Covert Affairs Season Two   Starring: Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett, Anne Dudek, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Peter Gallagher Universal Playback RRP: £24.99 8290012 Certificate: 12 Available 17 September 2012

Annie Walker is a young Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative whose exceptional linguistic skills and spot on instincts make her invaluable to the Agency. In season two, Annie’s personal and professional lives crash into one another, and the balance of her relationships are forever changed. After last season ended with Annie and Ben revisiting their past on the other side of the world in Thailand, Covert Affairs: Season Two sees the pair return to Washington. The CIA lifestyle sees Annie faced with a host of new missions and assignments with Ben returning to his usual vanishing antics. Annie becomes increasingly comfortable in her new role but has to readjust to a new operative at work. She travels across the world on her new assignments but when problems arise in Belarus, Jai is there to save the day...

I have to admit that I was surprised to learn that a second season of Covert Affairs had been commissioned (and even more shocked to see that a third season is currently (2012) airing in the USA). It's not that it's a bad show, just that it doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the table and is all a little predictable. It's one of those shows I probably wouldn't switch off it was on, but equally wouldn't religiously make sure I stayed in to catch.

The second season contains 16 episodes, highlights include:

Around the Sun: Auggie has been promoted and Annie is tasked with finding out who is leaking sensitive information out of NASA.

Half a World Away: Auggie is on vacation at a Jazz festival in Istanbul, when he thinks he hears the voice of the man responsible for blinding him. The episode explores how Auggie was blinded and shows a little more about his military background.

Sad Professor: When Annie's old professor is killed, she learns that he was a CIA operative. Annie is sent to find his murderer.

What's the frequency, Kenneth: Tony Curran stars as a British MI6 agent who is eager to recruit Annie (not realising she's a CIA operative). He wants to use her Smithsonian contacts to help him trap an art dealer who he suspects is a smuggler.

Ongoing story arcs include Annie finally telling her sister what she does for a job - which doesn't go quite to plan; and Jai's career plans which don't appear to be in anyone's best interests.

Extras include Deleted Scenes for a number of episodes; Gag Reel (2 min, 17 sec); Piper Perabo Comic-Con Intro (2 min, 52 sec specially shot Covert Affairs sketch which was played at Comic-Con); and Covert Affairs on Location (16 min, 52 sec look behind the scenes of filming in Istanbul, Stockholm, Berlin and Venice - with the option to play individually or as one long feature).

Once again, it's enjoyable enough, but I can't help thinking that there are much better DVD box sets out there to spend your money on.

6

Nick Smithson