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Nikolai Jakov (Russian: Николай Яков, Nikolay Yakov) was the head of the KGB, and possibly the biological father of ISIS agent Sterling Archer. He attempted to defect to ISIS in order to get to know his possible son better, but was killed in the ISIS safe house explosion caused by Barry Dylan. His voice is provided by Peter Newman.


Biography[]

Before the Series[]

40 years prior to the start of the storyline, Nikolai had a relationship with Malory Archer, where he may have possibly conceived Sterling Archer. However, as Jakov notes, this was the night before she broke his heart and disappeared for nine months.[2]

Season 1[]

"Mole Hunt"[]

Nikolai planted the KGB mole, Kremenski (who went by the name Crenshaw), in ISIS. Crenshaw had everyone in ISIS fooled for (presumably) years, until an issue with Archer's expense accounts forced Crenshaw to reveal himself, leading to his death.

Malory later stated that she would have known if there was a KGB mole, since she was having phone sex with Nikolai earlier that day.

"Killing Utne"[]

When Malory was holding a dinner party for Torvald Utne so that ISIS could get a UN contract, Nikolai hired Manfred and Uta to kill Utne. However, it was later revealed that Nikolai also hired Elke Hubsch to kill Utne. When Manfred realizes that "that Russian prick" sent two teams again, Uta suggests that they should kill both Hubsch and Utne.

Hubsch later received her orders from Nikolai via her cosmetic communicator. Sterling later found her cosmetic communicator in the bathroom, where Nikolai hastily turned it off. Sterling, believing that Malory put LSD in the baby aspirin again, states that is just "classic her."

After Hubsch was (possibly) unintentionally poisoned by Uta, Utne is killed when Manfred and Uta open fire on him. Manfred and Uta manage to escape, and are thus paid for killing Utne.

Season 2[]

"Movie Star"[]

Nikolai is seen as his assistant, Boris, pretends to be a studio executive greenlighting Malory and Cyril Figgis' rewrite of Rona Thorne's movie Disavowed as a sequel to Mandigo called Mandingo 2: The Enslavening.

"White Nights"[]

When Archer attempted to find out if Nikolai was his father, he ended up being captured by the Finnish. Malory is forced to hire Barry Dylan to rescue him. Unfortunately, Barry ends up killing two Russian guards in the process, meaning that Nikolai couldn't let Sterling live even if he was his son. However, the DNA test ended up inconclusive, since Boris spit on the DNA sample.

"Double Trouble"[]

After Katya Kazanova's defection, Boris reveals that he greenlit a project to turn Barry into a cyborg so that he could get a promotion. However, Barry ends up causing havoc in New York, meaning that Boris gets no promotion.

Season 3[]

"Crossing Over"[]

After Barry Dylan becomes the head of the KGB, he orders Boris to ship Nikolai off to Siberia. However, Boris instead ships Nikolai off to the United States, where Nikolai defects to ISIS. Nikolai is sent to the ISIS safe house, but without protection as Archer left to have sex with Pam Poovey. Barry manages to convince Cheryl Tunt to take him to the ISIS safe house, where he chokes Cheryl into submission and knocks Nikolai out.

Nikolai wakes up as he is being tied to a chair. Barry explains that finding out whether or not Nikolai is his father would give Archer some much-needed closure, which is precisely why Barry can't let it happen. Barry has a block of ice with a fork in it, placed inside a microwave with ten minutes on the timer, with a room full of methane. Barry then leaves Nikolai to die, with no remaining DNA for a DNA test.

Nikolai begins to leave Archer a message, though it is unknown what the message was. However, ten minutes go by, and the ice block melts exposing the fork in the microwave. This creates a spark that ignites the methane and causes an explosion which kills Nikolai and may have destroyed the tape as well.

Personality[]

He has the same habit as Archer to refer to Malory's actions as "classic her," as well as cooking kebabs.

Trivia[]

  • Nikolai Jakov's name is meant to sound like "jack-off" as an inside joke. His military rank is Major, so when people call him Major Jakov it sounds like "major jack-off". Further, Jakov's name is potentially a play on Yakov Smirnoff, a Ukrainian comedian influential to the Modern American stereotype of Russians, having introduced the joke format of "In Soviet Russia" followed by a reversal of a common phrase. Both have names that are the name of a vodka and a variation on Yakov.
  • According to ISIS's profile on Jakov, he is 5'11" and weighs 235 pounds.
  • Nikolai is the only one of Malory's lovers that know that Sterling could be his son. Despite his connection to the KGB, Archer still attempted to reach out to him as his possible father.
  • When Adam Reed first pitched the show as "Duchess", Nikolai was Archer's biological father.
  • Nikolai is the likeliest candidate to be Archer's real father as not only has he been the most recurring he is also the only candidate to have the same cleft chin as Archer. 
  • Jakov's KGB office is almost an exact replica of Hitler's real life office

Appearances[]

Appearances for Nikolai Jakov

Gallery of Images[]

There are 10 images of Nikolai Jakov on this Wiki, visit the Nikolai Jakov gallery to view all the images and screenshots.

References[]

Navigation[]

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