The Agency episode 2 ending explained: Did the wooden duck quack?

Spoilers ahead for The Agency episode 2

The Agency episode 2, "Wooden Duck," turned the pressure up as Coyote's disappearance put London station on high alert. They paused operations in Ukraine and Russia in extreme caution since the MIA operative knew classified information about 60% of the covert ops in both countries. Their freeze, however, spooked an asset named Orokov who tried to flee and would have tipped off the Russians had the CIA not interceded.

They, however, didn't just pick him up after he landed in Poland and bring him to London as if everything was alright. No, instead, the CIA acted as if they were the Russians and snatched Orokov up to interrogate him. Martian explained to Dr. Blake, a visiting psychiatrist there to check in on the mental health of the London Station employees, that they were trying to see if he's a wooden duck.

The phrase refers to the difference between a real duck and a wooden one. The latter won't quack when squeezed. The team pushed Orokov to see if he'd eventually reveal that he's a double agent working as an American asset for the Russians. After being beaten, left in the dark, and choked with water, he finally quacked...or it appeared he did.

Orokov works as the manager of a trucking company and can easily move about in the region without issue. He said that he reported to a member of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), but the CIA couldn't verify this information. He then shared that the last intel he provided to the Americans was transport manifests and container inventories from Moscow into Belarus and onto Eastern Ukraine where he made a delivery of medical supplies to a clinic in the area.

The detail about the Ukranian clinic put Bosko and Henry on high alert as the U.S. is running an undercover op out of that location and Henry's brother-in-law is a part of it. Before they pulled anyone from the mission, Henry wanted to verify what they were being told but the op was aborted nonetheless. The three agents barely made it out of a firefight as they were severely outnumbered but they prevailed nonetheless.

Meanwhile, back at London Station, Martian decided to take matters into his own hands to get answers from Orokov. He went down to the shipping container where the asset was being interrogated, pulled on a ski mask, and laid into the man himself. Martian gave him several names to see if he'd say they were a part of his network, and he did!

But the twist was that they were characters from War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy which signaled Orokov wasn't a double agent at all much to Henry's relief. Now London Station will likely be able to use the asset to their advantage and learn more about what was going on with Coyote before he went missing. We'll see what new information they learn in next week's episode.

Stay tuned to Americans Undercover for coverage of The Agency. New episodes release on Paramount+ with Showtime on Fridays. The spy thriller begins airing Sunday, Dec. 1 at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime. Follow us on X for more content!