Recap/Commentary: 2x02 - Good Advices
Cross-posted to Recaps on Tap
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Last week, Annie picked up right where she left off. She got Ben back to Langley after he nearly died, and then he took off first chance he got. Arthur wants him to be his black ops man, but Ben wants to be able to see Annie--a deal breaker, so it seems. Meanwhile, Jai is is feeling jealous and Auggie's pretty sure that Annie's being reckless.
After breaking all the rules, Annie also ends up saving an arms dealer and putting a tennis pro/would-be assassin into protective custody. She's trying to grow a thicker skin about ruining people's lives like this, and it's both kinda good and kinda not.
It's still Hooker-Heels Day at the office, and Annie comes in bearing coffee only to find the place deserted. "Hey, where is everybody?" she asks Jai. "The 2:30 Jay Roth run through." "Yeah but it's not 2:30 yet," she says, checking all the clocks. "That's cause they moved it to 2. They sent a memo," he replies, gesturing toward her computer... where there is a paper memo sitting on her keyboard. She mutters a curse and hurries off.
Auggie is asking for a memo on Budapest when Annie rushes in, apologizing for being late. "Surprise!" everyone shouts. "Happy birthday!" "Wow! That is totally unexpected! I'm at a loss for what to say... except that it's not my birthday," Annie says to Auggie, as Jai enters the room. "But it will be in about 6 days." Auggie suggests they not quibble over details and just enjoy the cake. Annie informs him that she can't blow out the candle because it's not her real birthday and that's bad luck. What idiocy.
Suit #2 asks if this means they can't have cake, but Jai tells him to go for it. So Suit #2 blows out the candle himself.
"There you go again, lighting up a room," Auggie snarks. "So, the sudden craving for chai?" Annie asks, handing him his drink. "Subterfuge," he responds with a sly smile. "Auggie, you are six whole days off. You don't need subterfuge, you need a calendar." "Oh." He just drinks his chai, unperturbed. "Unless... you know some reason why I won't be here next week to celebrate," Annie says, fishing. He just slowly drinks.
Then Joan walks in and calls Annie to her office. Annie gives Auggie a look, and he just grins and shrugs a little. She shoots Jai an accusatory look as well, and he smiles and eats some VERY BLUE cake.
Joan's Office: "You're sending me to Paris?" "See, now I'm already having second thoughts." Joan tells Annie she's got that look that every female operative gets the first time she's sent to Paris. Joan asks if she even heard the part about the mission. "Yes, to cultivate an asset in Paris." The asset works in the Syrian embassy, and Joan thinks they can turn her because she just broke up with her fiance and is a week late in her rent. Annie asks if they think the Syrians are reconstituting their weapons program, but Joan tells her that they're just after a friend on the inside of the embassy. "It's hard to believe there isn't someone in the Paris station who's in a better position to do that," Anne tells her. And Joan's looking sort of impressed. She sends Annie off and tells her to bring back receipts.
Paris!: Paris has lots of pretty buildings and lots of beggars. Not kidding. If you thought there were a lot of panhandlers in NYC, it's cause you haven't seen Paris.
So anyway, Annie stalks Salma, posing stupidly with her camera as though by holding it sideways it no longer looks like a camera. Clearly one is to mistake her odd hand gestures as street corner voguing. She takes notes on Salma's movements and tries not to get seen as she follows her down the street. Eventually Auggie calls. "So you've been there three days, what have you learned?" "I learned she likes her routines. She's got a good eye for accessories, and that she's not crazy about her coworkers." Auggie sounds like a video game tutorial as he tells Annie that she has to make her move soon and be able to account for her spending. "Stay focused, find your in, and all will be fine," he says.
Annie follows her to an art gallery. "I think I have an opening. 19th century portraits." "You call that an opening?" Auggie replies, sounding more like Sgt. Hazard than himself. WTF is up with his voice? Maybe Chris Gorham had a cold or something. He's all growly in a way that Auggie usually isn't.
"Got any good conversation starters?" Annie asks Auggie. "Yeah, I do actually, but they all require that you not be able to see," he replies. Hee hee.
Annie then appears to lose Salma in the very small and crowded gallery.
HORRIBLE INTRO!
CIA HQ: Joan has apparently been called up for jury duty. Auggie asks why she hasn't gotten it deferred, or asked him to pull some strings, but she says she doesn't want a deferment. "What if you get stuck on some OJ-like trial. You could be sequestered for like weeks." "I'm not gonna be sequestered, because I won't even be selected," she informs him. "You don't know that!" "If you were on trial, would you want me on your jury?"
Auggie concedes the point and they move on to talking about Annie. Auggie insists that she's super close to making contact, and Joan tells him to read Annie in on some Damascus info that will apparently light a fire under her. Joan then tells Auggie that the only reason she's reporting for jury duty is that she trusts him with her office. Did I miss his promotion? I thought Auggie was just our favorite tech, not Joan's 2nd.
Paris!: Annie hurries after Salma. She follows her into a shoe store, and it looks like Annie's purchased the same purse that Salma uses. She also cut off her credit cards, so when Salma goes to pay at the counter she gets declined. Or at least it looks like that's planned. Maybe it's just good luck. Anyway, Annie switches their bags, and Salma takes the dummy bag and hurries off. It's embarrassing when you get your card declined. So I hear.
