It does feel like a wasted opportunity to explore Stan's character in more depth, but you're right that the show can't do everything. I suspect that if the show had stuck to it's original focus on spy story-of-the-week, they might have gone more in depth about Stan's background to position him as an equal adversary to the Jennings. Instead of FBI agent with intensely skilled undercover experience vs. skilled undercover KGB agents, the show switched it's tone and focus to the Jennings' marriage and family. It almost seems to me that Stan's role in the story changed from opponent to merely being a component in Philip's journey to self-awareness. Philip has genuinely become friends with Stan, and it's via Stan that Philip got introduced to EST.
I still keep the image in my mind of Stan being 'undercover agent infiltrating horrible white supremacist group' because it reminds me to not take Stan for granted. He's not just the nice guy next door who hangs out and has dinner with the Jennings. He can be dangerous when he needs to be, and he's unpredictable. I think about the time when he shot that Russian guy from the Embassy out of what seemed to me to be purely self-righteous anger.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Approving of characters
Date: 2018-04-09 03:50 pm (UTC)I still keep the image in my mind of Stan being 'undercover agent infiltrating horrible white supremacist group' because it reminds me to not take Stan for granted. He's not just the nice guy next door who hangs out and has dinner with the Jennings. He can be dangerous when he needs to be, and he's unpredictable. I think about the time when he shot that Russian guy from the Embassy out of what seemed to me to be purely self-righteous anger.