The new season of
Covert Affairs (the fifth) kicks off tomorrow night at 10pm on USA. Though it's had its ups and downs,
Covert Affairs remains strong after so many years. It's followed the trajectory of most modern spy series that start off fairly serious. (I'm thinking of you,
MI5!) After more grounded early seasons in which CIA agent Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) engaged in fairly realistic spying and didn't carry a gun, by last season she had transitioned into a full-on female James Bond, not only armed but deadly, and when last we saw her engaging in some Jack Bauer-style shenanigans in Shanghai. But the good news is Perabo and the series have handled that transition well, and while the overall tone has changed a bit (even the office politics, which remain my favorite part, have become soapier... though still not as soapy as
24),
Covert Affairs is as much fun to watch as it ever was! I'm looking forward to seeing where the fifth season takes Annie.
Covert Affairs: Season 4, meanwhile, is now available on DVD, with extras including deleted scenes, a gag reel, an action reel, and the prequel minisodes series
Sights Unseen: Auggie Undercover.
Never got into the whole 'dramedy' work/life balance spy shows like Alias and Covert Affairs.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to full spy shows that weren't about balancing personal and work affairs? What also happened to spy shows starring male heroes rather than a femme fatale? Too much Alias, Nikita, Annie Walker types and not enough Solo, Phelps, Templar or Al Mundy type characters on modern spy television...
I don't think I'd call either Alias or Covert Affairs "dramady." Drama, yeah, but neither really has much comedy. The work/life stuff on the first season of Alias was definitely the worst part. Who ever wanted to follow the storyline of Francie opening a restaurant? Covert Affairs also drifted away from that, writing out Annie's sister just as Alias wrote out Francie and Will. I do think that there's good drama to be mined from a spy balancing work and life though. I think Covert Affairs does it really well with the Peter Gallagher character and his wife. Classically, Callan and The Sandbaggers did it best.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great point that there aren't male spy heroes on television anymore, and it's weird! Weird because in movies there are basically no female spy heroes (Salt notwithstanding--who was originally written as a man anyway), and on TV there are basically ONLY female spy heroes. Very odd. Of course, we do have Jack Bauer back now! NBC's got a male spy lead coming up mid-season (Red Zone, I think?), but a female one in the fall (State of Affairs). And TNT has Sean Bean starring in Legends later this summer. So there are a few!
Watched the season opener last night. I find it hard to believe that the Agency would throw her immediately into an operation after being awol for four months. Their only excuse is that she knew what the terrorist looked like. Also, the show or any other action/spy show loses credibility when the heroine is running down the street chasing the bad guy in four inch heels.
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