Auggie’s Episode

  • Title: Covert Affairs – Half a World Away
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Covert Affairs - Half a World AwayFor the first time in its two seasons on the air Covert Affairs gives us an episode where the main story revolves not around young CIA agent Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), but her partner in crime back at Langley – Auggie (Christopher Gorham).

While on vacation Auggie hears a voice of a man he believed to be long dead, the terrorist (Patrick Sabongui) who killed several members of his unit with an explosion that also cost Auggie his sight. The news puts the agent in a tailspin and he becomes obsessed with tracking down the terrorist. He’s even willing to put a civilian in danger and lie to Annie about a favor back home which lands her in the back of an FBI SUV.

Although we get Annie operating in the B-story fitting the pieces of Auggie’s story together for herself, the real story here is Auggie’s including flashbacks to his final mission in the field. Spicing things up is Auggie’s latest conquest, a beautiful stewardess (Rebecca Mader) who agrees to help Auggie on his quest for justice.

“Half a World Away” works particularly well on building the tension throughout the episode as Auggie is forced to use a civilian to get his intelligence and help him track his target. It also doesn’t hurt that Gorham and Mader have pretty good chemistry on-screen together. The step-by-step process of planning his attack on the terrorist, as well as the fight itself, is well thought out and blocked for an attack by a blind man on someone with sight. At the same time Annie starts putting the pieces together and realizes just what Auggie has planned.

Although the outcome itself isn’t much a surprise, the episode works quite well it giving us a deeper look into Auggie’s past as well as reminding us he’s a highly trained killer whose skills may have gotten a little rusty since loosing his sight but definitely having gone away.