Annie calls in to tell Auggie and Jai that the switch went well. She filled the bag with everything Salma will need to track her down. As she digs through Salma's bag, she finds a number in her date book: 43 59 14 17. Auggie starts to run the sequence to see if it means anything. "Are you sure she's gonna call you back?" he asks. "Maybe she'll like her new bag better." Annie will call her if she doesn't, but she thinks it will work better if Salma's the one who makes contact. Auggie asks how much it cost to lay this trap. "6000." Jai looks impressed. Auggie pulls off his headphones in shock. "6000 euros for a pocketbook!" "Actually, that's not bad. Full retail's closer to 7," Jai says. Auggie is not impressed. "Can you return it when you're done or convert it into a condo?"
Annie tells Auggie that he's obviously not a woman because Joan would understand the underlying psychology. "No," Joan says, "Joan would not understand." "Oh. Hey Joan. Auggie, little heads up next time?" "Hey, it's not like I'm the hardest guy to sneak up on," he gripes.
They then tell Annie that Mamoun Kannan is on the move. Annie asks if he's in Paris, and Joan replies, "We don't know. It would be nice if you could stop shopping and help us answer that question." Annie asks for a photo or something, but the CIA doesn't have anything. Chemical Kannan has spent 20 years flouting IAEA sanctions.
Annie's other line rings, so she goes to answer Salma's call. Meanwhile, Joan tells Auggie that while she's gone he can say he's in charge, if it will help keep people in line. "What? He's in charge?" goes Jai. "I promise not to abuse it," Auggie replies, but you know Jai is being sent for coffee first thing.
In La Petit Montmartre, Annie is waiting for Salma to show up so they can exchange bags. Salma shuffles through to make sure all her things are there, and Annie invites her to sit down. "I really should be going," Salma replies. Annie tells her that she bought a whole bottle of wine by mistake and asks her to help finish it. No better way to woo a French girl than with wine, I suppose! So Salma tells her about buying the bag after her fiance left. "We call that retail therapy in the States," Annie replies. Salma likes that.
Annie then asks Salma if she'd like to accompany her to a black tie event. Salma's surprised but pleased, but then a little coy about maybe having plans because she met a man the other day. "You little minx, you work so fast, where'd you meet him?" Is it proper to call someone you just met a minx? Anyway, "His name is George. But it's nothing, really. Not yet anyway. But he said he was going to call." "So you're going to go home and wait by the phone?" Annie advises her to play harder to get, and Salma seems inclined to agree.
Party: They walk in looking awesome, and Salma's so impressed that Annie does this for work. While Annie is at the bar ordering a drink, some French doofus comes up to her to tell her that her dress is beautiful and would look better on his bedroom floor. She tells him to fuck off, basically, and behind him is waiting an old friend! It's Eyal Lavine, the Mossad agent that Annie met in Switzerland. "Who knew you were a patron of the arts?" she says to him. "What can I say... I like beautiful things," he replies, doing a much better job at being charming than the last guy. Annie, he might be older than you, but take him home.
She doesn't blush by instead telling him that his tux does suit him. "I'm contractually obligated to wear it every time I'm in Paris," he says. She keeps peering around him looking for Salma and he asks her if he's keeping her from something. She tells him that he is and asks if they can reschedule. He agrees. "Let's consider it a courtesy, one professional to another. By the way, that switch you did with the bag, excellent spycraft there. Well played. And much more fashionable than the titanium thing you lugged around Zurich." She suddenly has no idea quite what's going on here but knows she's been caught out.
Annie's about to ask how he knows about all of this when Salma arrives. "George?" she says, touching Eyal's arm. Ha-HA! "You two know each other?" Annie asks, and Salma introduces Eyal as the man she just met. He grins a little smugly still looking all kinds of delicious.
You know, it does make a lot more sense to send in a man to convert a female asset for reasons just like this.
They act like they've never met, and Salma thanks Annie for bringing her with her to the party. "I feel like Cinderella." Then the bartender hands over the drinks, and Eyal steals Annie's date away. They sit at a small table to chat, and Salma explains that Annie and George have so much in common. George exports antiquities! He gives Annie some eyebrow and says that they should talk later. He hands her a business card, and she replies that they should definitely talk later. They reveal that they met in the 19th century portraits section of the museum, right where Annie lost track of her.
Annie can't even believe this. George asked about "brushstrokes," and it's almost so cliche Annie could gag. "It's kismet," Annie says, and Salma replies, "That's exactly what George said!"
Watch it, Annie. Don't tip your hand. Eyal then asks Salma to dance, still so damned proud of himself, and Annie calls Auggie.
Courtroom: Joan is sitting waiting for the jury questioning when her phone rings. She slides down in her seat and answers. "You okay to talk?" Auggie asks. Joan whispers that she's okay to listen. "Annie just called in from Paris. Looks like Mossad's after Salma, too. They sent Eyal Lavine. I don't think they sent him on a fishing expedition. They must have a bead on something." Joan tries to softly asks if they're hearing any chatter. "No. Are you in the courtroom now?" Uh-huh, she utters back. He's like WTF. "The Israeli desk is checking on the deconfliction protocol. I went ahead and set up a line of credit with the clearing bank in case Annie winds up in a bidding war." Joan tells Auggie to tell Annie that she can't buy more bags, but she says it so loudly that the judge can hear.
