The Americans, one of the newest shows on FX has been critically acclaimed, and has been renewed for a second season, and it has a great premise, but I am not sure I am the person they are looking for.

So we have a seemingly normal suburban family living outside of DC in the early 80’s, and they just happen to be KGB spies, the sort we used to be warned about back in the day. Keri Russell plays Elizabeth Jennings, and Matthew Rhys plays her husband, Philip Jennings, both tackling their parts in an awesome fashion. On the FBI side we have the fantastic Noah Emmerich and bringing up the rear is the always lovely Richard Thomas as the FBI supervisor, Agent Gaad. Good start by all.

But here’s the thing: I hate these people. I grew up in the 80’s, and spent my nights trying to put visions of nuclear holocaust out of my teenage head so I could get some sleep. ‘The Russians’ were scary, and I just cannot get behind rooting for a couple of KGB agents who are trying to destroy America. Especially one as psychopathically driven as Elizabeth. She is a horrible, horrible person, and I have not a shred of sympathy for her, even after her harrowing backstory that involved beatings and rape. Don’t get me wrong, Keri Russell is bringing it, but I can not get on board with this woman. And her simpering hubby, the one who simultaneously begs his wife to love him while still in love with another agent he came up in the ranks with, makes just feel sorry for him. He comes off as weak, and she comes off as brutal, and I could care less.

It is the FBI where I have been seeking  some kind of salvation, but they seem to be… what’s the word… ambiguous? Not compelling? Boring and cliqued? <— I think that’s it. Like, I want to root for them, but I just don’t care about these people. Not really. And I am a big, big fan of some very ambiguous characters out there. Don Draper of Mad Men comes to mind. Now there is a bastard that I can’t help but root for. Pete Campbell too! (SORTA) But when any of these people, whether they be KGB or FBI gets a win or a loss, I can’t seem to get behind it.

Maybe the Cold War is just a subject I can’t swallow as entertainment in episodic form. Maybe the grungy way the show is shot doesn’t read 80’s to me. The clothes and hairstyles these people people are sporting certainly doesn’t feel very 80’s. I have dutifully watched this show, hoping somewhere there will be a spark for me, but the best episode so far has been the one where Reagan got shot, and our KGBers were sure it was a coup d’etat attempt. Now THAT was entertaining, watching them run around like crazy Russian spies, not understanding our country at all. But since then, it’s been one great big MEH for me.