Covert Affairs posts an excellently paced episode as their last one for the summer season. Fans needs not be too alarmed though as new adventures start October 16th same spy time, same spy channel.
As Christopher Gorham mentioned in an interview with Entertainment Weekly last week, this episode picks up a few months later. It would have to as we see Annie completely healed and breaking into an apartment. She looked a little more determined and a lot more pissed than usual as she got ready and none of it has left her face now. She wanders thru the apartment and is less than quiet going thru it. It becomes obvious that she was trying to get caught when a group of men come in with guns. "Tell Joan Campbell I need to talk to her."
Annie briefs Joan and Arthur as to why she broke into Lena's apartment. She thinks that she had found one of Lena's old contacts and has put together a briefing. Joan shuts her down. Arthur tells her that the plan is to kill Lena but Lena knows who the best operatives would be so they're all compromised. The ones they’ve already sent after her did not fare well.
Auggie and Annie then are shown sparring. Auggie thinks she's pushing too hard after the trauma. He notes it's less about the injury and more because she's lost someone she loved. Annie counters that all she's focused on is her footwork and proceeds to lie to Auggie when she reopens her gunshot wound.
Joan goes to Annie's apartment and tells her that she has realized that Annie was telling not asking to go to Russia. She adds few words of caution before Annie goes off to Russia with the instructive that she is only to take a photo of Lena to help the extradition and that if things go south the CIA will disavow everything. Joan mentions that Lena will be expecting Annie and expecting her emotions will screw things up. Annie and Joan hug before Joan leaves and Annie looks very sad.
Auggie is waiting in the car sent for Annie. After she quips that he shouldn’t really be driving, he gives her the plane ticket and the keys to an apartment that used to belong to an asset before she died. "This is the type of mission where every question you have has a scary answer." Auggie tells her that he's there for her no matter what. Auggie goes to leave the car and Annie begs him to stay. he does, of course.
Touching down in Finland, Annie catches a train to head to Moscow. In the apartment in Moscow she finds a duffel bag with a note from Auggie on it. It says he's giving her a little bit of walking around money. And it’s a full bag the size of her torso. The landlady knocks on the door and wants Annie to have tea with her. Annie shoos her away without opening the door.
Annie walks down to the music store to observe one of Lena’s old contacts under the premise of getting music lessons. The man tells her that she’s misinformed but after more prodding asks to look at her hands. He calls them small and she responds: "What I lack in size, I make up for in passion”. He has Annie sit down at the piano and start to play. She does so quite beautifully. He tells her to stop and that he won't give her lessons. But the way he blanched when she was playing, he knows more than he's letting on.
Annie is spending her wait time exercising. In typical Annie fashion, she gets bored says "screw it" and goes to a cafe where she sits at the bar and is offered tea again. The symbol on the inside of the cup matches Simon's tattoo. Maybe there was an even deeper meaning to last week's dream
Annie then runs thru the restaurant chasing the person she thinks is responsible for the symbol knocking over a waiter in the process. As that person escapes she's attacked from behind by Dmitri Rockmodinoff, Lena’s contact. She tells him that she's looking for him and he releases the piano wire from around her neck.
He tells her that her playing was heavy handed on the left, "so why don't you tell me what you're really here for." The answer?. Lena Smith. He doesn't want to talk about her but after Annie notices the scar above his eye, Dmitri tells a story about how he fell in love with Lena while he was a spy and how she betrayed him to become a double agent. He says that he was talking of his own hands when he referred to the small hands earlier and that he knows no one and nothing. Dmitri asks Annie not to follow him again.
Arthur tells Joan that he's talked to Charlie again. Joan tells him that she's sent Annie officially to Russia. Arthur tells her that he could fire her for this and "how's going to look if she dies?".
Annie then talks to the waitress from earlier and tells her that she knew her brother, Simon. Simon’s sister tells Annie that he talked of her often. Annie says that Simon got his tattoo for the sister, his “bright star." Annie says she wishes she has something she could return to the sister and the sister says that Annie already has.
Annie then goes back to talking to Dmitri. She pleads then levels with him and tells him that the only reason she's interested in him is because he might help her. She also says that she might be the last spy he ever talks to. He takes her to meet his contact and his contact tells them that
Lena is living in a hotel where is kept and is like a mole because "she never sees the light of day" but for the once a week when they take her in the "special car" to be debriefed
Annie acquires a gun to complete the mission.
Dmitri:"No good can come from this."
Annie: "I'm not looking for good."
Armed and ready for action, Annie goes to track Lena's car as Dmitri provides a look out. He alerts her when the car gets close so that she can set out her portable set of spikes. It disables the car as expected but when she breaks the window glass, Lena is nowhere to be found and the FSB agents show little competence.
Seth tells Joan that the FSB had gotten wind of an unauthorized mission and that it has completely tanked extradition papers for Lena Smith. He also says that she should prepare a statement as it doesn't look good for her or Arthur.
In Moscow, Annie points the gun at Dmitri telling him that she should be dead right now so he better start talking because the guy in the car hesitated and the other agent wasn’t much better,. Dmitri tells her that after she approached him for lessons, Lena reappeared and "all the anger, all the passion came flooding back". Annie observes that he fell for her again. He tells her that Lena wants her alive then he tells her where Lean is and Annie goes to her.
Arthur is writing up a report when Joan walks in and loses the door. She handa in her letter of resignation. He accepts it and says he'll take it under consideration. Neither look pleased with this outcome.Annie's phone starts to ring, it's Auggie telling her to get out of Russia because of the damages to the negotiations for Lena and that the Russians are looking for her. He tells her that she's gone too far and that he needs her to come back home, not the CIA, not Joan, but HE needs her to come back.
Auggie: "There are things hat I need to say to you face to face." He sounds even more worried than when she was bedridden. In a coma. When she was dying. I can't be the only one expecting a big Auggie revelation to Annie when she comes back. Annie tells him shell see him soon. She says goodbye to Simon's sister and goes to get on a train.
She's followed thru the train station and as she's turned around, you see that Simon's sister was acting as decoy. Annie then is seen thru the windows of a cabin in some woods.
Annie pushed open the door. Lena calmly sits at the table as says that if Annie kills her she'll never get the truth about Simon. Lena says that they never directly worked together. And then another offers more tea. I'm seeing a theme. Maybe it's just me.
Lena: "Mysterious bad guy with a clarity of purpose? You definitely have a type."
Lena expected Annie to fall for him but not for him to fall for her. Lena confesses to killing Jai and offers Annie the opportunity to become her because no one would suspect them working together . Annie asks why she would ever betray her country. Lena tells her she'd be rich but most importantly that she would experience power that Annie would never experience at the CIA.
Annie says she's had enough lies and manipulation. Lena tells her to pull the trigger because it would be like pulling the trigger on herself because the CIA will disavow the mission and hang her out to dry. Lena is telling her that killing for malice will change her. Annie doesn't make a move until Lena pulls her gun but then she puts her down without reserve.
In four weeks, the escape from Russia when the Russians have orders to shoot on site.
For more information about Covert Affairs to tide you over during the break you can follow Piper Perabo (PiperPerabo), Christopher Gorham (ChrisGorham), Peter Gallagher (petergallagher), creators Matt Corman (mattcorman) and Chris Ord (ordeaux), the writers of Covert Affairs (covertwriters), Covert Affairs' official (CovertAffairs), SpoilerTV's Covert Affairs (SpoilerTV_CA) SpoilerTV (SpoilerTV), and of course me (FireflyTARDIS).
