Covert Affairs (TV Series) Welcome to the Occupation (2011) User Reviews

Another good episode

[xbatgirl-30029 · 7/10 · 15 April 2022]

It seems season two is back on track! The first episode was great but then there were some B rated mission of the week shows, before the season bottomed out with a couple pretty poor filler episodes. The last one about Auggie finally rates a A and now this. I still say Annie got over Ben a little too easily and fast but at least we got closure here. Piper is extremely good being casually and comfortably physical with the various men in this episode. Just little touches here and there say so much in such different ways, and without it ever feeling gratuitous or filtered through a male gaze.

Seeing Joan on the field was great. It shows she wasn't always stuck in an office and has skills of her own. She had good chemistry with the actress playing Meg and it was easily believable that they were old friends with a history. Arthur having a written speech when she got home was very cute.

I'm also very glad we're back to the mole story and Liza Hern. It felt very odd that they dropped it up until now. I groaned a bit when the story flipped once again to Danielle and the kids, but that scene was thankfully very quick and didn't kill the momentum of the show as in certain previous shows. The doctor boyfriend is very generic but we know he won't be around for long anyway.

I hope the filler stories are done for the season and the JV production team has been benched for good. Things are looking up.

Greatly revamped story lines and round characters

[stephenrtod · 31 July 2011]

I'm so glad that Joan has been allowed to be seen as a real human being instead of the rigid, unfriendly control freak she was the first season. Now she can actually defeat people swiftly with martial arts, smile and be likable, and show both her masterful and her feminine and loving sides to and with her husband.

Piper Peribo has also been allowed to develop her character. During the first season, she did not do well in any hand-to-hand skirmish - either being just plain put down or so unready for a real fight that her combatant slipped away after making her look more inept than someone with her supposed credentials should ever appear. This season has been different.

The show is edgier, too, this season, with real menace suddenly looming up in the characters' faces.

No doubt this show has realized it must compete with some other extremely well-conceived and well-written shows like "Suits" and "White Collar," not to mention "Fringe" and "Alphas." The results provide enhanced viewer enjoyment. Good story. Good writing. Good acting. Great cinematography and special effects.

In his "Aspects of the Novel," E.M. Forster defined the term "round character," i.e. one who is multi-dimensional, one who is not totally good nor totally evil, one who exhibits flaws and weaknesses as well as superb talents and skills. A flat character is one who is one-dimensional.

Successful television shows today are being produced with the care and at a cost that feature length movies even 15 years ago might envy.

I appreciate the results of this ongoing competition. Sometimes, when art collides with the profit motive, maybe both elements can flourish.