Renee: A Theory

[quantumreality]

There's been this dangling thread revolving around Renee's presence in The Americans, and nobody's been quite sure what her goal is.

My thoughts went back to something that's been discounted in canon: Stan's past history of infiltrating a white supremacist group and busting it up.

And I got to wondering, what if Renee was somehow connected to that group, and realizes Stan was the agent that got everybody else arrested? She could be a mole trying to get into the FBI to keep tabs on other such groups and tip them off as to investigations and raids, or failing that, at least get the names of FBI agents who are investigating right-wing groups in a given area.

What do you all think?

Comments

[treonb]

It's a very interesting theory, but I'd be disappointed if that's the case. They haven't mentioned Stan's white supremacist history since the beginning.

[lovingboth]

Ditto.

She's been dangled teasingly, but if we are expected to believe she is some sort of spy, it would have had to be handled better than this.

[maidenjedi]

I really wanted them to do something with Renee being a spy, Russian or otherwise, but I think it's way too late to actually have that reveal and make it believable; they'd've had to build it up a lot better. It would have been very interesting to have her connected to Stan's past in that way, since we know he was an undercover mole and all.

[saraqael]

As others have said, at this point in the story, I think it would be too much of a curve ball plotwise to have Renee be connected to the white supremacist group that Stan had infiltrated. If Renee is anything more than just what she appears to be on the surface, then I think she'd have to be another Illegal who was sent to get FBI intel from Stan. Over the years, the Jennings would have provided enough of a psych profile of Stan to let the Center know what sort of woman would appeal to him. In the real world, even after the known illegals were arrested and deported, US counter-intel knew that there were still dozens/hundreds of undercover Russian spies out there infiltrating US government and business entities. Renee could be one of those.

I have to wonder though. If Stan's career hits the skids because of his friendship with the Jennings, I doubt the Bureau would hire Renee or allow her to remain on staff. Any usefulness she might have had to the Center would be wrecked through her association with Stan. So... I dunno what's up with her. It would be a very James Bondian curve if she turned out to be an illegal who was there simply to act as a safety backup for the Jennings, should Stan ever get wise to them. Like, one night she knocks on the door and says, "Surprise! Stan's on to you, but don't worry. Mother's expecting you! I've got the car running in the driveway. Hop in!" Ha!

Personally, I'm still hoping that she turns out to just be a civilian and the show introduced her into the story just to play with our minds because the show has made us all suspicious of everyone.

[treonb]

If she is a safety backup, I'd expect her to kill Stan

[saraqael]

Maybe, but if she kills Stan she'd lose her backdoor way in to the FBI. If she could intercept the Jennings and whisk them to safety without anyone suspecting her, then she could continue to infiltrate the Bureau AND save her comrades at the same time.

I'm still hoping that she's just a nobody civilian who happened to marry Stan Beeman.

[sistermagpie]

That seems like the only possibility to me, that she's a nobody. If she's an Illegal or some other agent she makes no sense. Why would anybody dedicate this woman to live with this guy who's not even in counter intelligence anymore. There's just no reason for anybody to do that. If she's an Illegal it would mean that they've got Elizabeth running around doing everything while this woman just has to be married to this one guy who's already got a best friend reporting on him.

Plus if she was an Illegal she didn't manage to find out about the Teacups even.

The show almost never does one of these surprise spy reveals. In her case it's possible because Philip raised the possibility, but she mostly just seems weirdly written. Like if she was a spy she ought to not come across like a fembot quite so much.

[saraqael]

Everything about the Renee character seems like a big tease to me. It was amusing at first. As viewers we've been trained to view everyone as either spy, counter-spy, or mark. This angle of having Renee wanting Stan to get her a job at the Bureau is just more of the same. We're so close to the end of the show that I don't actually want her to suddenly pops up as a significant undercover player in the story right at the end. I want her to just be what she seems on the surface: Stan's civilian wife who admires him for being a Fed and wants to do something meaningful with her life, too. I'm already doing mental gymnastics trying to understand S6 Paige Jennings. Super undercover spy Renee is a huge stretch.

[sistermagpie]

Among the many other things I think would be bad about surprise spy Renee is...talk about undercutting the drama of Stan/Philip. He just found out his best friend is a spy but then his wife is a spy too?

That's no longer a show about spies. It's like a Twilight Zone episode where Stan's the only human among aliens.

[saraqael]

Agreed. I really don't want them to go down this path. I'm hoping for Renee as normal, civilian wife who married for love, acting as a counter-balance to Elizabeth, KBG spy wife who married for duty.