Covert Affairs - The Complete First Season

Most people remember Piper Perabo for her starring role in 2000's Coyote Ugly, but my crush on her started with the first movie I saw her in where she played newbie FBI Agent Karen Sympathy. Covert Affairs is a return to form (of sorts) as Perabo stars as a young woman in her first days as an agent for the CIA.

The First Season follows Annie Walker (Perabo) going to work for the Domestic Protection Division of the CIA under the command of Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett), the wife of the Director of the National Clandestine Service (Peter Gallagher). Throughout the first season Annie will learn much about trust, spycraft, and the new shade of gray her life has become as she lies to her sister (Anne Dudek) about what her new job entails. She will also begin to unravel the mystery of a short-term love affair (Eion Bailey) from her past which has much more to do with the CIA than she could have possibly imagined.

Along for the ride is Christopher Gorham as a former special ops officer, now delegated to desk duty after a stint in Afghanistan left him blind, Emmanuelle Vaugier as a snooping reporter with the a source inside the CIA, and Heroes star Sendhil Ramamurthy as the son of the former DCS (Gregory Itzin) and newly assigned to the division.

The three-disc set includes deleted and extended scenes, commentary for three episodes including the Pilot and series finale by Perabo, Gorham, exec prodcuer Doug Liman and creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord. The most interesting of these is the finale where we learn the story of Perabo breaking her leg early during the filming of the episode's final action sequence. The featurettes include a series "Welcome to the Farm" introduction to the series by creators and cast, a short and ADA promo centered around Gorham's character, and a set tour with Ramamurthy and Corman.

As usual, USA Network delivers an entertaining show and a strong set of extras. I'm also going to give them a nice pat on the back for releasing the DVD weeks (instead of days) before the show returns to the air with its Second Season. Big kudos for allowing those who hadn't yet seen the show to get caught up before it returns on June 7th. Give it a chance; I think you'll be glad you did.