Covert Affairs and TV watching
Dec. 12th, 2010 01:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreI pretty much only paid attention to Covert Affairs and people talking about it because I liked Piper Perabo and Kari Matchett. Reports were that it was fun and lacked any major Fail, and reports were pretty true. It’s a “cute white spies and the token POC spy” show, but most episodes feature POC, and it avoids most of the bad stereotypes. I’m a bit put off that Annie, the lead, joined the CIA because her epic love of 3 whole weeks disappeared on her 2 years ago, but she seems to have joined with the intention of becoming hard and badass, and not to find him. Naturally, Ben, the ex, is an ex-CIA agent who went rogue (Err…if you watch, you’ll probably want to smack him around when he gets around to explaining that. He seems to think he’s The Punisher, starring in a Harlequin romance. The kind that comes with a title like “The Mysterious Spy’s Bikiniclad Madonna” or something. Or a really bad kdrama.) and Annie’s superiors want to use her to draw out Ben.
I enjoy it the way I enjoy The Undercovers, though I would have rather kept my married retired spies turned caterers, if I had to choose between the two. Annie is an idealist, and is maintaining her idealism despite learning the world doesn’t work that way, so far, and I like all the main characters, though I have some issues with how Augie (the blind computer geek) seems to jump at the chance to use relationships with women as an operation. And I have to wonder if Jai (Sendhil Ramamurthy) was originally conceived as being half-Indian (his father is…a very standard Douchey White Patriachal Bureaucrat), or if he walked into an audition and they were blinded by the power of his pretty. Regardless, he’s a lot more fun here than I remember him being in the first season of Heroes. Annie tends to save herself and others more often than not, and when she doesn’t, it’s usually because she’s literally outgunned, or going one-on-one with a guy with years of experience and at least 50 pounds on her. I was irritated that she got rescued instead of saving herself in the pilot, despite it serving an important plot development, but the second episode immediately follows it up with Annie realizing that she needs to work on her close-combat skills, and doing so.
The pilot, though fairly fun, is rather awkward. Perabo and Matchett sport way too much pink makeup that doesn’t suit either the actresses or the characters (this problem comes and goes, but it’s never as bad as the pilot) and Annie’s motivations are played as being more Ben-centric than they feel later in the series. There’s also a really awkward plotline where Annie’s boss, Joan (Matchett) thinks her husband, Arthur, who heads another department, is having an affair. This is quickly ditched to have the conflict there be making a marriage work despite interagency politics, and ends up actually being my favorite subplot of the series. At least partly because she wears the pants and he kind of likes that, even if there is a multi-episode thing where he has to sleep on the couch for deliberately endangering Annie. (Joan seems to view Annie as a combination of a younger, less jaded version of herself and a pet bunny, and so is a bit protective.) The pilot also has an annoying dude there who’s job was to flirt with Annie and be Arthur’s flunky. He quickly gets ditched for the way more fun Jai.
Anyway, it’s fun but not really groundbreaking. I’m kind of worried that season 2 may end up drowning in Ben’s Man Pain. I mean, I don’t exactly want him dead or anything because then Annie will be angsting over that. I just want Annie to go “I am over your Scruffy Mystery Spy thing so you go be The Harlequin Punisher or whatever while I go get drunk with Jai and Auggie. We were going to invite Joan, but she’s busy plotting to take over the world with her husband, and we don’t like to interfere with their alone time. Kthnxbai don’t let the door whack your butt too hard.”
Meanwhile, there are more shows airing on US TV right now that I’m interested in than there have been in the last several years combined, and I can’t decide which to catch up on next.
Pretty Little Liars isn’t listed because I’m doing a group watch with it, and have seen 6 of the 10 available episodes.
