hit the brakes. And they knew how to hit the brakes. The Americans just seems to always have its foot on the brakes! When Season 3 ended with a certain revelation - the Jennings' true identities being revealed to a key character - that should have been the Shakespearian arc shape's climax, the event that finally takes a big old swing at the status quo with a sledge hammer and cracks it, in a way where the characters can only ignore those cracks for so long before it all comes down so messily that they're just trying to escape with their lives or their honor or some combination of the two; it should have all been denouement from Season 3, a long and ugly fall from grace for the Jennings, full of betrayal and tragedy and impossible decisions and human breaking points. Instead, Season 5 has ended and we head into the final season, the sixth, in more or less the exact same place we were at the end of Season 3! And that's a little disappointing. There's been one shocking character death, but even that was midway through Season 4. Everything else has just been the Jennings - mostly Phillip, still - growing wearier and more and more exhausted both mentally and emotionally by the requirements of his job. And still, we don't even have much in the way of Phillip wanting to defect. We have no rift between him and Elizabeth. The seeds are there, sure, but the seeds were there after two seasons! Why are we still watering these seeds? Let the seeds germinate, already. Reap the rewards! Frankly, the stakes just haven't been elevating or changing at all, and it really feels like The Americans would have been better off wrapping things up in five seasons instead of saving the good stuff for a sixth at the expense of having a slow and mostly meaningless fourth and fifth. It's disappointing, is all! This show feels like a seven-speed car stuck in, like, fifth gear. Hey, great, fifth gear, most shows will never get there - but come on, let loose! Let's see what we've got here!