History NightmareFuel / TheAmericans

** Aside: It gives you an inkling of the feeling East Germans must have had when they got their Stasi files.
** Though likely people don't care that much. The Snowden leaks happened in 2013 and I'm the first person to point out that the US does the same thing, 2021 being the year of writing. Probably because they don't actually kidnap and torture a noticable portion of the population.

* Those audio recordings and ''hundreds of pictures of the kids''! [[spoiler:And this is all done by the KGB to other KGB agents.]] It really makes you wonder sometimes just how extensively your ''own'' life is catalogued and documented.

* Anton Baklanov's fate - [[spoiler:the Israelis hand him over to the Russians for exfiltration. He's so terrified that he begs Phillip to intervene. For added bitter irony, the Russians smooth things over with the Israelis by allowing hundreds of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel.]]
* In "Behind the Red Door", Elizabeth keeps goading Philip to dress up in his "Clark" identity and show her what he's been doing in bed to get Martha to sing his praises. He finally obliges... and it turns out that the secret is [[spoiler:horrifically rough sex, which triggers Elizabeth's memories of being raped and causes her to collapse in a crying heap. Afterwards, Philip is so disgusted with himself that he retreats to the bathroom, rips his Clark hairpiece off and looks like he'd very much like to throw it in the toilet.]]

* [[spoiler:Being in that sub that sank? Imagine being one of the 160 sailors who presumably had no idea their shakedown cruise was about to be their ''last'' cruise.]]

* In "Echo", Emmet and Leanne's killer is finally revealed... [[spoiler:And it was Jared. He murdered his whole family to cover up the fact that he was having an affair with Kate, and his parents didn't want him to become a KGB agent]]. For added horror, it turns out that [[spoiler:that whole sordid affair was the result of a KGB program to indoctrinate the American-born children of the Illegals so that they can create a generation of agents who will be able to infiltrate the US government]]. And just for one last dose of nightmare fuel, [[spoiler:Claudia informs Phillip and Elizabeth that the KGB has its eyes on Paige for their next recruit...]]

** It even works this way InUniverse, leading both [[spoiler:William]] and [[spoiler:Oleg]] to have strong moral objections to being a part of it. [[spoiler:Oleg even volunteers information to Stan to help the FBI stop it, rather than potentially be responsible for the death of "half the Eastern seaboard".]]

** Though likely people don't care that much. The Snowden leaks happened in 2013 and I'm the first person to point out that the US does the same thing, 2021 being the year of writing.

* Philip infiltrates a college computer lab disguised as a janitor so he can attach a bug to the [=ARPANET=] (a primitive version of the internet) mainframe. He is interrupted and quickly hides when a nameless computer nerd enters the lab to pick up something he'd left behind, but the nerd notices the front panel to the mainframe open and decides to investigate. He finds the bug that Philip attached to the main frame, and suddenly we see Phillip standing right behind the nerd. In the next scene we see Philip leaving the computer lab pushing a large garbage can with a lid over the top, and it's obvious that Philip killed the nerd and stuffed his body into the garbage can. The whole scene plays out like something out of a movie about a serial killer.

* In this series, collateral damage is a way of life. On numerous occasions so far - the computer nerd mentioned above, a community patrol officer, a septic tank operator, to name a few - guys simply minding their own business find their lives brought to a sudden and brutal end when they encounter the Jennings -- the series' ''heroes'' (even Jack Bauer usually avoids killing innocents.)

* In the third season premiere after they have sex in a hotel room Yousef tells Annelise he wants to run away with her. Annelise then tells him that she's been spying on him but that she still loves him. Yousef strangles her on their bed. Phillip, who had been listening in in the next room rushes in too late to stop it. He then tells Yousef he'll help him.
* In the next episode Elizabeth arrives and she and Phillip place Annelise' naked body in a large suitcase. They have to break her bones in order to fit it in and they make a horrible crunching sound.
* In the third season premiere Elizabeth breaks a molar during a fight with FBI agents. It bothers her for a few episodes but she can't go to a dentist because the FBI is looking for a woman that fits her description. After being tailed for hours and nearly getting captured by Federal agents, she comes home to a relieved Phillip but she still has the intense pain in her jaw. Without saying a word Phillip takes her down to their basement and she drinks some alcohol and sits down as Phillip takes a '''pair of pliers and tries to pull out her damaged tooth'''. He tugs at it to pull it out and Elizabeth is in agony and trying not to scream. At first he only manages to extract only a half of it, shaking his head, indicating he has to go in again much to her horror. The second time, as Elizabeth hugs his neck he struggles to get out the remaining piece of tooth out. There are closeups of both Phillip's and Elizabeth's eyes, the latter filled with tears. He finally pulls the damaged tooth out.

