All About the Women

People have said that there are no good acting roles for women. It’s not for me to dispute that but I’m wondering if that applies to movies more than TV because some of the TV shows we watch are all about the women. They offer great, meaty parts to actresses.

In particular, The Americans has an embarrassment of riches for actresses. The starring role, Elizabeth Jennings, is a cold-blooded, ruthless Soviet spy who nonetheless is showing just a few cracks in her ironclad communist ideology as she tries to resist the seductive American lifestyle. She’s the most dangerous woman in Washington and she’s starting to go just a little unstable, feeling love for her fake spy husband for the first time and wondering how to protect her kids. Keri Russell plays her magnificently. My favorite scene this season so far has been Elizabeth casually holding a crowbar and subtly threatening the life of a warehouse worker who discovered her theft of plans for a submarine propeller.

The other women of The Americans have very meaty parts to play. Nina is fascinating. As a Soviet triple agent, trying to turn an FBI agent who thinks he’s turning her, she walks on the highest tightrope of anyone in the series. She holds a lot of power and but is also in grave danger. It’s a tricky part, having to deceive so many people and she plays it with a combination of opacity and wide-openness.

It would be easy to pity “poor Martha” for being blissfully unaware that she’s married to a Soviet spy but she really is just a few discoveries away from bringing down the entire KGB operation. I am terrified of how she will react when she discovers her husband has been using her for information. I foresee either a horrific emotional meltdown or a shooting spree.

Elsewhere on TV, Parks and Recreation has long been a staple of great female roles. Leslie Knope is, I think, one of the iconic TV creations. She is hyper-competent to the point of being domineering. That Amy Poehler has yet to win an Emmy for this role is a crime against TV. Her employee April has shown real growth over the course of the series, evolving into someone who cares about her job more than she might care to admit, but still with an anarchic sense of humor.

Donna Meagle is basically James Bond. She can bed whatever man she wants, dresses to kill at all times, can down shots from two shot glasses at once and hangs out in a cigar bar. I love how they have been teasing out information about her unseen adventures, like the condo in Seattle, the regular trips to Kuala Lumpur, and the two annulments, one of which was part of a long con against Keith Sweat. Donna can git it.

I won’t belabor Mad Men anymore but that show has a deep bench of women. Peggy Olson, Joan Harris, Betty Francis, Megan Draper, Sally Draper and Trudy Campbell are just a few of the meaty roles.

I watch too much TV.