History Series / CovertAffairs

''Covert Affairs'' was a Creator/USANetwork SpyDrama, starring Creator/PiperPerabo as trainee UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} agent Annie Walker, who is suddenly roped into actual field work.

* JobTitle: It's a SpyDrama, so naturally it revolves around covert operations.

* [[ButNotTooBlack But Not Too Brown]]: Averted with Jai Wilcox, more so because most of the other characters the actor is known for are pure Indian. To boot, the color of his skin is never brought up in any fashion.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Annie and Auggie. [[spoiler: TheyDo.]]

* ShesGotLegs: The show seems to give Annie a lot of clothing that clings to her legs pretty well. Even her jeans (see "Bang and Blame" for a good example) are ridiculously tight.

** "The Wake-Up Bomb" is possibly the first researched, non-eye rolling appearance of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA_(separatist_group)]] in American TV fiction. There is mention of the group being in its last throes and going through a third truce in a decade; Annie gets herself and the CIA involved by accident,[[note]]She meets a guy in a bar who turns out to be a former member being monitored by Spanish intelligence, and the Spanish demand an explanation from the CIA after photographing them together[[/note]] with the CIA trying to stay on the fence; and the NecessaryWeasel of having ETA plotting attacks on American soil, out of Spain and France (a big no-no through its history) is justified as it being the work of a splinter cell who wants to force the rest of the organization back into fighting.[[note]]Even then, the two targets are that former member and a Spanish diplomat against whom the cell's leader has a personal ax to grind, not American targets per se. Contrast this with ''Series/{{Intelligence|2014}}'' and its throwaway reference to the CIA killing half a dozen [[LatinoIsBrown conspicuously dark]] "Basque terrorists" who have done "attacks on Spain and the United States", as if that happened every tuesday.[[/note]] The actors even make an effort to speak Basque, some with better accents than others.

** "The Wake-Up Bomb" is possibly the first researched, non-eye rolling appearance of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA ETA]] in American TV fiction. There is mention of the group being in its last throes and going through a third truce in a decade; Annie gets herself and the CIA involved by accident,[[note]]She meets a guy in a bar who turns out to be a former member being monitored by Spanish intelligence, and the Spanish demand an explanation from the CIA after photographing them together[[/note]] with the CIA trying to stay on the fence; and the NecessaryWeasel of having ETA plotting attacks on American soil, out of Spain and France (a big no-no through its history) is justified as it being the work of a splinter cell who wants to force the rest of the organization back into fighting.[[note]]Even then, the two targets are that former member and a Spanish diplomat against whom the cell's leader has a personal ax to grind, not American targets per se. Contrast this with ''Series/{{Intelligence|2014}}'' and its throwaway reference to the CIA killing half a dozen [[LatinoIsBrown conspicuously dark]] "Basque terrorists" who have done "attacks on Spain and the United States", as if that happened every tuesday.[[/note]] The actors even make an effort to speak Basque, some with better accents than others.

* [[ButNotTooBlack But Not Too Brown]]: Averted with Jai Wilcox, more so because most of the other characters the actor is known for are pure Indian. To boot, as the UnfortunateImplications mention, the color of his skin is never brought up in any fashion.

* MoeStare : Annie. What a gorgeous smile!

* MoralDilemma: Tends to come up by nature of the topic. A more specific example is [[spoiler: Eyal being asked to get close to Annie by his agency and thus being forced to choose between betraying his friend or advancing some nebulous goal of his agency.]]

** "Shady Lane": [[spoiler:In a rather [[LamePun literal sense]] as a CIA black site is blown up with everybody in it killed.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Actually portrayed semi-sympathetically with Arthur and Joan, as the two are now married. Doesn't mean they don't have trust issues, though. This forms the B-plot of one episode with Annie caught between the two. Joan (her boss) orders her to keep an eye on Arthur under the pretense of being point on an operation involving a female love interest from Arthur's past. Arthur (her boss's boss) orders her -not- to follow Joan's orders and plays CowboyCop.
** [[spoiler:Auggie cheating on Annie with Helen. Puts Ben's "It's complicated" note to shame, just try to follow the convoluted logic; Helen, Auggie's wife, supposedly [[FakingTheDead died seven years ago]], breaking his heart badly in the process. Annie is now supposedly also dead, something which by then only five people in the world know is a lie. So when girlfriend B is away being "dead", "late" wife A comes back three months after she thinks he lost her, trying to win him back. They finally have sex ''after'' she learns that girlfriend B is still alive. The very next day Helen is mistaken for Annie and shot to death, for real this time, by Henry Wilcox. Cue Annie working out that Auggie had a one-day affair when he seems to know his way around Helen's appartment. Still with us? Seriously, who needs soap operas!]]

