Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is a talented and beautiful CIA trainee who outperforms others at pretty much anything. And she speaks 6 languages so Langley can’t wait to get her on the field.
The reason she wanted to be CIA was because she no longer wanted to suffer from deception. A while back, the love of her life – Ben (Eion Bailey) walked out on her, with a note that said “truth is complicated”.
Annie does her best to adjust to CIA protocol as well as her cold yet confident boss Joan (Kari Matchett), who is married to the Arthur Campbell (Peter Callagher), who happens to be their boss. While Joan and Arthur try to solve their marital problems, they also strategize on how to make the best use of Annie, without truly revealing the truth. Annie’s ex Ben was right. The truth is complicated and he just might be a big part of everything.
Blind and brilliant tech guy Auggie (Christopher Gorham) becomes Annie’s best friend and ally, as well as the series’ main sense of humor.
Of course Annie is expected to hide her real job from her sister Danielle (Anne Dudek). Danielle is happily married with two kids and Annie is staying at their guest house. Living close to them makes keeping secrets harder and stressful.
Each episode covers a new case as well as some foreshadowing on “the complicated truth”. We get action, deception, role play, a little drama and more action, with some comedic relief attached.
**
Covert Affairs is a fun action/drama with a decent cast. It looks like Kari Matchett decided her supporting role in Leverage as Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton)’s ex-wife didn’t cover enough espionage or screen time so here she is in one of the leading roles.
Peter Callagher (The O.C., Sex Lies and Videotape, While You Were Sleeping) is getting older and more charismatic, certainly looking his powerful position. And isn’t it fun to see Anne Dudek in such a domestic role after she was the bitch of a doctor on House and beat the crap out of Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby on an episode of How I Met Your Mother?
Sure, my favorite CIA agent ever will be Jennifer Garner’s Sydney Bristow of Alias. Covert Affairs started at a fun but medium pace. So far, it lacks the excitement level of the first Alias seasons, but it is very entertaining and promising. Since I no longer have Alias, I might as well have another spy show with a female lead.
Certainly recommended for Alias fans, lovers of the spy genre and definitely anyone who loves to see the female lead a girl kick ass.
7.7 on IMDB.
Fun notes:
- Piper Perabo was nominated for Golden Globe this year for her role as Annie. She lost out to Katey Sagal, who won for her role in the series Sons of Anarchy. I don’t know about you, but for me Katey Sagal will always remind me of her hilarious role of 11 years as Peggy Bundy on Married with Children.
- Canadian actress Emmanuelle Vaugier plays the beautiful and charismatic reporter who might give CIA a hard time. She also plays The Morrigan, head of the local dark Fae government in Lost Girl.