I’ll give COVERT AFFAIRS props for digging up an unusual baddie, in the form of South America’s FARC (which stands for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a Marxist insurgency that began in 1964 and has pretty much faded from North American consciousness lately. Utilizing a real-world threat – especially one that hasn’t been done to death already – added a lot of verisimilitude to the story.
Another thing COVERT AFFAIRS did right was introduce Thor’s Jaimie Alexander (Sif) as Reva Kline, who was taking Auggie’s role as Annie’s tech op. Alexander managed to get noticed in this summer’s big superhero action flick, and she made an impression here as a somewhat icy “Alpha Barbie” who is better with computers than people. Annie was understandably devastated that Auggie’s promotion meant he was moving on without her, but to her credit, she did her best to work with Reva.
After FARC commandeered a NASA satellite using stolen codes, the space agency asked CIA to audit its personnel, and Annie (Piper Perabo) was assigned to do the interviews. Suspicion quickly fell on the evasive Will (Mark Moses; Paul, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES; Duck, MAD MEN), but Annie doubted the career man was guilty. She invited herself to dinner and got to know the former astronaut candidate and his son, Charlie. But Will made a suspicious call about a “drop,” and Annie was shadowed by a mysterious operative, so Will was brought in, and quickly confessed. Meanwhile, Arthur (Peter Gallagher) was trying to guide Auggie (Christopher Gorham) through his debut as the new congressional liaison and public face of the CIA. But at the last moment, Auggie couldn’t give up the undercover life, and returned to covert work. Annie figured out that Will was covering for someone: Charlie, who was unwittingly recruited by FARC. “I had to protect my son,” he said, “no matter what the cost.”
In a welcome change of pace, Annie didn’t make any key blunders that blew the mission; in fact, she performed like the competent operative she’s supposed to be. (Although she once again had no weapon when she went to rescue Charlie from the dangerous FARC; what was up with that?) Annie even took on a kind of big-sister role to Reva; bucking up the techie just as Auggie used to do. I enjoyed learning that Annie grew up as something of a space geek. The scene on the rooftop, when she talked about stargazing with her father, was just the sort of characterization we need to see more. And Charlie wanting to fix up with his dad with Annie was also preferable to Will falling for her instantly.
Alexander played Reva as socially inept and seemingly brusque, but it really was a case that she is better with technology. The sequence in which she cried after being reamed out by Joan (Kari Matchett) helped establish that she’s not unemotional. Reva’s story of having her career derailed by her slavish devotion to building an artificial hummingbird also helped explain why she is uncomfortable with the human element at CIA. Reva is going to stick around for a few episodes (despite Auggie’s return), and I’d like to see where Alexander takes her.
Auggie’s career path almost took him public, but I have to confess that I didn’t believe he would really step out of the shadows. (Loved that Arthur dismissed Auggie’s first press release, about opening a girls’ school in Afghanistan, was “too obtuse.” But hey, it’s in his nature to not spill information!) The character works too well with Annie to split the pair up, as demonstrated by the scene when Annie turned to Auggie for help but he didn’t have time for her. You could see Annie’s heart break a little. Besides, I’m sure the writers would have had to struggle to come up with storylines that would involve the CIA mouthpiece in weekly intrigue, and eventually would have to phase him out. But there’s no way Gorham is going anywhere; he’s too popular. Besides, congressional liaison seems like a job more suited to the suave Jai (Sendhil Ramamurthy), who hasn’t really been given much to do. Well, actually, it should be noted that Jai was called upon to set up the surveillance gear in Will’s apartment. And he had to do some quick-thinking to escape without being caught. (But not, it turned out, without being seen by the FARC operatives watching Will’s building. Better luck next time, Mr. Wilcox.)
This episode was a step in the right direction (which is what I asked for last week), so now all I hope is that the show doesn’t backtrack!
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