Lucky for them, they decided to allow Amazon Prime to host Seasons 1 and 2. When I saw it there, I remembered that being a show that I had wanted to see but never managed to.
Let me just say for a moment that I never just decide to watch a series. I sit down and watch a few episodes, maybe. If it doesn't get me on the first try, then it's unlikely that I'll watch it. There are a lot of Breaking Bad followers out there but I didn't think the first episode was all that great. In fact, I found it rather annoying. Guess who didn't get hooked?
Now let me say another thing for a moment. I am a Christian, but that doesn't mean I don't like watching something sexy. My thought is that if it makes me want my husband more, then that's a good thing, right? If it makes me want someone else, then that's definitely not a good thing. For this reason, I don't mind sexy. In fact, I really love sexy!
The show actually opens with a bang. I mean that in a literal sense. There is no circling around to make a point, it begins with an action packed abduction. You know, the kind that seals the deal, or at least it did for me.
Then later on there is a scene with Philip and Annalise and that's my aha moment. When my mouth ran dry I thought this was a show for me. lol! It was what I think of as a very sexy scene. Just as in real life, not all women are into that kind of thing and The Americans actually explores that aspect later on.
The show is consistent, has a lot of action without all the cursing (not that there isn't cursing, but the eff word isn't said every sentence because it's TV) and without all the unneeded violence (not that it doesn't have violence because it definitely does, but not like Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart). It does have nudity in very creative ways. Lots of naked butts, almost a full breast shot but just enough to avoid it and plenty of naked bodies with just the primaries cleverly obscured.
It also has a list of very interesting characters. No, you're not supposed to sympathize with them. Remember that they are the bad guys, but it's easy to forget. The show is careful in that way. It doesn't present them as victims at all, unlike what Hollywood usually tries to do. In fact, it presents them as the idiotic morons that they really are. Quick to jump to conclusions. Suspicious of every American move. Blaming Americans for circumstances beyond their control. It is typical USSR behavior. What we knew at the time and thankfully haven't forgotten, well, for some of us.
That said, I have fallen for Philip pretty hard. We'll forget for a moment his expertise in the bedroom, but there is just something about him. The actor portraying him, Matthew Rhys, isn't overly gorgeous but there is just something smoldering underneath there. Some actors just have what I call "it". It's not a hot body, or a Ian Somerhalder pretty boy look. It's just this... manliness or something. I don't know. You just want to throw yourself at them (no, not in a real sense of course).
My daughter is grown and we have a very good relationship. We talk about everything. She isn't afraid to tell me anything and so we feel comfortable watching sex in the same room. I still can't watch it with my mother. Oh no, no, no.
When I told her that he was just so hot, she blanched. He's cute, she admitted, but not hot. By season 2 he was standing there talking and I don't think he was even doing anything in particular and she smiled sideways saying "He's just so hot..." I wagged a finger, "I told you so!" He definitely grows on you.
I didn't bother with his name or looking him up right away. I just ended up binge watching initially. When I found out that he's Welsh, like my husband. Well, not really like my husband. My husband is only a Welsh descendant. Rhys is a Welshman, but I digress. When I found out he was Welsh I was absolutely stunned. I am very good at picking out foreign accents when they try to sound American. I can pick up even the tiniest of mistakes.
For him, I didn't. Now there was one thing that bothered me. I couldn't figure out what American dialect he was speaking. Pennsylvania? No. Upstate New York? No. It was definitely not mid-western nor southern (of which I am an expert at, I can pick out the difference between someone in East Tennessee and the center of Georgia). It sounded kind of New England but not Maine, nor places like Boston or Philly. It was strange to the ear.
When I learned he was Welsh, then I knew why I couldn't zero in on the dialect. I had decided that he was probably from the New York, Jersey, Maryland region and worked to drop his accent. Well, I had it half right, but I still never saw Welsh coming! He did drop his accent but boy was I shocked.
His acting is simply amazing. Most of them are actually! Alison Wright's accent was detectable early in the series but by Season 2, she was much improved. Her acting though is also superb. Then don't even get me started on Margo Martindale. WOW! My favorite moment of hers was her patient smile at Elizabeth over breakfast and her saying, "I know you better than you know yourself, but you don't know me at all." It was kind of creepy but sent the point to Elizabeth that her thick skull couldn't seem to comprehend, but my dislike of Elizabeth isn't the point.
I think Keri Russell plays her very well, I just don't like her. At all. In fact, I wish Philip would leave her but that will never happen. At least, not anytime soon. I can only hope that one day he will. He could have much better.
Season 1 went very well. It builds you up, you learn who everyone is, the action gets moving and we find that even Americans can succumb to revenge. Season 2 builds upon 1 and ends with a cliff hanger that I never in my wildest dreams expected to see. The orders that Claudia passes on to Philip and Elizabeth made my fingers run cold.
From what I've read, the general consensus is that Season 3 is the best so far. I can only imagine. When I finished in December I couldn't wait to start Season 3 and was disappointed to realize that it wasn't yet available. I eagerly did a search and initial reports were that the previous two seasons were available at Amazon in January. I was thrilled that I didn't have to wait that long. They said too that then the new season would start in February on television. Yay!
It was with great disappointment that an announcement was made that it wouldn't come until February, but they wouldn't give us a date. Then they finally said mid-February. The show won't start airing again until March. Well this has been the longest wait of my life!
I'm thrilled to death because when I went to bed, they were already available. I didn't go to bed until early this morning. No, I didn't watch them because my daughter loves the show and I'm sure will want to see them too. We'll watch it together.
I'm just so excited! It's really hard not to go in the living room and plop down with a cup of coffee and watch it right now. It's raining and this is the perfect time to watch a show.
Please, no spoilers for Season 3 from those of you watching, but what do you think of the show?
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