History YMMV / TheAmericans

* RonTheDeathEater: Pastor Tim elicited a curiously ferocious reaction from many fans, who immediately hated this reasonably moral, mild-mannered character. The speculation that he was a child molester began the very moment he first appeared (he wasn't, and there was never so much as any hint of this in the show itself). The worst thing you can say about Pastor Tim is that he was kind of smarmy and unctuous. Despite that, he immediately became one of the most unpopular characters on the show, and fans rooted for Phillip and Elizabeth to kill him.

** Also, Music/PeterGabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" during the montage that closes the first season finale. Other montages in the series use "I Have The Touch" and "Here Comes The Flood".
** Another great use of a Music/FleetwoodMac classic song "Chain", at the end of "Walter Taffet" when Phillip and Elizabeth kidnap the son of a South African politician at a diner.
** The series finale, relying on two powerful songs "Brothers In Arms" by Music/DireStraits and especially "With or Without You" by Music/{{U2}}.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
%% Nina.
%% Claudia has become quite popular with fans of the show. Especially following the season one finale.
%% Oleg.

%% The Mail Robot. [[https://twitter.com/FBImailrobot It even has its own Twitter page.]]

** The Seongs in season four. Don (the husband) is [[spoiler: duped into believing that he's got his wife's friend (a disguised Elizabeth) pregnant as a result of a one-night stand ''that actually didn't happen'' and is subsequently blackmailed by her "family" (Philip, Gabriel and Claudia) into handing over sensitive material from his place of work. As a result, he becomes estranged from his wife, Young Hee - who has no-one to turn to at the point where her marriage is falling apart.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The creators said in podcasts that they painted themselves into a corner with Clark. They hadn't thought through all the ways Martha could tell he was wearing a wig. So after they marry, she says she knows it’s a wig but she thinks it’s nice he wants to look good for her, and she loves him however he looks.

* WhatAnIdiot: Lucia in season 2. Despite being told that Larrick is off-limits and knowing how dangerous he is, she breaks into his house and tries to kill him. And when Elizabeth shows up to bail her out, ''she tries to kill him again.'' [[spoiler: Elizabeth just lets Larrick snap Lucia's neck after this.]]

** Because of the way the writers had little for Henry Paige to do, it was running gag for fans that he had been forgotten by the show, or even by the Jennings.

** The mail robot was beloved by fans, who often jokingly overreacted to any mail robot appearance. This became a bit of an {{AscendedMeme}} when a plot involved bugging the mail robot.

* Stan's storylines in the first season involve him having an affair and [[KickTheDog murdering a man in cold blood]]. He behaves much more morally in the following seasons.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In a flashback to his KGB training, Philip is shown to have been trained to seduce ''men'' as well as women. Yet at no point does he become involved in a gay HoneyTrap.

** Nina.
** Claudia has become quite popular with fans of the show. Especially following the season one finale.
** Oleg.

** Paige.
** The Mail Robot. [[https://twitter.com/FBImailrobot It even has its own Twitter page.]]

** Paige, whose obsession with discovering her parent's secrets quickly progresses from precocious to dangerous, her self-entitled and shortsighted actions eventually putting multiple lives in danger.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The sheer amount of times the KGB has gotten away with murdering innocent people in this show (or just plain ruining peoples' lives) has caused some people to lose all sympathy for the main protagonists. Many people continue to watch the show because they want to see Philip and especially Elizabeth finally get some comeuppance.

** Some of the Jenning's diguises, specially the wigs, are so obviously fake that they stick out like sore thumb.