Network: NBC
Episodes: 13 (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: February 5, 2015 — March 5, 2015
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Hope Davis, Scott Cohen, Gavin Stenhouse, Margarita Levieva, Morgan Spector, Kenneth Choi, and Alex Peters.
TV show description:
This thriller TV series revolves around the O’Connor family and their son, Alex (Gavin Stenhouse). He’s a young idealistic CIA analyst who specializes in Russian affairs. Unbeknownst to him however, both of his parents and his sister are part of a dormant Russian sleeper cell that has just been reactivated.
Years ago, Russian-born Katya (Hope Davis) was tasked by the KGB to recruit American businessman Mark O’Connor (Scott Cohen) as a spy, and the two fell in love. A deal was struck: as long as Katya remained an asset for Russia, she would be allowed to marry Mark and move to America.
After years in America building a happy life and without word from Moscow, they thought they had escaped. Now it seems the new Mother Russia has one more mission — to turn Alex into a spy.
The SVR (Russian Intelligence) has re-enlisted the entire family into service as they plan a terrorist operation inside United States borders, one that will bring America to its knees. What should these anguished parents do? Betray their country or risk the lives of their family?
Other characters include eldest daughter Natalie O’Connor (Margarita Levieva), youngest daughter Sarah O’Connor (Alex Peters), CIA Station Chief of New York Sam Luttrell (Kenneth Choi), and Victor Dobrynin (Morgan Spector), the SVR operative assigned to the reactivated O’Connor parents.
Episode #13 — Family Crisis
In Williamstown, Pennsylvania, Doug Peters opens his hotel room door to find himself facing the barrel of Oscar Christoph’s gun. Christoph steps over the lifeless body of the federal inspector and removes his ID badge from his shirt.
Meanwhile, Mark, Katya and Alex race to the Standard Gas Williamstown Processing Plant, hoping to beat Christoph to the Black Dagger location. En route, Alex figures out Christoph’s master plan to make the plant explosion look like an accident, creating what appears to be a natural disaster so massive, the American public would turn against natural gas as an energy source. The American energy boom would collapse overnight, restoring Russia as the premiere energy provider.
The O’Connors arrive at the facility and smash their truck through its gates while Christoph, posing as federal inspector Doug Peters, nonchalantly shoots his way through the plant to the control room. The family gets separated, but Alex follows the trail of dead bodies to the control room, where he and Christoph get into a shootout. Alex hits Christoph in the shoulder, but he manages to escape. Now Alex has to figure out how to undo Christoph’s handiwork. To make matters worse, Katya and Mark get stuck behind a blast door and can’t reach Alex, so Mark tries to walk him through it over the phone. But it turns out the only way to stop the bomb is for Mark and Katya to blow up the compressor, the blast from which would kill them, but stop the bomb. Right outside the door to the compressor, Mark tricks Katya and locks himself in the room, sacrificing himself and saving her life. He then blows up the compressor.
With the door now open, Katya races in, crying out for Mark. He’s buried under a pile of rubble, but he’s alive. And they did it! They stopped Black Dagger! Mark and Katya head to the rendezvous point, but Alex has one last stop. He drives to a veterinary office in the nearby town of Easton, where he finds two veterinarians tending to Christoph’s gunshot wound. He knew Christoph wouldn’t risk going to a hospital, and this is the closest place with medical supplies outside the blast radius. Alex tells Christoph he’s turning him in, but Christoph has other plans. He holds the detonator to a bomb sitting in his car that could blow up a five-block radius. Either Christoph walks out alone, or nobody does. So Alex is forced to let him walk out the door.
Meanwhile, the Rezident calls Victor and informs him the FBI agents guarding the O’Connor house have been killed, and Sarah and Natalie will die when he gives the order. That is, unless Victor turns himself in. Victor immediately calls Natalie and gives her an update. He’s going to give himself up for her, but Natalie begs him not to and offers an alternate plan: the Rezident will expect Victor to save Natalie, but he won’t expect him to hit him at the Rezidentura. In the meantime, Natalie and Sarah scour the house for the SVR’s bugs and quickly find one in the kitchen.
They pretend to make their mom’s famous cinnamon bread while actually creating a makeshift bomb. Natalie then receives a fake phone call from Victor telling them about the SVR men after them and promising he’s on his way with the FBI. They loudly announce they’re going to hide in Katya’s closet, prompting the Rezident to instruct his agents to take the girls out. The operatives enter the house and head straight for the closet, blowing themselves up in the process.
At the Rezidentura, Victor shoots his way into the compound, and deftly fires a bullet into the Rezident’s skull. He then finds himself in a Mexican standoff with the Rezident’s two remaining guards and has to convince them to serve him instead of killing him. “I am the new Rezident,” he announces.
When the dust settles, the family meets at the rally point: the Brooklyn waterfront. Katya and Mark discuss turning themselves in, but Alex tells them to take Sarah and run, which is shocking, considering a month earlier he wanted to turn his parents in. Sam, who apparently survived the deadly workshop explosion, called Alex and said he’d vouch for him, as he never did anything to intentionally help the Russians.
But Katya and Mark did. If they turn themselves in, however, they won’t be safe in jail – Moscow will get to them. While his family goes off the grid, Alex will go back to work at the CIA. In fact, he already has his first assignment: recruiting a high-level SVR officer… Victor. (Courtesy NBC.)
First aired: April 30, 2015 (released online).
What do you think? Do you like the Allegiance TV show? Do you think it should have been cancelled or renewed for a second season?
I have enjoyed and looked forward to this show weekly. It’s never fair to compare one show to another, and it is hard to please the american public. It may not be completely realistic but it’s entertainment, compelling, and written with intelligence. There are to many mind numbing programs out there, reality shows (that can’t really be real), and game/ competition based shows. I some times wonder what has happened to the intellignce of the country.
I thought Alliegence was a weak copycat of The Americans and not terribly believable so I stopped after one episode, especially since it replaced Parenthood, a truly great show.
Tom, Allegiance is entirely different from the Americans because it’s set in current times whereas the Americans were set in the early 1960s (JFK) to 1980s (reagan) and it’s about an American family, whereas the Americans featured an embedded Russian couple, who were sent to America specifically to sabotage America. When you’re hooked to The Americans, you would want to compare Allegiance with it, which is NOT an objective or fair opinion at all. It’s opinions like yours, that aren’t fair or objective, which kill great shows with strong storylines like Allegiance. I love the acting of Katya (as a… Read more »
Ver good and compelling hope the network reconsiders it’s decision to cancel
Sorry to hear this is canceled ,I also loved all the actor’s ! They made the plot believe able
I’ve enjoyed this show ,sorry to hear it is has been canceled!
I think this really sucks!!! It is a very good show. Much better than some of those bs reality show and mindless comedies. You failed again NBC!!!!!!!!!!!!
And it just got canceled by NBC
Love this show! It’s different from the Americans, less gritty, but I think we need some lighter entertainment to balance out the others. Too much violence, sex, and gore already. Finally, there’s an intelligent, fun show that’s easy to watch without biting my nails off each episode.
“Allegiance” showed initial promise, but the show’s plot has been rife with flaws. A Russian-America mother plants a transmitter in her son’s shirt button. To be effective, this transmitter would have to placed on every change of clothing. Then there is a lot of running. Usually, when there inordinate running it’s due to weak story line, not sure of future directions of episodes to be filmed. Depending on how many episodes are still in the can, the show can still pull out of the nose dive it is presently attempting to inexorably avoid. It can never be compared with FX’s… Read more »
I love the show and the episodes that I’ve not been able to watch, I catch up on my dvr as I have it recording as a series. I hope they do not cancel this show.
The show is what it says it is. It has to be brutal to make the point about the danger of spies. I like the juxtaposing of the seemingly “normal” American family against the harsh reality of the Russian goal to disseminate said family.
This is a great show! I loved both one and two I hope this does not get cancelled. I rarely write in about shows but this one is worth the effort! Can’t wait for the next episode! Way to go NBC!
I found last night’s show offensive to the point of a nightmare. I’ve owned a funeral home and never wanted to watch a body loaded to be cremated and certainly didn’t want to watch it on tv. I found it sick and twisted. If this the best Allegiance has, cancel it. Let them get their ratings and cheap thrills some other way. I won’t watch it again.
To Nancy….. then you haven’t seen the brutal beatings, killings and bare butt sex on THE AMERICANS! I found this show to be great. Well acted and interesting. Oh, and yes, I do watch the Americans, as well. Both are different time periods so they’re from very different perspectives.
Loved the first episode of Alliegence. Can’t wait for episode 2
this is the falied show the assets all over again. and it’s the americans lite. this won’t work. i’ll watch because i like these kind of shows but it won’t work with the public. it will be burned off on saturday nights in a couple of weeks.