Auggie is so not amused.
Paris!: Annie's looking for something to do to get out on the dance floor, so she asks the guy she blew off earlier to dance. When they get out on the floor, Annie takes lead, which confuses the hell out of the guy. Especially when she spins him. "You really are American, aren't you?" he says. She asks how he knew, and he calls it a lucky guess. She manhandles him close to Eyal, and then Eyal helpfully asks to cut in. "So they have you seducing secretaries now," she says to him. "And with that tired old line about kismet." He tells her that he understands she's upset, but really, he's just that good, so she shouldn't feel bad. "So, how are you planning on turning her? It's the hardest thing we're tasked with. Make your pitch at the wrong time in the wrong way, it could all blow up in your face," he says. Annie asks him how he intends to get her to work for Mossad and he says he's not. He's going to ask an impressionable young woman to do a favor for her new lover. "It's a tactic tested in the field many times." Annie pulls away from him trying not to laugh at how kind of gross that is. She tells him not to get cocky, and he advises her to keep her cards close to her chest.
Salma returns to them looking unhappy. "That was awkward. I just ran into someone from work. He asked me what I was doing here." Eyal and Annie ask her what she said. "That we are all friends from university and that George here was collector trying to get lucky." Salma suggests they leave, and Eyal goes to put his arm around both women, but Annie pushes his hand away. He just looks amused.
It must be so nice to be so hot, Eyal.
They all get into a...limo? Annie suggests that it's late so they should drop George somewhere. He counters that the night is young and he knows a great bar. Salma just wants to drive around for awhile. She looks like she's about to cry. Or about to spring on them that she knows the truth. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Now, suddenly, there is this stunning man and this so glamorous new friend fighting for my attention. And I can only come up with one explanation. You want access to the embassy." Eyal and Annie make lame attempts at denial, and Salma just keeps talking. "I'm pretty sure Annie works for the CIA. And if I had to guess, George here, it's not your real name, is it." She tells Eyal he's too Jewish to be a Mossad officer.
Annie tells her she's had too much to drink, and Eyal's actually offended, so he tells her she's lost it. "Mamoun Kannan is coming to town tomorrow, and I know where. I've decided to auction off what I know for the highest bidder." She tells the driver to drop her off. "If I'm right, I will be waiting for your offers. If I'm wrong, well, it was fun while it lasted."
She gets out, and Annie and Eyal sit in silence for a second. "I totally didn't see that coming, did you?" Annie asks. He stares at her. "What is it about you Americans that brings out the worst in everyone you meet?"
Later, Annie calls Auggie to tell him that Salma wants 50k euros. "50k? What happened to 30?" "Thirty was half an hour ago before Mossad made their final bid." Jai shakes his head at Auggie. "And you thought the pocketbook was expensive." Auggie says he have to check in with Joan. Meanwhile Jai wants to know why they're bidding against Mossad. "We're supposed to be allies. And there's no way Joan authorizes 50." But then Joan authorizes 50 just to prove him wrong, and Auggie tells Annie to make it happen.
The next day Annie is waiting in the Le Petit Montmartre for Salma to show up and give her the intel. But she's waiting there a long long time. Eventually Annie concludes that Salma isn't coming and goes to her apartment. While she's taking the elevator up, Eyal takes the stairs and meets her at the door. "Typical CIA, eh? Always taking shortcuts." "She was supposed to meet me at the cafe at 11." "And me at the hotel at 11:30." "She took both our offers?" "I'm beginning to like this girl more and more," Eyal says with a smile.
They find her apartment door open. Eyal goes in gun drawn, sweeping the apartment, while Annie sort of wanders in unarmed. They find Salma dead in her bedroom.
Annie goes through her bag for the date book and finds the note with the numbers missing. Glass breaks, and Eyal goes to investigate. Some kid hits him from behind, making him shoot randomly, and then runs off. Eyal tackles him in the hallway. The struggle, and he loses his gun. Then the kid starts running up the stairs. Annie finally arrives and shouts up that she'll cover the street. She runs outside and watches the roof.
Eyal, meanwhile, is giving one hell of a chase! The kid's a parkour runner. He goes flying over railings and things, jumping between buildings with only ledges to grab. The kid finally misses a jump and starts heading downward. When all he's got is a ledge to hang from, Eyal demands to know who he's working for.
The kid lets himself fall to his death right in front of Annie.
Annie thinks they should have called in the death, but he tells her that the less trail they leave the better. "So what now?" "Now we part ways and go to ground. This is as good a place as any." He bids her goodbye and tries to walk off, but she chases after him. They still know Kannan is going to be in the city today. Eyal wants to know how she intends to find out what Salma knew. Annie tells him about the phone number that was missing from the date book and says that if they put their heads together... "I don't do the putting together of heads." "But I think that..." "No buts! I can't be responsible for you. We really gotta stop meeting like this." Annie's phone rings before she can think of how to get him to come back.
