What I’m Watching: Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs: Season 4, Episode 3 “Into the White” (B)

I’m still unsure about the path that this season is taking, but I think it’s getting more on track at this point and might be close to establishing a regular routine that will make it more plausible and watchable. The idea of Teo as an unknown quantity, an undercover spy who might have gotten lost after he got in too deep, is an interesting one, though I think it makes Annie seem a bit isolated. Part of what made a show like “Alias” work is that, while its protagonist was indisputably its protagonist, there were always other characters involved doing other things. Here, Annie is out there by herself with only Auggie to support her back home, who, since the beginning of their newfound romance, hasn’t really had a personality of his own. Arthur isn’t too useful, and Joan managed to blackmail her way into scoring Arthur’s old job, which definitely puts her at the top of the food chain. Her nonplussed reaction to the news of Seth’s death was intriguing, and I think that her ability to be stoic in the face of disheartening information should prove useful in her new position. Even without being in the room, Henry is still capable of making an impression, and it seems to me that this whole thing is bigger than Henry pulling the strings and Annie’s new best friend Calder Michaels trying to take down Teo while Annie continues to be convinced that, all evidence to the contrary, he’s actually one of the good guys.