I try not to get caught up in my criticism of Covert Affairs while I watch this Alias-lite drama and become irritated by little things, like how, after a vicious fight with a bad guy, Annie came home with only one contusion on her cheek but otherwise looked perfect.
Or how I found it hard to believe that Arthur would rough up a State Department guy who was making Joan’s job difficult. It’s not like Arthur is Jack Bristow.
But then there are those warm scenes with Annie and Auggie, who share genuine chemistry, such as the scene where Annie and Auggie were working on hand-to-hand combat training in the latest episode, as well as that moment when Annie discovered that Auggie had fallen asleep across a row of uncomfortable chairs in a hospital waiting room while Annie was being evaluated for potential radiation poisoning.
Or there’s a well played moment where the music, the tone, the icy cool veneer of the visuals just shine, like Annie’s tense jaunt through the bowels of a Washington, D.C. hotel with a freshly acquired Chinese asset as the duo smoothly leapt into a waiting CIA van in an alley … after Jai lent a hand by knocking out a Chinese guard. The twist of having scientist Shen Yue’s ostensibly flawless defection marred by the fact that he was poisoned — and it was feared that Annie had been exposed to radiation poisoning as well — proved interestingly entertaining, while the connection between Annie and Shen, as he waxed poetic about wanting to attend a Nationals baseball game, felt authentic.
Danielle’s reaction to learning that her sister is a CIA agent and could have brought radioactive contamination into her home was deftly delivered. It pleased me to have Danielle, after telling Annie that she admires her bravery, insist that Annie move out because, what mother in her right mind would want her kids exposed to the incumbent dangers of hosting a spy in residence? If Danielle had simply said, “Okay sis, I overreacted. You can still live here,” I would’ve lost all respect for her character. (Which led me to wonder why Annie doesn’t have a place of her own in the first place. Presumably she’s paid well enough to afford rent.)
However, it got under my skin that Annie showed up at home looking fabulous, nary a wrinkle on her clothing, only a bruise on her left cheek providing a clue that Annie had, mere hours before, been engaged in hand-to-hand combat. (The make-up and costume people should’ve done a better job at making her look more battered.) I wanted the politics between the State Department and the CIA to be better fleshed out. It bugged me that Arthur had to be a white knight and “save” Joan from the interference of the weaselly State guy by assaulting him in the men’s room. Joan can defend herself, thank you very much.
In the grand scheme of things, though, I can can allow these imperfections to fall away as I enjoy Auggie’s witticisms (that Lando Calrissian line was geeked-out clever), and embrace Piper Perabo‘s tough-vulnerable-smart-big hearted depiction of the newbie CIA spy.
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Aug 10, 2011 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
