What I’m Watching: Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs: Season 1, Episode 7 “Communication Breakdown” (B+)

It says something about a show when one of its strongest episodes barely features its lead character. It actually probably says more about its lead character, who I will admit I’m warming to a little more, but that doesn’t mean I’ll object if an entire episode highlights another, better character, and that would be Auggie. It’s always great to be so quickly and deeply immersed in the life of one character who we had before now not really known much about, and within minutes he’s become this incredible player who is sleeping with nosy reporter Liza Hearn to find out who the CIA leak is and also has a hacker ex-girlfriend who just happens to be on the verge of revealing much potentially dangerous information to the public in order to symbolize her feelings about open sourcing. It’s definitely interesting to see more of Auggie’s darker side, first shown in recent weeks when Auggie was reliving his military past and then even more now that he has to confront his feelings for this woman and to reevaluate his motivations for and the act of breaking up with her several years earlier. This episode is a wild ride that feels like a hybrid of an episode of “Alias” and “Chuck,” due mainly to the train setting and the feeling that this doomed romance just can’t last forever, even if it seems almost perfect for a while. This installment, more than anything, is proof that this show doesn’t need to rely on Annie to carry it, since she is more than content eating desserts for an entire hour.