This week

Annie gets sent on a simple courier job to Switzerland but things doesn’t go well and she has to use all her talents to fulfill her mission with Eyal (Oded Fehr) an erratic, irritating Mossad agent who starts out like he is god’s gift to women and the Swiss police on her tail. Eyal and Annie’s report is enjoyable and a great deal more interesting than her and Ben’s. Annie has such a natural flair to her that works well with the more intense Eyal, she is cool without being overbearing about it.

This was a change of pace from earlier since we follow Annie in the field for almost a whole episode with only minimum stops at the office and none at home. I like it, I am not saying they should skip her sister, the office drama or her bosses’ marriage problems but Annie in action is so much more entertaining.

An added obstacle this week was Auggie being suspected for being the leak and instead of being allowed to do his job helping Annie he spent most of the time hooked up to a polygraph. Who do you think is the press leak? I would guess it is slick wonder-boy Jai but that would almost be too obvious.

This is how I like my spy shows fast paced, light and entertaining action without too much drama. This is fast becoming one of my favorite new shows this summer.

This Week

This week Annie enters a more sordid part of the CIA business, she has developed an asset, a young college boy from Caracas who thinks he is in love with her only to get in touch with his sister back home. The sister is mistress to a government official (Victor) that has been skimming hundreds of million dollars the last years. CIA wants to know where they have gone. We start this episode as she makes her move to convince him he should introduce her.

While this takes place we also watch as the local agent in Venezuela is killed, this is not anything the agency knows about.

Annie goes to Venezuela with her new ‘boyfriend’ Diego. He can’t resist letting his hands wander and she has a hard time keeping him in check and at the same time it is quite sad the way they use ‘assets’ to get what they want. Diego’s sister is a beloved person; she is called the mother of the neighborhood for her charity work. Annie has a hard time convincing the sister and stealing the code key so they can put a trace on the money. There is a quite entertaining car scene where Victor reveals her as a trained agent and she dumps him out of the car and speed away. Annie gets back to the bank minutes before Victor and they discover that he has been financing terrorists. They flee the country with Victor on their tail.

The siblings are put into protective custody in a safehouse but the story is not over yet. About the same time Annie realizes the sisters charity money is from Victor the sister sneak out to meet Victor. The final confrontation reveals Victor as the monster he is as he tries to have the sister killed. Annie and Diego shows up in time to distract Victor while another agent takes them down.

One interesting detail in this episode was the meetings and support from Langley that made it feel more genuine and realistic. Don’t get me wrong this is a fun spy action adventure type of show but I find it a stamp of quality that they try to make the whole thing more realistic with things like that.

The way the sister has a hard time giving up on her love for Victor reflects back on Annie’s unwillingness to leave her love behind. It is clear that she will continue to carry a torch for Ben.

I like the episode but are not things moving a bit fast for Annie? I can understand if the agency wants to keep Annie in the frying pan to lure Ben out so maybe that is it. Annie convinces as a rookie agent and she feels like shit after the mission because what she had to do to Diego and his sister. Auggie is there with perspective, I like him a lot. USA has hit another great dynamic duo with Auggie and Annie.

Last Week

Last week Annie Walker a CIA trainee was pulled from the Farm into the frying pan with a simple courier job gone awry.

This Week

This week Annie gets to deal with CIA walk-ins and her sister’s suggestion that she be the kids’ legal guardian in case something happened to them.

During breakfast Dannielle asks Annie to become the legal guardian of her kids in case something happened to her or Michael. Annie wants to think about it and rushes off to work. Back at home later that night she refuses leaving Danielle more than a little miffed. But Annie will have reasons to reevaluate her thinking before the episode is over. When it comes to your family you do whatever you have to.

If you remember from the pilot, Annie was pulled from training and put into the field mainly because her previous love affair with a renegade agent. Her married bosses Joan and Arthur conspire to use Annie as bait to catch Ben Mercer. We don’t get to see Ben this episode but Arthur assigns a new agent to Joan’s department, which she resents, with orders to get close to Annie. Jai Wilcox (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is the name of the new agent and we are to understand he is sent there to seduce her.

Auggie and Annie continues to have fantastic report and this week it get more hands on in the training room when Auggie teaches Annie the secret of fighting for real (he used to be a field agent before becoming blind). I don’t get any romantic vibe off them so far but I wouldn’t be surprised if something developed down the line.

After helping Auggie move into their new modern offices Annie gets her first assignment to debrief walk-ins. Crack-pot City according to Auggie. Her weapon for the day is a can of pepper spray. One of the walk-ins is a mother concerned her son Walter is in danger since he decoded a secret message from a number station, followed it to a mailbox where he saw a man pick up a secret message and he claims the man saw him and now he is scared. Annie is a bit surprised when the alleged college kid turns out to be ten. I think the kid played his role very well; he had all the symptoms of functional autism down pat. After giving Annie the specs for the still broadcasting station he and his mother leave.

With Auggie’s help they confirm the code, they have to raid the CIA museum to get a decoder and they need the previous recordings Walter made. The message originated in Belfast making it IRA related so Annie is assigned a British MI6 liaison to check out Walter’s apartment. The difference between CIA and MI6 becomes evident when the middle aged British agent appears; CIA is young and lacking in experience while MI6 is getting a bit on the old side. What I don’t understand is why they had to meet at a market with a silly protocol instead of him just showing up at the CIA with his credentials? His name is James Elliot.

Walter and his mom never came home from Langley so Annie and the Britt search the premises but before they are finished they are attacked. Annie fresh from training has trouble fighting the perp before James pops him a third eye. Walter has an impressive amount of equipment but it seems he brought the tapes in question with him. This time they almost get out before the cops arrive but they this time they are not even questioned before an undercover agent springs them.

Joan and Arthur continue to have a troubled relationship. I can’t sense any warmth there; I doubt they will make it. But it is well played and adds to the dynamics of the show.

Annie is miffed mostly on herself concerning her sister’s will and the fight she almost lost the day before but Auggie cheer her up and shows her how a real fight works, you have to be closer. That was a fun scene.

British intelligence leads them to a former IRA operative living in the US. They decide to pick him up as he arrives at Union Station.

Annie is not satisfied with the outcome and gets permission to look into Walter’s disappearance. Using clues found at the apartment she tracks them down to a cabin. She gets the tapes from Walter and start to transfer them to Auggie at Langley. Annie has a cozy chat with the mother about taking care of Walter that affects her thinking about Danielle’s will. When the mother tells that they tried the British embassy as well as the CIA pieces fall into place. James has been lying to her; he said he never heard of it. She finds the tracker on her phone as his car pulls up behind her. He brought two goons with him. Annie pulls a McGuyver killing the two goons and then has a very satisfying brawl with James where she gets to use her Mace for effect.

James was a double agent for IRA planing to pin the bombing on the former IRA member. That’s the part of the story I have a hard time believing. Doesn’t IRA get most of their funding from the US? Why would they set off a bomb there?

The episode ends with Annie signing Danielle’s will.

So far I like this quite well. It is fast paced; it got human interest and a cast to be fond of. I can’t wait on next weeks episode.

Said and Done

Finally a room with windows (said the blind guy)
This guy has gone analog in a digital world

New Intro

They had a new intro this week. It reminded me a little of Chuck.

Next Week

Covert Affairs 1.03 – South Bound Suarez (USA)
Annie targets a college student to get information about a corrupt government official in Venezuela, but the murder of another agent who was involved in the investigation complicates her task.