Round Two: Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs: Season 1, Episode 2 “Walter’s Walk” (C+)

If my faith in the incorruptibility of law enforcement hadn’t already been shaken as described in my “Rizzoli & Isles” review from this week after recent screenings of episodes of “The Closer,” “The Glades,” and a “Law & Order: SVU” installment from last season, the denouement of this episode makes me question everything once again. Isn’t there some sort of vetting process that would ideally reveal that a spy has obvious ideological alignments with the enemy? It would just seem to make sense. This second episode doesn’t do any more or less for me than the first, still not proving to me that it’s a worthwhile new series. The addition of Sendhil Ramamurthy as Jai isn’t half bad, especially because he’s a million times better than he was as Mohinder on “Heroes.” He also has the good sense to point out to annoyed boss Joan that, unlike what bosses on shows like “24” would have you think, there’s usually no harm in pursuing an agent’s hunch. I would like to see more of the CIA agents in the field rather than just hanging around in the office bickering about married life. Additionally, it seems all too convenient that Annie would just happen to stumble upon an actual case during her very first day of entertaining walk-ins. I refer back to “Alias” and recommend this show take a page from its playbook. Sydney always went on routine missions, and she more often than not had an actual partner from the CIA to back her up. I bet it would be a blast to see Auggie in the field, though I suspect Jai would do quite well too. And I personally would love to see Joan and Arthur go on a mission together.