When a CIA Operative dies, the star goes on the wall at Langley, and a name is referenced in the book book below. Often, though, there is no named referenced, because for reasons of secrecy, the name cannot be made public. Keeping those secrets cannot be easy, especially from one’s family. In “Sad Professor,” Covert Affairs used the story of Annie’s college professor/CIA recruiter to bring Annie’s difficulties with her secrets into stark relief.
Fortunately, it looks like we are driving more and more quickly to Danielle finally learning what her sister’s real job is. In the history of television’s heroes with secret jobs, I always thinks the story improves when it becomes less of a secret. My favorite example is Joyce Summers on Buffy. I’m not exactly hoping for Danielle becoming more and more involved with the work side of Annie’s life, but knowledge is power. Plus, it means that she can “be there” for her sister.
One of the best parts about the second season has been the solidifying of Joan and Arthur’s relationship. They are a much more interesting as a couple that’s not on the rocks. They play off of each other so much better … Joan was understanding about her husband taking a larger role (read: almost overstepping his bounds) in the investigation, and his apology, while a little ham-handed for Arthur’s usual poise, was on point.
I’m not going to lie … I was just a little excited to see Dylan Taylor back as tech underling Eric Barber. He was only in one episode during the first season, but everyone here at CliqueClack HQ were such big fans of Defying Gravity. Plus he’s a good fit for the show. He plays as a nice contrast to Auggie, making his boss look so much better.
About the time I stopped reviewing Covert Affairs last season, I made a promise to myself to try not to get worked up in the details of how the show handled the technical details of spy-work. I am no expert, but I have read a lot of fiction, and non-fiction, on the history of the intelligence agency, so I might have fancied myself one. Fellow Clacker Carla, though, has pretty much told me to quit my whining about the differences I perceived. One thing about this episode stuck in my craw though, and I had to mention it. If Mark was an operative for 20 years, and had always communicated through microdots, wouldn’t one think that there was a standard method of communicating those dots? I mean, as we’ve seen, they’re small. If you’re looking in the same place on say, every postcard that he’d always sent them in on, it would have saved everyone all of the trouble of multiple passes of his stuff looking for it? The explanation, when it finally came, just didn’t sit right with me, either.
Notes & Quotes
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Aug 03, 2011 @ 08:37 EST5EDT
