This week’s Covert Affairs was missing what makes it one of my favorite shows — interaction between the main characters. In “All the Right Friends,” Annie was out in the field basically all on her own. The DPD provided as much help as they could, but she was left to her own devices to keep Carlo and herself safe.
While I enjoyed seeing Annie being self-sufficient (a mechanic — really?), the overall story about Carlo wasn’t very enthralling. I love bantering in shows, but even the back-and-forth between Annie and Carlo fell flat. In the end, their journey together and his desire to do right by his story was appreciated by Annie. This led to a touching goodbye between them. Carlo didn’t interest me through most of the episode, but that changed by the end. I hope the writers keep him in mind for future episodes. It would be fun to see Annie need his help while on a future mission in Italy.
While I missed the interaction between Annie and the others in the DPD, her absence allowed us a better look at the relationships between the other characters. Arthur still has political issues to handle and his choice of Auggie, as head of the OCA, to help him is an intriguing option. Of course, this will never happen because Annie needs Auggie. I can’t see him voluntarily giving up his covert status; he’s a soldier, not a mouthpiece.
Though … why did Auggie ask about an extraction from a foreign country? Is there someone he is willing to sacrifice his field status for to save? This person would have to be extremely special to him to give up his current position and his dedication to helping Annie. I’m quite intrigued by Auggie’s request.
Arthur’s choice of Auggie over Jai for the position is sure to create some waves within the department. Jai seems to have been playing a secondary role within the DPD; this can’t be easy for him to handle. I’m looking forward to delving more deeply into these characters, their relationships, and the decisions they make.
If you were Auggie would you take the job?
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Jul 02, 2011 @ 21:16 EST5EDT
I was under the impression that Auggie’s extraction was to get Annie out of whichever South American country (I believe it was Argentina) she was stuck in with her captured “spy”, not for some mysterious character. I might have totally misunderstood that though.
*POST AUTHOR*
The way it happened, I don’t think it was very clear. At first, I thought he was referring to getting Annie out of Argentina, but that didn’t really make any sense. There wasn’t any indication that they planned on leaving her there, so why use that unique opportunity to negotiate for that.
I think there is someone else that Auggie wants to get out of another country. Most likely a request that had previously been denied. Just speculation, but when I watched the episode a second time it didn’t really seem like he was referring to Annie.
I suspect it’s his girlfriend from last year.