Covert Affairs Review: Who's on the Wrong Side?

at .

Is there a right side and a wrong side? Or is there just a whole bunch of middle ground?

Covert Affairs season 4 has been a twisty ride and "Space (I Believe In)" turned the answers to those questions into a big blurry mess. Who should be trusted? While I believe Annie's intentions are admirable, she's likely being played (or at least lied to) by both sides. How did that happen?

Heating Up

When Henry Wilcox was released from prison he was determined to make the Campbells pay for Jai's death. Whether they are responsible or not, he blames them and that put them at odds. Wilcox pulled Annie into the mess and she became a double agent of sorts between those two sides. And, now ... she's become a pawn for both of them only she doesn't seem to realize it.

Seth's death was a terrible accident, but it was an accident. There was no foul play involved, but the consequences of his death were far-reaching. People compromised their integrity to protect Annie. Joan risked her position by cleaning Seth's house, Auggie tried to hack into the FBI computers, and the worst was that Wilcox framed an innocent man who was killed and then blackmailed Agent Rossabi into falsifying the DNA results. It was corruption to protect an innocent agent, but it was still corruption.

Wilcox has been portrayed as the villain this season with Arthur doling out just enough information to keep Annie on his side. If anything, Wilcox appears to be more open with Annie than anyone else. Though, it's questionable whether he's telling truths or lies most of the time. Arthur and Auggie held back important information from her and only revealed it when she forced them. 

Annie trusts the Campbells because they have more often then not protected her and proven their loyalty through her missions and even rogue actions. And, she's in love with Auggie. Just as the viewers have gotten to know and care about them, so has Annie. It makes sense that they are seen as on the "right" side of the fight, but are they? Wilcox's actions put that into question.

When Annie refused to join Wilcox in his new venture, Lexington Global, he was truly infuriated. His anger exploded with honesty. There's no way that someone could act that outraged and with fury if there wasn't some truth to what they believed, right? He could be deranged, but he didn't come across that way. He seemed honestly concerned that Annie was making the wrong decision.

And as he has done throughout the season, he backed up his claim with supposed facts. Is Auggie still lying to Annie? Is his wife still alive and are they in contact with each other? That would be a humongous blow to Annie and her relationship with Auggie. Unless of course, he has a good reason. They are spies after all. Could the mysterious woman (Michelle Ryan) that Arthur met with in the parking garage and then followed Wilcox be Auggie's wife? That would provide an intriguing twist to this whole mess.

I doubt that it will be as black and white as one side being right and the other side being wrong, but I'd likely be disappointed if Arthur ends up being an irredeemable bad guy in all of this. If anything, I'd prefer if both Arthur and Henry somehow end up being redeemed and the wrong side isn't nearly as bad as it appears. No matter what the ride so far has been a fun one and it looks to only get more interesting from here.

One last loose end is the mysterious Calder Michaels. What side is he on? After "Space (I Believe In)," he may be the only honest one of the bunch. He seems to be the one with the strictest moral code. It could be a facade, but he truly acts as if he wants to make things at the CIA better. With the two flash forwards and then his actions since he took over at the DPD, I wouldn't be surprised if he teams up with Annie to bring down the corrupt and that the elevator shooting was staged.

The question is ... who is really on the wrong side?

Review

Editor Rating: 4.8 / 5.0
  • 4.8 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Carla Day is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and on Google+.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

Covert Affairs Quotes

Is this about me hooking up with my taekwando instruction? Because I checked, and that's not against the rules.

Anne

CIA agent: The sex was good?
Annie: It rocked.