On a drizzly night in February, Keri Russell and Holly Taylor walked down a hilly block in Upper Manhattan that was doubling for Reagan-era Washington in a scene from of FX鈥檚 spy thriller The Americans.
Russell, in character as Elizabeth Jennings, a KGB agent living undercover in the United States in the waning days of the Cold War, was dispensing tough love to her daughter, Paige (Taylor), a college student sympathetic to the Soviet cause.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have to make a decision: to commit to this life or get out, because sometimes this is what we have to do,鈥� said Russell as Elizabeth. 鈥淎re you willing to give up friends and relationships 鈥� your life, if you have to?鈥�
The tension between the personal and the political is at the heart of The Americans, which returns for its final 10-episode season tonight and centres on Elizabeth and her husband, Philip (Matthew Rhys), a pair of seemingly mild-mannered travel agents and suburban parents who carry out deadly covert missions on behalf of the motherland.
The series is both a gripping story of espionage and a portrait of a uniquely complicated marriage. Initially arranged by their KGB handlers, the Jennings鈥� relationship is loving but also strained by their spy duties, which include extramarital affairs, the assumption of numerous false identities and the occasional disposal of a body.
Though never a huge ratings hit, the Emmy-nominated series is an engrossing slow burn that has had critics swooning since its premi猫re in 2013. As the latest marquee drama of TV鈥檚 new Golden Age to come to an end, speculation about what will become of its married antiheroes is running high: Will Philip and Elizabeth get caught? Turn each other in? Or finally return to the Soviet Union?
With newly hostile relations between the U.S. and Russia stoking fears of a revived Cold War 鈥� or worse 鈥� the period drama has also become surprisingly relevant.
Showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have known for some time how the Jennings鈥� story will end, but that hasn鈥檛 exactly made it easy for them to say goodbye.
At the Brooklyn production offices a week before final wrap, moving boxes were piled up in the lobby. 鈥淓verybody is in a weird mood,鈥� admitted series creator Weisberg, a former CIA agent. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so enmeshed in the world. Everything feels real to us.鈥�
The writers are approaching the conclusion of a journey that began in 2010 when 10 Russian agents were arrested in suburban New Jersey, inspiring Weisberg, then working on TNT鈥檚 Falling Skies, to develop what would become The Americans.
He and Fields (Ugly Betty) were set up on a showrunning blind date 鈥� 鈥渟orta like Philip and Elizabeth,鈥� said Fields. 鈥淲e have an arranged marriage that鈥檚 worked out really well.鈥�
Said Fields: 鈥淚 think if Philip and Elizabeth had approached their relationship the way Joe and I approached our relationship, there wouldn鈥檛 have been a show.鈥�
That鈥檚 not quite how things have worked for the series protagonists. Elizabeth has always been the true believer, while Philip has occasionally wavered in his commitment to the mission. At the end of last season, Elizabeth sensed her husband was at a breaking point and encouraged him to take a break from the spy game.
The season premi猫re skips ahead two years to 1987, a turning point for the Soviet Union and the Jennings鈥� marriage. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev鈥檚 policies of perestroika and glasnost have created divisions within the ranks of the KGB and driven a wedge between Elizabeth, who鈥檚 continued her undercover work, and Philip, who has expanded the family travel agency and grown increasingly comfortable with the bourgeois lifestyle.
The time jump was designed to 鈥渕atch up the history with where they are in their marriage,鈥� Weisberg explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a show about political people, ideological people, people who the history affects in very powerful ways.鈥�
Rhys sits in a trailer as makeup artists peel off his blond wig, gently remove a goatee from his face and wipe away a dusting of fake freckles. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like an Indy 500-style tire change,鈥� said Rhys, who admits he won鈥檛 miss this particular aspect of 鈥淭he Americans,鈥� even if Philip鈥檚 numerous disguises also speak to the complexity of a role that has brought two Emmy nominations.
鈥淵ou realize you鈥檝e had to play so many things. Now you read scripts and you go, 鈥橸eah, but what else is happening to the character? Where are the other dimensions?鈥欌�� said the actor in his melodious Welsh accent when a loud knock comes from the side of the trailer occupied by Russell, who is also Rhys鈥� offscreen romantic partner. 鈥淚鈥檓 being interviewed!鈥� he yelled with feigned outrage.
The interruption prompted a conversation about the Jennings鈥� marriage, which Rhys described as 鈥渁 real study of a relationship in its extremity. You鈥檙e not just jealous of your partner flirting with someone, you鈥檙e jealous of them knowingly going out and (sleeping with) other people.鈥�
He and Russell have a running inside joke in which they play extreme versions of their characters. 鈥淧hil鈥檚 always crying, and Elizabeth鈥檚 always like 鈥橮hil, shut the ... up! Stop being so ... sensitive!鈥欌��
Their gag also seriously highlights one of the more provocative aspects of 鈥淭he Americans鈥� 鈥� the way in which the female characters are more hard-core and ideological than their male counterparts. There鈥檚 also Claudia (Margo Martindale), Elizabeth and Philip鈥檚 merciless KGB handler, and their daughter, Paige, an American-born spy in training.
For Russell, twice nominated for an Emmy, the series has been career-defining. Seated on a stone wall inside Fort Tryon Park after filming a scene with Martindale, she recalled being baffled when FX Chief Executive John Landgraf asked her to play Elizabeth.
鈥淚 was just riding my bike around Brooklyn, having babies, and I was like, 鈥橶hy does he want Felicity to play this Russian spy?鈥欌�� she said, referring to her role as a wide-eyed NYU student in the late-鈥�90s WB drama 鈥淔elicity.鈥� 鈥淣ow I totally get it. For a girl, it鈥檚 such a cool, interesting, creative, tough part. And they鈥檙e rare.鈥�
The series has been similarly transformative for Martindale, a veteran character actress who is now ubiquitous on the small screen. It鈥檚 also earned her new fans, including a man who approached her in her Upper West Side neighbourhood.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e on 鈥橳he Americans鈥�?鈥� she recalled being asked. 鈥淚 said, 鈥橸es.鈥� He said, 鈥橧鈥檓 ex-KGB. You鈥檙e the real deal.鈥欌�� She paused. 鈥淗e was kind of cute too.鈥�
When The Americans debuted in 2013, the Cold War seemed to be another quaint relic of the 1980s, like Pac-Man or New Coke. But amid headlines about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible Kremlin collusion with the Trump campaign, the period drama is bowing out at a moment of unexpected topicality.
鈥淔ew people are more surprised by the show鈥檚 timeliness than Fields, or especially Weisberg, who admitted to 鈥渁 lifelong fascination bordering on obsession with Soviet affairs and Russian politics.鈥�
Though his three years in the CIA taught him 鈥渢hat intelligence officers from one side were not that different from intelligence officers on the other side,鈥� inhabiting the world of 鈥淭he Americans鈥� for six seasons has pushed his sympathies even further: 鈥淚 really do see things very, very deeply from the Russian perspective.鈥�
As The Americans winds down, there are lessons to be learned from the era it depicts, Weisberg said. 鈥淲e have once before turned Russians into such venal enemies that we fought a long, hard, very painful war with, creating incredible collateral damage.鈥�
He added, 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e doing it again.鈥�
