Covert Affairs Pilot Review: High on Style, Low on Substance

USA's slogan for the last five or so years has been "Characters Welcome." Their website has an entire section devoted to "characters," both those in their TV shows and the different personality quirks of the viewers who watch the shows. The lineup of original TV shows USA puts out tends to follow this idea, for the most part featuring interesting lead characters. From Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster in Psych to Neil Caffrey in White Collar to Adrian Monk on (the recently retired) Monk, the lead characters on USA network original shows are quirky, strong, and interesting.

Unfortunately, Covert Affairs, one of the few USA original shows to feature a female character in the lead spot (the other being In Plain Sight), features one of the most boring leads (competing heavily with Royal Pains' Hank Lawson). Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), a freshly recruited member of the CIA, oscillates between brash and confident to totally clueless, yet never "interesting." It doesn't help matters that the pilot has Walker acting like a seasoned CIA veteran one minute and in completely over her head the next, without anyone pointing out how erratic she really is.

Annie Walker has the potential to be an interesting character, especially if they make her a little less straight edged, but I'm not sure Perabo is up to the task as an actress. In the pilot, Perabo is asked to keep Walker sympathetic and powerful while also retaining a shred of believability. Unfortunately, Perabo seemed stiff and it was nearly impossible to take her character seriously.

The only character that was actually interesting (as opposed to merely having the potential to be interesting) was blind CIA computer whiz Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham). Not only did Gorham provide the only effective comedy in the entire episode, but he also was the most believable as his character. CIA higher-up Arthur Campbell (Peter Gallagher) also has potential to be an interesting ally/foil for the rest of the CIA squad, but as he is listed as a "special guest star" in the credits, I'm not holding my breath that he'll actually continue on as a regular in the series, which could end up being very unfortunate.

The show itself looks great. Like other USA shows, Covert Affairs is very stylized, with lots of bright lighting and a fast moving storyline that is able to bring the characters to many different locales that all look equally amazing. Even a non-descript local bar ends up looking relatively chic, which fits right in line with a lot of the USA lineup. Covert Affairs isn't supposed to look completely realistic, it's supposed to look good. The editing at the beginning of the pilot relied a little too heavily on montages and seemed a little overdone, but by the end of the episode it seemed to be clicking along fairly smoothly.

The same cannot be said for the storyline, however. As ridiculous as some of the characters are, a ridiculous storyline is partially responsible for creating these characters. It's understandable that the people involved with Covert Affairs wanted to show off everything that their show was going to be about, from comedy to drama to action to action to...more action. Covert Affairs is definitely going to be heavier on action than any other show on USA (with the possible exception of Burn Notice), but I'm not sure we needed multiple chase scenes in the very first episode.

And that's what's ultimately so perplexing about Covert Affairs. It has all the pieces of being a very solid (if not exactly revelatory) action-comedy-drama, yet its reach far exceeded its grasp in the pilot. Perhaps the shorter normal episodes (the pilot clocked in at 76 minutes with limited commercial interruption, so I'm going to say there was about an hour of actual "show" in there) will be able to streamline their plots slightly better than the pilot did, and Covert Affairs will benefit greatly from a more streamlined approach.

Covert Affairs has potential. Some of the supporting characters were interesting, and as long as the plot doesn't get too ambitious for its own good, the story for the first season of Covert Affairs could end up being entertaining. The overall impact of the show could hinge on how well Perabo is able to grow into her role...if she's not up to the task, Covert Affairs is likely to flounder. If the show asks a little less of her than it did in the pilot, however, it could fit in nicely following the (currently) superior White Collar.

Current Verdict: 3 (out of 5) stars

Verdict if Covert Affairs reaches its potential: 4 (out of 5) stars