What I’m Watching: Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs: Season 1, Episode 9 “Fool in the Rain” (C+)

I think that part of the reason I didn’t think so highly of this episode is that there is one character I detest more than Annie on this show, and that’s her sister Danielle. Anne Dudek is never an actress I’ve been of, not necessarily due to her lack of ability but more for the characters she tends to play on shows like “House” and “Mad Men.” Here, she’s hands-down the most obnoxious and tangential character who always serves to distract Annie from any and all of her missions, especially throughout this entire episode. As I’ve stated before, I don’t like Annie all that much to begin with, so having her be the less annoying one next to her overly chatty and whiny sister is only a slight comfort. The idea of this upbeat, goofy Iranian defector is just too silly for my tastes, and there was little to nothing about the storyline that did it for me. It is far more interesting to see Arthur interrogate Auggie and give him a strictly confidential assignment about which he isn’t even supposed to inform Joan, and to see his plan to narrow the number of possible leaks down to seventeen (still not a small number) work, with an unfortunate caveat of ending Auggie’s special relationship. It’s a good thing that Annie’s many flashbacks finally led to a major revelation: Jay spoke to Ben the night that he left Annie. How that will play out is another matter – we’ll have to see in next week’s two-hour season finale, which should hopefully be more exciting than this series has been as a whole.