Another show I started to watch. I highly recommend it, and it gave me more than one idea for my 'Operation: Terror' stories. Plus, gotta love Auggie :)
Anyways, enjoy the recap. Will try to do so with the rest of the season.
Covert Affairs
1x01 - Pilot
We are welcomed with the image of CIA, and a polygraph test about to start. The 'victim' of this is a 28-year old girl named Annie Walker. She's applying for a job there, so after a few basic questions (that lead us to find out she speaks six languages), she's asked about her latest relationship with a guy she met in Sri Lanka (flashbacks included of that affair, also with a speech in foreign language). At some moment, those become REALLY personal. But we found out that it all ended up badly, even though she thought he was the man of her dreams, who only left her a note that said 'the truth is complicated. Forgive me'. It is then when she's asked whether she'll be able to separate business from personal if she joins the CIA. Annie just says 'absolutely'.
Seems that went well, because she's on her training at The Farm. To the rhythm of Florence + The Machine (good song, btw) she volunteers to jump off a plane first. It runs smoothly, and she lands just fine. But as soon as she sets foot, she's told to get in the jeep because she's been summoned to the office.
It also seems that Annie is VERY intelligent and skilled. Her superior at training says she's rocked so far, but still doesn't know what's up. All he tells her is that Langley needs her language skills immediately, even though she has a month of training left. So Annie heads there and goes through all the procedures during her first day.
The first person she bumps into is a guy named Conrad, who walks her over briefly...until he passes and Annie crashes against the tourniquet. So to have access comes another set of procedures that include an eye scan, signing papers and getting a picture taken for her ID.
At the office of the DCS, a staff meeting is being held. Somebody has leaked confidential information to a reporter who has published it. And the moment he says that, he says he won't stop until he finds whoever is responsible for that. All this is intertwined with Annie's oath.
After all, she goes out and meets her guide: Auggie Anderson, who happens to be blind. They walk together and he explains some things that make the Agency...a strange place to work (dating within the agency is encouraged, no cell phones allowed, polygraphs every year) and guides her through the facilities (they have a Starbucks? Wow). During this, she meets up with Conrad again...that is until Arthur (the DCS) calls him from the lower floor. Annie's last destination is the office of a woman named Joan Campbell...their boss. She asks Auggie whether he'll go in with her, but he replies that happens only when it has to.
Joan is an elegant woman, and Annie seems very nervous, judging by her handshake. She's in a hurry, so Annie just follows, leading her to DPD, the area where she'll be working (and one she has no idea about). Joan seems very stiff, and orders Auggie to pull up some screens. It's about a russian operative that has landed in the U.S., and that they chose Annie because she could speak russian and double as a call girl. Poor thing, all of this happening on her first day and she still doesn't understand any of it. She has to go to a hotel and wait for his call, and all of this has to look as if this wanted assassin has come to America to buy guns and party, not to negotiate a deal with the CIA. Auggie hands her a few devices: a beeper and something that looks like a Blackberry that Annie has to sync with this guy's device in the hotel. Joan looks like a cryptic bitch when saying the other person who could do this is gone.
I think Auggie has assumed that whenever someone wants to ask him a question, it's about how he ended up blind. Well, he was Special Ops in Iraq, and, as Annie is escorted away by a guard, wishes her luck (off note: Really digging her heels). But all Annie asked was about the headphones he has around his neck.
We jump to the Capitol Grand Hotel, and a tense Annie making her way into the lobby. There's undercover people all around, and a man reading a newspaper that has his eyes on her and offers her a drink (he's spanish, btw). But she has to cut it short when getting a message on her beeper that takes her to the 4th floor. Nice suite, but empty...except for when the guy wakes up from a hangover. Also nice that she spoke nice russian. Dude, eating caviar after a hangover? Sweet. Annie tries to make her best attempt...that is until the guy is killed by a sniper as they were trading the devices. Walker tries her best to defend herself as Auggie comands that she be extracted fast. So she makes a run for the exit and is taken to a van that speeds off. If I were her, I'd be as shocked.
Joan and Arthur are husband and wife that need counseling, except that this isn't working. Anyways, Joan is told that a situation is underway. Annie tells her boss everything that happened, and that she didn't get a chance to retrieve the devices in all the confusion. But since she's eager to redeem herself, she says she'll find a way to get in the room, just as Auggie proposed. And about Joan...I still can't grow sympathy for her.
Annie's plan involves a gown and makeup to get in and out quickly with all the sea of detectives and everything going on at the hotel. Using all her seduction skills, she makes her way through the sea of people, posing as a guest...except when she bumps into a detective. Time to play Amber, the call girl. That way, as she is being questioned, gets access to the room and the devices (keep in mind that Auggie gave her a similar device to trade as the transfer is complete). But the real reason she gives is that the came back...for her heels. And Auggie posing as the agency owner was pricess (the guy needed to corroborate the number).
Joan just says that the guy is dead, and that all there is left to do is to file a report for her after retrieving the data.
