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Covert Affairs Review: Honesty

Annie, Joan, and Arthur seem to be the only one with their eye on the ball at the CIA. Auggie totally blew the mission. Annie understood the priorities very clearly. They are after mass murder terrorists. Auggie was not in danger. She wasn't choosing between Auggie's life and the mission. Between the mission and Auggie's feelings for an ex-girlfriend, it's a no brainer. Take the key. Period.
I was really disappointed with Auggie. He should have known better.
I was very pleased with how Joan has her feet on the ground. She gave Calder very good advice. It remains to be seen if he has the spine to do what is right.
I really liked Arthur's behavior in the SUV. He was in condition yellow, head on a swivel. The attack was a surprise but he was almost expecting it so he was able to react quickly.
That said, the ambush scene was one of the least believable combat scenes they have done on the show. The vests they were wearing wouldn't have stopped more than handgun bullets and the enemy had rifles shooting 7.62x39 ammo. They should have been wearing combat vests with plates in them if it was to be realistic.
Natasha in the US places her in danger and seriously compromises Auggie. He is harboring a fugitive. If they are caught in his apartment together they both go to jail. I suspect we haven't seen the end of this yet.
I liked Annie's role as a saleswoman for Browning. Hopefully that was a paid mention. They really do make great shotguns. The Russian spotting the difference between skeet and upland game guns, Annie knowing the difference, was subtle and believable. Annie's become quite the gun gal.
The Russian Annie is spying on is one dangerous dude. He's a predator. She has to appeal to his baser instincts to make a connection at all. He wouldn't hesitate to kill her if he suspected anything and he knows he could get away with it. He's done it before. She knows this which makes her return an act of tremendous courage. The actor that plays the Russian was in at least the third of the Bourne Trilogy movies so he is well known to Doug Leiman (sp?). He and Matt D. had a heck of a fight scene in that movie.
I like the serial format. Seasons three and four were really well done. The story telling this season, except for the first episode which was awesome, the writing, has fallen off. I hope it doesn't deal the show a fatal blow, but it could. I think they are spending more than they can afford on actors and not enough on writing. It was a better balance in season's three and four. It's almost like the writers are trying to find things or everybody to do and running out of ideas so they stick in place holders. The show feels like it's become an afterthought. It's one of my two favorite shows so that's not a good thing.
The actors are doing the best they can with what is in the script.

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Covert Affairs Review: Love What You Do

