The Americans wrapped up its sixth and final season this week. All 10 episodes were terrific, and the finale episode was among the best finales I’ve ever seen in a television series.

There are dozens (spoilers) of nuanced analyses of the show in general, and the twists that await viewers in the season finale (spoilers) in particular.

I have two simple non-spoiler reflections — in addition to the obvious, which is to recommend the show.

First, I’ve read many good novels recently (Knausgaard, Murakami, Jennifer Egan, others). But the impact of a high quality TV series is still singular. A book can’t create heart-thumping suspense in the way a TV show can, especially the 75th hour of a TV show, as is the case in the multi-season dramas that have created the golden age of television that we find ourselves in.

Second, in an era of on-demand binge watching a lot of TV consumption occurs over a period of weeks or months, not years. For example, if I ever end up watching Mad Men, and I enjoy it, I’ll probably watch it over a period of 3-6 months.

With The Americans, I began watching it via iTunes shortly after it began airing on TV. So it’s been almost 5 years since I watched Season 1, Episode 1. That’s a long time ago. When characters and plot lines are allowed to marinate in your mind over 5 years, it has a different effect than when a show is bingewatched in months.

I’m not sure The Americans is my all-time favorite TV show. But it is in my top 5 or top 10, and may be the only show that I’ve watched in small doses for such a long period of time. That makes it unique. I won’t forget it.

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Other lesser known TV shows I wholeheartedly recommend: Goliath (Amazon streaming), Catastrophe (Amazon streaming), Insecure (HBO). Big Little Lies (HBO) and Friday Night Lights (NBC) are better known but also awesome.

Boyhood, the new movie out from Richard Linklater, is now on my all-time favorites list. It’s an extraordinary film for several reasons. First, as a practical matter, it was filmed over 12 years with the same actors, shooting a few days each year. To see a 6 year old boy grow up on camera to the point where he heads off to college — along with the maturation of his parents over those formative years — is something that’s never been done before. (7 Up is a documentary, which has a similar setup, but that’s a documentary.) I can only imagine how difficult it was to finance and orchestrate the logistics for such a production. The payoff was huge — the benefits of a long term vision and long term investment.

Second, it’s a story in which “nothing happens” — life just unfolds. No one gets killed, no one wins a prize, no one undergoes life-alterting highs or lows. Instead, the characters simply grow up, and confront the trials and tribulations that characterize normal middle class life. It’s not a blissful existence, to be sure. Adolescence is hard. Divorce is hard. Earning an income is hard. Empty nesting is hard. Linklater captures just the right moments to refresh our understanding of childhood and of growing up. The moments are subtle, but deeply moving.

Third, I had a great deal of cultural nostalgia watching the film. If you grew up in the 90’s, lots of little things resonate, from the songs that are played (Sheryl Crow, anyone?), to cultural events (like the release of the Harry Potter books), to the general post 9/11 pre-Great Recession milieu.

All in all, highly recommended.

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Other good movies I’ve watched recently:

• American Beauty. A classic for so many reasons. As relevant a take on the doldrums of middle aged suburban American life as ever.
• Like Crazy. The most realistic portrayal of romance I’ve seen in a long time. Sad, tough, moving.
• Side Effects. A gripping thriller on an important topic: physiatrists and Big Pharma.
• If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. Good documentary on eco-terrorists. I wasn’t familiar with the history of the ELF so I found it both informative and ethically provocative.
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Beautiful scenes of India and an affecting portrait of how one can spend one’s golden years.

Sometimes I meet with a friend or acquaintance and I leave the meeting thinking, “Am I doing enough with my life? Am I taking enough risk?” Ramit Sethi once told me he loves those sorts of meetings. (I love them too, though as I’ve written, if someone is too much better than me, it’s actually demotivating.)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller’s film which opened on Christmas Day, is a recent example of a movie which caused me to ask questions I ought to ask myself more often: Am I being adventurous enough? Am I being bold enough? Am I trying hard enough to realize my fantasies? Why haven’t I visited Iceland? The questions popped to mind as I took in the gorgeous photography and listened to the lovely soundtrack. (The official trailer is an accurate proxy for physical beauty in the entire film.)

To be sure, most of the critics have given Mitty mixed reviews. I’m hardly a film sophisticate, and even I saw flaws in the movie.

Sure, the actual storyline/plot is so-so, but it’s good enough to make you reflect on the big questions. Because you don’t have to be a shy paper pusher who works in the basement of an office, as Walter Mitty does, to day dream. And you don’t have to be able to jump through windows or on to arctic ships, as Mitty does, in order to make real a more adventrous and perhaps authentic version of yourself.

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On my flight to Hong Kong, I watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a film about older Brits who try to invigorate their lives by moving to a hotel for old people in India. It’s a story of seeking adventure, even to your very last day. I enjoyed it quite a bit, for reasons similar to why I liked Mitty.

Another movie I saw recently and loved was Perks of Being a Wallflower. Teen angst, high school travails, mental illness, broken romance, and a surprise ending. Deeply affecting.

Worthy of all the hype. Saw it last night on stage in San Francisco. Here’s a taste:

I recently watched two documentaries I highly recommend: Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Being Elmo. Each is about a craftsman and his craft: Jiro, a master sushi maker in Tokyo, and Kevin Clash, the brains and voice behind the muppet Elmo. Both available on Netflix streaming. It reminded of my post last year titled Admiring Excellence, which I’ve re-posted below. It’s a topic I continue to think about almost every day…

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At a San Francisco Giants game a couple months ago, I joked to Cal Newport, who was sitting next to me, that the Newportian analysis of the game had nothing to do with bases and balls and everything to do with the years of deliberate practice that rocketed each player to the peak of their profession. Cal sees remarkable talent as the product of years of craftsmanship.

I thought about that moment at the ballpark with Cal the other week when I was listening to a commentator who, after reporting that the Houston Astros (one of the worst teams in baseball this season) beat the Giants, said that it doesn’t matter how bad the opposing team is–when you’re competing against professional athletes, it is always hard work to win. The worst player on the worst team in the major leagues is still one of the best athletes in the world. When you see a National League pitcher go to bat and hack at balls way off the plate, he looks like he’s never swung a bat before. Yet, that hitter was probably the best hitter on his high school team by far. When professional pitchers are made to look silly at the plate, it’s a reminder of how good major league pitching is. Only those who devote their professional careers to hitting stand a chance–and full-time pitchers, obviously, do not.

You don’t need to be a pro at the craft to admire it in others. In the baseball example, if you don’t know the rules of baseball you won’t appreciate the players’ talents. You need a base level of knowledge. But you can be an amateur and still be awed by the pros, if you let yourself.

Why admire excellence? First, admiring excellence is part of appreciative thinking. In a terrific, packed restaurant, admiring excellence becomes appreciating the myriad details the restauranteur has nailed to make the dining experience flawless. Purchasing a product on Amazon becomes appreciating the data analysts who processed billions of bits of data in order to optimize the shopping cart process. This appreciative, admiring mentality is also a backdoor entrance–in the house of feelings–to gratitude. “I’m grateful to be in the presence of someone who’s world class at their craft.”

Second, consciously admiring and recognizing the excellence of someone is the first step to becoming a master yourself. If the key to mastery of any skill is deconstructing what current masters did to get to where they are, then step one is knowing when you’re around professionals–and letting yourself admire them!

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From Josh Kaufman, a Craftsman’s Creed.

Via Carlos Miceli, Denis Dutton’s TED talk, which Carlos summarizes as: “Meticulous work, regardless of the field, is beautiful. We find beauty in skilled performances.”