Binge watching needs a separate category now and series should be ranked in terms of their ‘Binge watchable ness’. This is because binge watching exposes certain facets of a series especially when it comes to ‘fast forward’ parts.
I go for binge watching series only when their run is completed, I began with first season of ‘Lost’ after the series finale was advertised! This has multiple advantages, firstly the multi season run of a series is indicative of the ‘quality’ of the content, ratings were good enough for series to be made one season after another, though this Rorschach test fails miserably when it comes to a series like ‘The Bold and Beautiful’, however we can have more refinement to our criteria :- ‘The series finale is advertised!’. This refinement is indicative of a semblance of an arc panning the several seasons.
With these filters in place, the series that I undertook for my binge watching in the last week was ‘The Americans’. I came across an article which said ‘Finally some well deserved recognition for the cast of ‘The Americans’ with an Emmy’, upon reading the article it was clear, six seasons, lauded series finale, and now an award, it is ‘binge worthy’
Also, what attracted me more was the premise of series, technically called as the ‘punch line’ for the series : ‘A spy thriller about two KGB agents posing as a married couple living across the street from an FBI agent’. I was sold.
The Americans has three central characters Elizabeth and Philip Jennings as the couple and Stan Beeman as the FBI agent. Now here is where (line seems incorrect yet tacky and rhymy so I am keeping it) so, Now here is where the ‘binge watchable ness’ comes into play, because though technically it is a spy drama, and there are some spy things happening, however since you are watching it continuously, the spy things become redundant and essentially what remains is a human drama.
The 80’s scenery does invoke nostalgia and the history chapters about Cold War from our school textbook are refreshed with the occasional clips from the era. The title video is colorful and amazing, and the series finale is mesmerizing, it has a 10 minute sequence with no dialog and only background music that captures the essence of the story.
Early on in the first season the principle is established, if you make a mistake in the spy world the punishment is death. Yet almost pathologically everyone who makes a mistake takes it back to their superiors called as’ handlers’ and they D I E. Plus in spy missions there is collateral damage, many innocents will die, however the sheer number of such incidents that keep on happening is intolerable for the viewer. Plus the ground rules of the spy game are deception, and relationships require exact opposite of deception, trust. Yet, the characters keep on falling on the loops of deception and heartbreak. The favorite binge game is to predict at the start of the episode which character will be disposed or will have an heartache. However these portions make it easy to view the series as you can easily fast forward the predictable parts.
The second problem I face in many series is ‘Time dilation’. None of the series show a timeline, and it is difficult to guess where months are passing and where the matter is settled in days. I had a similar problem with a recent ‘Billions’ episode, Chuck who is an attorney in New York, has a presumably morning meeting with his boss where an invitation for dinner is laid. Chuck then is back at his home telling his wife about the dinner (no phone call, he is physically at home), She then travels to her office to rent a chef and bring him back home to cook the dinner, Chuck meanwhile travels to interrogate a witness in some other part of city, while returning he has a flat tire and is hence late for dinner. Either the workday begins at 3am and ends at 3am or one New York minute is equal to three rest of the world minutes, because I live 1.4km from my office and still I am unable hop skip and jump so many times in a day or maybe I should move to New York!
Anyways, once you are able to ignore the rif-raf what remains is essentially a human story, a story about people struggling to find their place in the world and their different reactions to tackle what is essentially a meaningless existence. Elizabeth played by Keri Russell has a denial response, a tendency in some humans to pretend to have all the answers, presenting stoic and unquestioning belief, because accepting even the idea of question is too hard to handle hence the default comfort zone is to continue believing. Philip played by Matthew Rhys lands on the other side of spectrum, someone who tries to accept the vulnerability, isn’t stoic and stays conflicted, however this leaves him without any base and in a rather free fall. Either way the characters are doomed, Elizabeth with her firm belief in the Soviet ideology and her spy training is not at peace because she is unable to accept the questions to her righteousness, Phlip with his almost disillusionment with the ideology is unable to find a floor and is in a continuous and unbearable fall. Beeman the FBI agent meanders through this spectrum as tackles the ideas of loyalty. He is fiercely loyal, however to whom should he loyal to? people, ideas, ideals ?
The most interesting insight to this problem is provided in small conversations that a character called Oleg Igorevich Burov has with his father and mother separately, the essence of those conversations is, ‘you do, what you need to do, to survive’. A rather dark yet apt guidance for the characters in the series, yet no character in the series is willing to accept this realistic proposition, as everyone is invested in an higher ideal, they believe that there is an higher ideal, and they think their core problem is of identification of the ideal, rather than existence of that ideal.
One of the most interesting arguments I heard in favor of theism or for belief in God, is ‘Why would you want to live in a Godless world?’, because what can you aspire for if God does not exist? Living life in a manner, in a belief, that God exists provides a structure to life. This argument emphasizes the practicality of believing in God, or the utility of believing is so high that arguing for a Godless society is a huge disservice to humanity. I know some atheist can argue against such a proposition, however for people living a normal, simple life, such an argument has great utility.
Sadly for the characters of the series, they are in deep mud and even God or the idea of God cannot rescue them.
This is illustrated excellently by the character of Paige Jennings, the daughter of the couple. She begins on a Christian path, of forgiveness, of believing in truth, of trusting, of thinking of the world above the self, all in theory good articles of faith to live by. Yet in the muddled world of the series, her encounter with the truth bondages her rather than set her free. Her process of coming of age is completely disrupted and her struggle is so real. Holly Taylor who plays Paige does this conflict to perfection, so much so that in some passages she is so irritable that you want to scream ‘Shut-up’ to the teenager and in that moment you realize that she has played the part to perfection.
Paige’s pastor thinks that her parents are being monstrous by exposing their daughter to the spy world, Elizabeth thinks she is doing her good by exposing her to the ideology, though she tries her best to hide the hideous parts and shine the good parts for her daughter, Paige inevitably falls into the shadow of the hideousness by just trying to be the good daughter, by trying to make a difference. Each character like them believes they are doing the right thing, yet by choice they are doing the wrong thing.
The Series does not leave us with any answers, only Beeman seems to have some semblance of stability, however he achieves it when he embraces the ‘you survive’ motto in some proportion. The series is a tragedy of circumstances on a surface level, but beneath lie the layers of choices, of immorality, of selfishness, which exonerates all the characters and yet leaves them as guilty.
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