This is my favorite finale of any series I've ever watched.
Going into this finale, I was thinking about what they're going to do in the way of so many other shows season and series finales: it will be filled with final twists and culminate with finding out who dies at the end.
The Americans didn't go the easy route of other shows. Instead, it showed incredible respect for the characters and the complex relationships they had spent years developing with a slow, thoughtful finale. To its final moment, it wasn't a show about Cold War spying, it was about the toll of Cold War spying on families. The finale embraced this as well or better than any episode in the series.
I usually leave finales feeling either satisfied or annoyed. I left this one thinking about what it would be like to be Elizabeth or Philip or Paige or Henry or Stan. It's a much powerful feeling.
Going into this finale, I was thinking about what they're going to do in the way of so many other shows season and series finales: it will be filled with final twists and culminate with finding out who dies at the end.
The Americans didn't go the easy route of other shows. Instead, it showed incredible respect for the characters and the complex relationships they had spent years developing with a slow, thoughtful finale. To its final moment, it wasn't a show about Cold War spying, it was about the toll of Cold War spying on families. The finale embraced this as well or better than any episode in the series.
I usually leave finales feeling either satisfied or annoyed. I left this one thinking about what it would be like to be Elizabeth or Philip or Paige or Henry or Stan. It's a much powerful feeling.