The Americans (2013 TV series)

The Americans is an American television period drama series created and produced by former CIA officer Joe Weisberg. The series premiered in the United States on January 30, 2013, on the cable network FX, and ended on May 30, 2018.

Set in the early 1980s during the Cold War, The Americans is the story of Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple living in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. with their unsuspecting children (Holly Taylor and Keidrich Sellati) and their neighbor, Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), an FBI agent working in counterintelligence.

Pilot [1.01]

 * Philip Jennings: Maybe this is the perfect time for us just to think about living the life we've been living but just really living it. Just being us.


 * Chris Amador: So, were you, like, burning crosses and shit with those guys? Or like, "Heil Hitler"?
 * Stan Beeman: It was a little deeper than that.


 * Viktor Zhukov: The American people have elected a madman as their president. He is expanding their military forces on a massive scale. He is against nuclear arms-control agreements. He makes no secret of his desire to destroy us. Our war is not so cold anymore, Elizabeth. What happens behind enemy lines will determine the outcome of this struggle.

The Clock [1.02]

 * Chris Amador: They can cut your balls off, stuff them in your mouth, tie you to a radiator in a basement, and then call it a lateral move.


 * Philip Jennings: People who believe in God always make the worst targets.


 * Elizabeth Jennings: Viola, listen to me. You still have one more chance to save his life.
 * Viola Johnson: I don't believe anything you say.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: You see your son. He is dying in front of you. You know that's the truth. He'll make it another 24 hours. If you didn't tell anyone, and I don't think that you did, you can still put that clock back tomorrow, and this will all end.
 * Viola Johnson: I know the devil.


 * Viola Johnson: I listen to my lord. He protects me. He guides me.
 * Philip Jennings: There's been a misunderstanding between you and your lord.


 * Elizabeth Jennings: They shouldn't ask us to do impossible things.

Gregory [1.03]

 * Philip Jennings: You know, where I come from, you leave, you lose.
 * Stan Beeman: If that's how you want to win.
 * Philip Jennings: I'll win any way I can.


 * Gregory Thomas: You know, we met at the SCLC meeting. We was putting together a group to march with Dr. King in Chicago. We just clicked. It wasn't about race or Vietnam. It was about equality. When she told me who she really was, it was like I already knew. She was recruiting me for the KGB, America's number-one enemy. And I was right there with her. Me and her against the world. We were willing to sacrifice our lives, our families. You know, whatever it took.
 * Philip Jennings: You don't have a family, do you, Gregory?


 * Frank Gaad: She just walked away, tight out from under surveillance. How big was the team?
 * Stan Beeman: Six men.
 * Frank Gaad: And she just disappeared into thin air? Is she Doug Henning?
 * Stan Beeman: We debriefed the surveillance guys. They said it happened at a choke point, like she knew.
 * Frank Gaad: Goddamn it!
 * Stan Beeman: She slipped away from a full FBI surveillance detail. Sounds like a Directorate "S" Operative to me.
 * Frank Gaad: I got to call upstairs.
 * Chris Amador: Look, we all thought continuing surveillance was the best move. We all agree on that.
 * Frank Gaad: You worried about me, Amador? You think I'm out on a limb and someone's gonna saw it off?
 * Chris Amador: No, sir.
 * Frank Gaad: That's sweet. Really, I'm touched. But if this woman thinks that slipping one surveillance team gets her home to Mother Russia, she's as soft as you are.
 * Stan Beeman: We have her name and her face.
 * Frank Gaad: And we have the resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She has to be quiet to stay safe. We can make noise.

COMINT [1.05]

 * Claudia: I ran an agent in West Germany. He was a loner—one of these oddballs who never really learned to make a friend. So, I became his friend. Many years later, I was leaving and we didn't really need him anymore. I explained it all to him. And he thanked me for the chance to work together. He killed himself shortly thereafter. We didn't need him anymore, but he needed us.


 * Frank Gaad: Beeman, Amador, what would you make of it if I said to you, "I feel like I'm standing at the edge of a diving board over a pool with no water in it"?
 * Stan Beeman: You need a vacation?

