Going Covert

When it comes to sci-fi TV-shows we have hit the summer dry-spell. Only Continuum is on and I don’t care much for either Falling Skies or Under The Dome. As some reader may know I sometimes review other TV-shows as well. I have done Haven and Elementary. The latter mostly because I am a big Sherlock (Holmes) fan and I really dig Lucy Liu. I am also a big fan of the spy-craft genre and Covert Affairs is more than decent enough in my opinion to warrant attention. For those who are not familiar with the show, it follows agent Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) who works for the CIA as she stealthily infiltrates organizations to take down enemies of the government.

The show is now in its fourth season. A slight drop in viewers caused the show to adapt to a season length story arc for the third season. It started in the style of Hamlet with a car bomb that killed Jay, a close associate of Annie. By about two-third of the third season the story arc was over though the emotional repercussions of all that had happened wasn’t fully settled until the seasons finale. As such the episode did not have a major cliffhanger like previous season.

Personally I did not think this was a problem but Hollywood apparently did and so a cliffhanger was squeezed in during the last few minutes of the episode when it was suggested that Annie’s two bosses, Arthur and Joan, were corrupt. Now with season 4 in full swing we shall see where the storyline will go.

Vamos

Henry’s secret file contains evidence that Arthur is covertly sending money to a Colombian “terrorist” named Teo, also known as “the Puma”. Annie and Auggie, now lovers, travel to Colombia to investigate. They meet Teo, who helps them when Auggie is shot but then rejects them when someone shoots at him and Annie. On the plane back, Auggie tells Annie that Teo is Arthur’s son and they plan to disclose their relationship to Arthur. Arthur tells a woman, involved in the money transfers, that he is breaking off relations. The next day, he announces that he is resigning as DCS because he has had an extramarital affair, just as Henry had earlier predicted to Annie.

Conclusion

This episode of Covert affairs forces developments through at an agonizingly fast pace. It is still hard to come to grips with events from last season. It is thus perhaps not too convincing that Annie seems to be largely unaffected by those events. It will be hard to get used to the new storyline as it may not be entirely realistic to think that Arthur had an affair, a fact that is revealed in the same episodes in which it becomes known that Joan is pregnant. It all seems too forced. The plot with the terrorist from Columbia is at this moment still in its infancy, the first scene of the episodes which takes place ten weeks ahead of this episode seems to suggest that Annie becomes some sort of hitman. We shall see if the creative staff can make the transition seem plausible.

Score; 7.5 / 10. Still too weak in comparison with season 3’s fair!

If you’re interested in the fashion that is worn on this and want to know what Annie, Eyal and Auggie are wearing than I recommend this website The Reel Stylist.