I think I might lose your respect after what I’m about to say so I’m just going to say it and get it out of the way. I didn’t hate Coyote Ugly. I know a lot of people did but I didn’t. In fact, I’d watch it right now if it came on HBO or Showtime. Since Piper Perabo did that film I’ve been waiting for her to break out and I think she’s finally found her vehicle. And I’ve loved Christopher Gorham since Popular. He pretty much can do no wrong for me. Then you add in Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett. I don’t know about you but I’m in heaven. And they’ve got Anne Dudek? It’s an embarrassment of riches. Anyone who’s seen Mad Men or House knows what I’m talking about.
I’m going to do a micro recap and then expand from there. Basically, if you didn’t watch the show you should give it a try. I didn’t love it but I did like it. I think some reviewers are calling this Alias-lite but I’ll disagree. There are elements that are similar but I think there is enough that is new and different here to keep me entertained and engaged.
So, Annie fell in love two years ago and it ended badly. After that she vowed to herself to never get burned again. Enter the CIA. She can use her love of languages and travel and her ability to basically become anyone she wants to do her job. A Russian assassin Stas is coming in from the cold but he’s assassinated as Annie gets his intel. Only, it turns out the guy she met with was a patsy. The real assassin wants people think he’s dead so he can take out his real target. Annie stops him before he can but he turns on her. Before he can kill Annie someone – who looks just like her ex – saves her by killing the assassin. She receives a commendation. Her bosses are pleased they’ve drawn her ex out of hiding. It looks like that’s the whole reason Annie’s at the CIA in the first place. Oh, and she has some decent banter with a fellow CIA agent and flirts with an FBI agent who is on her tail. Meanwhile, Annie’s boss Joan uses agency resources to find out if her husband Arthur, also a director at the agency, is cheating on her.
Now here are the details that flesh out our story:
- When we meet Annie Walker she’s talking a polygraph for admittance into the CIA. She’s 28 and speaks 6 languages.
- At an all hands briefing at the Office of the D.C.S. (Director of Clandestine Services) we learn there’s a traitor in their midst. Classified information is being leaked to a reporter.
- Auggie Anderson, former special ops in Iraq who was blinded by an IED, is with tech ops and will be her guide for the day. He tells her 50% of the agency is young – the agents have 5 years or less job experience. No cell phones in the building, polygraphs every year, no dating foreigners. The CIA encourages dating within the agency since they’re all already within the circle of trust.
- Annie will be working for the Domestic Protection Division. Annie’s never heard of it before and that’s exactly the way Joan wants it. Every global threat that makes it into US borders is dealt with here.
- When Stas is killed Annie doesn’t have a chance to retrieve the PDA that was the intel they need. She pretends to be a hooker again and get back in the room. She gets close enough to the PDA for the data transfer. During all this she meets FBI Agent Rasabi. I like him. They have chemistry.
- Joan and Arthur are in marriage counseling.
- Auggie is seriously popular with the ladies. Even though he’s blind he can tell whether or not a woman is hot. He just has to listen to the way other guys talk to her.
- A mystery BMW, which later we later discover belongs to her ex Ben, is following her home from happy hour. She turns it around on her pursuer but getting the upper hand and pursuing him. But her car craps out on her and she loses him.
- Annie’s sister has invited a blind date for Annie to her dinner party. The mustache Ethan is rocking is a bit too much for me and he’s way too eager. He loves him some Zinf and he talks a lot. A LOT.
- Arthur meets with the reporter who is published the leaked information. She tells him she won’t give up her sources.
- Annie goes to Georgetown University to see an old professor. From him she learns that the man they thought with Stas is a patsy. He called her Kiisu, which is Estonian. Someone from Moscow would never use that term. And even though Annie denies it, her professor urges her not to work for the CIA.
- Joan order Annie back to training but Auggie urges her to show some initiative, which is how they end up at the morgue. If the guy she met with was really Stas he would have tattoos from spending ten years in prison. This guy is tattoo free.
- FBI agent Rabasi catches Annie and Auggie at the morgue but she’s able to maintain her cover. Rabasi suspects she’s CIA but can’t prove it. When Rabasi gets a call from his boss’s boss he has to release them. Her chemistry with the FBI agent during the interrogation was hot. I don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of him.
- After looking at the threat matrix, Joan determines that the person Stas is targeting is Petrov, an outspoken Russian journalist. He’s at the Smithsonian right now.
- Annie and Joan arrive in time to prevent the assassination. Annie sees a man there she recognizes – the Spanish businessman who flirted with her in the hotel lobby. That’s Stas. She pursues and they end up in the subway. Stas is about to kill her, when Ben shows up and kills Stas. Annie can’t be sure it’s Ben though, she didn’t get a good look.
- Ben still has the bracelet he bought when he was in Sri Lanka with Annie.
There is a lot of potential here and I can’t wait to see what happens next week. I love Anne Dudek so I’m hoping to see just a bit more of Annie’s home life. The dynamic between Peter Gallaher’s Arthur and Kari Matchett’s Joan is very interesting. I hope they don’t overdo it though. Joan seems like a strong woman with great ambition. I don’t want to see her mired down in suspicion about her husband’s extracurricular activities. Even though it seems like he’s innocent, I wouldn’t take that at face value.
But let’s talk about Annie. I don’t want to see her cut herself off too much. Her relationship with Auggie is fun and I’m looking forward to seeing where that goes – and I don’t mean romantically. Conrad didn’t make much of an impression on me. I didn’t really like their banter but I loved Annie’s scenes with the FBI agent. I thought that was hot. I’m interested to learn more about Ben and why he left Annie so suddenly two years ago and when he’s resurfaced now. It’s clear he cares about Annie but I hope there is something else going on.
What did you think?
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