Philip goes to New York City, ostensibly to be part of a travel agency conference, but in actuality to be part of an operation to discredit Bielawski, a Soviet defector who a visible member of the Polish Solidarity. This mission also puts him back in touch with Irina (Marina Squerciati), his old girlfriend from the Soviet Union.
Elizabeth and Sandra bond over their problems with their respective husbands (without actually going into details). She also gets in touch with Sanford, an associate of Vasili's contact (whom Elizabeth killed), and because he's a gambler, she pays off his debt to get him to work for her.
This episode contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Agent Gaad asks Stan about Nina, "Has she had you for breakfast, Stan?"
- Bait-and-Switch: When Irina and Philip are together in their hotel room, and after she's told him about their son, she says to him, "I'm ready, Mischa", which seems to indicate they're going to sleep together. Instead, Philip starts hitting her, as part of the plan to discredit Bielawski (though they do sleep together later).
- Later, when Elizabeth is meeting up with a bookie who holds Sanford's debt, and offers to pay it, he refuses. At first, it looks like she's going to seduce him into letting her pay off the debt. Instead, she gives him a Groin Attack.
- Blatant Lies: When Elizabeth asks Philip if anything happened in New York City between him and Irina, he lies and says nothing happened, when in fact, he and Irina did sleep together.
- Catch-22 Dilemma: Discussed by Irina when she tells Philip about the KGB's plans for Bielawski; if they kill him, the Polish independence movement he's inspired will wither and die, but they need him alive so it can appear to the world as if the struggle for Polish independence is real. This is why they ultimately decide to Take a Third Option.
- False Rape Accusation: The way the Soviets decide to discredit Bielawski.
- Flashback: We see brief scenes of Philip (known then as "Mischa") with Irina when they first met, and when they were involved.
- Foreshadowing: Irina tells Philip about their son, who will become important in later seasons.
- The files Elizabeth gets from Sanford will also become important in future episodes.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Lampshaded by Nina after she and Stan sleep together, when she says Americans tend to see things in black and white, while "for us, everything is gray."
- I Have a Family: A variation in that Philip uses this as a reason why he doesn't leave run away with Irina to Canada.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Irina is upset about what they did to Bielawski ("He was a good man, and we destroyed him"). She encourages Philip to run away with her to Canada, but he refuses.
- Shout-Out: Claudia tells Elizabeth she doesn't want to see her throw herself in front of a train.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: As Stan starts to tell Nina how he feels about her, she plants one on him.
- Slipping a Mickey: Irina ends up drugging Bielawski's drink so they can discredit him.
