Redeemed villainess Renata
Renata (Kathleen Gati) is a villainess (redeemed) from "Bridges", the Season 1 finale of Fairly Legal (airdate March 24, 2011). She was the mother of the deceased Theresa and the grandmother of her 10-year-old daughter, Veronika.
The episode's events revealed that Renata was in conflict with Pete Marshall, Theresa's husband and Veronika's stepfather (Veronika's biological father having never been involved in her life). Following Theresa's death, Renata came to visit Pete and Veronika in San Francisco and revealed her desire to take Veronika back to her native Croatia and live with her. When Pete refused, Renata turned heel and resorted to kidnapping Veronika, taking her to the Croatian consulate without Pete's knowledge and refusing to leave.
Goran Pavlek (the vice-counsel for Croatia) contacted mediator Kate Reed to assist in resolving the situation before it digressed into an international incident, with Kate talking with Renata after discussing the matter with Pete (following his attempt to storm the Consulate and take Veronika home). During her talk with Kate, Renata claimed she had no choice but to take Veronika to the Consulate and expressed her belief that Veronika belonged with her family now that Theresa was dead, callously responding to Kate's argument that Pete loved her by saying he wasn't Veronika's father and that he also wasn't family now that Theresa had passed. Renata also stated that she was doing what she believed Theresa would've wanted, while showing she was still in mourning of her daughter's death.
Later on, after Veronika ran away from the Consulate as a result of not wanting to choose between her stepfather and grandmother, Kate went to meet with Pete and Renata, with the former blaming Pete for Veronika's disappearance and sneering in disgust at Pete's claim that he was her father (despite him having displayed a detailed understanding of her schedule when asked by Kate where she could've gone). After Veronika was found safe, Pete and Renata were brought in for another meeting with Kate, with Renata continuing to claim Pete was responsible for her running away and that Veronika was happy with going back to Croatia with her. As the pair continued to argue, Kate pointed out how the two of them were still arguing despite Veronika being found and asked them to wait for her while she went to deal with another case.
When Kate returned to find Pete and Renata still arguing, with Renata viciously reminding Pete that he wasn't Veronika's biological father, Kate reminded the two that if they didn't come to an agreement, the decision would be made by someone who wouldn't have Veronika's best interest at heart and that it would prove neither of them deserve to have Veronika. After Kate left the room, Renata began her redemption as both she and Pete agreed that the other truly loved Veronika. Renata's final scene of the episode showed her walking out of the conference with Veronika, with her and Pete both holding one of her hands, revealing that they had come to an agreement on sharing custody of Veronika.
Trivia[]
- Kathleen Gati previously appeared on NCIS as the evil Svetlana Chernitskaya.