“We make pretty good bargaining chips.” – Annie
Socially awkward Reva is back (already!) and this week, she’s leaving the comfort of the computer desk and getting her feet muddy with adventure girl Annie.
The ladies are off to Poland to test some super sweet spy cameras that Reva created. The cameras work great but a small troop of Belarusian secret police crash the party and, seeing right through their “We’re just Canadian hikers we swear” cover story, decide to hold them for ransom.
This marks the third time that I’ve born witness to Annie basically getting stranded in hostile territory. Sassy boss-lady Joan sends a top secret rescue team out against diplomatic orders, and we see a few moments of Totally Badass Jai in action until the helicopter breaks (yes, breaks, like my dearly departed ’92 Chevy, not crash, like I was completely expecting) and renders the rescue team pretty much useless.
It’s okay though, really, Annie has everything under control.
Except Reva.
Reva apparently flunked this part of spy school.
Reva’s frayed nerves and general useless sidekick status really let Annie shine in contrast. As opposed to last week, where Reva excelled at decoding body language and flaunting her technical brilliance, Annie is very much in her element in the field. She chats politics and spy theory with their captor and holds her own in a heated debate over just who the bad guy is here. “We both serve our governments,” her captor argues and Annie agrees, but gets in a few jabs of her own, You exist solely because Russia allows it.
Annie and Reva take their show on the road when Annie improvises an escape that involves throwing back shots of “manly” vodka like a champ, drunken singing, and finally, launching the bottle of vodka into the fireplace. I was very upset about the wasted vodka, but then Reva started whining about how poorly she did at spy school again, trips over a rock, and breaks her ankle.
I swear, Annie Walker has the patience of a saint.
Eventually, Annie and Reva make it to the Belarus/Ukraine border. Reva finally acts like a CIA operative and proudly brags that she “swam varsity at USC” before linking arms with Annie and freefalling into a river as the secret police make a final nefarious appearance. As they emerge from the muddy water, Annie and Reva are greeted by Jai and the boys, who finally managed to cobble some sort of motorized transportation together. I thought it was an excellent contrast, the women utilizing their wits and wills to save themselves before the knightly cavalry could sweep in with guns blazing. It looks like the black sheep of my weekly line-up has finally done something right.
Some stats and info about How to Covert Affairs, “The Outsiders”
TV SHOW – Covert Affairs
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 6
AIRED ON – July 12th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – USA/Peacock
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas, Action Shows, Spy Shows
CREATED BY – Matt Corman, Chris Ord
CAST – Piper Perabo, Christpher Gorham, Kari Matchett, Pete Gallagher
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.