Season 5 - 13 episodes (2017)
Created by: Joseph Weisberg
Starring: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Noah Emmerich
Rating: TV-14
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous TV reviews!
Plot:
Two Soviet spies, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Phillip (Matthew Rhys), pose as a married couple with kids in Washington D.C. during the Cold War.
In season five, the Jennings are stretched to their limit, causing them to wonder if the U.S. is the best place for their family.
Verdict:
This is another solid season. While it was a bit heavy on the family drama, it included a intriguing contrast of the Jenning's family and the identity they are assuming along with an adopted teenage son. You could argue the assumed family is more real than the family consisting of the biological children.
I do wish this had more of the espionage plot lines this did so well in the early seasons, but this season, like the fourth, focuses more on family drama. This season teases a big upheaval, though like the fate of the characters you suspect things won't change too much.
Watch it.
Review
What makes this show is the tension. While I know the Jennings won't get caught, the show makes you wonder. While a few of the potential pitfalls have been mitigated, this season still maintains a fair amount of tension. A big tease is Phillip and Elizabeth wondering if they should leave America.
Season four finally figured out how to balance espionage and family (read my season 4 review), and this season is nearly as good, though the Russian plot lines aren't that interesting, not like they were in earlier seasons when they had a sense of immediacy with an embassy stateside.
For at least the past three seasons the show has been pushing Phillip out of the spy life. It's been a slow burning plot line that, at this point, I don't expect will amount to anything other than tension for the plot. He's alluded that he doesn't want to be a spy, he likes living in America, and now he wonders about going back to Russia. He's been eyeing any kind of escape for a while. I'd guess it amounts to nothing or it's part of the show finale.
Every season, this show manages to change just enough to keep it interesting. This kicks off with Phillip and Elizabeth living a fake life with another spy, Tuan, posing as their teenage son. This runs parallel to the rest of the season as a comparison to their real family and as they reflect on the life of a spy, watching someone that's just a kid getting started in the life. They are more honest with Tuan than they are their daughter Paige.
While the Jennings introduced Paige into their spy game, they still aren't sure she's cut out for it. She's nowhere near as apt as their fake son Tuan. Has Paige's upbringing made her too soft for this life? Everyone in this show that's a good spy, grew up rough.
Their real son Henry is practically nowhere to be seen. It's clear he's grown up a bit too quickly for the show, maybe that's why we don't see much of him, the showing giving him a girlfriend to keep him off screen.
The big espionage plot line is genetically modified wheat. It's a cool plot line, that ultimately serves to make Phillip question yet again living the life of a spy. He draws a very fine moral line. It's okay if he kills people in the name of Russia if they are doing direct harm Russia, but if they are only doing indirect harm he has a crisis of occupation. This culminates in a play to get information where Phillip almost blows their cover on an operation Tuan set up. Tuan calls out the Jennings for being too emotionally invested. He's not exactly wrong. Elizabeth tells Tuan he'll never make it because he's too much of a loner, but that really felt like her just being spiteful.
Another plot line is Stan's new girlfriend. Stan is the FBI agent that is the Jenning's next door neighbor. the show goes back and forth on whether the girlfriend is a spy, teasing us the entire season. By the end, we don't know for sure, but it seems likely.
The espionage in the show has been relegated to broad stories that span the season. It's not as good as it was in the first couple of seasons where their assignments varied. I know the show will twist season 6 somehow to make it more unique, but it has to figure out the Paige situation. It's been dragging for far too long.
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