COVERT AFFAIRS “I Can’t Quit You Baby/When the Levee Breaks” Review

I really liked your review, just wished I didn’t have to want til next summer to watch new episodes. I guess there is always Nikita to watch or that other spy show with the couple. Why is there so many new spy shows? I can’t say I’m complaining too much, seems these past few years have produced some great television series.

I just got to watch them (recorded them). Not a lot of time but I had some reactions to them.

I pretty much agree with your review. Enjoyed reading it. However there were some things that stand out in “I can’t quit you baby” that got my attention. And I have a few additional observations for the second one.

Henry Wilcox (HW) was willing to sacrifice an American citizen to get an agent deeper into what I’d view as a rather ordinary covert operation. I didn’t see the stakes that would justify that.

Annie stepped in front of Vivian – reaction to having lost Sophie?

Annie’s missions are stepping up in several dimensions. In “I … you baby” there was a level of duplicity required that goes well beyond anything she’d done so far. It was beyond South Bound Suarez (one of the best episodes IMO) in that regard.

One more interesting revelation – Annie speaks Turkish. That makes the languages demonstrated so far Spanish, Portugese, Farzi, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian, English, and I think German. That’s 8 languages so far. Maybe she only claims to be complete (read, write, converse) in 6 but she apparently understands and speaks at least two more.

There is almost zero chemistry between Annie and Jai. Jai has saved her life twice – when he stopped Hilborn’s guy from shooting her in the marina, when he shot the Turkish speaking lady to save both Annie and Vivian. Annie appreciates Jai’s spy craft but I don’t see much attraction there.

Then we get to the finale. First, I thought Perabo did a great job, again, in this episode. Maybe her best so far.

Lots of stuff to chew on here. Comment format is too short for a full list, but things that got my attention were:

Annie is appreciating Auggie more and more. I liked their interaction after Joan and Arthur give her the assignment.

Auggie is free of Liza but has earned her respect. I expect the Auggie/Liza connection and her respect for him to play a significant role in turning her to give up her source. Auggie may have to play awfully close to the edge to take advantage of it – but it will be sanctioned with Arthur and Joan on the edge of the cliff too.

With Ben “possibly” dead (It seemed like that was left open) the door is open for Annie and Auggie to develop a more personal bond. Her sister was quite taken by Auggie. I see Auggie attending at least 1 BBQ, maybe more than that. I see the show having them be something beyond good friends but not lovers, at least not next season.

I loved Joan going to Arthur with her “are you up for it?” speech. With that taking place at least one season 2 overarching story line is solidly in place. Their struggle to defeat HW (who they don’t yet know is the leak), keep their reputations in tact, and still be effective enough at their jobs to keep them in the face of a stream of adverse publicity pushed by HW.

That leaves Jai in the position of being a dependable “Parter” in the police “Partner:” sense (PPS). A professional partner for Annie in the field. Auggie handles the phone anchor detail, Jai can be in the field. Partners in the PPS sense can be very involved on both an emotional and professional level with out being a “couple” in the romantic sense. The writers have their work cut out for them here, but I see it as a significant part of the season 2 story line.

There are signs that Annie is maturing – her judgement is getting better and better, she is reacting faster. But I think I saw an interesting fact which might lead to further growth on her part – I think the bad guy that shot Ben was the one Annie had been fighting with. All the others fell off the building, got run through with rebar, or fell down an elevator shaft, but the one she was fighting was just knocked out. She left him his gun when she went to save Ben. Her failure to “take him out”, or at least disable him so he was immobile and with out an weapon may have gotten Ben shot. If so, I look for her to do some training, maybe look to Auggie for training on how to put an opponent out of commission – maybe not dead, but unable to continue to offer resistance either.

It may also be what propels her into finally picking up a gun to take somebody down.

The series is getting nicely developed. Ben is optional at this point, and for Annie’s growth and the growth of the story line, I’m hoping he’s gone other than a flashback or three.

I’m going to be interested to see how the writers mix in fun to watch story lines that develop the overarching themes of the series, and maybe introduce an additional top level theme, or “seriously” evil person to replace HW who I think is seriously evil.

Their treatment of the Jai character has huge potential and a bunch of possibilities for the future. Did you see the HW estate? Millions. How did he end up with that on a government salary and pension? Answer: He didn’t. The inescapable conclusion is that HW is “old money”, has a lot of good old boy connections just for that if nothing else, and may have used them to stay in office. He may also use them to try to control Jai who is obviously at home in that setting but not seeking to live in it.

Finally, Annie’s dad was mentioned again. There is a whole open playing field for the writers with Annie’s father’s military career. He taught her to shoot? He taught her other things?

Really looking forward to Season 2. Very unhappy I have to wait 9 or 10 months for it to get here.

There are a few other series I enjoy as much as this one – NCIS, Castle, In Plain Sight, The Good Wife. Hopefully Covert Affairs will have more episodes next year.

Fitch