It's a series that is shortlisted for the top ten of the year by major media outlets almost every year, with an average score of 96 in six seasons of Rotten Tomatoes, and has been called "one of the best American dramas" by The Hollywood Reporter.
But it has been absent from the awards season for many years, and the media has called it a "lost pearl"; in this year's Golden Globe nominations, it finally has a place in the "best drama series".
This is what I think of as the best spy drama -
American Spy Dream
Espionage-themed works emerge in an endless stream, but they all have common problems: the story is mainly coincidental, and the plot is too pediatric to be convincing.
"American Spy Dream" has an "innate advantage" in this regard -
The American drama is long and there is enough time to lay the groundwork and explain various events.
Compared to a two-hour movie that is somewhat hasty, the plot is more coherent, the characters are fuller, and the multi-faceted life of a spy is more complete.
The story of "American Spy Dream" takes place during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s.
To outsiders, the Jennings family lived happily: the couple were both employees of a travel company and had stable jobs; their daughter Peggy and son Henry were intelligent and sensible.
In fact, Phil and Elizabeth were Soviet agents who had been installed in the United States in their early years, working for the KGB, using their work and family as a cover for themselves, and carrying out intelligence gathering, protecting their hometowns, plotting against others, and even eradicating traitors according to the orders of their superiors.
Their work itself is fraught with too much uncertainty, but at the beginning of the series, a more dramatic scene emerges: the family welcomes a new neighbor, FBI agent Stan Beamman.
Over time, the two families gradually interacted more and more frequently, and Phil, a Soviet spy, and Stan of the FBI counter-espionage group even became good brothers who teamed up to play squash and had nothing to do together;
Phil would complain to him about the pressures of working at a travel agency, and Stan would talk to Phil all night after his divorce.
As travel agency employees, Phil and Elizabeth have enough work excuses to move freely within the United States, and they dress up in disguise when performing their duties - wigs, glasses, hats, beards are readily available, and it is common to face enemies or coercion or dedication seduction;
With the strong network of relations laid by the Soviet Union in the United States at that time, they were able to complete the task again and again, although they also missed it, but most of the time they were able to overcome the danger.
However, in the eyes of their children, their parents are just "travel agency employees who are busy at work and often travel on business".
Of course, living together every day, how can spy parents do it without leaks? Daughter Peggy eventually questions her parents' behavior, and Phil and Elizabeth reveal their identities to their daughters.
And trained her daughter to be a spy.
Of course, these are all afterwords.
Inspired by the 2010 exposure of the Russian Spy Network, creator Joseph Weisberg, a former CIA employee who published the novel An Ordinary Spy.
Joseph wrote a script for FX based on events he had previously heard, drawing heavily on real cases —and of course submitting it to the CIA publishing department for review before the script was approved.
The role of elizabeth, the heroine of the play, is actually based on martha Peterson, the first female spy of the CIA.
After learning Russian in 1975, Martha Peterson joined the CIA and was sent to the Soviet Union, the first woman in the history of the CIA to be sent to Moscow. Her children learned of their mother's real job at the age of 17 and 15 — similar in age to peggy's when she knew her parents worked.
Consultants for the show included Oliver North, who had served in the Reagan administration, and Jack Barsky, a real former KGB undercover spy.
Jack Barsky visited the set and said that his situation was very similar to that of Phil and Elizabeth, and that the FBI had bought the house next door to him; but Jack did not make friends with his neighbors as he did in the show. After six months of investigation, the FBI abandoned the task.
The male and female protagonists Phil and Elizabeth are themselves two very different characters:
Phil is calm and rational, careful, and humorous, and shows the idea of turning to the United States at the beginning of the series; Elizabeth is portrayed as a woman with a very firm belief, strong independence, and bold determination.
Matthew Reese and Kelly Russell also offer superb acting skills.
Matthew Rhys, from South Wales, speaks Welsh as a first language and speaks with a thick Welsh accent, but in order to play this specially trained KGB spy lurking in the United States, he deliberately went to learn American English - in the episode, the audience can not hear him at all; his unique Welsh country accent can only be heard in various programs and interviews.
Although everyone mentions that the first reaction of "American Spy Dream" is "spy drama", if you look at it as a family drama with a special background period, it seems that there is nothing wrong with it.
Phil Elizabeth's feelings are tormented (after all, one second she still puts you in her arms and says "love you", the next second she has to pretend to be in love with others or even roll the sheets for intelligence), but in the face of children's doubts, she can only swallow her anger and make up one lie after another.
The screenwriter once described the play this way:
The essence of "American Spy Dream" is a marriage story, in which the background of the times and international relations symbolize interpersonal relationships. Sometimes, when you're stuck in marriage and children, it's like a life-or-death moment. For Phil and Elizabeth, this often happened.
Of course, the success of an American drama is inseparable from the shaping of supporting roles. It can be said that there is no supporting role in the six seasons of "American Spy Dream", and even some supporting roles are more dazzling.
For example, Alison Wright, who plays "Martha", the FBI secretary, Phil alias "Clark" to associate with her, she is deeply in love with "Clark", she stole a lot of information, and after the truth is revealed, she still can't bear to betray "Clark"... Her story and ending made many viewers sigh.
Alison Wright portrays a small character who suddenly gets love very fully, and she also received a nomination for the 2017 Emmy Award for Best Guest Actress for this role.
"American Spy Dream" has a total of six seasons, which began airing in 2013 and ended in 2018.
Almost every year shortlisted in the "Top Ten American Dramas" list rated by major media at the end of the year, douban six seasons of scoring increased year by year, which is really rare.
The show also captured many celebrity fans, including "Big Ben" Ben Affleck, "Dog Daddy" Gary Oldman, famous director Bernaldo Bertolucci, and former US President Barack Obama.
Matthew Reese and Kelly Russell said in an interview that they had been invited to a presidential banquet at the White House for American Spy.
Before the final season began, Obama also asked the crew for an early version to watch (It is not the first time that Obama has done this, and "Game of Thrones" has also had a presidential version to relieve Obama in advance).
In reality, the male and female protagonists also came together because of this drama, and in 2014, the two began to communicate with each other, often attending events together to show their love, and gave birth to their son Sam in 2016.
Kelly was pregnant during the filming of the fourth season of "American Spy", but the crew was very considerate and set the story in the winter, so that it was difficult to see Kelly's figure under the heavy winter coat, and a small number of special effects were used to cover her bulging belly later.
Compared with Matthew and Kelly, the actors who play the children can be regarded as "watched" all the way by the audience. The two children in the first episode of "American Spy Dream" look like this:
By the end of "American Spy Dream", he has become a beautiful handsome man.
Holly Taylor, who plays her daughter Peggy, also continued her acting career, making cameo appearances in the public Television drama "The Good Doctor" and "Trial Expert", and an untitled new drama in filming.
"American Spy Dream" has been broadcast for many years but has not been favored by awards, which has really made many people quite dissatisfied.
Fortunately, the sixth season that aired this year finally had a turnaround, and at the 2018 Emmy Awards, the crew was nominated for Best Series for the first time, and nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay at the same time. In the end, the male protagonist Matthew Reese and the screenwriters Joseph Weisberg and Joel Fields took the trophy.
In the list of 2019 Golden Globe Nominations released last week, fans saw the name of "American Spy Dream" in the list of best dramas, best actors and best actresses.
In fact, the audience's rating is already a recognition of the series, but I still hope to see the scene of the "American Spy Dream" crew on stage to receive the award at the Golden Globe Awards.
This excellent spy film deserves and should be seen by more people.