I enjoy it the way I enjoy The Undercovers, though I would have rather kept my married retired spies turned caterers, if I had to choose between the two. Annie is an idealist, and is maintaining her idealism despite learning the world doesn’t work that way, so far, and I like all the main characters, though I have some issues with how Augie (the blind computer geek) seems to jump at the chance to use relationships with women as an operation. And I have to wonder if Jai (Sendhil Ramamurthy) was originally conceived as being half-Indian (his father is…a very standard Douchey White Patriachal Bureaucrat), or if he walked into an audition and they were blinded by the power of his pretty. Regardless, he’s a lot more fun here than I remember him being in the first season of Heroes. Annie tends to save herself and others more often than not, and when she doesn’t, it’s usually because she’s literally outgunned, or going one-on-one with a guy with years of experience and at least 50 pounds on her. I was irritated that she got rescued instead of saving herself in the pilot, despite it serving an important plot development, but the second episode immediately follows it up with Annie realizing that she needs to work on her close-combat skills, and doing so.
The pilot, though fairly fun, is rather awkward. Perabo and Matchett sport way too much pink makeup that doesn’t suit either the actresses or the characters (this problem comes and goes, but it’s never as bad as the pilot) and Annie’s motivations are played as being more Ben-centric than they feel later in the series. There’s also a really awkward plotline where Annie’s boss, Joan (Matchett) thinks her husband, Arthur, who heads another department, is having an affair. This is quickly ditched to have the conflict there be making a marriage work despite interagency politics, and ends up actually being my favorite subplot of the series. At least partly because she wears the pants and he kind of likes that, even if there is a multi-episode thing where he has to sleep on the couch for deliberately endangering Annie. (Joan seems to view Annie as a combination of a younger, less jaded version of herself and a pet bunny, and so is a bit protective.) The pilot also has an annoying dude there who’s job was to flirt with Annie and be Arthur’s flunky. He quickly gets ditched for the way more fun Jai.
Anyway, it’s fun but not really groundbreaking. I’m kind of worried that season 2 may end up drowning in Ben’s Man Pain. I mean, I don’t exactly want him dead or anything because then Annie will be angsting over that. I just want Annie to go “I am over your Scruffy Mystery Spy thing so you go be The Harlequin Punisher or whatever while I go get drunk with Jai and Auggie. We were going to invite Joan, but she’s busy plotting to take over the world with her husband, and we don’t like to interfere with their alone time. Kthnxbai don’t let the door whack your butt too hard.”
Meanwhile, there are more shows airing on US TV right now that I’m interested in than there have been in the last several years combined, and I can’t decide which to catch up on next.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
Which show that started this season should I catch up with next, with my other shows on hiatus?
View Answers
Haven (Another blonde agent show!)
3 (75.0%)
Chase (Another blonde agent show! Her name's Annie, too.)
0 (0.0%)
Hellcats (Stop looking at me like that! It's for Ashley Tisdale!)
1 (25.0%)
Rizzoli and Isles (A procedural, so actually kinda low priority.)
1 (25.0%)
Something else that started this season that will be detailed in comments.
0 (0.0%)
No, seriously, Megan, Hellcats?
0 (0.0%)
And you still haven't started Sanctuary or Warehouse 13! For shame!
2 (50.0%)
Pretty Little Liars isn’t listed because I’m doing a group watch with it, and have seen 6 of the 10 available episodes.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 09:19 am (UTC)May I recommend Lost Girl?
no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-13 04:33 am (UTC)Um, can I ask why? Because that's a show I've been curious about. I want to know if there's impending bad.
SPOILERS for HELLCATS
Date: 2010-12-13 05:55 am (UTC)SPOILERS
SPOILERS
One of the central relationships in the show is between Pre-Law Student turned Cheerleader Marti, her best friend Dan Patch, and Dan's relationship with sheltered cheerleader Savannah. Dan and Savannah are dating when Marti's mother tells Dan that Marti was in love with him and suddenly all the relationships in the show fall apart because Marti & Dan's love is so true, and from that point on every woman who has sex in the show is in some way punished for it. The last episode I watched had Marti in her corner of shame with no one willing to talk to her at all because she had had sex with Dan when she was 16 and hadn't told Savannah five years later. Amongst other things.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 10:15 pm (UTC)That also makes it like crack to me.