What Is and What Should Never Be

Episode aired Aug 31, 2010
TV-PGTV-PG
1h

7.6/10

S1.E8

After Annie witnesses a suspicious purchase at an art auction, her follow-up brings a surprise visitor - Ben Mercer - back into her life.After Annie witnesses a suspicious purchase at an art auction, her follow-up brings a surprise visitor - Ben Mercer - back into her life.After Annie witnesses a suspicious purchase at an art auction, her follow-up brings a surprise visitor - Ben Mercer - back into her life.

7.6/10

254

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Trailer 0:31

Covert Affairs: What Is And What Should Never Be

Piper Perabo and Sienna Guillory in Covert Affairs (2010)

Sienna Guillory in Covert Affairs (2010)

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After Annie witnesses a suspicious purchase at an art auction, her follow-up brings a surprise visitor - Ben Mercer - back into her life. —USA Publicity

famous portrait auction art auction arrest message in a matchbook 17 more

Trivia
The episode is named after a song by Led Zeppelin.

Goofs
On the computer, when Annie is searching for information on Ben Mercer, there's an error message that reads "Acess is Denied". It should have said "Access". Also, the Communications check box reads "Comunications".

Quotes
Ben Mercer: You changed things for me, Annie.
Annie Walker: And you left me. I was in love with you, and you skipped out with a note.
Ben Mercer: If I would have stayed any longer, you would have been in danger.
Annie Walker: From what?
Ben Mercer: My mission. I was with the Agency.
Annie Walker: [softly] I knew it. With Stas, on the train tracks. It was you who saved me.
Ben Mercer: I was tracking him. I'm on my own now.
Annie Walker: And... and somehow that's my responsibility?
Ben Mercer: I was in love with you, Annie. That was it.
Annie Walker: I've thought... so long about what I would say to you if I ever saw you again, and now, I realize I don't wanna talk. I want you to talk. Why are you here... now?
Ben Mercer: The Cole painting at the auction.
Annie Walker: You marked it on my programme.
Ben Mercer: There's more there. Keep digging. Just... push it hard.
Annie Walker: What kind of cryptic nonsense is that? You show up two years later, out of the blue, and you expect me to "push it hard"? You push it hard!
[turns away]
Annie Walker: I don't believe you!
[walks past]
Ben Mercer: There's an arms dealer. Seraf Murat. The auction is one of the ways he moves his money.
Annie Walker: That's why that guy over-bid so much.
Ben Mercer: Murat's Number Two, Russ Hilburn. He wasn't just buying a Thomas Cole painting. He was buying a Cole and schematics for a Russian missile guidance system.
Annie Walker: That doesn't make sense. The CIA would wanna stop that. Why would...
Ben Mercer: They want to control it. They wanna control him. I want to stop Murat.
Annie Walker: So, just to be clear. You're not asking for forgiveness. You're asking me for a favor. What do you want me to do?
Ben Mercer: Go to Sophie Jacklin, the Bramble's director. Ask her about February 22nd, Lots 19 and 75. It may take some coaxing, but I think she'll come into Langley with you. And if you have to use my name, you use it.
Annie Walker: You know her?
Ben Mercer: Call her "Mona Lisa" and she'll know you're not bluffing.
Annie Walker: [shakes head] No.
Ben Mercer: [whispers] Annie. I know this is a lot to take in.
Annie Walker: The CIA would...
Ben Mercer: Forget protocol. The Agency is using you to get to me. You can't believe anything they say about me or anything I've done.
[emphatically:]
Ben Mercer: Do not trust Joan and Arthur.
[as she walks past, grabs her arm:]
Ben Mercer: Maybe I don't deserve this, but I'm asking you to trust me. Trust the man you fell in love with in Sri Lanka.
[and the beads are there to remind Annie]

Soundtracks
Can You Save Me
Written by Apple Trees & Tangerines
Performed by Apple Trees & Tangerines

Top review

8/10

pin-up heroine CIA Barbie, yeah, but everything she is cracked up to be!

I notice that the only other reviewer here, filmfan777, up there in Hollywood, mind you, mutters darkly here that she doesn't think much about our heroine with the big white smile.

I beg to differ. A lot can be read between the lines of that review, and there are a considerable lot of people who aren't in the mood for a pretty thing running around on their TV-screens when they've had a bad day...

The show kicks up a notch with this episode. In the pilot, we saw the Sri Lankan love affair, and Ben Mercer, clearly far from being a rat who dumped Annie by leaving a note on her pillow, coming through to dramatically save Annie, down in the subway, from being executed by professional assassin Stas. Three episodes back, "In the Light", we saw him again, doing things his way, taking out the brain behind a missile smuggling operation, against CIA protocol.

In this episode, Ben is back in Annie's life. It seems that he sets up girls to.do what he needs them to do. I haven't watched up ahead, but I don't like this guy (who is, in any case, the weak link in COVERT AFFAIRS, he looks kinda, well, certainly not the James Bond debonair type, more Mom's blue-eyed boy).

Absolutely noteworthy in this episode is the marvelous performance given by the stunning young actress, Sienna Guillory, who plays Sophie Jacklin, a total scene-stealer, AND bear in mind that almost all her scenes were with Piper Perabo, who is Grade-A Eye Candy Quality Export Class. Words fail me to describe this lovely vision. I'm gonna Google Sienna Guillory and buy damn well every show she's been in!!

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