State of Affairs Episode 1.02 Secrets & Lies

In U.S. territorial waters 100 meters below the surface of the Bering Sea, two divers are hard at work attaching something to a cable. Unbeknownst to them, a storm is raging on the surface. A huge wave hits a fishing trawler, severing its tether to the sub, which plunges deeper until it comes to rest on the edge of a cliff. With the sub threatening to break apart, Intelligence Officer Anatoly Simonov locks himself in the comm room, then orders his men to deploy the communications buoy. Knowing only Americans will hear the signal from the buoy, the men refuse, so Anatoly kills them, deploys the buoy himself and begins transmitting a message: "Nightfall reporting tragic."

Back in D.C., Charlie is having dinner with the president and First Gentleman Marshall Payton, who says grace over the meal in the form of a prayer for Aaron's soul. While Constance wants justice for Aaron's death, Marshall is more concerned with the truth of what happened. After dinner, Charlie's on her way to work when she receives a text: "Remember me?" accompanied by a photo of Charlie, Fatah and Nick. Panicked, Charlie leaves an urgent message for Nick. No one should have this photo! A few minutes after she arrives at work, Anatoly's transmission comes through. The team quickly gets to work. Dash mentions there are fiber optic cables in that part of the ocean that carry U.S. intelligence apparatus; Maureen suggests testing Anatoly, asking him to tell them what the Russians are doing. Anatoly explains the Russians are tapping the cables and have over six months of gathered intel on board... and the sub has exceeded crush depth.

As the team rushes to assemble the briefing, they look up in unison, surprised when Kurt arrives. Now that Skinner's been fired, there's no one for him to brief - so why is he there? Dash rushes in with bad news: one of the lines tapped by the Russians contains highly classified D.O.D. intel, along with CIA data on all worldwide assets. Clearly, the Russians would be happy to kill all U.S. spies and their families or sell the intel to the highest bidder. Charlie calls the White House, asking to move up the briefing, and in short order, she's in the Oval Office. Chief of Staff David Patrick (DP) rushes in with news that a Coast Guard ice breaker, the Healy, has been redirected to the Bering Sea, but it will take 24 hours to reach the sub's location. Telling Charlie to report back on the hour, the president rushes off to meet with the Joint Chiefs, but not before telling DP they need to announce the new CIA director today - even if she's not all that happy with their candidate. It's time to send a message to the Russians.

Back at the CIA, Charlie meets with Nick to show him the texted photo. The whole texting thing started when Nick returned to D.C., but he insists he's not the one behind it. So who else knows? Charlie hates feeling like she's lying to the president about Fatah and she can't violate her oath to the CIA, so Nick advises her to prompt the president to ask her. But Charlie's not ready yet. She first wants to piece together what happened during the attack that killed Aaron. Nick needs to help her find out who's sending the texts and who took that photo. Nick thinks Fatah - the biggest asset the CIA ever turned - is behind the whole thing. But he suspects Fatah never actually did turn. Could he have been behind the attack in Kabul? After Nick leaves, Maureen warns Charlie not to trust him. Maureen doesn't like Nick, especially since he met with her customer, the Secretary of Defense, yesterday. Why?

In the ops room, Kurt reports that the sub is on the brink of a deep water precipice; if it falls any further it will implode. Russia House analyst Garret Hansen reports that Anatoly's handler was Martin Canfield, a friend of Charlie's father who recently died in a car accident. Charlie is to continue as primary contact. Anatoly tells Charlie he remembers Martin's boss, Oliver Tucker - Charlie's father, right? When she was a kid, they met once at a park where she played with his daughter, Sabina. Having stabilized the sub, the captain starts banging on the door to the comm room just as the team notices fast-moving Russian destroyers steaming towards the sub. Charlie hangs up with Anatoly to call the president, who's heard from the Russians that their vessels were blown off course - a lie. Payton's working on a plan - and she's naming Ambassador Raymond Navarro - former governor of Wyoming known as The Cowboy - as the new Director of the CIA. Charlie is to attend the announcement in one hour. It's brinksmanship on the part of the president, empowering a former enemy from the other party.

On the way to the White House, Charlie meets with Syd to tell him about her mysterious texts; he needs to find out everything he can. She's surprised to find Lucas in the Oval Office - he's Navarro's new briefer, and they're on a first-name basis. He knew all about Navarro's appointment from the beginning. And one thing Navarro wants Charlie to know: she won't be working with him, she's working FOR him. In a moment alone, the president tells Charlie the Coast Guard won't reach the sub before the Russians, who have threatened to blow it up. They're testing her new presidency. It occurred to her that none of this would be happening if the sub had sunk altogether... the implicit message isn't lost on Charlie, especially when the president underlines that the truth is in the telling.

Back at the CIA, Syd meets Charlie in the parking garage to return her phone, having come up empty on the texts. Syd wants Charlie to cut Nick loose - he's poison! - a liar and manipulator who'll take her down. One thing's clear, the photo has been manipulated. Charlie should look into it. Meanwhile, the sub's crew is trying to break down the door to the comm room with welding torches. Learning Anatoly was recruited through his desire for a sense of self-worth and a belief in U.S. policy, Charlie gets back on the horn, telling him she has a mission for him, direct from the president, a mission only he can complete, Since firing on the Russian destroyers would be tantamount to war, the president has requested a final act of service on behalf of the United States. The secrets on the sub must stay hidden for all time. In a breach of protocol, Charlie promises to take a recorded message from Anatoly to his daughter Sabina - even though it will mean breaking the law. Charlie leaves the ops room, preferring to forego the soundtrack of Anatoly's final mission as the sub plunges toward the bottom of the ocean. Rather than play the message for Sabina, Charlie deletes it, then tells Maureen she lied to Anatoly. She doesn't remember meeting him or his daughter. Maureen claims Anatoly died a hero, but Charlie knows he died a spy.