Covert Affairs-"Begin the Begin"

The Cast of "Covert Affairs"
Credit: USA

My review of the Covert Affairs season premiere is after the jump.

I watched the season premiere of Covert Affairs and realized that my opinion of the series hasn't changed a whole lot since I watched the finale back in January. This show makes for good summer fun, but there's not much there. There's enough charm in the cast and the writing to keep me interested, but only on the simplest of levels. It makes the perfect drama for the summer. It's fun, it's a little exciting, and it's not terribly taxing on the brain. Unfortunately for me, that means that there's not a whole lot there for me to review, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of the serialized arc on this show. I know this is something that I rarely say, but I was more of a fan of the self-contained storyline in the episode.

The season premiere continued the arc involving the super secretive Ben Mercer. I didn't have a huge connection to the arc in the first half of the season, and the premiere did nothing to change that. I feel like this arc is far from the best that the show could come up with, but this is what we're stuck with for an arc. The arc hasn't drawn me in, so I just didn't care about how Ben is mysteriously wandering in and out of Annie's life. I know they won't do this for awhile, I wish they could commit one way or another so that they could actually develop Ben's character, because right now he's very flat. I don't think I will be able to care about the arc until I care about Ben, which is something that I don't think will happen.

For me, the most interesting plotline in the episode was the self-contained storyline. I found Annie trying to help/take down Nadia to be a lot more entertaining then the arc storyline. It provided a lot of fun action sequences that were entertaining to watch.

Some other thoughts:

• If there was one thing that I liked about the arc, it would be the idea of who wanted to kill Ben and Annie. That could give me limited interest in the arc.
• Piper Perabo continues to look pretty as Annie, but not do a whole lot beyond that. I find her to be a serviceable leading lady, but nothing special by any means.
• The supporting cast continues to shine about the lead in this show. Christopher Gorham continues to be the best actor on the show as Auggie. He's charming, charismatic, and a great screen presence.
• Kari Matchett really surprised me in this episode by showing some range as Joan, especially in the scene with Annie at her house. I hope this continues, because she could be a real asset to the show if she continues to show off that range.
• Peter Gallagher continues to do his thing as Arthur, he didn't really do a whole lot for me in this one.
• Sendhil Ramamurthy continued to fall victim to his annoying character (Jay). I have no liking for that character.

Overall, I thought that this was a decent season premiere of a decent show. I will be watching it every week because it makes good summer TV, but I don't think I'll be writing about it unless I have something substantial to say.

What did everyone else think?