It's a video message from her sister and nieces wishing her a happy birthday. Which given how bedraggled Annie looks right now is really quite sad.
Auggie tells Annie that they've booked her on a return flight at 16:00. "Auggie, is there a train arriving are Gare de Lyon at 2:17?" "Yes, from Marseilles, why?" "I think I know where Kannan's gonna be."
Court: Meanwhile, Joan is being questioned about her "job" at the World Bank. She's trying to answer when she gets an SOS from Auggie. She asks the judge for a recess, and the judge replies that as a banker, Joan may have difficulty with doing her civic duty, She then has Joan's phone taken away.
CIA HQ: Jai comes into Auggie's office and asks if there's news. "Joan's not getting back to me." "I meant on Kannan." "Annie thinks he might be arriving at the Gare de Lyon in fifteen minutes." Jai points out that Auggie needs to make a decision on what Annie should do. "Salma's dead, Mossad's already gone to ground, Annie might be burned, plus we have no idea what this guy even looks like," Auggie says. "Which makes getting a photo of him all the more valuable," Jai replies. "Joan would bring her in." "But you're not Joan."
Auggie orders his team to book Annie on a later flight and then asks Jai how he'd suggest taking a picture of someone that no one can identify.
Gare de Lyon: Annie's sitting across from the hallway so she can take photos of everyone coming off the train. She spots the man from the embassy that Salma ran into at the party. As she gets up to follow him, she sees Eyal entering the station. He gives her a nod, then pretends to read a paper and knocks into the man she needs a picture of. Annie snaps the photo when Mamoun turns around.
"Did you get it?" Eyal asks her. She smiles. "I got it."
You two really do make a great team. I love the idea that he's going to keep showing up and being mysterious and charming and awesome.
They sit at a bar admiring the photo that she got. He asks her if she wants an award. "No, I'm not a prideful person. It's always nice to have a few accolades though." "Oh, you want accolades. All right. Here's some for you. You have a little game, Annie Walker. I've seen a few in action. So many have trouble improvising, but you, you have some gears to shift into. And you have great interpersonal skills." He sets down his drink like he's a little afraid of the power of her interpersonal skills.
Annie starts to tell him about her sister, who thinks she's lying, isolated, and secretive. Which, she is. He asks if her sister knows anything, and she says no because that's how the CIA likes it. "And you?" "Oh, I used to tell my wife everything. That's how Mossad likes it. They think it helps to have someone at home who knows where you are, what you're doing. Helps tether you to something concrete. Course, then they get to worry about you instead of living blissfully in ignorance. So in a way it's kind of selfish to tell them. Or at least that's what my wife said when she was leaving me."
It's starting to get a little close and personal in this bar, so Annie asks instead how he found her in the train station. He calls it good trade craft. He doesn't believe in luck. He asks her if she's got time for one more, and Annie tries so hard not to blush under that smile. "I think I have time for one more." She gets up to go to the ladies room, and Eyal pretends to fix something on her collar while slipping the memory card from her camera. Annie asks him to have the bartender make her martini a little dirtier next time. She doesn't get quite all the way to the bathroom before she thinks about what he did and checks the camera. When she runs back to the bar, he's obviously gone.
Annie looks out the window and sees Eyal being piled into a white van. It could be an extraction team, but it doesn't look like one. She hails a taxi and has him follow the truck.
They follow them to what looks like a private estate. Gutsy taxi driver! Annie creeps around until she can get a good look at where Eyal is, then she calls Auggie. "Talk to me." He tells her that they've got a team 20 minutes out. Annie watches them pull a car battery, jumper cables, and a video camera out of the truck. "Remember that course they taught at The Farm how if you're captured you've got an hour or so to escape and then after that the odds of survival go to next to nothing?" "Yeah." "They've had Eyal for over an hour now." Auggie reminds her that there are four of them and she's not even armed. "He doesn't have anyone looking out for him but me." Auggie slowly sits, because he knows she's right. "Okay. Let's work the problem. Tell me everything you see."
She finds a lighter and some cigarettes and some rags. That'll do for a fuse, so she shoves the rags in the gas tank of the van and lights it. The bad guys run out of the building to see their very fake OMG van catch on fire and explode. I cannot believe this show does not have a higher effects budget.
While they're out watching the van blow, Annie sneaks in to find Eyal mid-torture. She starts to untie him, but a baddie walks in. Annie tosses something heavy and metal at his legs, knocking him over. Then she kicks him in the face, knocking him out. They steal the baddie's shoes, cause Eyal's got taken, and then head for a truck outside.
Either the truck doesn't start or she doesn't have time to try. The baddies run out, and they duck down in the truck to keep from being seen. "Any chance you've been issued a gun yet?" Eyal asks. "Not yet," she replies. Seriously, they send agents out without guns? WTF?
So they then hop back out of the truck and make a run for it. Annie hides behind a wall with a conveniently placed gardening tool. She should be able to gut the baddie with that. She chooses instead to smack him in the face with it. I assume she's about to dive for his gun when Head Honcho comes out. On the other side, the last baddie has his gun on Annie too. Head Honcho takes the time to put on his glasses as he raises his gun.