* Anti-apartheid revolutionary agent Hans tries to kill Todd, the South African agent spared by Phillip and Elizabeth in the previous episode. He shoots him in the eye but he's still alive. They struggle onto the ground and Hans finally chokes him to death.

* Nina's arbitrary conviction and execution, [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished after attempting a decent action for someone else for once]] (Anton Baklanov), is a nightmare reminder of the price for treason, as was perceived in the Soviet Union, in comparison to the Western nations.

* The season 4 finale reveals that Irina, Philip's old flame from back in Russia who attempted to flee the KGB after becoming disillusioned with their work, has been captured and arrested. You do *not* escape the KGB. And as Nina demonstrates, the KGB does not take kindly to traitors or defectors.
* During a mission in Oklahoma City, Phillip and Elizabeth break into a lab at night where all kinds of insects are being bred. A lab technician walks in and discovers them Even though he's much taller than them he's clearly frightened of these intruders who act very menacing towards him asking him questions about the work their doing. Realizing he has no useful information to give them Elizabeth who is in front pushes him toward Phillip who is behind and catches him and breaks his spine, killing him with a sickening crunch sound. They take his body out and put him in the trunk of their car outside to be disposed of later. At the time this murder was done with a righteous anger because Phillip and Elizabeth believed the American government was sending wheat infested with bugs to the USSR that would destroy their crops starving millions of their countrymen. Later they discover the the bugs were used to test a strong strain of wheat they were developing and the intent was not malicious at all, and the person they killed really was an innocent.

* In the third season premiere Elizabeth breaks a molar during a fight with FBI agents. It bothers her for a few episodes but she's can't go to a dentist because the FBI be looking for a woman that fits her description. After being tailed for hours and nearly getting captured by Federal agents, she comes home to a relieved Phillip but she still has the intense pain in her jaw. Without saying a word Phillip takes her down to their basement and she drinks some alcohol and sits down as Phillip takes a '''pair of pliers and tries to pull out her damaged tooth'''. He tugs at it to pull it out and Elizabeth is in agony and trying not to scream. At first he only manages to extract only a half of it, shaking his head, indicating he has to go in again much to her horror. The second time, as Elizabeth hugs his neck he struggles to get out the remaining piece of tooth out. There are closeups of both Phillip's and Elizabeth's eyes, the latter filled with tears. Finally pulls the damaged tooth out.

* Elizabeth murders two Russian defectors in their home and leaves their bloody corpses to be discovered by their 3-year-old son.

* In "Tchaikovsky", Elizabeth's attempts to blackmail an old source go horribly, horribly wrong as the source pushes back and tries to kill her. In the ensuing fight, he ends up with his gun under his chin and elects to blow his brains out, and her face ends up being splattered with his blood.

** It even works this way InUniverse, leading both [[spoiler: William]] and [[spoiler: Oleg]] to have strong moral objections to being a part of it. [[spoiler: Oleg even volunteers information to Stan to help the FBI stop it, rather than potentially be responsible for the death of "half the Eastern seaboard".]]

* During a mission in Oklahoma City, Phillip and Elizabeth break into a lab at night where all kinds of insects are being bred. A lab technician walks in and discovers them Even though he's much taller than them he's clearly frightened of these intruders who act very menacing towards him asking him questions about the work their doing. Realizing he has no useful information to give them Elizabeth who is in front pushes him toward Phillip who is behind and catches him and breaks his spine, killing him with a sickening crunch sound. They take his body out and put him in the trunk of their car outside to be disposed of later. At the time this murder was done with a righteous anger because Phillip and Elizabeth believed the American government was sending wheat infested with bugs to the USSR that would destroy their crops starving millions of their countrymen. Later they discover the the bugs were used to test a strong strain of wheat they were developing and the intent was not malicious at all, and the person they killed really was an innocent.

* During a mission in Oklahoma City, Phillip and Elizabeth break into a lab at night where all kinds of insects are being bred. A lab technician walks in and discovers them Even though he's much taller than them he's clearly frightened of these intruders who act very menacing towards him asking him questions about the work their doing. Elizabeth who is in front pushes him toward Phillip who is behind and catches him and breaks his spine, killing him with a sickening crunch sound. They take his body out and put him in the trunk of their car outside to be disposed of later. At the time this murder was done with a righteous anger because Phillip and Elizabeth believed the American government was sending wheat infested with bugs to the USSR that would destroy their crops starving millions of their countrymen. Later they discover the the bugs were used to test a strong strain of wheat they were developing and the intent was not malicious at all, and the person they killed really was an innocent.

* The season 4 finale reveals that Irina, Philip's old flame from back in Russia who attempted to flee the KGB after becoming disillusioned with their work, has been captured and arrested. You do *not* escape the KGB. And as Nina demonstrates, the KGB does not take kindly to traitors or defectors.