Trust Me [1.06]

 * Elizabeth Jennings: [to Claudia as she beats her] I'm gonna kill you, you stupid bitch! Tell whoever approved this that your face is a present from me to them! Show them your face! Show it to them!

Duty and Honor [1.07]

 * Philip Jennings: The boy—is he real?
 * Irina: Only duty and honor are real, Mischa. Isn't that what we were told?


 * Nina: You Americans think everything is white and black— For us, everything is gray.

Mutually Assured Destruction [1.08]

 * Claudia: Elizabeth. I know there's bad blood between us. But believe it or not, I feel a camaraderie with you.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: A camaraderie?
 * Claudia: Yes.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: You have a funny way of showing that.
 * Claudia: This isn't an easy life we've chosen. But there's no way to get through it without the truth.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: What "truth" exactly are we talking about?
 * Claudia: In New York, Philip was with the woman we assigned him to.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: I can think of five different reasons you'd poison our life.
 * Claudia: Ask Philip, then.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: I did.
 * Claudia: You believe him? If you start to think of your marriage as real, it doesn't work. The men don't think of them that way.


 * Prostitute: So, what's your thing?
 * Assassin: My thing?
 * Prostitute: Oral? Anal? Ecclesiastical?
 * Assassin: Oh. I am much kinkier than that.

Safe House [1.09]

 * Martha Hanson: Clark, I'm in love with you. I waited my whole life for you, and I would do anything for you. Anything. All you have to do is ask. Just please, just tell me one thing? Is this real?
 * Philip Jennings: Yes.


 * Stan Beeman: A counterintelligence artiste?
 * Chris Amador: Yeah, I'm like Picasso, only with a gun and not a brush. My work is my life, and my life is my art. I have no wife, no kids, no pets, no hobbies, no distractions—except for pussy. I got no attachments. I'm as unencumbered as bedbugs in a flophouse, and I like it. It works for me.


 * Chris Amador: You're gonna lose this war. You know that, right? You can torture me and you can kill me but we're gonna kick your motherland's marbled ass, and there's nothing you can do about it.


 * Stan Beeman: When you shoot a bird—duck or pheasant, say—your dog, your retriever, picks it up in its mouth—its soft mouth. Soft mouth is key. Otherwise, the dog sinks his teeth into the bird's flesh. Anyway your dog brings it to you and lays it at your feet. But sometimes, when you shoot the bird, it's not dead. It's just wounded. Strange thing is, whether the bird is dead or just wounded, once the dog gets it in its mouth, the bird goes limp. Like a rag—doesn't move. It acts like it's dead. Doesn't struggle or scream. It just goes limp. Don't you think that's strange? You know what I think it is? Fear. The bird's scared out of its goddamn mind. Who wouldn't be? I know I would. Then again, maybe the bird is faking. You know what I'm saying? Maybe it wants you—talking about the bird now—to think it's dead so when the dog drops it out of its soft mouth at its master's feet, it can take off. It works sometimes. You wouldn't think it does, but it does. Not a lot. Once in a blue moon.
 * Vlad Kosygin: Please, I swear I'm not KGB. I don't know anything. Please, I swear.
 * Stan Beeman: You're scared. I know. I would be, too, because I've got you in my soft mouth, and you're not dead—not yet. Maybe you think you can run when I drop you at my master's feet. Maybe you can. Maybe you will. But the thing is, you have my partner. If you don't tell me where he is, you will never get dropped at my master's feet. My bite will go hard, and you will know you are dead before your heart stops beating.


 * Stan Beeman: Vietnam turned you into a skirt chaser?
 * Chris Amador: I was straight as an arrow when I signed up. I was an altar boy till I was 17.
 * Stan Beeman: Really?
 * Chris Amador: Yeah. Then 'Nam changed things. You know, there was crazy shit over there. You never knew when your number was gonna be called. I learned two things. One, tempus fugit—"time flies". One way or the other, you snatch it, or it's gonna snatch you. There's no pause button. And, two, there are worse things than dying.
 * Stan Beeman: Like?
 * Chris Amador: Shame. Shame's not an option for me.

