Covert Affairs - Episode 3.09 - Suffragette City - Recap

SPOILERS. If you haven't seen the past two week episodes of Covert Affairs, then you are missing out on some great plot points.

Okay, for those of you that are still with me, this week's episode opens on a cookie delivery van. An usual move when two of the season's main characters have just been shot, but it pays off in that the man delivering the cookies is also the man that saves Annie Walker's life. For those of you who were hoping that Auggie would be her savior, don't worry, he will be soon.

Agent Walker awakes in the back of the ambulance to note the driver has passed the hospital. The driver is revealed to be Simon. "... Besides, you look the picture of health to me."

Next we see Auggie at the hospital. As Annie's emergency contact he was informed as soon as she arrived. As Annie is still in surgery, there isn't much he can do. Yet.


Annie and Simon arrive outside the diner Jai had his last scenes in. Simon is insistent that tea is the answer to everything. On the surface, a stereotypical British response. On a deeper level, it allow him to reveal Lena's codename in the tea leaves. Blackbird. Anyone else hearing Beatles?



Simon then tells Annie that he didn't think it would be so hard to say goodbye to her again and that it would be the last time he would be able to talk to her; an unspoken cue to the audience that Simon Fisher, played by the wonderful Richard Coyle, is dead.

Simon then climbs into a similar car to Jai's as Annie spots Jai's murder in the back of the cafe. Fortunately, Simon's car doesn't explode. It speaks volumes to Coyle's performance that when he started his run earlier this season, he was met with icy disapproval by many fans but by the end had won over most, if not all, of the disbelievers.

In the real world, Joan tells Auggie that Annie is being accused of treason by Lena Smith. Auggie then has his heart to heart with Annie, the latter still begin unconscious post surgery.


Auggie: I never need anyone but I need you Annie.

Many a fangirl's heart skipped a beat when she heard those word spoken last week in the trailer and the delivery this week did not disappoint.


Arthur Campbell has to deal with a confused and angry blind man when he opens the door to his office. Arthur tells Auggie that Lena's information leaves few loose ends and that he fully intends to pursue it. One wonders if that scene was meant to make the audience want Arthur to take the liaison job offered a few episodes ago. I know that it will make the decision easier on my part if the offer's still on the table.

Auggie goes to Joan who says her hands are tied. She does tell him that Lena is set to be interrogated. Because this is TV, Auggie is able to get down to the interview room while it is still happening. He bribes the man behind the glass to let him sit it on it by offering to put in a word at the UK desk and to be "quieter than a dead mouse". That doesn't last long, with Auggie bursting into Lena's interrogation. He's promptly thrown out and Lena shows no signs of being aware her time is almost up.

In the dream world, Annie is being interrogated first by her sister then by Joan who both leave Annie with an ongoing sense of failing them both. She steps outside and is picked up by Auggie driving his Corvette; a nice nod not only to their relationship and how she never really treats him as blind but also the monologue Auggie had beside her bed. ("Hey Annie, remember me? The guy who gave you a Corvette?")

In the corporeal realm, the helpful nurse from earlier reads Auggie the list of thing Annie was brought in with. The passport catches his interest. A quick call back to the DPD, and Auggie learns that the passport is a fake. Gathering a list of the city's passport cobblers, Auggie sets out.

He arrives at the house of the man who compiled Annie's fake passport in 307 Loving the Alien. Finding the door open, he enters and finds the man dead on the floor. Auggie senses someone else is still in the house as he goes outside to make the call.

He briefs Joan as to his findings but soon one of the backup team interjects that there is no body. Lena, who found herself in a similar situation of nearly being caught in the act, had taken the body with her, leaving in it's place, a "cheap rug". Auggie then asks Joan if there's any flowers around because he would have sworn he smelled lavender.


In the dream world, Auggie asks Annie if she trusts him ("Of course") before escorting her thru the door to a fancy dress party. Even in her dreams, Annie wants to be on a mission, and her subconscious provides one; the chase for Blackbird. Before leaving to go upstairs, Annie shares a kiss with the man of her dreams and her world stands still; a wonderful metaphor for the way she looks at him. If only Auggie would realize the way she looks at him, maybe there'd be more moments like this in the real life.


Auggie cuts their dance short by saying that the music's not right for them yet. This would seem to be hint to the next episode 'Let's Dance' but official sources say no. With a skillful re-enactment of the title sequence, Annie dances over to the keypad, sliding the card with a smile.

Real world Auggie is then confronted by real world Lena who tells him that she's not upset about his outburst earlier. It proves to be her fatal mistake as Auggie connects the dots between the smell at the cobbler's house and her perfume. He plays it cool like the highly trained special forces officer he is and then goes to Joan. Joan tells him that neither one of them can move on connecting a smell before he demands that she pass him the information or he'll quit. Joan says that she'll pretend she didn't hear that before telling him to get out because she needs to reset her pass code with tech ops and under no circumstances is he to overhear.

Next we see Auggie, he's sifting thru the evidence and one particular piece stands out. That the delivery guy could place the car. On his way out, Joan catches him. With the incentive of new evidence, she drives them to ask the question. The delivery man gives the description of Lena's car.

For the last dream, Annie is confronted by the fake Lena who attempts to frame and kill her as she's actively doing in real life. Intercut with Lena trying to suffocate Annie in the real world, this dream could have been Agent Walker's last moments.

Lena is stopped by Joan kicking ass but an unfortunately timed fire alarm pull on Auggie's part allows Lena to slip into the mess. The last moment of the episode centers on Annie as she gasps back to life before the screen fades to white.

I think this episode is one of the best this season has produced. It sets up the overarching plot points for the next episode and the back half of the season starting October 16th.