** It even works this way InuNIVERSE, leading both [[spoiler: William]] and [[spoiler: Oleg]] to have strong moral objections to being a part of it. [[spoiler: Oleg even volunteers information to Stan to help the FBI stop it, rather than potentially be responsible for the death of "half the Eastern seaboard".]]

** It even works this way InStory, leading both [[spoiler: William]] and [[spoiler: Oleg]] to have strong moral objections to being a part of it. [[spoiler: Oleg even volunteers information to Stan to help the FBI stop it, rather than potentially be responsible for the death of "half the Eastern seaboard".]]

-->'''William:''' Lassa fever’s a very undignified way to go. You basically dissolve inside, then squirt yourself out your anus in liquid form. First it’s ''whooosh'', then it’s a trickle.

* The entire germ-warfare subplot in season four pretty much runs on nightmare fuel, as the Centre, in a desperate bid to find something that will help them compete with the US, dabbles in procuring biological agents, despite their own expert warning them that it's a terrible idea. Even after Gabriel nearly dies from exposure to one of the samples, the Centre keeps pushing for more potent diseases, forcing Elizabeth, Phillip, and the increasingly-paranoid William to resort to desperate measures to acquire more samples.

* "Necklacing", the South African form of execution where a rubber tire is placed around a person's chest filled with gasoline and set on fire is shown in all its horror when a vengeful revolutionary uses it on an Afrikaaner agent he captured with the help of Phillip and Elizabeth.

* An old woman who had the misfortune of working late at a place where the Jennings were planting a bug in an FBI mail robot is forced by Elizabeth to take an overdose of her heart medication. She dies a slow, painful death.

* "Necklacing", the South African form of execution where a rubber tire is placed around a person's chest filled with gasoline and set on fire is shown in all it's horror when a vengeful revolutionary uses it on an Afrikaaner agent he captured with the help of Phillip and Elizabeth.

* An old woman who had the misfortune of working late at a place where the Jennings were planting a bug in an FBI mail robot is forced by Elizabeth to take too many of her her heart medication. She dies a slow, painful death.

* A particularly disturbing and graphic example of collateral is seen in "Comrades" after dispatching two Afghans in the restaurant Philip rushes away through the kitchen just to find a young kitchen worker cowering under the table. Philip tell's him that "it's OK" and starts to leave. As the poor guy visibly relaxes he is shot through the head by Philip.

* A perticularly disturbing and graphic example of collateral is seen in "Comrades" after dispatching two Afghans in the restaurant Philip rushes away through the kitchen just to find a young kitchen worker cowering under the table. Philip tell's him that "it's OK" and starts to leave. As the poor guy visibly relaxes he is shot through the head by Philip.

* Anti-apartheid revolutionary agent Hans tries to kill Todd, the South African agent spared by Phillip and Elizabeth in the previous episode. He shoots him in the eye but he's still alive. They struggle onto the ground and Hans finally chokes him to death.

* South African revolutionary agent Hans tries to kill Todd by shooting him He shoots him in the eye but he's still alive. They struggle onto the ground and Hans finally chokes him to death.

* "Necklacing", the South African form of execution where a rubber tire is placed around a person's chest filled with gasoline and set on fire is shown in all it's horror when a vengeful revolutionary uses it on an Afrikaaner agent he captured with the help of Phillip and Elizabeth.

* In the third season premiere Elizabeth breaks a tooth during a fight with FBI agents. It bothers her for a few episodes but she's can't go to a dentist because the FBI be looking for a woman that fits her description. After being tailed for hours and nearly getting captured by Federal agents, she comes home to a relieved Phillip but she still has the intense pain in her jaw. Without saying a word Phillip takes her down to their basement and she drinks some alcohol and sits down as Phillip takes a '''pair of pliers and tries to pull out her damaged tooth'''. He tugs at it to pull it out and Elizabeth is in agony and trying not to scream. At first he only manages to extract only a half of it, shaking his head, indicating he has to go in again much to her horror. The second time, as Elizabeth hugs his neck he struggles to get out the remaining piece of tooth out. There are closeups of both Phillip's and Elizabeth's eyes, the latter filled with tears. Finally pulls the damaged tooth out.

* In the third season premiere Elizabeth breaks a tooth during a fight with FBI agents. It bothers her for a few episodes but she's can't go to a dentist because the FBI be looking for a woman that fits her description. After being tailed for hours and nearly getting captured by Federal agents, she comes home to a relieved Phillip but she still has the intense pain in her jaw. Without saying a word Phillip takes her down to their basement and she drinks some alcohol and sits down as Phillip takes a '''pair of pliers and tries to pull out her damaged tooth'''. Looking her in the eyes, he tugs at it to pull it out and Elizabeth is in agony and trying not to scream. At first he only manages to extract only a half of it, shaking his head, indicating he has to go in again much to her horror. The second time Elizabeth hugs his neck and he finally gets the remaining piece of tooth out.