The Colonel [1.13]

 * Claudia: I had to fill out an "officer in the field" special-request assessment form. It has 27 sections.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: Well, I guess your job can be dangerous, too.
 * Claudia: My point was, you've been in the field too long. You've lost touch with both your basic obligations and the central rules and regulations that make this organization function. It's happened before with officers in your position, and it can be remedied.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: I'm sure they'll send someone else to remedy it.
 * Claudia: Don't be sure. I've been serving faithfully much longer than you, my dear. I told them they're in danger of losing you. And whether you see it or not, I'm right.
 * Elizabeth Jennings: I'm surprised they gave you this job, when you have no understanding of people at all.
 * Claudia: I know you better than you know yourself. And you don't know me at all.


 * Claudia: [to Patterson] You won't be able to move for 20 minutes... which is 10 minutes longer than you have left. Viktor Zhukov was my friend. We met in Stalingrad in 1942. He was ragged, skin and bones, same as we all were. First time I saw him, He was standing over two dead Nazis. I was surprised, after the war, that he'd survived. We found ourselves working together in what was then called the NKGB.

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 * Arkady Zotov: Besides, if you're wrong, we'd be giving up the greatest intelligence success since we got the atom bomb.
 * Claudia: That's what we always say. Right before our people die for nothing. The next thing we always say is "it was so obvious."

START [6.10]
(Stan Beeman approaches Philip, Elizabeth and Paige Jennings in the parking garage.)

Stan Beeman: Hey!

Elizabeth Jennings: (surprised) Stan!

Stan Beeman: Hi, Paige.

Paige Jennings: Hi.

Philip Jennings: What … what are you doing h-

Stan Beeman: (cutting him off) That’s a great question.

Philip Jennings: What’s wrong?

Stan Beeman: Paige, where you guys going?

Paige Jennings: Home.

Stan Beeman: Really? Huh. Why? What’s going on?

Paige Jennings: I’m not feeling good.

Stan Beeman: Both your parents came to pick you up? That seems a little strange.

Elizabeth Jennings: We were coming from work.

Stan Beeman: You were just at work.

Elizabeth Jennings: Why are you acting this way?

Stan Beeman: You’re feeling sick? What’s wrong?

Paige Jennings: My stomach hurts.

Stan Beeman: You’re going home from college for a stomachache?

Paige Jennings: I feel sick …

Philip Jennings: Why are you interrogating her?

Stan Beeman: Where’s their car, Paige?

Philip Jennings: It’s in the dealership, getting serviced. We got a loaner.

Stan Beeman: So what happens if I call in this plate?

Philip Jennings: Are you kidding me?

Stan Beeman: What happens?

Philip Jennings: I don’t know. What is with you?

Stan Beeman: Maybe you got this backstopped, but I’m not some traffic cop. I can find out in five minutes whether this license plate is really registered to a loaner car for a dealership.

Philip Jennings: Stan, I don’t know what the problem is. Maybe you and I …

(Stan raises his gun.)

Stan Beeman: Stop moving, you fucking piece of shit!

Philip Jennings: What are you, what are you doing? What are you doing?

Stan Beeman: Lie down on the ground. All of you.

Elizabeth Jennings: Stan.

Philip Jennings: What are you, what are you gonna do, shoot us?

Stan Beeman: On the ground, face down. Keep your hands where I can see them. Move slow.

Elizabeth Jennings: Stan, we’re not lying on the ground. Not while you have that gun pointing at us. This is Paige, Stan.

Stan Beeman: Stop, Elizabeth. Just stop. It’s over. (He looks back at Philip.) It’s all over.

(Long silence. Philip’s expression changes, and his shoulders slump.)

Philip Jennings: We had a job to do. … We had a job to do.

Stan Beeman: You were my best friend.

Philip Jennings: You were mine, too. I never wanted to lie to you. Stan, what else could I do? You moved in next to me. I was terrified. And then we ended up as friends.

Stan Beeman: Friends. You made my life a joke.

Philip Jennings: You were my only friend in my ... in my whole shitty life. All these years, my life was the joke. Not yours.