A shot! Head Honcho goes down, and Annie turns to see Eyal up on the wall, breaking the neck of the other baddie, his gun in his hand. They grin at one another and make a hasty exit.
At the train station, they chat a little more. He gripes about his lost shoes, she suggests he watch his back instead of stealing her memory card. "Well, that was painfully easy wasn't it. A little schmutz on the collar routine." "Red flags should have gone up when you brought out the Yiddish." He grins, and she demands to have her memory card back. He points into his open mouth. "You didn't. But the photo of Kannan!" He shrugs. "That's something for the higher ups to figure out."
Annie's train is called, and she suddenly realizes she didn't get a receipt from the cabbie. Eyal has a solution. He grabs something and starts to write, asking her how much the ride was. "500 euro." "500! Wow, you got totally ripped off." "You woulda done the same thing for me." "Those prices? Not a chance." Annie turns around to look at him again, and they both spend a moment trying not to feel the attraction. He tells her not to miss her plane.
When Annie looks at what he wrote, it says Happy Birthday. -E
Courtroom: Joan has been chosen for jury duty! It'll either be a long trial or just a short three weeks. Joan immediately pops her hand up and says she can't because her job needs her. She pays the guy next to her $20 to use his phone. She types out a text, and the next second a clerk walks into the courtroom with a note saying that Joan is excused.
CIA HQ: Auggie gives Joan a photo that Mossad cabled through. "They tell me it's a nice shot." It's Annie's photo of Kannan. "It's not easy, is it. Making decisions that affect your friends' safety," Joan says to him. "No, it's not." "I've got news for you. Doesn't get any easier."
Annie's House: Annie puts away her IDs and money in her safe. Her sister comes in bearing a cupcake with a candle, and Annie thanks her for the video message. "It came at the perfect time. You will never know how much that meant to me." Her sister asks how Topeka was, but Annie tells her that she didn't go to Topeka, she went to Paris. "Paris? As in Paris Paris?" "Oui." "How did that happen?" "It was a last minute thing at work." "Oh my freaking God!"
Annie apologizes for not telling her the truth, and she means it. Her sister notices the $6k bag and Annie tells her she spoiled herself for her birthday. Danielle thinks that's a fabulous idea, then lights the candle on the cupcake. "Now this might not be high fashion, but it is homemade."
Annie smiles and makes a wish.
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Last week, Annie picked up right where she left off. She got Ben back to Langley after he nearly died, and then he took off first chance he got. Arthur wants him to be his black ops man, but Ben wants to be able to see Annie--a deal breaker, so it seems. Meanwhile, Jai is is feeling jealous and Auggie's pretty sure that Annie's being reckless.
After breaking all the rules, Annie also ends up saving an arms dealer and putting a tennis pro/would-be assassin into protective custody. She's trying to grow a thicker skin about ruining people's lives like this, and it's both kinda good and kinda not.
It's still Hooker-Heels Day at the office, and Annie comes in bearing coffee only to find the place deserted. "Hey, where is everybody?" she asks Jai. "The 2:30 Jay Roth run through." "Yeah but it's not 2:30 yet," she says, checking all the clocks. "That's cause they moved it to 2. They sent a memo," he replies, gesturing toward her computer... where there is a paper memo sitting on her keyboard. She mutters a curse and hurries off.
Auggie is asking for a memo on Budapest when Annie rushes in, apologizing for being late. "Surprise!" everyone shouts. "Happy birthday!" "Wow! That is totally unexpected! I'm at a loss for what to say... except that it's not my birthday," Annie says to Auggie, as Jai enters the room. "But it will be in about 6 days." Auggie suggests they not quibble over details and just enjoy the cake. Annie informs him that she can't blow out the candle because it's not her real birthday and that's bad luck. What idiocy.
Suit #2 asks if this means they can't have cake, but Jai tells him to go for it. So Suit #2 blows out the candle himself.
"There you go again, lighting up a room," Auggie snarks. "So, the sudden craving for chai?" Annie asks, handing him his drink. "Subterfuge," he responds with a sly smile. "Auggie, you are six whole days off. You don't need subterfuge, you need a calendar." "Oh." He just drinks his chai, unperturbed. "Unless... you know some reason why I won't be here next week to celebrate," Annie says, fishing. He just slowly drinks.
Then Joan walks in and calls Annie to her office. Annie gives Auggie a look, and he just grins and shrugs a little. She shoots Jai an accusatory look as well, and he smiles and eats some VERY BLUE cake.
Joan's Office: "You're sending me to Paris?" "See, now I'm already having second thoughts." Joan tells Annie she's got that look that every female operative gets the first time she's sent to Paris. Joan asks if she even heard the part about the mission. "Yes, to cultivate an asset in Paris." The asset works in the Syrian embassy, and Joan thinks they can turn her because she just broke up with her fiance and is a week late in her rent. Annie asks if they think the Syrians are reconstituting their weapons program, but Joan tells her that they're just after a friend on the inside of the embassy. "It's hard to believe there isn't someone in the Paris station who's in a better position to do that," Anne tells her. And Joan's looking sort of impressed. She sends Annie off and tells her to bring back receipts.
