Critic Ben Sherlock is making the case that Joe Weisberg's Cold War drama The Americans deserves far more recognition as one of the standout series of television's Golden Age. Sherlock, a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema, argues the show put a fresh spin on the antihero double-life format popularized by series like Dexter, Breaking Bad, Barry, and Mad Men.
The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, Soviet spies sent to impersonate an American couple living in the Washington suburbs while gathering intelligence to destabilize the United States. Sherlock notes that unlike the fictional criminal underworlds of Walter White in Breaking Bad or Dexter Morgan's vigilante killings, the Jennings' cover has real historical precedent, since Soviet intelligence did send such operatives to assimilate into American society.
According to Sherlock, the series spans a major stretch of Cold War history, opening with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and closing with the resolution of the Cold War itself. He draws a parallel between the Jennings family's neighbor, FBI agent Stan Beeman, and the setup in Breaking Bad, where Walter White's brother-in-law works for the DEA — a structural echo that keeps tension simmering at ordinary social gatherings.
Sherlock also praises the ensemble cast, singling out Holly Taylor and Keidrich Sellati as the Jennings children, whom he compares to The Sopranos' Meadow and A.J., and Noah Emmerich as Stan Beeman. He highlights the recurring supporting cast as well, including Dylan Baker as a biochemical warfare expert, Margo Martindale and Frank Langella as the Jennings' KGB handlers, and an early-career Julia Garner as the daughter of a CIA boss.
Sherlock contrasts the show's premise with other double-life dramas, noting that Hannah Montana stands as an exception to the usual pattern of criminals hiding illegal activity from law-abiding families, and pointing to Jon Hamm's character in Your Friends and Neighbors, who secretly robs his own gated community's mansions.
While shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Six Feet Under have received widespread acclaim, Sherlock contends The Americans remains comparatively overlooked. He suggests that amid what he describes as a new Cold War of sorts, the series carries renewed relevance and is worth revisiting now.
