State of Affairs - The Faithful - Review: "The Name Has A Face"

Last night's State of Affairs was a reasonable improvement on the last few weeks, with a strong scent of what's to come in what are most likely the final two episodes of the series.

Titled "The Faithful", the episode was written by Zach Ayers and Adam Gaines and directed by Ernest Dickerson, the hour began in a prison transport bus, the incarcerated occupants of which were the brainwashed teenagers responsible for planting the bombs which killed a bomb technician last week. The group began preaching in unison while breaking their own thumbs in order to break out of their handcuffs and commandeer the bus. I must say I was disappointed in not seeing the commotion board - instead a series of external shots depicted the bus veering wildly all over the road before ending up down a bank. All but one on board were killed.

Cut to the Oval, where Charlie was giving her daily briefing to President Payton. Charlie updated Payton on Nick Vera, with her personal proximity to Vera on show for all to see. Payton picked up on that, but was unmoved, as the opportunity to get Sheikh Hakam is one that has to be taken. Charlie was getting desperate for any form of communication with Vera, which came through later on.

Speaking of the evil nemesis, we finally, for the first time in the series, saw Sheikh Hakam in the flesh in this episode. I can't say he struck fear into my eyes, that's not a major concern. What is, however, is that we haven't seen him sooner. I feel the storyline would have made much more sense if the guy had a face to the name. The rather intense background of the guy could have at least been deployed earlier on.

Character growth was surprisingly on the agenda in this episode. As in numerous prior episodes, the office atmosphere was on show again with Lucas, Maureeen, Dash and Charlie gleefully taking the piss out of their interim CIA director. He sent Charlie and Lucas on a road trip to the scene of the bus crash, which made for some somewhat bland emotional scenes between them with the chief focus being Lucas' eye for Maureen. The pair tracked down the missing escapee from the bus crash with Charlie dishing out a bit of pain to coax some answers from the guy, who had just been shot by her. The duo's time together ended on a positive note, however, with Charlie encouraging Lucas to give Maureen a call.

Ex-team member Kurt had a steamy episode, banging a hot colleague sent in by Victor Gantry. While he was gone, Charlie's mysterious friend, Syd, resurfaced in Gantry's office, where it was revealed he was last man standing from the two man team confronted by Nick Vera in the Phillipines last week. Syd is told in no uncertain terms by Gantry that his friend Charlie isn't safe unless he continues working for Gantry's Controlled Outcomes company. My money is on Gantry having more than a little to do with Charlie's fiancee, Aaron's death.

President Payton and her Chief of Staff, David Patrick, had a rather unproductive hour despite the significant amount of time dedicated to preparing for an interview with a television network. Patrick was repeatedly drilling Payton with questions that could have been asked, but despite his insistence to the contrary, Payton was determined to see the interview continue, but this was cut at the last moment when Charlie called with news that a strike on Sheikh Hakam was moments away. Quite why this bit was written in remains unclear as it seems that time could have been better spent. Either way, it looks like next week's episode may hold some more concrete answers.

In all, the hour still wasn't as good as it could have been, with plenty of time wasted for little reward. I am, however, cautiously optimistic about next week's penultimate episode. The series is due for a goodie, though it may have left that a bit late. At least Sheikh Hakam finally has a face.

Thanks for reading. Check out the promo for next week's episode here, and track State of Affairs's ratings on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/stateofaffairs.