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August 6, 2015 BY JONAS BEALS/THE FREE LANCE-STAR
I’m not sure that tears are in my future as I watch “The Americans,” but I already know music will play a key role in the series.
The first episode starts not with anything visual, but with the opening saxophone strains of “Harden My Heart” by Quarterflash. This is another show set in the 1980s, and the soundtrack is straight from that decade. The Quarterflash song sets the scene perfectly, but it also gives subtle clues about what is going on in the first scene, and perhaps the entire show. I don’t know yet. No spoilers.
But there’s another song that gets heavy rotation in that first episode: “Tusk” by Fleetwood Mac. It’s not an obvious choice for a chase scene, but those driving tom-toms turn out to be the perfect way to add energy to a Cold War footrace through the streets of D.C. The lyrics even do a good job of encapsulating the tension and spy-vs.-spy intrigue of the episode.
It’s the sort of smart decision that we can expect from great shows these days —a creative choice that appeals to our ears as much as it does to our eyes.