The Americans was well represented on Uproxx’s lists of the best shows of 2016. FX’s superb Russian spy-drama finished second in both the television critics’ poll and Alan Sepinwall’s ranking. “The stakes were higher, the acting never stronger, the drama repeatedly shattering,” he wrote about season four. “And we still have two more seasons to go in this story! If The Americans keeps improving, I’m not sure my heart can take it.” How can the best get even better? By putting one of Philip’s wigs on Mail Robot, obviously.
Other than that, though, The Americans shouldn’t change a damn thing.
Consistency is one of the series’ greatest assets, and showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have learned to adopt the “slow burn,” which “we used to think that was a back-handed compliment, or possibly even an insult,” Weisberg told EW. But they’ve “come to embrace the slow burn — such a slow burn that it may not even be burning at all. We’re just telling a story as it unfolds. For us, the penultimate season is just another season of telling a story of this family and the people around them. It’s not ramped up. It’s not hyped up. It’s not building the tension — but it will be a great season.”
But how about a certain “poor” character? What’s she up to? Martha is “off the grid,” Weisberg said, before adding, “But what’s your grid?” The interviewer answered, “The grid is the cast of the show,” to which Fields responded, “We did not say that.” Well, that’s certainly cryptic.
Hang in there, Martha. You might be called into service one of these days.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
