Television show review: Covert Affairs

By Michael Vass | July 14, 2010

USA Network has presented audiences with a new take on the old spy theme in the Covert Affairs television show. It’s not a new thing, but does it work?

Overall the answer is yes it does. It’s a bit of La Femme Nikita and a touch of the Bourne Identity, with a bit of Alias for good measure. There is some action, a cute lead, and witty banter plus the deception that all spy programs must have at their core.

The show is pretty straight forward. Our heroine (which is mandatory these days) pines for a lost love while deciding to shelter herself in the one place that requires keeping your guard up constantly. The fact that the lost love is a rogue spy is a forgone conclusion. But skipping that, we find that Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is a savant when it comes to the spy basics. She can drive, lie, skydive, and speak multiple languages with the best of the boys. She is so good that she is pulled out of training, a month early, to imitate a high class prostitute in order to hot sync her PDA with that of a supposed Russian assassin with secrets for sale.

Is that a bit weak? Definitely. There may not be many women in the CIA but there has to be at least 1 woman that could do the job that isn’t still in training. Thankfully the show moves on quickly from that point and improves drastically.

Annie is acted well for television, appearing wide eyed yet purposive. She has an air of confidence but not over the top, good looks but not a model, and smart without being an encyclopedia. It’s a hard combination that many actresses fail to get right – most just falling back on their looks and action scenes to hide their weak acting.

The character that will often steal scenes from Annie is Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham). He’s blind, a smart ass, a mentor of sorts, and smart. Plus he is a ladies man that has no problem using his blindness to his advantage. The character also happens to be former military, and was blinded in Iraq/Afghanistan on a mission. He is no wimp. Auggie is the tech part of the team for Annie.

The interaction between Perabo and Gorham is good. Friendly, somewhat professional with a hint of a buddy feel to it. Auggie respects Annie, and Annie quickly finds herself relying on Auggie to manuver in the multilayered world of the CIA.

Of course there is a problem with the show, which we can only hope is fixed early on. The CIA does not operate on US soil. That’s the FBI’s job. But somehow every character has no problem ignoring that vital fact of law. The way the show covers this is by claiming thier section, the DPD, is a covert NOC division (meaning they don’t officially exist and can therefore work anywhere). It might even be true but it surely isn’t legal and might be something someone might mention in the universe the show exists in.

Obviously the show will have Annie running around, seducing men with her good looks and sexy clothes. From time to time she will also be in harm’s way. So far the show looks to have a 1 hour arc life (so the problem starts and finishes in an hour), with a growing sub-arc flowing through the series.

That sub-arc is of course all about the ex-lover/rogue spy that the CIA wants to get ahold of. Is he a good guy gone bad? Is he just fed up with the spy life? Whatever the case he seems to be following Annie, and will intermitently appear to save her life from time to time. Annie for her part will eventually learn that she is being used to capture her ex. Blah blah.

One other sub-arc that may prove interesting is the interaction of Annie’s boss, Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett), who has ruined her marriage with her boss-counter part in the Agency Arthur Campbell (Peter Gallagher). Joan thought Arthur was having an affair and used every spy means at her disposal to prove it. Arthur, who is under stress due to a leak to the press (obviously a minor terciary character named Conrad), takes this distrust badly. Especially since it is proven that he wasn’t having an affair. Expect fireworks to fly from that.

Is the show worth watching? Yes, so far. It has decent writing, though that needs to be tweaked. The acting is good, but not great. The interaction of characters is worthwhile. No one is superhuman or gifted beyond reason. It’s grounded mostly in reality.

But, there is the potential to go over the top. Too much of a lot of factors could kill the show. Like if in the next episode our novice agent suddenly becomes the female equivalent of Jason Bourne. Other than that, this could be a show worthy of a few seasons. And more scenes of Piper Perabo in a bikini won’t hurt either.

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