Question of the week #23

[treonb]

Last week ABC premiered a Cold-War-era spy miniseries called The Assets.  (You can read more about it here)

I personally looked at it and decided it wasn't for me because the Cold War wasn't really what attracted me to The Americans.  This question is therefore twofold:

1. What were the things that attracted you to our show?

2. Do you intend to give this show a try? If you've watched it, would you recommend it to other fans?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[treonb]

Since I asked, I'll also answer..

Hard to say what really drew me to this show. It was definitely not the idea of the Cold War or an 80s themed show. I think it was the idea of the undercover spies posing as normal people. I didn't think I'd like it much, especially since it was billed as the 'Russian pov' show, but it made it into my 'at least give it a try' list.

As it turned out, I love the aspects of pretend normalcy, and I love the understated humor. I also love the 80s aspects and touching events that I should know about but send me to read up on them anyway, but that's a bonus.

[sistermagpie]

I'm curious-what sounded especially uninteresting about the Russian pov aspect to you?

[treonb]

I guess I should have said THE Russian pov. With the KGB being the heroes and the FBI being the bad guys. In practice, I'm not sure how much it really shows the Russian pov at all. The KGB (and Russia) are not shown in a favorable light at all. Elizabeth is likable despite it all, not because of her Communist convictions, And Philip has no problems becoming an American anyway. Stan and company are not 'the heroes', and we don't want them to succeed, but they're not the bad guys either.

[jae]

*nods* There are no good guys and bad guys on this show--that's one of the genius things about it. Even when you're sure that someone is just irredeemably bad, like Claudia, they will eventually show something about that person's motivations that allow you to sympathize.

I'd have watched a hypothetical show that had the Russians as heroes and the Americans as villains, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much.

-J

[sistermagpie]

Ah--I see. It's definitely much more interesting--and probably realistic--this way. I always like the way we just see these individual people with their own complicated relationships to their country's agenda trying to do what they feel they need to do.