The Americans Epilogue - 5 Years Later - 1992
Stan realized that he had made the right choice in letting Phillip and Elizabeth go. The recently opened KGB files contained hints that the splintering between the KGB and the Russian Government around the time of the summit had actually posed a threat to Gorbachev and the easing of the cold war. The hardliner KGB had been rendered impotent, possibly as a result of the Jennings being able to carry the message to Russia. He never would have believed them, if he hadn't just gotten the same intel from Oleg, who had nothing to lose.
Stan had been able to soften the espionage charges against Oleg, but not dropped. But as soon as the Berlin wall came down, lots of exchanges of both information and people was possible. Oleg was flown back to Russia where he was nearly hugged to death by his wife, children and father. His mother had died from sorrow the year before, and while his happiness was restored, it was not as it should have been.
He tried having a deeper background investigation done on Renee, but nothing turned up that had not been covered by the background investigation for her employment. He could never bring himself to confront her, and so let it go, but the suspicions remained deep within him, and despite his best intentions, they festered, eroding his feelings and clouding his intimacy. Eventually his coldness toward Renee was too much, and she left him and the agency that kept him in proximity. Ironically, the end of the relationship removed whatever threat that there might have ever been. He only dated sporadically after Renee, and then stopped, unable to trust as he once had done.
Stan adopted Henry. Henry was shocked and angry for a long time after his abandonment, but he slowly understood what Paige had realized. The secret had been there, shaping his family all along, with its lack of relatives or close connections. When the shock wore off and the anger subsided, he was actually relieved, as if an unseen force that had made his life different had lifted. He found it easier to connect with others after this relief was his. Stan helped with college, and afterwards he moved to the West Coast, got married and worked successfully with a tech start-up. He never saw or heard from his parents again, even when it was possible.
Paige came back, apparently abandoned by her parents. She contacted Stan, who helped to clear her, since she appeared innocent, outside of her earlier admissions. Her scholarship allowed her to finish her degree. She had thought about continuing in intelligence work for the State Department or even the FBI, but Stan persuaded her that even being cleared of wrong doing, her taint was permanent for that sort of work. She travelled to Argentina and got a job doing relief work with Pastor Tim. She eventually married an Argentinian man.
5 years later, when it was possible, Paige flew to Russia and visited her parents. The years after Gorbachev were difficult and they scraped by, living below the poverty line. They had spent time questioning the value of all of their work in America, coming to the conclusion that they had been used tools. In the midst of all of their difficulties, they met a priest who was a neighbor who eventually encouraged them to make good confessions. They both had felt this experience to be freeing, and felt lighter. At the suggestion of the priest to find something good to do, they became workers at an orphanage which handled some of the many abandoned orphans of that time period. Philip and Elizabeth always felt a twinge of sorrow over Paige and Henry, but found a new sense of parenting in caring for the orphans, wanting to make up the parenting they had failed earlier.
Paige was surprised to see the change in her parents. She forgave them as far as she could, but wondered if the anger would ever dissipate entirely.
Claudia had returned home and was debriefed by the Center. She remained there as an analyst and rose through the ranks until the Soviet government disbursed. In the chaos of the early '90s, she followed others in the KGB into syndicates, eventually becoming an oligarch matron with wealth and power. She was disillusioned by the end of the Soviet dream, but never stopped being a true patriot in her heart.