Covert Affairs - Episode 1.05 - In The Light - Recap

Well Covert Affairs is definitely on a run, we're getting one fantastic episode after another. This week we get special guest stars Eriq La Salle who played Dr. Benton on ER, Jai is back, and Ben Mercer! The gangs all here so let's get to it, but be careful and don't get muddy.

Annie jokingly says she has graduated from bringing everybody lunch to getting the coffee but by the time she gives Auggie his cup of joe, it's stone cold. Auggie says he has a present (a graduation gift maybe, hehe); its a new encrypted smartphone and Annie gladly hands in her old 90's style phone they had her using.

The CIA gets word that there is an armed shipment headed to the US that has 3 surface-to-air missiles. They don't know where the ship is or which city its headed to, but they know the ship has the infamous arms dealer Hasaan Waleed on it.

We see the ruthless Hasaan on the ship as the captain asks for more money. Well let's just say Hasaan doesn't like the new price because he shoots the captain dead.

Joan updates the division about Hasaan Waleed. Jai has the idea to check with the Amsterdam intelligence service and says he's going to need some back up and asks for Annie, but Joan gives him someone else. Asking for any other ideas, the name Mcauley (played by Eriq La Salle) comes up and the room gets awkwardly silent. Joan sends Annie to talk to Mcully because she's new; it seems that Mcully has turned everybody else down and Annie begins to realize talking to Mcully is going to be a fool's errand.

Jai walks up to meet Henry Wilcox, his father and former head of Clandestine Operations (played by the slithering Gregory Itzin who played President Logan on 24); he's in town because they're naming the new Op center after him. Auggie tells Annie that Henry Wilcox met Jai' mother in Sudan. He then married her and everybody called them Romeo and Juliet of the agency, but he then left her for a younger woman. He says the press called him the Prince of Darkness for all the black ops he was a part of. They're conversation is cut short when Annie sees Jai standing behind Auggie. Jai adds that his favorite name the press had for his father was 'Satan's Little Helper.' Auggie slips away then Jai says they should get drinks so he could tell her stories about his father. Annie wonders if Jai is asking her out. He says if he was asking her out, she would definitely know. --Hmmm, innocent flirting or are sparks starting to fly between these two?

So Annie is driving up to see Mcauley and her front tire gets blown out. We know who did it when we see Mcauley holding a shotgun with two barking dogs beside him. He tells Annie get off his property. I get the feeling Mcully does this whenever agents want to talk.

Later, Annie fixes her flat and makes another go at him. She gets past his two dogs easily with some snacks. She finds him fishing behind his cabin and says she likes the whole woodsy seclusion thing he's doing. She sees that he's having a tough time tieing a knot and she takes the line and ties it for him. He's impressed. He likes Annie but doesn't like the agency or Henry Wilcox. He's not getting involved in their 'mud.'

Driving back, Annie has a flashback of none other than Ben Mercer! We see them nestled close together, as Ben shows her how to tie a knot (the same one she tied for Mcauley). We learn that Ben and Annie are in paradise for kind of the same reasons. A sense of Freedom.

We jump to present day Sudan, Ben Mercer asks a guy where's his boss, Hasaan? Not in a speaking mood this guy grabs a knife and rushes at Ben who dodges it; they eventually end up on the floor where Ben has the guy in a choke hold and knocks him out. That Q&A is definitely over.


Later, at a bar Annie and Auggie are talking; Jai and Henry are talking at a nearby table. Annie is so preoccupied with the Wilcox table, Auggie has to wonder out loud is she staring at Henry Wilcox or Jai? Annie walks over and takes Jai up on his earlier offer for drinks. Jai looks super nervous as if he doesn't want daddy to meet Annie. Later, we see Jai looking on as Annie and Henry are practically drinking buddies. Henry gives her his philosophy on the CIA: To catch the bad guys you got to get in the 'mud' and people only leave the CIA for two reasons, Love or for Money. When he says 'Love' he shoots Jai a knowing look. --Oh yeah, Jai's got some heartbreak in his past.

Annie wonders what did Mcauley leave the CIA for and she digs up some information that will have Mcauley more open to helping out the CIA. She heads back to his cabin, wearing her seashell bracelet. She tells Mcauley that she knows about his relationship with Vanessa Sinclair, his lover who was killed and that she knows what its like to hold onto a memory. He sees the seashell bracelet and the way its tied with that special knot that Annie used. She goes on to say Vanessa worked for Henry Wilcox and was killed by Hasaan. Annie says its the same Hasaan Waleed the CIA is trying to capture now. Mcauley says he'll play ball. He has a contact that could help but he's going to need some money.

Jai and Annie go with Mcauley to meet his contact. As they wait Mcauley says to Jai, with a straight and calm face, 'Your father is an asshole.' (wow!) Jai doesn't even blink, he pretty much agrees with the statement. Mcauley then changes the plan, he's going to meet his contact alone, so he takes the case of money and heads off. Mcauley comes back and says that his contact gave him no info. He gives them the case with the money and leaves. Annie says something isn't and when she checks the case its filled with phone books.

Annie and Jai track down the contact and pressure him for the information on where Hasaan is headed. It's going down at the ship yard in about an hour.

Annie says she's going after Mcauley who is headed to kill Hasaan. Jai tells her that she's not responsible for Mcauley, but her mind is made up. Reluctantly, Jai goes with her.

Arthur tells Joan that he wants a Special Ops team to take Hasaan into custody and not the FBI. Joan says that its not our jurisdiction but Arthur insists. Joan knows Arthur isn't telling her the whole story.

At the ship yard Jai and Annie find Mcauley holding a rifle. Mcauley says that Hasaan and the CIA are good buddies and even after Hasaan killed Vanessa they continued giving him guns and money. Meanwhile, the Special Ops unit is moving in. Annie convinces Mcauley that killing Hasaan wont change anything; he puts down his rifle. Suddenly a shot is fired from somewhere; we then see Hasaan's dead body falling from the cargo ship. Nobody knows what's going on or who killed Hasaan. Then we see Ben Mercer holding a rifle. --Bad Ass!

Arthur and the CIA are still in the dark; they don't know who shot Hasaan. Back at the ship yard, as Ben is escaping he stops and sees Annie--he's literally standing a few feet away just staring. Jai turns around and sees him and chases after him. Ben is coming off like a super spy cause he's jumping and rolling over everything. Jai is keeping up but then Ben gets the jump on him. He has Jai dead to rights, one pull of the trigger and that's it. But Ben just takes a few steps backwards and runs away. --Hmmm, for a second there it seemed like they know each other. The plot thickens.

Everybody is at the naming ceremony for Henry Wilcox where Arthur blows a lot of hot air about being honest and transparent. Looking on from a balcony, Auggie says that Jai is just as bad as his father. Annie, defending Jai, says she thinks he's trying to figure this place out, just like the rest of us. Annie looks down at Jai and they share a smile. --Hmm, Annie on a balcony smiling down at Jai, sort of has a Romeo and Juliet feel if you ask me :)

Later, Joan questions Arthur about the mission; she wants to know why he didn't tell her about Hasaan and the CIA and that the missiles he had were US made. Arthur says Henry Wilcox told him the what was going and if Hasaan went down, everybody was going to go down too. They're all in the 'mud' together.

We see Ben take a swig of some booze, as he looks at a picture of Annie.

--Definitely a fantastic episode, lots of fun and action. We got Jai and Ben in a chase scene, some daddy drama, and maybe a budding relationship between Annie and Jai, wow! I didn't like that Hasaan was basically just window dressing, but he brought everybody out to play, so he served his purpose. I'm definitely looking forward to next week's episode, hope you guys are too!