Covert Affairs 4.1 Episode Review And Recap: Trouble At Home

Covert Affairs prides itself on solving cases in international locales, but all the issues this season appear to have domestic roots. In the final episode of season three, Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) was seen meeting with Henry Wilcox (Greg Itzin) inside the diner where his son Jai (Sendhil Ramamurthy) had passed during an explosion. Now, a year later, in the season four opener, Annie is seen with her new sidekick (Auggie Anderson) embarking a road trip to South America. While in Colombia she learns that her boss, Arthur (Peter Gallagher) may or may not be involved in some shady dealings. While the scope of Arthur’s extra curricular activities are unknown at this point, CA fans now know that Campbell has had an extra-marital-affair, which produced a love-child that his wife, Joan (Kari Matchett) is unaware of. The only person who knows the extent of the situation is Auggie (Christopher Gorham) who’s been wiring funds to Teo (Arthur’s son, played by Manolo Cardona), from an offshore bank account.

Ever since the first season, I’d always suspected that the Campbell relationship was less than perfect, as they always kept secrets from each other; I just never imagined it was this bad. I’m not complaining though, all this drama certainly makes for great television. I love that the writers of Covert Affairs has shifted gears from case-of-the-week-installments to a more serialized story. And now that the dynamic between Walker and Anderson, has changed, it’s bound to cause tension between them. Because Auggie is a blind tech-op, it’s obvious that Annie will fear for his safety as them being a couple will make it difficult to spy on criminals. We all know lies and keeping secrets aren’t healthy. But let’s hope the entire season isn’t about love and romance. The reason I watch Covert Affairs in the first place, is because I dig the fact that Piper Perabo a fearless female operative who knows how to walk in heels, and her red bottoms get dirty.

There are a lot of story lines being introduced this season, with the addition of Hill Harper as Calder Michaels – a Colombian station chief – (a character who loosely reminds me of Daniel Sunjata’s Paul Briggs on Graceland) and Teo, the Latin-American gangster. Viewers can sense that the Puma is dangerous, but right now Calder’s intensions seem unclear. Judging by the opening scenes in the premiere, its evident that Michaels can’t be trusted, but what about Arthur? Auggie? Wilcox?

Hopefully creators Chris Ord and Matt Coram will do a formidable job at weaving the plot together in the next 10 weeks.

Questions for the season:

• While it was a natural progression for Gorham and Perabo’s character’s to hook-up, them as a couple seems too risky. Do you think they can make it work?

• Will Joan divorce Arthur, once she learns of his son?

• Are Calder and Henry working together?

Tune in to Covert Affairs tonight at 9p, on USA Network to see what happens next!