Doesn't Stan's epiphany feel a bit like they know there are only so many episodes to go and they need to get to it eventually?
I can see why you'd say that, looking back at the episode, but it didn't feel like that to me. It actually seemed very systematic to me, and each little bit brought him closer to real, legit suspicion.
I see it like this:
1) He was already thinking about how weird it was that Elizabeth had to fly down to appease an important client--a strange thing anyway--during Thanksgiving, the first time their wayward son was home in ages. But he put those suspicions aside because, well, because things have always been weird with the Jenningses in that department.
2) Then Philip had to go too, and his suspicions were raised just a bit more. Not enough to think: "could they be Soviet illegals?" but just enough for him to be going "okay, seriously, what the hell?" So he approaches Philip and asks him, essentially, just that: What the hell? And he gets an explanation that could be accurate, but no, it doesn't quite work. Something feels off. Suspicions are raised a little bit more at this point.
3) So he gives Henry his gentle interrogation. And if you're approaching it from the perspective that Stan already has is senses all activated, Henry actually said some pretty damning things. Henry himself just thinks of this stuff he's commenting on as the background of his life--the way things have always been--but at this point Stan's brain is whirring, and he's thinking back through all the points where weird things have happened involving the Jenningses that he's just put aside.
4) He breaks into their house, finds nothing. But while he's looking around, he thinks through each one of those weird moments from all the years he's known them. And his brain snags on the time that he shot a Russian illegal and then Elizabeth was gone for a while.
At this point I think he's thinking the truth, actually spelling it out to himself in his head, but he's also thinking about just how crazy that is. He's still got some convincing to do, of his own self. But he's most of the way there.
So yeah, I bought it. And my heart was in my freaking THROAT.
Is it realistic for Stan to be suspecting the Jennings' based on what happened here?
I can see why you'd say that, looking back at the episode, but it didn't feel like that to me. It actually seemed very systematic to me, and each little bit brought him closer to real, legit suspicion.
I see it like this:
1) He was already thinking about how weird it was that Elizabeth had to fly down to appease an important client--a strange thing anyway--during Thanksgiving, the first time their wayward son was home in ages. But he put those suspicions aside because, well, because things have always been weird with the Jenningses in that department.
2) Then Philip had to go too, and his suspicions were raised just a bit more. Not enough to think: "could they be Soviet illegals?" but just enough for him to be going "okay, seriously, what the hell?" So he approaches Philip and asks him, essentially, just that: What the hell? And he gets an explanation that could be accurate, but no, it doesn't quite work. Something feels off. Suspicions are raised a little bit more at this point.
3) So he gives Henry his gentle interrogation. And if you're approaching it from the perspective that Stan already has is senses all activated, Henry actually said some pretty damning things. Henry himself just thinks of this stuff he's commenting on as the background of his life--the way things have always been--but at this point Stan's brain is whirring, and he's thinking back through all the points where weird things have happened involving the Jenningses that he's just put aside.
4) He breaks into their house, finds nothing. But while he's looking around, he thinks through each one of those weird moments from all the years he's known them. And his brain snags on the time that he shot a Russian illegal and then Elizabeth was gone for a while.
At this point I think he's thinking the truth, actually spelling it out to himself in his head, but he's also thinking about just how crazy that is. He's still got some convincing to do, of his own self. But he's most of the way there.
So yeah, I bought it. And my heart was in my freaking THROAT.
-J