Josh Holloway, Rachel Hilson on shootout, learns Russian

Spoiler alert: This message contains spoilers of “встреards, по о friendже (met by the clothing)”, the sixth episode of “Duster”, which now streams at Max.

If the reserved duo in the center of Max’s ‘Duster’ never considered himself as partners, the survival of a hail of gunfire and a deadly Russian crime boss now certainly had them as partners.

In the sixth episode of the maximum crime drama from the 70s of Makers Latoya Morgan and JJ Abrams, FBI agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) followed her dangerous plan to infiltrate Saxton’s (Keith David) team by acting as his Russian interpreter. This was against the wishes of her informant Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway), who didn’t make much of it that she was so close to his daily job as a Saxton driver. After he has obtained the confidence of Saxton with her smooth Russian – something that Hilson has learned for the role – Nina is quickly called up for a meeting in which he makes a deal to close a mysterious matter of a Russian gangster.

For the first time, Nina and Jim go together in the openness instead of in the shade, which marks a huge change in pace for Hilson and Holloway.

“I think the bet was always high, but they were completely raised in this episode,” says Hilson Variety. “This episode has a huge bow because they are in the beginning heads, but by the end we feel more like friends and allies than we have ever been.”

“Like real partners,” Holloway jumps in to say. “Until that moment it was a bit like rehearsal, and they even say that. But this is no longer a rehearsal; she now comes in my world. There is a whole new level of trust that there must be – or not. But after this deal I think they have a mutual trust for this experience.”

“At least for that day,” adds Hilson, both cracking.

Morgan says that one of the priorities of the episode was to show Nina and Jim Reckoning, perhaps for the first time, with how deep in this mess they are. Before she goes undercover, Nina gives her real FBI partner Awan Bitsui (Asivak Koostachin) her medallion to return to her mother when her coverage is blown up. Later, when they are confronted with probable death, Jim Nina gives the keys to his duster for his daughter Luna if he didn’t make it alive.

“They know that they have previously baptized a toe over the line, but now it will be real,” says Morgan. “She goes undercover, and all bets are eliminated. It is not like in the modern days where you can have an ear and the cavalry will come running to save you. They literally have no one except themselves and each other to get them out of it.”

Saxton brings Nina, Jim, his son Ben (Benjamin Charles Watson) and his hot head, baseball bat-waving Bodyman Billy (Evan Jones) for the deal, and things go smoothly in the beginning. Until the Russian asks everyone present to share a shot of vodka with him, a show of companionship before they get started. Unfortunately Ben still recovers from a heart surgery, and the shot of straight drink mixed with his medication ensures that he panics and the Russian tears. Fortunately, Jim intervenes to make the situation harmless and am to play Ben’s recent health problems in an exciting story about how he survived an attempt in his life of his enemies. Filtered by Nina’s impeccable Russian, the crime boss respects Ben’s observed steadfastness and agrees in the conditions of Saxton.

Speaking of Hilson’s Russian, even Holloway was impressed when he saw her delivering her during filming. “You have spoken so much Russian,” he tells her. “I couldn’t believe she could do that. The only thing I thought was:” Thank goodness they didn’t ask me to do that. “

Hilson does not remember when Morgan and Abrams in the audition process told her that Russian would be part of the skills of the character, but when she heard about it, she immediately started working with a tutor.

“I knew she should be fluent,” she says. “Not only being able to say these lines, but also sound like she really knew what she said and here and there lib could ad.

All that preparation led to this deal, which Hilson had to play with confidence and a touch of fear when the Russian initially questioned her why she knew Russian. It rattles Nina just before she finds her foot.

“That was so nice to film, but it was even nicer to finally flourish and do a little with it,” she says.

With the Russian – both the language and the gangster – from the way, the episode Crescendos in the real action. In the previous episode, Jim made an enemy of Sal (Jack Topalian), a Greek gangster, who was smelly when Jim Saxton’s daughter Genesis (Sydney Elisabeth) had the wedding of Saul’s daughter crashed and steal the bride (and her girlfriend) from a financially advanced union. Saul is now out for blood, and he sends his henchmen to spy on the Saxton deal and kills Jim as soon as the Russian leaves. The two men first shoot and ask questions later, so that Nina lets her skills with a gun show off with a gun, something bloodthirsty Billy immediately clocks as suspicious for a simple interpreter.

During the shootout, Jim and Nina finally came into the most important briefcase, of which Nina believes he could have sufficient evidence to bring him down. But in the chaos they don’t get the chance to crack and see what this was all for. Instead, they have to “blow off” their way out of this situation, without more damage to their covers.

“Billy is my greatest concern, because he is already suspicious and I can feel him on having,” says Holloway. “So we can’t do anything here for Billy, because he is going to sniff it right away. But one of my favorite films ever is ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, so playing this scene again was fantastic. And the dialogue of the moment was so fast and witty, and I just love to argue at that moment when they are recorded.”

In the end, Nina saves Ben’s life and Billy forces his suspicions about her in Holster – for now. But the consequences of her new immersion in the operation of Saxton must reveal. To get her here, Jim’s father Wade (Corbin Bernsen) and stepmother Charlotte (Gail O’grady) helped to coach the undercover agent about her acting, something that Jim enters.

“Not only is their relationship deepened, but now my father is involved and my stepmother is involved,” he says. “There is an evolution of knowledge, because we also find out that my father also had doubts about my brother’s death. Having him on board really gives Jim permission to trust Nina a little more.”

The episode ends with a quieter note with Nina that nurses Jim’s bullet wound, a moment of persistent cans that seem to confirm the simmering romantic tension fans, have already clocked between them. Hilson says she thinks it is up to the audience to determine how to read the scene, which does not contain a kiss, but will certainly come close.

Holloway was now worried that a possible romance would not feel suitable for the characters or the era. But history, he realized, is on their side.

“I wondered if this would be strange, but if you placed it in the world of the 70s, not that much,” he says. “People were more fluent around most issues. Was the age difference a big thing? Is the racing difference something? Not real. It is logical, because in the beginning, before he realizes that she is FBI, it is very flirty. This is just a man and woman flirting. Their actual professional relationship was antagonistic – but who knows that could grow later.”

Morgan says that the adrenaline has dropped their defense from the wild shootout, making them both more vulnerable than ever.

“They survived and they lived to tell the story,” she says. “For me there is nothing sexer than helping someone when they are injured. They have had a little tequila, and Tequila can go to your head. But it’s there. There is something between them and no one else understands it except them.”

But how sexy can a moment be when Richard Nixon plays on the TV in the background?

“You don’t know what people’s nodding are!” Hilson says laughing.