【The Irresistible Daughter in Law】

The The Irresistible Daughter in LawAmericansis debuting its fifth season under uncannily timely political circumstances -- the likes of which no showrunner would ever wish for.

The show about two Russian KGB agents spying on Washington while trying to maintain normal lives has always been a family drama that happens to revolve around espionage. Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) have two children as a part of their cover, a marriage that provides most of the dramatic tension.

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Since the series is set in the early 1980s, viewers of a certain age will recognize plenty of real-life events that are mentioned onscreen, and -- spoiler alert -- we already know that by the late '80s and early ‘90s, the Berlin Wall comes down and Cold War is entering its final years.

But it's a different experience to watch The Americanswhen the news cycle is dominated by reports of powerful political figures with alleged ties to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. The very notion of Russians carrying out covert operations, disrupting and influencing the U.S. government, takes on a more sinister -- and certainly less nostalgic -- tone.

"The initial idea of the show was really to say, 'Hey, look. These people who we think of as enemies are really just like us,' and that was at a more peaceful time in U.S./Russian relations, and to see things have spiraled so out of control, frankly, just doesn’t feel so good," co-showrunner Joe Weisberg told reporters in January at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

On The Americans, the Russians have not been painted as the "Evil Empire" that President Reagan once characterized them as. Philip and Elizabeth are sympathetic characters who are trying to do what's right based on their personal experiences and the information they’re given. As the seasons went on and our empathy grew, it was easy to view them as the "heroes" of the piece because U.S. viewers know the eventual outcome of the Cold War for the people of Russia.

Co-showrunner Joel Fields told The Daily Beast that he worries viewers may "experience the show differently" in light of current events. "Our experience making the show really hasn’t changed. Because we make the show very much in a bubble of the early '80s. Their story is their story by now. But certainly, the audience’s experience of watching it is going to change."

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Within the past year or so, it’s become easier to label the nebulous, shadowy entity we call "the Russians" as enemy combatants again, between talks of election tampering and political influence in the highest echelons of the U.S. government -- ideas that previously might’ve been deemed too unbelievable to make it into an Americansscript.

"I always like to say, some of the most outlandish things we do on the show are the real things, and now it seems that those outlandish things are dominating the headlines," Fields told Vulture. "I mean, they figured out a way to interfere with the election of the United States? That would have been a good plot for Philip and Elizabeth. It probably would have been too outlandish for us, actually. But then again, if you read this week’s New Yorker, the Russians did try to prevent Reagan from getting elected. So who knows?"

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What's particularly striking in the first two episodes of Season 5 is that the state of affairs in Russia is one that hits close to home for millions of Americans today.

Russia's widespread poverty is mentioned several times, with both Philip and Elizabeth recalling what it was like to live there and basically starve, while KGB agent Oleg (Costa Ronin), now back in Russia, is assigned to investigate corruption in the food trade organizations that are making it nearly impossible for tens of thousands of citizens to get food.

Additionally, the Jennings' newest mission involves befriending a Russian immigrant consulting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who may hate his home country enough to help the U.S. contaminate its grain supply to Russia -- which would mean more starvation and hardship for its people.

Is this a mirror of the U.S. in 2017?

Not exactly, but millions of people (approximately 43 million, according to statistics from 2015) live in poverty in this country, a situation that may worsen as the new president rolls back financial regulations that Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, calls a dismantling of "hard-won protections for consumers and financial stability."

It's hard not to draw parallels, with uncertainty growing over issues like health insurance, Medicaid, social security, public education and income inequality -- especially when the people of Flint, Michigan, still don’t have access to safe drinking water.

Even more disconcerting: the current President of the United States is calling the press "the enemy of the people," a phrase that has been around for hundreds of years but was most famously used by Russian leader Joseph Stalin in the first half of the 20th century to denounce those who would oppose him.

One has to wonder what the Philip and Elizabeth would think of the current political climate – both in Russia and Stateside.

Does the current state of U.S.-Russian relations mean The Americans is suddenly going to switch its game plan and end the series with a grown-up Paige leading a Russian plan to install the country’s preferred United States presidential candidate as a patsy? In a word, no. The creators have said they are sticking with the series wrap-up they devised back in the second season.

"There’s really a firewall between the political discussions in the office, which are ferocious and intense and pretty much only at lunchtime, and the writing of the show, which exists in 1984," Weisberg told Vulture. "But we get the news alerts, and we’re like, 'WTF?!' all the time."

Us too, sir.

The Americansairs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.

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