Annie decides to go drink water when she sees Auggie coming to her, and it is then when she has a moment of release with him for everything that has happened that day. He offers his arm as she invites him a drink in a happy hour. And Auggie seems to be loved by the ladies there (count me one!) as he and Annie go grab a beer. They bump into Conrad. Over beers, she tells him her failed love story. Okay, I envy Annie because she travels a lot and because she's CIA material.
Joan is also at a restaurant and finds Arthur with another woman. She thinks her husband is having an affair. I think Joan has lost it, I'm with Arthur there. She has a jealousy issue. Anyways, Conrad, Auggie and Annie are drinking and talking (and Conrad checks out the ladies). She realizes she's late for dinner, and since Auggie needs a ride home, he smooth-talks a girl as Annie drives away. But there is a problem: She's being followed at high speed by another car. Put your skills to the test, Annie! It is these that help her avoid the other vehicle (and gives us a worthy chase) temporarily since her engine died.
But now she has to recover her composure and get to dinner fast. A couple of girls go to greet her as she and her sister (who wants to play matchmaker, looks to me) serve dinner. The guy is so lame. Annie should with Auggie, they make a lovely couple. This guy pours Annie wine and the conversation sucks as her sister looks strange. After all the guests leave, Annie just calls it a day.
Woohoo! Annie has a cat. She makes herself some coffee before heading for work. At least her sister says the guy was a dud. At the CIA, Arthur welcomes a woman that is a reporter, part of the reason Campbell called her in: To be her source. But she's no dumb and wants to protect her sources. No negotiation is reached, somehow. And his seduction skills didn't work, either.
Annie is at Georgetown, visiting an old professor of hers to catch up on her life. He is against her working at the CIA because it won't be good for her. She lies saying she's not, and wants to know what kitsu means. She needed that for her CIA job, and the professsor just tells her to be careful. As Annie is at the entrance, she is surrounded by police.
Joan is infuriated with her because talking to civilians about CIA business is a breach. She has the pictures to prove it, because they have been following everybody. Annie is certain that the guy is still at large, based on that kitsu remark, but all Joan says is that she gather her things and go back to training (certain that the guy is dead) Annie is frustrated and locks herself in a bathroom stall. Judging by the smells, Auggie knows she's there and that she isn't okay. He felt the same way when he started. It's part of the job that mentors behave that way. I feel great that he's advicing her, and using his help.
Both go visit a medical examiner, and ask someone to take a picture of them. She manages to get this guy's print to get inside...and she almost forgets Auggie. She's the forensic, he's the corpse. Annie finds the body and is certain that the guy is still alive. Too bad the same detective that interogated her in the hotel shows up to arrest both. Annie's answer to the question was pricess as to what she was doing there.
Both are posing as call girl and client in separated cells, since the FBI wants to know what they were doing. The detective gets a call and both are left alone briefly. He comes back with the idea that they both work for the Agency, and that they should be released. And again, Joan isn't thrilled when a classified file about Arthur's activities reveals he isn't being unfaithful.
Arthur receives a fax with the draft of the next story the reporter wants to release and Joan admits that Annie was right, after all. The guy made it look as if he's dead to work unnoticed. So they look for whoever could be the target (off topic: love the fact that Auggie has a braile keyboard): In this case, a russian journalist visiting DC. This guy is undercover, so both Joan and Annie are on their way to stop it. Joan approaches the man and whispers something into his ear. Annie notices the guy IS there, if only the guy from the dinner wasn't in the middle. The real man they were looking for was the guy as spanish at the hotel lobby. When spotted, Annie runs at very fast speed after him. He gets in the metro to avoid being caught, and she sees the cart going away.
Too bad the guy points a gun at her and is ready to execute her. But she's a kick-ass (in every sense of the word) and fights him (I'm getting a lot of ideas here). All in all, she believes to see a familiar figure before she passes out: Could it be...the ex boyfriend she sees leaving in another wagon? But she isn't certain, because it was all so hazy.
Oh, and she gets a recognition. She won't have to finish her training, because they want her now. Annie goes to talk to Joan about what she believed she saw at the metro. Joan says it was an agent that killed the guy, and that she won't be able to keep that recognition. Auggie then comes to her to congratulate her, and Annie says he was right about how weird the place was to work.
And to top things off: Joan and Arthur meet in a hallway. The ex boyfriend's name is Ben Mercer, and that he's an assassin that resurfaced the second Annie joined the CIA. They agree that the wisest thing to do in order to catch him, is to keep her there. Didn't see THAT coming.
But the day is coming to an end, Annie comes home and feels bad about lying to her sister, and she says Annie would make the worst spy ever. She just wants to be alone, and cry when remembering the good old days and the memorie this guy left behind when they had their hot love. Ben looks like he kept the bracelet too...as he drives off from outside Annie's house.
So, it was a great pilot. Fast-paced and full of all the elements to make it a promising series. Bring in the next!
Nicodrina
Image credit: http://www.usanetwork.com/series/covertaffairs/index.html
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