Brandy Station

**Brandy Station** is the sixth episode of *Deutschland 83*. It is the first episode directed by Samira Radsi.

## Synopsis

Martin wants to stay in East Germany after returning for his mother’s kidney transplant. General Jackson is taken hostage.

## Plot

International tensions mount after Russia shoots down a South Korean airliner with nearly 300 passengers on board, suspecting American spies.

Stamm recuperates from his surgery at the hospital in the East. Annett is finally admitted for a visit. Stamm tells her he knows she’s pregnant and he’s going to refuse to return to the West. Annett surprises Stamm by encouraging him to do his patriotic duty. Stamm gets upset, telling Annett she can’t imagine the brutality of spy work.

Annett meets Schweppenstette outside the hospital and tells him Stamm’s not cooperating. Schweppenstette visits Stamm himself and gives him a speech about the greater good and the importance of his work. When Stamm won’t budge, Schweppenstette tells him that “Able Archer”, the code-named planned NATO maneuver Stamm heard officials discussing at the conference, is a pre-emptive nuclear strike. That lie, plus word of the airliner, finally sways Stamm and he agrees to go back.

Stamm bids his mother goodbye as she recovers from the transplant.

An agent from the West German military’s internal intelligence agency questions General Edel about his son’s absence, as well as Alex’s recent political activity. The agent arranges a visit to the Edels early the following morning to interview Alex. Edel heads home to tell Alex he must return to work. Ursula tries to stop him, but he kicks Alex’s bedroom door down and discovers her deception.

Edel returns to the base, where the internal affairs agent points out Alex’s radical reading material and shares a surveillance photo of Alex entering the East German embassy.

Meanwhile, an East German spy watches a desperately lost-looking Alex as he calls Yvonne from a payphone to tell her that he loves her. Alex enters the brothel his father patronized with General Jackson and holds the place up with his service pistol. When a pimp tries to stop him, Alex shoots the man’s finger off. Alex finds General Jackson having sex with a prostitute in a back room, while East German spymasters including Lenora Rauch listen in on a bug installed in the brothel.

Jackson tries to talk sense to Alex, pointing out that his own family is German and questioning why he’d support a nuclear strike.  Rauch contacts Tischbier and tells him to hurry to the brothel and clean up the mess before Edel causes an international incident. Tischbier tells Rauch to send Lt. Kramer, the spy serving as Edel’s aide, since Alex will assume his father sent him and avoid blowing his cover.  Kramer heads for the brothel and picks Stamm up on the way for backup.

Alex ties Jackson to a chair and tries to film the general reading a taped confession, but encounters technical and performance issues and keeps starting over. Jackson manages to free an arm from the chair and they struggle over Edel’s gun.  Rauch receives word that a local politician was inside the brothel when Alex held it up and his chauffeur has called the police.  Rauch calls Kramer at a phone near the brothel’s entrance and warns him about the cops just as a shot rings out: Jackson has accidentally killed his favorite sex worker. Stamm grabs a stunned Alex and escorts him and Jackson out of the brothel. Police arrive and surprise Kramer, who’s picked up the murder weapon. Police shoot Kramer dead.

The East Germans finish decoding the NATO report, which indicates that America has no intention of making a first strike. Schweppenstette tells his codebreaker to omit that section of the report from his findings.

Early in the morning, the internal affairs agent shows up at the Edels, where General Edel is shocked to find both a shaken Alex and Stamm.  As they drive through the countryside, Tischbier’s lover Felix reveals that he has been diagnosed with AIDS, with doctors giving him six months, and warns Tischbier to get tested.

Back at the Edels, Yvonne tells Stamm she got a job as a backup singer in a show touring West Germany. Ursula gets the call about Kramer and informs her husband.

Schweppenstette presents the doctored NATO report to his KGB superiors, sending panic up the chain of command.

## Music

 Sexual Healing
 Ein Jahr (Es geht voran)
 Berlin

## Gallery

*The gallery for **Brandy Station** can be found here.*

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