The reaction to last week's series premiere of NBC's State of Affairs was quite mixed to say the least. Last night, its second episode screened, and it'll no doubt receive a similar response.
From my perspective I thought the episode, titled "Secrets and Lies" was, on the whole, pretty good. Submarines rarely feature among story lines on television series, and this one was very nicely played out.
Summarizing the plot, when a Russian submarine connected to a disguised trawler runs into difficulty deep into US waters, where it was tapping communication cables, the CIA asset on board makes contact with Langley and receives orders from the President to sink the submarine in order to destroy the intelligence and preserve the asset's cover. Katherine Heigl's Charlie Tucker oversees the situation, and has to deliver the heartbreaking news to the asset who, before sending the vessel to the bottom of the ocean, has Charlie record an emotional message to his daughter who is in college in the US. Because he was a spy, Tucker was barred from revealing his last words to his daughter, so despite his heroic actions, he still died a spy.
Last week's premiere did a pretty good job outlining the basic backstory of the main characters and giving the viewer a taste of what they would be in for. In short, Charlie's fiancée, Aaron Payton had died a year earlier under suspicious circumstances, and information had come to light that called into question what was on record about the incident. Nick Vera, a past acquaintance of Charlie and a CIA operative, resurfaced, with Charlie taking advantage of his presence to locate the source of mysterious text messages she had been receiving.
I have to admit I'm a tad confused as to who's doing what in this conspiracy, which isn't the most positive of signs given the series isn't even two hours old. My gut tells me that I should persist with it though because it is shaping up pretty well on the whole, and I love a good conspiracy themed drama. A large source of my confusion is centered around the characters which have been pushed into the story with little background other than an official title. Once this clears up, I'm thinking things will become really nice and juicy.
In saying that though, I'm really enjoying the cast. Alfre Woodard changed significantly in last night's episode in her portrayal of President Payton compared to the week prior. The series needs a strong, somewhat ruthless character in the role, not someone who is a pushover. POTUS looks to be moving towards the former which I'm really pleased to see. I'm also enjoying seeing Katherine Heigl in her role. For some actors, only one or two genres really work for them, and Heigl is one of those, and a more serious character, minus top level intensity, definitely suits her well. The remaining cast have a nice vibe within the series, and it's encouraging to see the creative team give them a bit of office banter, which makes them appear much more human, as opposed to one dimensional robots like on other series with characters of a similar nature.
That being said, it's still Charlie Tucker that sits atop the tree, and it's her that we will see being developed with more intensity than the others. I note with interest that the character was much more work oriented last night, as opposed to the previous week's premiere in which we saw her drinking and having sex. I'm thinking this is a late change to the character's personality, given the extra scenes I saw in an earlier version of the pilot. Whether these behaviors resurface or remain hidden will be interesting to watch as time goes by.
Overall, this wasn't a world-beating followup episode to a series premiere, but I'm feeling pretty good about where things are headed. I'm also enjoying the originality in the weekly storylines so far. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out State of Affairs on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/stateofaffairs. Don't forget to share your thoughts and theories on the episode in the comments below!
Jimmy.