I agree. It felt forced. Almost like a check list. But I enjoyed it anyway. What I didn't understand was them not making use of the car crash for more than a blood test. It looked like, and for a few minutes I thought it was, an attempt on Annie that failed, but apparently it wasn't. That was strange. The writing isn't as good this season. The first episode was the best - terrific in fact. The second had a lot of character introductions that did nothing to move the story forward. The third was sort of a filler of sorts. This one moved the story but not smoothly. I should check to see if they have a whole new roster of writers. I'll watch it anyway and hope things improve because there are opportunities to save the season where the story is now.
Three of the five most important people in Annie's life know her 'secret'.
All three are honoring her request to keep it a secret. Auggie knows that Eyal
knows, but Eyal and Ryan don't know either of the other two know. It's huge that
Auggie knows and did something proactive to support Annie: he hacked the
hospital medical database to keep it a secret. That might, probably will, come
out later on. There has to be a plot related reason Annie has myocarditis. They
wouldn't use that, a potentially career-flaw, if it didn't have a purpose. There are a number of intriguing possibilities open to the show. Just to mention a couple that come immediately to mind: One of them is that the DPD discovers a leak within McQuaid's
organization. Annie might end up telling Joan about her heart condition as part
of a plan to be fake fired from the DPD and employed by McQuaid as a double
agent (that might be a rather stormy meeting - maybe Auggie is involved as well
because he is still her handler). Arthur might not know she was fake fired. Or, Annie could volunteer to fake resign because Joan is getting close to
her secret and become a double agent in McQuaid's organization in an effort to
prolong her career. Discovered by McQuaid, it would put her in the same sack as all other "lying SOB" spies in McQuaid's eyes, but that probably wouldn't
bother her that much as long as she still has Auggie's respect. Another is that Pearson is outsourcing domestic spy stuff because she is
corrupt, or a traitor, and thinks she can protect herself better because she
will have a 'yes' organization that she can control charged with the
investigation. It could backfire on her if McQuaid is really a patriot and
willing to lose $50 mil to do what's right. This could be combined with either
of the first two where Pearson is the problem, not a leak in McQuaid's
organization. What they are doing with Calder is a mystery. Joan very bluntly pointed out his mistakes, how obvious they are to anyone watching, and exactly what discovery would do to his career. Unspoken, but very much part of the conversation, was his comment to her that a "Spy's place is in the shadows." He's anything but at the moment. He's
about to commit an "Arthur" on a grand scale with out the safety net of decades
of experience and a history as a successful DCS. That could end up with him at McQuaid Security sooner rather than
later. Now we come to McQuaid. Me thinks the man doth protest too much. Every
single episode he makes a point of telling people, sometimes more than once, how
patriotic he is, how important it is to do good things for his country. Real
patriots, like Arthur, Joan, Annie, Auggie, don’t ever feel it’s necessary to
say that. Not even once. This is a red flag to me. It should be to Arthur as
well. Arthur doesn’t reveal much of what he’s thinking to anybody including
Joan, or at least he has been less than forthcoming with Joan on more than one
occasion. Not so much since baby-Mac showed up, but Arthur is Arthur, his basic
character isn’t going to change. So it is entirely possible we end up with some of the earlier possibilities
realized in an organization that Annie realizes is selling the U.S. out. By that
point everybody but Annie, and maybe Auggie, will be drinking the McQuaid
Kool-Aid. That could end up with her having to save the day yet again. My three choices for major villain, of the characters we know, are Pearson, McQuaid, and McQuaid's second in command. There could be someone else that is funding this betrayal.
I’m interested to see how it goes.

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Covert Affairs Review: Postman

Good Review.
I agree, we are saw the difference between Annie and McQuaid very clearly in all the first three episodes. Annie is a highly skilled covert operative gifted at manipulating people and living in the dark or at least nothing lighter than the shadows. McQuaid is a very flashy operator, very physical, tends to see everything as governed by money. He lives under the delusion that his money can pretty much guarantee him universal immunity. That delusion should have been shattered by what happened at the border but apparently it wasn't. He is apparently a well padded kinesthetic learner. Annie on the other hand learns from observation and applies the tried and true fundamentals of spy craft to guide her moves. I absolutely agree the difference makes for a fun on screen dynamic and results in an entertaining episode even when the story doesn't move very much.
I can't say the same for Hayley or Caitlyn, at least so far. Neither of their introductions in episode two did anything to move the story forward unlike the introduction of McQuaid or Auggie's former covert operative acquaintance. So far neither Hayley or Caitlyn has had anything resembling a key role in the main story line. Hopefully that changes or the characters go away. Every time Eyal shows up it moves the story forward.
I am definitely enjoying this season. I like the less dark nature of it so far though I suspect that could change at any moment. I don't expect Annie to go dark like she did last season, that isn't something one can do more than once. She could, however, just go off the grid and operate in the dark in parallel with the DPD but that would seem too much like last season. I expect more creativity than that from C&O.
I liked the gun (A Beretta PX4, exact model undetermined - hopefully a compact) McQuaid gave Annie way better than the Chiappa Rhino she's been packing most of the previous three seasons. Not as good as a Glock 19 (quarter pound heavier and quarter inch thicker) but still an improvement with 16 rounds on board vs. 6 for the revolver. It I an SA/DA action with a de-cocker. It will be interesting to see if Annie uses the correct manual of arms for the gun (de-cocks it before sticking it in her belt) if we see it in the field.

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