Does it only get better for you?

I still have to watch season 5 but each season has gotten more and more enjoyable for me. I am a big fan of the pace of the show, though I'm a bit of an apologist for slow moving dramas so I'm a little biased.

I think part of what makes this show so unique/effective is the fact that it's a spy/political show that moves slow enough for us to watch the inner machinations of the spies burn instead of moving from action set piece to action set piece with heavy handed dialogue in-between to slap us in the face with what a character is going through - as is the case with most spy movies these days.

It's also quite the acting showcase, so I can't complain when we get those long, contemplative scenes.

This is the first time I'm watching the show live, so it does seem a little slower to me because I cannot watch a few episodes at a time. However, I don't think there has been a dip in quality at all. All of the acting is still top-notch. I have no problems with the slower pace either. Mad Men and The Sopranos were slower paced than The Americans IMO, and I still enjoyed both of those shows. As long as we get a satisfying final season and finale (which I'm sure we will), I'll be happy.

I have a similar feeling, but only starting with this season. Because the show is so good, I am expecting that eventually some exciting things will happen when they knit together all of the things going on. We have a lot of ingredients: Henry has emerged as math/computer whiz, Stan has a mysterious girlfriend, there's wheat that might be super-resistant to insects, but might also not be, plus Oleg back home in the "food police", Philip's son, ....

No, actually. More of a "sunk cost fallacy" at this point.

Honestly, w/o a major, major character death or apprehension this season I might be done with it.

I think it's turned into a bit too much of a slow family drama. I was wondering if I didn't enjoy last Season as much since I watched it live, while I streamed seasons 1-3.

I still enjoy the show and think it's better than most on tv. For me though, it hasn't kept getting better since season 3.

Season 5 was excellent for me. This season is a slow burn but I'd rather have that than a fast paced shitty show.

Tonight's episode was too slow. Might not make it through this season if shit doesn't rip soon.

I'd have to echo the people saying that Seasons 4 and 5 are a step down in enjoyability. I like the focus on Paige, but I just wish there was more going on each week.

Someone else mentioned the preceived 'slow-walking' of plot development that has taken over a lot of series television shows. Americans seems to have shifted into molasses mode. Image quality and scene setup is still top notch. Love P&E. Can't watch the Paige. The fans her character is targeting? Unfathomable pin-headery I guess but to each her own.

I think this is their best season so far.

I agree! It has gotten really slow and I really, really do hope it will actually soon pay off with great action or tension scenes.. Right now so many stuff feels like its just there to fill time..i hope we are all wrong and that stuff with olegs mother etc. leads to something..why else so much screentime..?

I thought it got better up until S4. This year, so far, is a noticeable step down. It's just too slow - and pointlessly slow, just padding out scenes for the sake of filler. I think someone told them "it's great that you're not rushing through things!", and they took that to mean "the slower the better". But there are limits. It's gotten to the point where several times an episode I'm reading something else while listening on audio, because I know that whole minutes are going to go by without anything happening (and if anything is happening the music cues me to pay attention). And not in a 'Better Call Saul' way with minutes of silent plotting, but just with minutes of... digging holes. If it were a scene or two I'd watch it, but now it's almost every scene that could do with being cut substantially. Or, you know, interrupted by SOMETHING HAPPENING. Yes, the people talking quietly to each other scenes were always good, often the best scenes of all - but now it's JUST people talking quietly to each other and almost nothing else, and the monotony is damaging it. It's like... before, their method was to ratchet up tension. There'd be one ratchet of drama, and then we'd sit for a while at that level, anxious about the next ratchet, and then it would come, from an unexpected direction. Now it feels like we're sitting at the same level for whole episodes at a time, and that's not exciting.

There's also a problem for me with characterisation. Which is: we've had it. Normally, you establish the characters in depth, and then tell the story with them. With The Americans, it feels as though the further we get into the story, the more attention is being given to nuances of characterisation, except... we already know it by now. It's just repeating itself. Sure, individual scenes still work, where there's actually some development - like Elizabeth this week. But overall the ratio of amount of time fixed on close-ups of people emoting, to actual amount we learn from that emoting, is going up and up.

I'm sticking with it, because in past years they've done a good job of having the plot explode at the end of each season. But this year I'm more worried than ever that the showrunners have just sworn off explosions - and excitement and pleasure and anything audiences might like - and aren't going to have everything just fizzle damply and Artistically.

Seasons 1 thru 3 were amazing.

In season 4, I grew very sick of Martha's story, which dragged on way too long. And I got tired of pretending not to notice Kerri was pregnant. They didn't handle it well. I chalked up the lack of active storylines to the fact that she was physically limited.

Now I'm very sick of Paige's story, and wish her angst was not the main focus of the parents. How about Henry and Tuan? More clues about Renee? The Mischa story was great, and then poof he's gone.

You know the actors are getting bored too when they are allowed to start directing. Noah is pretty good at it, but Matthew's episode was a big disappointment.

Season 5 has been a bit less interesting than the prior seasons (especially 3 and 4, with 3 probably being my favourite). However, I think the stories this season have been written with more of a 2 year plan in mind (season 5 working as a sort of interlude to the end of the show in season 6), where the focus is moreso on Philip and Elizabeth's loyalty to the KGB wavering than it is their day-to-day work.

Most people say "it only gets better" because a lot of people come on here after watching half or getting almost done with the first season and don't get the premise of the show .

I streamed the first season and I've watched it live since midway of the 2nd season. So far what I have to say is that this show (or any show streamed for that matter) is not going to feel the same if you watch it live vs streaming it. With that in mind, the show grips harder streaming than watching live. The reason I say that is because of the pacing. I don't mind watching it live, but I know I would be irritated being used to be able to watch on my own time only to have to wait a whole week to know what happens.

I think the problem with this season is that it's not as easy to connect with what's happened in real life. They've done a good job with the missions before this season as far as mentioning major cold war events but the whole thing about the wheat is a bit absurd and that's what's making it feel that it's not gripping. We already know that in real life the US wasn't a major supplier of wheat to the USSR, especially considering the embargo when Carter was in office that was lifted by Reagan in 81 or 82 messed things up for the US as the USSR learned it didn't have to depend on the USA for wheat. So with that being said, it's hard to get hooked on a plotline dealing with something that didn't happen. Add to the fact that nothing major is going on and it feels that it's going down in quality.

No. It has gotten less gripping. I loved seasons 1-3, hated season 4, and season 5 is sort of okay for me. Just kind of meh I guess. I still watch it since I've been loyal since the beginning, but it doesn't hold my interest like it used to. In the early seasons, every scene had my undivided attention. Now I feel like I can multitask and still absorb everything I need to know. I mean, they basically just sit around and talk now. I'm okay with a slow-burn as long as we actually get somewhere and it's interesting along the way. But it's not really happening for me.

People say it gets better after they have gotten further along than those who are asking.

Right now there is nobody further along than anyone else, so it is fair to ask does it get better and feel that it will not.

This season has been a bit of a step down, I think. Nothing much has really happened. I can forgive it though, as it is surely setting up for an incredible final season.

Yes.

After they confessed to Paige a couple of episodes were pretty annoying, but besides that it's been consistently good throughout, not really better or worse.