Skip to main content

The Americans

    On Wednesday night at ten o'clock, a new series started on FX Channel. I watched the premiere and really enjoyed it. It is a spy story, told without qualms, told in a gritty, dark manner that spares no feelings.
    A Russian couple, Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, played by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, come to the United States to begin deep-cover espionage activities. They are forbidden to even speak their mother tongue, once in America. They are married and living in D.C. They have two children, a boy and a girl. They go to the malls, eat ice cream and do all the mundane things that Americans do. They also compromise men and women who are involved in government offices. The lady seduces intelligence people to reap a treasure trove of intel. The man pretends to be an investigator who is tasked with keeping tabs on the CIA and FBI. They have a clandestine relationship with their 'handler' through the Soviet embassy.
     The guy, Philip, likes it in the U.S. and wants to defect and take the reward money for doing so. The lady, Elizabeth, is ready to turn him in to her boss, because she is a Russian patriot who brooks no frivolity, fun or betrayal. Doubtless her pseudo-husband thinks her stuffy until he finds a tape recording of one of her 'interviews' with a guy she picked up in a bar.
     Things get lively, right from the start, when they capture a defector and keep him in the trunk of their car, in their garage, in suburbia. To complicate things, the KGB guy in the trunk had previously forced himself on Elizabeth, during her KGB training, and she wants to kill him very badly. It merely spices the dish when an FBI guy, tasked with counter-espionage, buys the house next door. This all takes place during the Reagan Presidency, while the Cold War was hot.
    This show is not for kids. It has a lot of adult language and situations, violence and other things that you may not like. I found it to be well done, well acted and very good. I set it up to tape every week on my DVR. Check it out if you want.
      I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of some of the new series that are appearing on television. I don't like sit-coms with their canned laughter and had just about quit watching regular television. True, the amount of commercials are ridiculous on this show and recording the shows are almost a necessity, so you can fast-forward through them. Chances are, though, if you like shows like Justified and Deadwood, Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, you'll enjoy this one.
     I'm CE Wills.
    
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Four Free Games

     Hey, everyone. If free games makes the start of a new week a little better, we're in luck. Check these out on your friendly, neighborhood app store. 1) Cowboys vs. Aliens vs. Ninjas- This is a dual stick shooter, much like Mini-Gore . You are an old-west cowboy with a vast array of weapons (earned gradually). You have to move and shoot, avoiding death, as you battle Ninjas and aliens. Some aliens are quite large. Some enemies are big Sumo Wrestlers. There are sword-wielding ninjas and these aliens that yield a mini-nuclear explosion when killed. When your enemies die they leave behind little stacks of money, or skulls. You collect these items because of a strange hobby of trophy grabbing for your macabre collection. Just kidding, the items can be spent or used as the game progresses. This is a good game and I played it for a while last night. 2) The Heist - A puzzle game with a twist. As you try to open a bank vault, you must face a series of different puz...
Post a Comment
Read more

Game Review: NFS, Hot Pursuit

    This game was one which I refused to download for a while, even though it was on sale for 99 cents. I thought that it looked boring and narrow. Boy, was I wrong! This game totally kicks butt. It is one of those rare games that will actually give you an adrenaline rush. It is that intense. The developers, EA Games, have recently updated the app to include two main avenues of play. You can either be the cops or the racers who are trying to evade the cops. As a racer you have to deal with cops trying to hit you and make you crash, cops buzzing you with helicopters, oncoming traffic, tack strips spread across the road and roadblocks. In the cop mode you are a cop and you are trying to stop a reckless racer by any means, fair or foul. As a racer you can use nitrous oxide for increased speed, overdrive capability and oil slicks. You also can jam the cops communication with a jamming unit. Like almost all games these days, it gets harder as you go along. I prefer my games to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shadowgun: Killing The Windbreaker

    Hey, everyone. I thought it might be a good time for a bit of an update on the riveting game called Shadowgun. Consider this your spoiler alert and tune out if you want to.     Once you get past the dreaded Driller, things get better but you are certainly not out of the woods. You will want to make sure you keep a full clip in your gun as you stroll through the realm of the evil and crazy Dr. Simon. But hey, you're John Slade, the Shadowgun, and wherever you set your foot is the place to which your authority extends.      I love the way that some of the barriers disintegrate under the impact of bullets. I didn't learn this at my mother's knee but I darn sure know it now. I have learned that there are certain places it is good to plan on using the rocket launcher. Keep your stock of those filled. There are these transporter guys who are aggressive punks. The only way they respect you is if you kill them, so that's the way I roll. As...
3 comments
Read more