Covert Affairs quick review.

So...

Last night, USA premiered it's big new summer show entitled "Covert Affairs." It's about a pretty young CIA trainee, played by Piper Perabo, who is suddenly thrust into the spy limelight before her training is officially complete. Chaos and close-calls ensue.

Perabo, who is perhaps most famous for playing the "new dancer" in "Coyote Ugly," is mundane, but watchable in the role, a sort of Sydney Bristow-lite. Her character is surprisingly flirtatious, a reversal on the James Bond stereotype. Though unlike Bond, she is written to be tougher than she looks, the typical female hottie who kicks butt despite her perfect figure. Still, there are a few scenes where she displays the appropriate wide-eyed wonder and fear to sell the idea of a rookie agent under fire for the first time. It's also nice that the writers allow her to make some critical mistakes early on that a more seasoned agent would clearly avoid.

A few other characters round out an interesting cast. There's the married CIA Director who may or may not be cheating on his wife, who happens to also be the trainee's boss. There's also Anne Dudek (formerly "cutthroat bitch" on House), who portrays the trainee's sister, and takes what should be the least interesting part of the show (that of the person who has nothing to do but set the trainee up on dates) and manages to turn the role into the show's heart. I can't say the same for a character called Augie, a blind CIA agent who is quickly partnered with the trainee. Though he carries around a piece of technology that allows him to navigate his surroundings easily enough (a little too easily), and his office computer comes with a handy braille keypad, it's still as preposterous as the idea of a blind secret agent sounds, and at times, in fact, downright laughable, like when he manages to pick up all the hot chicks when he goes out because, as a blind man, he doesn't judge them based on their looks. Please...

Still, despite it's shortcomings, the pilot offers a satisfying escape for an hour, mixing sexual interplay with espionage and intrigue as the trainee out fights and out thinks various bad guys in an effort to track down a missing Russian assassin. Though there are a few predictable beats along the way, the story mostly zigs when you expect it to zag. In a summer of reruns and reality, it's quite refreshing.

Verdict: Not exactly appointment TV yet, but worth checking out during a slow summer TV season.