* {{Adorkable}}: Eric Barber. Also, briefly, Reva Klein.

* ShipperOnDeck: Although she doesn't push them together, Joan does seem to be happy when Annie and Augie are together in Season 4 and does what she can to encourage the relationship.
** {{Adorkable}} Eric Barber seems to have a crush on Annie, but when rumors start circulating about Annie and Auggie getting together romatically (-there was even a betting pool!) he's just happy for his two friends.

* RuthlessModernPirates: "The Last Thing You Should Do" is all about [[BruceWayneHeldHostage Auggie]] getting captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, and trying to escape without blowing his CIA cover.

* [[ClusterFBomb Cluster S Bombs]]: Season 3 seens to be sauntering through the door that {{Series/Suits}} first opened for USA.

''Covert Affairs'' was a Creator/USANetwork SpyDrama, starring Creator/PiperPerabo as trainee {{CIA}} agent Annie Walker, who is suddenly roped into actual field work.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: Played with by nature of the show. The FBI agents Annie encounters are obstructive but only because they're doing their job and trying to catch bad guys. At the same time, the FBI is still shown to be basically the straightforward good guys compared to the {{CIA}}. Semi-justified in most cases as the CIA is supposed to be a foreign intelligence service with little to do with domestic affairs which the FBI is responsible for.

** Subverted on one occasion. A nameless jerkass agent disregards Annie's input and asks her to fetch him coffee. She springs up to grab the drinks, but [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming Jai tugs her back into her seat.]]

''Covert Affairs'' was a Creator/USANetwork SpyDrama, starring Piper Perabo as trainee {{CIA}} agent Annie Walker, who is suddenly roped into actual field work.

* TelevisionGeography: That is ''not'' Helsinki-Vantaa Airport's border control, as [[SilentHunter troper]] knows from personal experience.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Annie and Jai are moderately snarky to one another; that sparring/"fight" scene between Annie and Auggie in the third episode was pretty flirtatious.

** Examples include [[BadassIsraeli Eyal Levin]], [[CIAEvilFBIGood Agent Frank Rossabi]], and [[HotScoop that Italian guy from the Argentina episode]].

* HotScoop: Liza Hearn.

* InSeriesNickname: Several characters have spontaneously come up with "[[AnnieGetYourGun Annie Oakley]]". Somewhat ironic as up until "Bang and Blame", Annie technically hasn't completed gun training yet. Also, Calder is "the Sheriff", and Auggie is known as "Mingus".

''Covert Affairs'' was a Creator/USANetwork SpyDrama, starring Piper Perabo as trainee CIA agent Annie Walker, who is suddenly roped into actual field work.

''Covert Affairs'' was a USANetwork SpyDrama, starring Piper Perabo as trainee CIA agent Annie Walker, who is suddenly roped into actual field work.

* HideYourPregnancy: They tried to hide Anne Dudek's second pregnancy, but it really didn't work out too well.
** In season 4, [[spoiler: Joan Campbell]] is revealed to be pregnant in the very first episode, but it should be much too early to tell. Once you know, it's hard ''not'' to see that [[spoiler: Kari Matchett]] actually ''is''!

* NiceGuy: Auggie

* ScullyBox: Annie frequently wears very high heels, even in situations where they would seem counter-indicated. Piper Perabo is 5'5" (166 cm), most of her co-stars have several inches of height on her.

* ArtisticLicense: There's always going to be a few in shows like this, but a somewhat glaring one is Auggie being given Landsat TM data and asking instead of ASTER data. ASTER data is 15 meter resolution, and is obtainable by almost anyone. Google Maps, however, has Digital Globe imagery, which is a commercial company that sells 50 ''centimeter'' resolution imagery, and DG has been selling imagery of that quality for years. For those Tropers not familiar with satellite imagery, that's ''900 times'' better resolution. It's a pretty safe assumption that Auggie could access better than ASTER data, much less need it delivered on a hard drive.

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: [[spoiler:Auggie and his ex-girlfriend Natasha]], on a train in episode seven. [[FetishFuel More like all the RIGHT places]].