Prepare for THE AMERICANS: The Complete Final Season on DVD

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to DVD is the highly acclaimed FX series and 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment offering of THE AMERICANS: The Complete Final Season.

The Jennings have moved on with life and in 1987 it is about to remind them of who they are. Working at a travel agency, Philip (Matthew Rhys) is giving all his time to the job. The same can’t be said for Elizabeth (Keri Russell) who has been working for weeks with a proposed Reagan-Gorbachev summit in the works. Claudia (Margo Martindale) doesn’t give her a moments break when she orders Elizabeth to Mexico to learn of new plans called ‘Dead Hand’.

Henry (Keidrich Sellati) and Paige (Holly Taylor) are also living their own lives in boarding school and college with the latter preparing for her own training. It is quickly put to the test. Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) contacts Philip and orders him to discover where Elizabeth went and why.

Elizabeth returns and must find a way into the State Department to see CIA McCleesh and gets more information than she bargained for regarding the President. She also uses the powers of information persuasion to get what she wants from McCleesh agreeing to meet up later. When it goes wrong, Elizabeth is relieved to have Paige on her side but also lets her know that she could have blown it by leaving her look out.

Now it starts to get a little dirty as Dennis (Brandon Dirden) and Stan (Noah Emmerich) discover Burov is in Washington and need to find out why he is so interested in transportation. They aren’t the only ones to have to deal with him as Philip learns through their meet-up that things with Gorbachev aren’t going well.

Claudia is keeping Elizabeth busy with a new contact for what they tried to get from McCleesh. Her gun isn’t even cold before she takes out security guards in the Altheon warehouse to get the radiation sensors they need. There has been a defection and it is big news.

Philip discovers that he might not have enough money to afford Henry’s school and works even harder at the travel agency and finally tells Elizabeth about it. Sex as a way to get information begins as Paige finds a Congressional intern and Philip is assigned Kimmy (Julia Garner) for a trip to Greece that will lead to a kidnapping.

After a double hit, Philip changes his mind and tells Elizabeth what he has done. Claudia has other plans sending Elizabeth and Marilyn (Amy Tribbey) to find ‘Harvest’, a Russian code name for someone else working on ‘Dead Hand’. When Philip asks her to stop what she is doing, Elizabeth turns him down leaving him no choice but to go and help her.

Working together, Philip and Elizabeth get their person but not without cost. Marilyn and ‘Harvest’ both leave the two looking for even more answers in France. Before they go, it is mess cleaning time. Even though Elizabeth had previously thought Paige might not ever be ready for the spy game, she encourages her into a State Department internship.

Philip finally discovers what Elizabeth has been up to and can not believe it but that has to wait as Gorbachev has landed in the United States. Using her intern conquest, Elizabeth manages to plant a bug and learns that Nesterenko (Alex Feldman) is interested in having no nuclear weapons and immediately the order is given for his assassination. Claudia finally comes clean about her movies and she turns to Philip for help.

When Father Andrei (Konstantin Lavysh) is discovered to be with the KGB and Philip narrowly escaped being arrested. Also in custody Oleg is suggesting that he was only placed in the United States to protect the Russian President. Claudia is furious that Elizabeth did not follow the plan and Paige asks again about her seducing interns for information and when she doesn’t get the answer she wants, Paige begins the name calling. No time for thinking, Philip gives Elizabeth a signal that begins a clearing out of their home.

Now, Philip, Elizabeth and Paige must make a decision about where they are to go but are sure that it’s better to leave Henry behind at boarding school. Stan has finally put the pieces together and has to make a decision of his own when it is confirmed that the two people he is looking for are right in front of him.

Russell as Elizabeth has come such a long way in playing this character. From the very beginning I was never quite sure what her motivation was or which way she would turn. That’s what made her character to intriguing and let me tell you, there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do to get an assignment done – some of it quite harrowing. Russell proved in this series why she got the role in the first place and there is no one else ever, in watching this series, could have done it better.

Rhys as Philip has the unique ability to show everything on his face while saying something totally opposite with his words. I have enjoyed watching his career blossom with so many amazing roles but I honestly believe it is the series THE AMERICANS that will be the standout for him. Along with Russell, the role of Philip was unpredictable, intense, stirring and even confusing but in a good way.

Taylor as Paige has certainly grown up in this series. I always suspected that she would attempt to join the ranks of the life her parents were living; of course I was hoping she wouldn’t but there it is. Taylor’s performance continues to be strong until the end leaving a moment of question that I just frustratingly love. Selatti as Henry is the one kept out of the loop throughout the series. There is something amazing when you have one character that lives in what he thinks is the real world without knowing that it isn’t.

Emmerich as Stan has been the suspicious eye throughout the series and he has the amazing and unique ability to do just that. There were times I thought he was so very close to figuring it out and then backed off again not wanting to accuse anyone of something so serious. Emmerich, like Rhys, has made a name for himself in playing amazing roles and in THE AMERICANS he deserves to be recognized for every moment he has been on screen.

Other cast include Lev Gorn as Arkady Zotov, Laurie Holden as Renee, Darya Ekamasova as Sofia Bystrova, Yuri Kolokolnikov as Gennadi Bystrov, and Kelly AuCoin as Pastor Tim.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings award-winning global product and new entertainment to DVD, Bluray, and Digital HD. There amazing collection offers fans an opportunity to expand their own home libraries with the best films. To discover what other titles they have please visit www.fox.com.

The DVD includes the Special Features of Deleted Scenes, Inside Looks and Gag Reel which helps to lighten up a very intense series! The 3-disc set is 526 minutes of drama that will leave you guessing up until the very end – and it’s an ending worthy of such an amazing series as THE AMERICANS.

Also included are the episodes Dead Hand, Tchaikovsky, Urban Transport Planning, Mr. and Mrs. Teacup, The Great Patriotic War, Rififi, Harvest, The Summit, Jennings Elizabeth and START.

What has made THE AMERICANS such a unique experience is the stellar cast that continued week after week and season after season bringing it all home to fans. Beginning in 2013, the Cold War series set in the 1980’s was actually a reminder to many of us who remember that time period. Another amazing thing that came from the series is loads of conversations about the characters and the season after season unknowns.

Created by former CIA officer and novelist Joseph Weisberg, he is also responsible for working on the series Falling Skies, Damages and Justified. He also won Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series from the Primetime Emmy Awards. Rhys also won for Outstanding Lead Actor and Russell was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The TCA Awards gave THE AMERICANS an award for Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in a Drama. Russell won Individual Achievement in Drama and Rhys received a nomination.

That proves one thing for sure – fans of THE AMERICANS are going to miss the series greatly but, when that feeling hits, 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment makes THE AMERICANS easy to get into your own home library.

In the end – their dedication is being watched and the clock is ticking!