It’s even more impressive with a show like The Americans, a series that has expertly finessed its dramatic pacing, but has settled on an extra-slow burn other thrillers (cough, Homeland, cough) would never have the creative confidence to ease into. In the age of whiplash plot twists and the “why wait for the finale what we could settle in Episode 3” mindset, The Americans is all the better for its insistence on patience. The richness of the relationship it has cultivated between Russell’s Elizabeth and Rhys’s Philip speaks to just that.