fer

On my “The Americans” era

[kingofthepitt]

widow's bay. s01e01.

[carolstrapka]

when you’re in a loving keri russell’s performance in the americans competition and your opponent is matthew rhys

[carolsturka]

when your wife doesn't fuck with you like at all #whenyourwifedoesntfwyouatall

[matthewrhys]

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys

2018: Keri’s reaction to Matthew’s Emmy Award win 2026: Matthew’s reaction to Keri’s Actor Award win

[djkerr]

Keri Russell x Matthew Rhys 💗

📷 netflix IG

[scientistwitch]

The category is... Co-stars to Lovers.

And the winners are... THEM!

[legislacerator]

[carolsturka]

PHILIP and ELIZABETH JENNINGS in S2E5: "The Deal".

[whatelsecanwedonow]

Sorry. I never meant to hurt you. They let us have our way with the cadets. It was part of the job. A perk.

THE AMERICANS S01E01 | Pilot

[universallongings]

top 5 scenes in The Americans

I would like you to know that I have been thinking about this since 11 p.m. yesterday and have edited and changed this list in my head about 50 times, so here we go! 

1. The tooth extraction: I’ve written probably more words about this one scene than any other in TV history, but IT DESERVES IT. With absolutely no words, the entirety of Philip and Elizabeth’s relationship is cemented for us (and for them): the trust, the intimacy, the way he knows that this is going to hurt her and does everything he can to make it less painful (the towels behind her head!), the way she holds on to him as an anchor when she knows it’s going to get harder...It’s brilliant and beautiful and the most powerful moment of intimacy I have ever seen on TV because it’s not a sex scene. And that’s what this show is all about; the fact that some things (like having your fake husband who you love for real pull a tooth out of your mouth with just some pliers and whiskey) are way more intimate than sex and it’s who you share those things with that matters most at the end of the day. 

2. Philip’s “I love you” to Elizabeth: Philip telling Elizabeth he loves her before spending his last night with Martha has SO MANY LAYERS. My favorite part of it all comes before his actual utterance of those three little words, when Elizabeth is kind of fishing for reassurance (or looking to punish herself) by asking him if he would have chosen Martha in another life. It’s the most vulnerable and human we’ve really ever seen her look, and it’s a reminder that this a woman who genuinely believes that she is hard to love. And then the absolutely certainty and slight annoyance when Philip tells her he loves her is perfect because he just...cannot understand how she would ever doubt it. His love for her is so natural and easy and RIGHT for him that the idea of her not seeing it or believing it makes no sense to him. And then there’s this moment right after when she kind of eyes him skeptically and he nods really slightly and they’re having this whole second conversation with just their eyes where he’s making sure she KNOWS and it’s SO MUCH. 

3. “With or Without You”: Nothing I watch on television will ever make me completely crumble like Elizabeth’s hands hitting the window just as Bono starts to wail and we see Paige on that platform. It’s brilliant. Every beat of it is perfectly choreographed (which makes me believe in fate because they cut this with A DIFFERENT SONG!!!) and I will yell loudly forever about what this moment means for Paige coming into her own as a woman and asserting her independence and choosing her own life, no matter how hard it will be. And then I will also yell loudly forever about Philip walking to Elizabeth and both of them not even being able to really look at each other but just not wanting to be alone in one of the hardest moments of their lives. The way “And you give yourself way” builds as Philip walks to her is such a perfect metaphor for what he’s doing in that moment—giving himself away because he knows she needs him, which is all he’s ever done. And it’s perfect and now I’m going to go see some tissues about my feelings.

4. The entire last act of “The Colonel”: Everything from Philip figuring out Elizabeth was shot to Paige snooping in the laundry room is nothing short of perfection. The tension! The heightened emotions! The use of Russian! Philip saying he’s not leaving Elizabeth -- even for his kids (we love foreshadowing)! It’s all heartbreaking and smart and character-driven in the ways the best TV is, and that was the episode that took me from loving the show to believing it was the best thing I had ever watched. 

5. Philip killing Elizabeth’s rapist in the pilot: “How did he hurt you?” With that one line, I was hooked. Because with that one line and all that comes after, we know exactly who Philip is, and we find out at the same time as Elizabeth. He’s someone who ALWAYS puts her first. She’s it. She’s the most important thing in his life. He may not know what else he believes in anymore, but the one thing he is certain of is that he loves her and will do anything for her—including murdering someone with his bare hands and giving up his dream of defecting. It’s such a perfect way to establish this character, and the fact that he never changes -- that this is always who he is -- is a sign of brilliant writing and crystal clear motivation for characters that very few TV shows possess. 

[everyonewaits]

i'm literally mclosing it (x)

[akajustmerry]

love the different portrayals of misogyny and benevolent misogyny in The Americans so far. Love the conversations Elizabeth has with Claudia and with Phillip about how what she's expected to do and the violence and violation she's expected to endure when she's undercover is never the same as what Philip does and that his tendency to want to lash out and hurt the men who hurt her is just another form of robbing her of autonomy. And then there's Stan the FBI agent cheating on his wife with his CI, a woman he has total authority over and power to determine whether she lives a life or rots in prison. he justifies it with the assumption that his wife would never understand his work but also if she did it would put her in danger. But this benevolence where Stan assumes he's actually doing right by these women and actually he's even protecting them is what allows Nina to be a double agent right under his nose. All the men in this story have these grand notions of benevolence that dehumanises the women around them, even when they mean well and it's so delicious how the show actually explores this beyond lampshading a double gendered standard, beyond just pointing it out and going "that's bad". Even the subplot with Gregory, how everything that happens to him is rooted in his refusal to respect that Elizabeth does not want to be with him, but he believes that's what's best for her, and that sets in motion a bunch of shit that nearly gets them all caught. The consequences of benevolent misogyny are built into the plot so intentionally that there are wholeeeee plotlines that end in tragedy that might have been avoided if any of the men in this story respected women as people. I love that <3 I love when a show about romance does not shy away from politics of gender <3

[tvarchive]

THE AMERICANS Elizabeth & Philip Jennings

[wexler]

they're just the best

[ranaroy]

[selena-soto]

[ranaroy]