Paris!: Paris has lots of pretty buildings and lots of beggars. Not kidding. If you thought there were a lot of panhandlers in NYC, it's cause you haven't seen Paris.
So anyway, Annie stalks Salma, posing stupidly with her camera as though by holding it sideways it no longer looks like a camera. Clearly one is to mistake her odd hand gestures as street corner voguing. She takes notes on Salma's movements and tries not to get seen as she follows her down the street. Eventually Auggie calls. "So you've been there three days, what have you learned?" "I learned she likes her routines. She's got a good eye for accessories, and that she's not crazy about her coworkers." Auggie sounds like a video game tutorial as he tells Annie that she has to make her move soon and be able to account for her spending. "Stay focused, find your in, and all will be fine," he says.
Annie follows her to an art gallery. "I think I have an opening. 19th century portraits." "You call that an opening?" Auggie replies, sounding more like Sgt. Hazard than himself. WTF is up with his voice? Maybe Chris Gorham had a cold or something. He's all growly in a way that Auggie usually isn't.
"Got any good conversation starters?" Annie asks Auggie. "Yeah, I do actually, but they all require that you not be able to see," he replies. Hee hee.
Annie then appears to lose Salma in the very small and crowded gallery.
HORRIBLE INTRO!
CIA HQ: Joan has apparently been called up for jury duty. Auggie asks why she hasn't gotten it deferred, or asked him to pull some strings, but she says she doesn't want a deferment. "What if you get stuck on some OJ-like trial. You could be sequestered for like weeks." "I'm not gonna be sequestered, because I won't even be selected," she informs him. "You don't know that!" "If you were on trial, would you want me on your jury?"
Auggie concedes the point and they move on to talking about Annie. Auggie insists that she's super close to making contact, and Joan tells him to read Annie in on some Damascus info that will apparently light a fire under her. Joan then tells Auggie that the only reason she's reporting for jury duty is that she trusts him with her office. Did I miss his promotion? I thought Auggie was just our favorite tech, not Joan's 2nd.
Paris!: Annie hurries after Salma. She follows her into a shoe store, and it looks like Annie's purchased the same purse that Salma uses. She also cut off her credit cards, so when Salma goes to pay at the counter she gets declined. Or at least it looks like that's planned. Maybe it's just good luck. Anyway, Annie switches their bags, and Salma takes the dummy bag and hurries off. It's embarrassing when you get your card declined. So I hear.
Annie calls in to tell Auggie and Jai that the switch went well. She filled the bag with everything Salma will need to track her down. As she digs through Salma's bag, she finds a number in her date book: 43 59 14 17. Auggie starts to run the sequence to see if it means anything. "Are you sure she's gonna call you back?" he asks. "Maybe she'll like her new bag better." Annie will call her if she doesn't, but she thinks it will work better if Salma's the one who makes contact. Auggie asks how much it cost to lay this trap. "6000." Jai looks impressed. Auggie pulls off his headphones in shock. "6000 euros for a pocketbook!" "Actually, that's not bad. Full retail's closer to 7," Jai says. Auggie is not impressed. "Can you return it when you're done or convert it into a condo?"
Annie tells Auggie that he's obviously not a woman because Joan would understand the underlying psychology. "No," Joan says, "Joan would not understand." "Oh. Hey Joan. Auggie, little heads up next time?" "Hey, it's not like I'm the hardest guy to sneak up on," he gripes.
They then tell Annie that Mamoun Kannan is on the move. Annie asks if he's in Paris, and Joan replies, "We don't know. It would be nice if you could stop shopping and help us answer that question." Annie asks for a photo or something, but the CIA doesn't have anything. Chemical Kannan has spent 20 years flouting IAEA sanctions.
Annie's other line rings, so she goes to answer Salma's call. Meanwhile, Joan tells Auggie that while she's gone he can say he's in charge, if it will help keep people in line. "What? He's in charge?" goes Jai. "I promise not to abuse it," Auggie replies, but you know Jai is being sent for coffee first thing.
In La Petit Montmartre, Annie is waiting for Salma to show up so they can exchange bags. Salma shuffles through to make sure all her things are there, and Annie invites her to sit down. "I really should be going," Salma replies. Annie tells her that she bought a whole bottle of wine by mistake and asks her to help finish it. No better way to woo a French girl than with wine, I suppose! So Salma tells her about buying the bag after her fiance left. "We call that retail therapy in the States," Annie replies. Salma likes that.
Annie then asks Salma if she'd like to accompany her to a black tie event. Salma's surprised but pleased, but then a little coy about maybe having plans because she met a man the other day. "You little minx, you work so fast, where'd you meet him?" Is it proper to call someone you just met a minx? Anyway, "His name is George. But it's nothing, really. Not yet anyway. But he said he was going to call." "So you're going to go home and wait by the phone?" Annie advises her to play harder to get, and Salma seems inclined to agree.
Party: They walk in looking awesome, and Salma's so impressed that Annie does this for work. While Annie is at the bar ordering a drink, some French doofus comes up to her to tell her that her dress is beautiful and would look better on his bedroom floor. She tells him to fuck off, basically, and behind him is waiting an old friend! It's Eyal Lavine, the Mossad agent that Annie met in Switzerland. "Who knew you were a patron of the arts?" she says to him. "What can I say... I like beautiful things," he replies, doing a much better job at being charming than the last guy. Annie, he might be older than you, but take him home.
