As much as I loved the third season of The Americans, I can't deny that there are a couple of issues I'd love to see the show work on as it goes forward. The most notable one, of course, is the insane number of storylines the show is juggling at any given point; there came a point in the season where I felt like I had to just give up keeping all of the threads straight in my head, given that we had a slew of agents being strung along by both Philip and Elizabeth, plots being spun out by Stan, Nina off in Russia doing her own thing - and that's all before everything exploded a few episodes before the end of the season. But for as much as that frustrated me sometimes this season, none of it keeps The Americans from being one of the best shows on television right now, if only because while it may struggle with plot beats sometimes, it never misses the emotional ones - and that's what makes the show work. Season 3 of The Americans never let us forget of the emotional toll this war took on us, and it never missed a chance to drill in just how brutal and unforgiving this work could be, whether through the gruesome disposal of a body, an intense do-it-yourself dental work scene, or a harrowing murder that takes place face-to-face over an extended period of time. And all of that doesn't even touch on the element that's going to make this season legendary and a game changer for the series, in which Philip and Elizabeth's relationship with their daughter forever changes in ways we can't begin to fathom. Yes, The Americans occasionally gets overwhelming, and sometimes feels like it's got too much going on at once. But it never misses the essential beats that drive the show, and the way that threads keep pulling together in new and upsetting ways - the parallels between Philip's new informer and his daughter, the constant reminders of the Center's plan that was revealed at the end of the second season, the growing horror as characters come to realize what kind of people the Jennings really are - is just one of the many things that makes this one of the finest shows on television right now. It's intense, upsetting, hard to watch, riveting, thought-provoking, and just generally masterful television, and I'm thrilled FX is letting it keep going for now.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
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