Stan Beeman's History
Stan Beeman is the ex-husband of Sandra Beeman as well as the father of Matthew Beeman. He is an FBI counterintelligence agent who specializes in hunting down Soviet spies operating on American soil, working closely with FBI agents Frank Gaad and Dennis Aderholt and FBI secretary Martha Hanson. When his Soviet informant, Nina Krilova, was sent back to the Soviet Union for treason, he took big risks in collaborating with Oleg Burov to attempt to save her. From 1981 until December 1987, he has no idea that his neighbors and friends, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, are the dangerous Soviet illegals that he has been chasing all along.
Prior to his current assignment, Stan worked undercover for three years with a white-supremacist group in Southern Arkansas. His work resulted in the arrest of 24 suspects.
Stan moves to Northern Virginia with his wife, Sandra and his son, Matthew across the street from Elizabeth and Philip Jennings. Stan is unaware of the fact that Philip and Elizabeth are undercover KGB agents but becomes suspicious when he learns that a car similar to Philip's is seen near the site of the abduction of a KGB defector, Nikolai Timoshev, but finds nothing when he covertly inspects the car's trunk.
In February 1981, Stan blackmails Nina Krilova, a Soviet embassy clerk, to spy for the FBI. Nina feeds Stan information about Robert McKenzie, a Soviet agent who was killed the night Timochev went missing. As Stan gets to know Nina, he subsequently grows further apart from Sandra and spends more time at work. After Stan misses a family dinner, Agent Amador takes him to a bar to pick up a woman to have casual sex with, but Stan calls Nina instead and they sleep together. However, the way Nina is acting leads him to believe that she is using him and may be a double agent. She is tasked to try and turn Stan but starts to fall in love with him instead. Agent Frank Gaad, Stan's FBI supervisor, gives him the keys to a safe house and tells him to take Nina there which then becomes their "love nest."
On an unauthorized initiative, Stan leads the FBI to seize Arkady's assistant Vlad and put him in a safe house. After uncovering further intelligence which enrages Stan, he returns to the safe house and kills Vlad. When Nina asks about Vlad's death, Stan lies and promises her he will find out who killed him. When he gets home, Sandra asks him to quit the FBI and move away with his family. When he says no, she leaves him. He goes to Nina and attempts to end their affair, but ends up losing his resolve and sleeps with her instead. Nina doesn't trust what Stan is telling her about Vlad's death and after she gets promoted, she is given access to the material obtained by the Weinberger bug. She keeps the information from Stan in order to further investigate Vlad's death. Stan and Gaad continue to look for a thirty-something married couple and produce a sketch of them while Nina is sworn into Directorate S and, after a conversation with Stan, confesses her spying to Arkady and offers to become a re-doubled agent. Stan tells both Sandra and Nina that his mission will soon be over but Sandra rebuffs his attempt at reconciliation and Nina tells Arkady, who has accepted her offer in spite of Moscow's skepticism.
Nina informs Stan of a new arrival at the Rezidentura, Oleg Burov. Stan follows Oleg one night, only to have Oleg mislead him to a port where he tells Stan that he's the only one who knows about Nina and threatens to expose her. Stan asks Nina to take a polygraph test if she wants to get exfiltrated. Arkady forces Stan's hand to steal the "Echo" program in exchange for Nina's safety. When Oleg pressures Stan more, Stan gives a surveillance log to Oleg and later promises to protect Nina. He drops a package at the agreed upon location, but it turns out to be only a note that says "Tell Nina I'm sorry". A heartbroken Nina is detained and led away to leave the Rezidentura to return to Moscow to stand trial for treason while Stan sadly watches her leave from a parked car.
Gaad also informs Stan that Nina has been charged with espionage and treason. He tries again to reconcile with Sandra, trying to understand the EST program she's been going to, so he goes and asks Philip to go too. Stan finds the training ridiculous and useless, much to Sandra's annoyance.
Stan greets Zinaida Preobrazhenskaya, a defector from the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies after arriving in a crate to the FBI. Zinaida discusses with Stan the Institute in Moscow she worked for, where their duties were to report on Soviet leadership on all aspects of geopolitical significance regarding the U.S. and Canada. She confides in Stan that she is glad that it is over, but he assures her that it is not. Stan is later held at gunpoint by Oleg Igorevich, who blames him for Nina's arrest and upcoming execution. Stan tells him that he loved Nina and if Oleg wants to shoot him, he can shoot him in the back and Stan walks away and gets in his car. He goes to Sandra, who is now living with another man, and tells her how he was almost killed. While she comforts him, she also tells him that she is not coming back to him.
He goes back to an EST meeting, only to voice his opinion of it. Instead of being met with hostility, he gets applauded. Afterwards, he is asked out on a date by a woman named Tori who was in attendance at the EST meeting. They have dinner at the Jennings house and, despite his admitting that he still considers Sandra his wife, he and Tori have sex.
Stan confronts & accosts Philip Jennings in his garage & accuses him of having an affair his ex-wife Sandra because of their new bond through attending EST meetings together. However, Philip and Sandra never shared anything more than coffee and conversation after EST meetings. Philip denies having an affair with Sandra and Stan later ends up apologizing to Philip for overreacting.
Stan is also shocked to find out that Nina Krilova has been executed in Russia.
Stan's boss Frank Gaad retires from the FBI and Stan gets a new boss. Stan then learns that Gaad was accidentally killed trying to escape from the KGB while vacationing in Thailand.
Stan begins dating a new woman he met named Renee who Philip and Elizabeth suspect is a Soviet spy for the Center.
In late 1987, Stan once again becomes suspicious of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings. He confirms that they are in fact the KGB Agents he has been chasing. Stan confronts Philip, Elizabeth, and Paige at gunpoint in the parking lot of Paige’s apartment. Philip reveals the truth to Stan and Paige then tells Stan she discovered the truth about her parents when she was 16, and admits she really did care for his son Matthew while they were in a relationship. She also tells Beeman that Henry is unaware of the true identity of their parents. Philip pleads with Stan and tells him that he grew to enjoy their time together and truly considers him a friend. He assures Stan that he really does care about him as his best friend. Paige and Philip tell Stan to look after Henry and to tell him the truth, because they have to abandon him and return to the USSR. They don't want to abruptly rip him from the life he knows and also cannot make it all the way to St. Edwards Academy in New Hampshire where he is attending school and still make their escape in time but ask Stan to assure him that they love him. Stan then decides to let the Jennings escape instead of arresting them. As they are leaving, Philip also tells Stan that he suspects that Renee might be a KGB agent, but is unsure. He did not have to do that but wanted to keep Stan safe and further prove he really did care about him and their friendship. Later, Aderholt shows Stan sketches of Philip and Elizabeth and apologizes to Stan for not believing him earlier. Stan then goes to Henry‘s hockey game where he tells Henry the truth about his parents, and agrees to look after him.