She doesn't blush by instead telling him that his tux does suit him. "I'm contractually obligated to wear it every time I'm in Paris," he says. She keeps peering around him looking for Salma and he asks her if he's keeping her from something. She tells him that he is and asks if they can reschedule. He agrees. "Let's consider it a courtesy, one professional to another. By the way, that switch you did with the bag, excellent spycraft there. Well played. And much more fashionable than the titanium thing you lugged around Zurich." She suddenly has no idea quite what's going on here but knows she's been caught out.
Annie's about to ask how he knows about all of this when Salma arrives. "George?" she says, touching Eyal's arm. Ha-HA! "You two know each other?" Annie asks, and Salma introduces Eyal as the man she just met. He grins a little smugly still looking all kinds of delicious.
You know, it does make a lot more sense to send in a man to convert a female asset for reasons just like this.
They act like they've never met, and Salma thanks Annie for bringing her with her to the party. "I feel like Cinderella." Then the bartender hands over the drinks, and Eyal steals Annie's date away. They sit at a small table to chat, and Salma explains that Annie and George have so much in common. George exports antiquities! He gives Annie some eyebrow and says that they should talk later. He hands her a business card, and she replies that they should definitely talk later. They reveal that they met in the 19th century portraits section of the museum, right where Annie lost track of her.
Annie can't even believe this. George asked about "brushstrokes," and it's almost so cliche Annie could gag. "It's kismet," Annie says, and Salma replies, "That's exactly what George said!"
Watch it, Annie. Don't tip your hand. Eyal then asks Salma to dance, still so damned proud of himself, and Annie calls Auggie.
Courtroom: Joan is sitting waiting for the jury questioning when her phone rings. She slides down in her seat and answers. "You okay to talk?" Auggie asks. Joan whispers that she's okay to listen. "Annie just called in from Paris. Looks like Mossad's after Salma, too. They sent Eyal Lavine. I don't think they sent him on a fishing expedition. They must have a bead on something." Joan tries to softly asks if they're hearing any chatter. "No. Are you in the courtroom now?" Uh-huh, she utters back. He's like WTF. "The Israeli desk is checking on the deconfliction protocol. I went ahead and set up a line of credit with the clearing bank in case Annie winds up in a bidding war." Joan tells Auggie to tell Annie that she can't buy more bags, but she says it so loudly that the judge can hear.
Auggie is so not amused.
Paris!: Annie's looking for something to do to get out on the dance floor, so she asks the guy she blew off earlier to dance. When they get out on the floor, Annie takes lead, which confuses the hell out of the guy. Especially when she spins him. "You really are American, aren't you?" he says. She asks how he knew, and he calls it a lucky guess. She manhandles him close to Eyal, and then Eyal helpfully asks to cut in. "So they have you seducing secretaries now," she says to him. "And with that tired old line about kismet." He tells her that he understands she's upset, but really, he's just that good, so she shouldn't feel bad. "So, how are you planning on turning her? It's the hardest thing we're tasked with. Make your pitch at the wrong time in the wrong way, it could all blow up in your face," he says. Annie asks him how he intends to get her to work for Mossad and he says he's not. He's going to ask an impressionable young woman to do a favor for her new lover. "It's a tactic tested in the field many times." Annie pulls away from him trying not to laugh at how kind of gross that is. She tells him not to get cocky, and he advises her to keep her cards close to her chest.
Salma returns to them looking unhappy. "That was awkward. I just ran into someone from work. He asked me what I was doing here." Eyal and Annie ask her what she said. "That we are all friends from university and that George here was collector trying to get lucky." Salma suggests they leave, and Eyal goes to put his arm around both women, but Annie pushes his hand away. He just looks amused.
It must be so nice to be so hot, Eyal.
They all get into a...limo? Annie suggests that it's late so they should drop George somewhere. He counters that the night is young and he knows a great bar. Salma just wants to drive around for awhile. She looks like she's about to cry. Or about to spring on them that she knows the truth. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Now, suddenly, there is this stunning man and this so glamorous new friend fighting for my attention. And I can only come up with one explanation. You want access to the embassy." Eyal and Annie make lame attempts at denial, and Salma just keeps talking. "I'm pretty sure Annie works for the CIA. And if I had to guess, George here, it's not your real name, is it." She tells Eyal he's too Jewish to be a Mossad officer.
Annie tells her she's had too much to drink, and Eyal's actually offended, so he tells her she's lost it. "Mamoun Kannan is coming to town tomorrow, and I know where. I've decided to auction off what I know for the highest bidder." She tells the driver to drop her off. "If I'm right, I will be waiting for your offers. If I'm wrong, well, it was fun while it lasted."
She gets out, and Annie and Eyal sit in silence for a second. "I totally didn't see that coming, did you?" Annie asks. He stares at her. "What is it about you Americans that brings out the worst in everyone you meet?"
