I’m just realizing…

I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but I’m just realizing that Philip suspected and then really started to believe that Renee might be a Russian spy, just like Stan initially (and probably many times thereafter) suspected Philip and Elizabeth of being Russian spies.

Stan recognized people (the Jennings) who were being deeply deceitful because he himself was incredibly deceitful for the three years just prior when he worked undercover with a white-supremacist group in Southern Arkansas. He knew the telltale signs of people who were straight up not being genuine. Like Stan told Aderholt, “Tell them what they want to hear, over and over and over again,” just like Philip does to Stan.

Likewise, Philip obviously knows how Russian spies are trained and saw very similar behaviors in Renee.

Now I see why Stan’s recent background was so important for the writers to keep mentioning: because Stan himself was a spy, fighting those who he believed were the bad guys.

Stan escaped alive and in one piece from his prior gig. Perhaps that’s why he lets the Jennings go in the parking garage: because he knew how deeply people get entrenched in what they do, what evil things they need to do to survive and protect the mission, and how grateful he himself was to survive.

Therefore, he paid it forward to fellow comrades.