Covert Affairs: Walter's Walk by BJ

In the second episode of the series, the viewer sees how Annie is settling in to her new position. She’s still haunted by the memory or vision that her boyfriend saved her life on a DC subway platform. And she is still conflicted by her duty to work and to family. When her sister asks her to be listed as guardian to her children, in the tragic case that something happens to their parents, Annie brushes her off. This causes a great deal of guilt on her part and is one of the major themes of the episode, causing a rift between the sisters that is finally healed.

When Annie arrives at work, she discovers that the offices for her division have moved into an updated block of offices. She also meets Jai Wilcox, the handsome interloper to the section. Her section-boss, Joan, is none to happy about this development, and her handler of sorts, Auggie is cold to the division’s newcomer.

Annie is assigned a very uninspiring job this time around. She is to debrief the walk ins, people who approach the CIA directly. This usually consists of an endless stream of conspiracy theorists and eccentric cases, but occasionally—very occasionally—there is a nugget of real information buried here. And Annie is tasked with ferreting out the crazies.

When a single mother brings to attention a transmission from a radio transmitter, Annie suspects this could be more than the average crackpot. And when she meets Walter, a young teen with a penchant for spy novels who is already in college, she becomes more concerned. Walter cracked a code being broadcast from the station and discovered a man removing an envelope from a PO Box. Walter was spotted and is deeply spooked. Annie enlists Auggie’s assistance and Auggie discovers that the intel might be true, that Walter may just have stumbled upon a spy transmission. The safety of mother and son becomes paramount, only getting more critical when the mother calls and says she’s being chased—and then goes off the grid.

It soon becomes apparent that this transmission focuses on the IRA, specifically a former IRA operative named Michael Cahill, who now lives in America. An attack on American soil should seem impossible, but the intel points to an imminent threat.

The CIA partners with British intelligence's MI-6 and Annie begins working with James Elliott, a cynical veteran of intelligence. They enter Walter's apartment and discover that he has a huge cache of high tech equipment. Unfortunately, the tapes are not there. And when they remove a hard drive from the house, they discover it was corrupted. While they are searching the apartment, someone breaks in and Elliot takes care of him. There is no ID or anything identifying about the attacker.

It is discovered that Cahill is coming to DC, probably to fix the mess his man created at Walter's house. The CIA picks him up and itnerrogates him and Cahill isnists that he is innocent.

Annie, meanwhile, discovers where Walter and his mother are hiding and goes to them. Walter hands over his tapes and Annie sets up a connection to Auggie at Langley, so that he can translate the code. While she waits for the tapes to finish, Annie chit chats with Walter’s mother. When she learns that they’d contacted British intelligence the week before, something doesn’t ring true. Annie finds a bug in her phone and knows that Elliot is somehow involved.

Before she can flee with mother and son, Elliot and his men arrive. Annie bests them with ingenuity and hand to hand combat and mother and son are safe. Elliot was a double agent who had set up Cahill. Their plan was to bomb a British bank in DC, and thanks to Walter and Annie, that plan was thwarted.

Elliott offered a nice counterpoint to Annie’s fresh faced enthusiasm. It served to show just how jaded working in intelligence can make a person. The veneer of Elliot was slick and somewhat James Bond, but the reality was a much more bitter pill. The twist of him being a dual agent was predicable, but I felt it was a little premature in the series to go this route.

While the idea of the IRA plotting in the United States is an interesting one, it was a little strange to see in the second episode of the series. It seemed a little forced and would have been better served airing after the show had hit its stride. Jai is an interesting character, flash and style without substance—yet. I’m intrigued to see what he brings to the table.

There was a great scene where Auggie teaches Annie some hand to hand combat techniques. I really enjoy these two together and would love to see more scenes with them alone. Annie can learn a lot from Auggie.

Covert Affairs needs to be careful with Annie. She sometimes strays into the too-perfect range and it strains believability. With such a great cast, I'd like to see the others taking a very active role in the cases in the field.