Stan Beeman: And Matthew? Was that part of this? My son?

Elizabeth Jennings: She didn’t know. She didn’t know until …

Paige Jennings: I knew. They told me when I was 16. But Matthew ... it had nothing to do with that. I just … liked him.

Stan Beeman: Henry?

Philip Jennings: No.

Paige Jennings: He doesn’t know anything.

Stan Beeman: All this time. I would have done anything for you, Philip. For all of you.

Philip Jennings: I know.

Stan Beeman: Did you … Gennady and Sofia … that was you?

Philip Jennings: Who is that? We don’t … we don’t know who that is.

Stan Beeman: Fucking liar! I saw it on your face when I told you about them. Do you know how many people have been killed by Soviet agents here in Washington in the last year? Five years? Ten?

Paige Jennings: I’m sorry …

Elizabeth Jennings: We don’t kill people. Jesus.

Philip Jennings: We … we wouldn’t.

Elizabeth Jennings: He doesn’t even do this kind of work anymore. He quit. He’s a travel agent now. That’s all.

Stan Beeman: Get down. On the ground.

(Philip doesn’t move.)

Stan Beeman: Get … down.

(Long silence.)

Philip Jennings: I, I did all this … stuff, Stan, I don’t even know why anymore. It, it seemed like the right thing to do for my country. My country wanted me to. And I, and I … I kept doing it. Telling myself it was important. Until finally, I couldn’t, and I, I stopped. I’m done with that now. I have been for a long time. It was all just screwing people for … I don’t, I don’t even know for what. So I quit, like she said. Like you did. I’m a travel agent now. I’m just, I’m just a shitty, failing travel agent. Except I guess I’m not. Because now, I, I need to leave, if I can. I have to run away from the place that I have lived for the past … so many years. If I can. If, if we can. Stan, I have to abandon my son. He can’t come with us, because I got caught. I finally got caught. And here we are. And I don’t even know what happens if we make it home, because after all these years of being scared of Americans and recruiting Americans and following Americans, we finally, we actually got something, and it has nothing to do with you. It’s our own people. It’s a bunch of fucking Russians. They’re trying to get rid of Gorbachev, and we figured it out. Her, really.

Elizabeth Jennings: It’s our own bosses. They were going to fake my reports, make it seem like Gorbachev was trading away military secrets at the summit. The people I trusted all this time, and now …

Stan Beeman: Do you know Oleg Burov?

Philip Jennings: Who, who is that?

Stan Beeman: Don’t bullshit me now, Philip. We arrested him earlier today, picking up a dead drop. He told me the message was about people in the KGB trying to get rid of Gorbachev. Told me I had to send it back to Russia.

Elizabeth: That message has to get back home.

Stan Beeman: I could care less who runs your country.

Philip Jennings: Stan, these people, if, if they’re not stopped, that’s our whole country. That’s, that’s our whole future. And it’s the world, and whether we get to live in peace or not depends on this. We have to tell them what happened here, because if that dead drop didn’t go through, we’re the only ones who can stop this. Now, I don’t know why you should trust me. You should hate me. You … you should probably shoot me. But we’re getting in that car. And we’re driving away. I wish you’d stayed with me at EST. You might know what to do here.

Paige Jennings: You have to take care of Henry.

Philip Jennings: He loves you, Stan. Tell him the truth.

(Philip backs away from Stan, who has lowered his gun. The family approaches the car; Philip stops and turns to Stan.)

Philip Jennings: I don’t know how to say this, but I think there’s a chance Renee might be one of us. I’m not sure.

(They get into the car and start moving, but Stan is blocking their path. He hesitates, then moves out of the way as the car leaves the garage.)

Cast

 * Keri Russell - Elizabeth Jennings
 * Matthew Rhys - Philip Jennings
 * Holly Taylor - Paige Jennings
 * Keidrich Sellati - Henry Jennings
 * Noah Emmerich - Stan Beeman
 * Maximiliano Hernández - Chris Amador
 * Susan Misner - Sandra Beeman
 * Annet Mahendru - Nina Sergeevna Krilova
 * Richard Thomas - Frank Gaad