The Americans - The Complete Third Season

Michael Cox READ TIME: 3 MIN.

Defending the ideals of your country can really wreak havoc on your family life.

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings' long standing marriage is a sham, and they both know it --but they're both fairly happy with it. From the outside they're living the suburban American dream. They have a nice home and two beautiful children. And this is what they set themselves up for when they entered into an arranged marriage over 15 years ago in order to uphold their most deeply held beliefs. It's all politics in Washington D.C.

Which side of the fence are they on? The USSR's; they're Russian spies in the midst of the Cold War just after Ronald Reagan was elected president.

If you haven't kept up with "The Americans" or you haven't got into it yet, you won't be disappointed with the cringe-worthy thrills, the driving action and painfully realistic emotion of Season 3.

Keri Russell is cold, mysterious and darkly funny as Elizabeth whose biggest problem isn't taking down to male FBI agents in hand to hand combat, it's trying to raise a daughter that's become religious. Rather than having a heart-to-heart conversation with her daughter, mom needs to help her husband Philip (Matthew Rhys) dispose of a naked, dead woman in a hotel room.

Fourteen year-old Page (Holly Taylor) is rebelling against an inconsistent parental presence in her life by becoming a Christian. Much as this bugs her parents, it doesn't worry them like the fact that their friends are trying to indoctrinate the girl into the KGB.

While mom and dad have no fidelity toward their marriage, in and out of bed with various people who can give them information, 12-year-old Henry (Keidrich Sellati) is outraged and conflicted by the fact that he's starting to have sexual feelings for a picture of his mom's friend in a bathing suit.

If their children don't upend this duplicitous duo, surely it will be their friendship with the FBI agent Stan Beeman (played with agonizing vulnerability by Noah Emmerich). Unable to get over his failed marriage, Stan is already in trouble with the bureau for his relationship with another KGB agent.

This four DVD collection contains every episode of the third season, plus never before seen deleted scenes and a featurette, "The Cold War for Page," offering some behind-the-scenes insight into this peculiar family relationship.

"The Americans: The Complete Third Season"
DVD
$29.98
www.foxconnect.com


by Michael Cox

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