SPOILER ALERT: This submit incorporates spoilers from “Встречают по одёжке (Meet by the Garments),” the sixth episode of “Duster,” now streaming on Max.

If the reluctant duo on the middle of Max’s “Duster” didn’t contemplate themselves companions earlier than, then surviving a hail of gunfire and a deadly Russian crime boss certainly cemented them as companions now.

Within the sixth episode of the Max Nineteen Seventies crime drama from creators LaToya Morgan and J.J. Abrams, FBI Agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) adopted by along with her harmful plan to infiltrate Saxton’s (Keith David) crew by posing as his Russian interpreter. This was towards the needs of her informant Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway), who didn’t a lot look after her being this near his day job as Saxton’s driver. After gaining Saxton’s belief along with her fluent Russian –– one thing Hilson discovered for the function –– Nina is shortly known as up for a gathering the place he brokers a deal to safe a mysterious case from a Russian gangster.

For the primary time, Nina and Jim get to work collectively  out within the open as an alternative of within the shadows, marking an enormous change of tempo for Hilson and Holloway.

“I believe the stakes had been at all times excessive, however they had been fully upped on this episode,” Hilson tells Selection. “This episode has an enormous arc as a result of they’re butting heads at first, however by the top, we really feel extra like friends and allies than we ever have been.”

“Like actual companions,” Holloway jumps in to say. “As much as that time, it was form of like rehearsal, and so they even say that. However this isn’t rehearsal anymore; she’s coming into into my world now. There’s a complete new degree of belief that must be there –– or not. However after this deal, I believe they do have a mutual belief for one another that’s deepened by this expertise.”

“For that day, a minimum of,” Hilson provides, cracking each of them up.

Morgan says one of many priorities of the episode was to point out Nina and Jim reckoning, possibly for the primary time, with simply how deep on this mess they’re. Earlier than she goes undercover, Nina provides her actual FBI companion Awan Bitsui (Asivak Koostachin) her locket to return to her mom if her cowl is blown. Later, when they’re dealing with possible dying, Jim provides Nina the keys to his Duster for his daughter Luna ought to he not make it out alive.

“They know they’ve form of dipped a toe throughout the road earlier than, however now it’s getting actual,” Morgan says. “She’s going undercover, and all bets are off. It’s not like within the fashionable days the place you may have an earpiece in and the cavalry goes to return working to avoid wasting you. They actually have nobody however themselves and one another to get them out of this.”

Saxton brings Nina, Jim, his son Ben (Benjamin Charles Watson) and his hothead, baseball bat-wielding bodyman Billy (Evan Jones) alongside for the deal, and issues go easily at first. Till the Russian asks everybody current to share a shot of vodka with him, a present of camaraderie earlier than they get right down to enterprise. Sadly, Ben continues to be recovering from coronary heart surgical procedure, and the shot of straight liquor blended together with his medicine causes him to freak out and spook the Russian. Fortunately, Jim intervenes to defuse the state of affairs, spinning Ben’s latest well being points right into a rousing story about how he survived an try on his life from his enemies. Filtered by Nina’s impeccable Russian, the crime boss respects Ben’s perceived fortitude and agrees to Saxton’s phrases.

Talking of Hilson’s Russian, even Holloway was impressed as he watched her ship it throughout filming. “You spoke a lot Russian,” he says to her. “I couldn’t imagine she was in a position to pull that off. All I used to be considering was, ‘Thank God they didn’t ask me to do this.’”

Hilson doesn’t keep in mind when within the audition course of Morgan and Abrams instructed her that Russian could be a part of the character’s ability set, however when she discovered about it, she instantly started working with a tutor.

“I knew she needed to be fluent,” she says. “Not solely have the ability to say these traces, but in addition sound like she actually knew what she was saying and have the ability to advert lib right here and there. I wished to actually get that proper. So I began that fairly quickly, after which we had a dialect coach on set who was wonderful.”

All that preparation led to this deal, which Hilson needed to play with confidence and a contact of concern when the Russian initially interrogated her about why she knew Russian. It rattles Nina for a second, earlier than she finds her footing.

“That was so enjoyable to movie, nevertheless it was much more enjoyable to lastly have that come to fruition and form of be performed with it,” she says.

With the Russian — each the language and the gangster — out of the way in which, the episode crescendos into the true motion. Within the earlier episode, Jim made an enemy of Sal (Jack Topalian), a Greek mobster, who was left fuming when Jim helped Saxton’s daughter Genesis (Sydney Elisabeth) crash Saul’s daughter’s marriage ceremony and steal the bride (and her girlfriend) away from a financially advantageous organized union. Saul is now out for blood, and he sends his henchmen to spy on Saxton’s deal after which kill Jim as soon as the Russian leaves. The 2 males shoot first and ask questions later, leaving Nina to point out off her abilities with a gun, one thing bloodthirsty Billy instantly clocks as suspicious for a easy interpreter.

In the course of the shootout, Jim and Nina lastly have their arms on the all-important briefcase Saxton got here for, which Nina believes would possibly maintain sufficient proof to carry him down. However within the chaos, they don’t get the possibility to crack it open and see what all of this was for. As a substitute, they need to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child” their method out of this case, with out doing anymore harm to their covers.

“Billy is my important concern, as a result of he’s already suspicious and I can really feel him honing in on us,” Holloway says. “So we will’t do something right here in entrance of Billy, as a result of he’s gonna sniff that out instantly. However certainly one of my favourite films ever is ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child,’ so replaying this scene was unbelievable. And the dialogue of the second was so fast and witty, and I simply love that they’re nonetheless arguing in that second as they’re being shot at.”

In the end, Nina saves Ben’s life, forcing Billy to holster his suspicions about her — for now. However the penalties of her new immersion in Saxton’s operation need to reveal themselves. To get her right here, Jim’s father Wade (Corbin Bernsen) and stepmother Charlotte (Gail O’Grady) helped coach the secret agent on her performing, one thing that ought to concern Jim.

“Not solely is their relationship deepening, however now my father is concerned and my stepmother is concerned,” he says. “There’s this evolution of data, as a result of we’re additionally discovering out my father had doubts about my brother’s dying too. To have him on board actually provides Jim permission to belief Nina slightly extra.”

The episode ends on a quieter observe with Nina nursing Jim’s bullet wound, a second of lingering glances that appears to substantiate the simmering romantic rigidity followers have already clocked between them. Hilson says she thinks it’s as much as the viewers to find out easy methods to learn the scene, which doesn’t embrace a kiss, however actually will get near it.

Holloway, in the meantime, was anxious a attainable romance wouldn’t really feel acceptable for the characters or the period. However historical past, he realized, is on their aspect.

“I questioned if this was gonna be bizarre, however if you happen to put it on the planet of the ’70s, not a lot,” he says. “Individuals had been extra fluid round most points. Was the age distinction an enormous factor? Is the race distinction a factor? Probably not. It is sensible, as a result of at first, earlier than he realizes she’s FBI, it’s very flirty. That is only a man and lady flirting. Their precise skilled relationship has been antagonistic —however who is aware of the place that would develop later.”

Morgan says the adrenaline from the wild shootout dropped their defenses, leaving them each extra susceptible than ever.

“They survived and so they’ve lived to inform the story,” she says. “To me, there’s nothing sexier than serving to somebody once they’re harm. They’ve had slightly tequila, and tequila can go to your head. However it’s there. There’s this factor between them and no one else understands however them.”

However how horny can a second actually be when Richard Nixon is taking part in on the TV within the background?

“You don’t know what folks’s kinks are!” Hilson says with fun.