Later, Annie calls Auggie to tell him that Salma wants 50k euros. "50k? What happened to 30?" "Thirty was half an hour ago before Mossad made their final bid." Jai shakes his head at Auggie. "And you thought the pocketbook was expensive." Auggie says he have to check in with Joan. Meanwhile Jai wants to know why they're bidding against Mossad. "We're supposed to be allies. And there's no way Joan authorizes 50." But then Joan authorizes 50 just to prove him wrong, and Auggie tells Annie to make it happen.
The next day Annie is waiting in the Le Petit Montmartre for Salma to show up and give her the intel. But she's waiting there a long long time. Eventually Annie concludes that Salma isn't coming and goes to her apartment. While she's taking the elevator up, Eyal takes the stairs and meets her at the door. "Typical CIA, eh? Always taking shortcuts." "She was supposed to meet me at the cafe at 11." "And me at the hotel at 11:30." "She took both our offers?" "I'm beginning to like this girl more and more," Eyal says with a smile.
They find her apartment door open. Eyal goes in gun drawn, sweeping the apartment, while Annie sort of wanders in unarmed. They find Salma dead in her bedroom.
Annie goes through her bag for the date book and finds the note with the numbers missing. Glass breaks, and Eyal goes to investigate. Some kid hits him from behind, making him shoot randomly, and then runs off. Eyal tackles him in the hallway. The struggle, and he loses his gun. Then the kid starts running up the stairs. Annie finally arrives and shouts up that she'll cover the street. She runs outside and watches the roof.
Eyal, meanwhile, is giving one hell of a chase! The kid's a parkour runner. He goes flying over railings and things, jumping between buildings with only ledges to grab. The kid finally misses a jump and starts heading downward. When all he's got is a ledge to hang from, Eyal demands to know who he's working for.
The kid lets himself fall to his death right in front of Annie.
Annie thinks they should have called in the death, but he tells her that the less trail they leave the better. "So what now?" "Now we part ways and go to ground. This is as good a place as any." He bids her goodbye and tries to walk off, but she chases after him. They still know Kannan is going to be in the city today. Eyal wants to know how she intends to find out what Salma knew. Annie tells him about the phone number that was missing from the date book and says that if they put their heads together... "I don't do the putting together of heads." "But I think that..." "No buts! I can't be responsible for you. We really gotta stop meeting like this." Annie's phone rings before she can think of how to get him to come back.
It's a video message from her sister and nieces wishing her a happy birthday. Which given how bedraggled Annie looks right now is really quite sad.
Auggie tells Annie that they've booked her on a return flight at 16:00. "Auggie, is there a train arriving are Gare de Lyon at 2:17?" "Yes, from Marseilles, why?" "I think I know where Kannan's gonna be."
Court: Meanwhile, Joan is being questioned about her "job" at the World Bank. She's trying to answer when she gets an SOS from Auggie. She asks the judge for a recess, and the judge replies that as a banker, Joan may have difficulty with doing her civic duty, She then has Joan's phone taken away.
CIA HQ: Jai comes into Auggie's office and asks if there's news. "Joan's not getting back to me." "I meant on Kannan." "Annie thinks he might be arriving at the Gare de Lyon in fifteen minutes." Jai points out that Auggie needs to make a decision on what Annie should do. "Salma's dead, Mossad's already gone to ground, Annie might be burned, plus we have no idea what this guy even looks like," Auggie says. "Which makes getting a photo of him all the more valuable," Jai replies. "Joan would bring her in." "But you're not Joan."
Auggie orders his team to book Annie on a later flight and then asks Jai how he'd suggest taking a picture of someone that no one can identify.
Gare de Lyon: Annie's sitting across from the hallway so she can take photos of everyone coming off the train. She spots the man from the embassy that Salma ran into at the party. As she gets up to follow him, she sees Eyal entering the station. He gives her a nod, then pretends to read a paper and knocks into the man she needs a picture of. Annie snaps the photo when Mamoun turns around.
"Did you get it?" Eyal asks her. She smiles. "I got it."
You two really do make a great team. I love the idea that he's going to keep showing up and being mysterious and charming and awesome.
They sit at a bar admiring the photo that she got. He asks her if she wants an award. "No, I'm not a prideful person. It's always nice to have a few accolades though." "Oh, you want accolades. All right. Here's some for you. You have a little game, Annie Walker. I've seen a few in action. So many have trouble improvising, but you, you have some gears to shift into. And you have great interpersonal skills." He sets down his drink like he's a little afraid of the power of her interpersonal skills.
Annie starts to tell him about her sister, who thinks she's lying, isolated, and secretive. Which, she is. He asks if her sister knows anything, and she says no because that's how the CIA likes it. "And you?" "Oh, I used to tell my wife everything. That's how Mossad likes it. They think it helps to have someone at home who knows where you are, what you're doing. Helps tether you to something concrete. Course, then they get to worry about you instead of living blissfully in ignorance. So in a way it's kind of selfish to tell them. Or at least that's what my wife said when she was leaving me."
It's starting to get a little close and personal in this bar, so Annie asks instead how he found her in the train station. He calls it good trade craft. He doesn't believe in luck. He asks her if she's got time for one more, and Annie tries so hard not to blush under that smile. "I think I have time for one more." She gets up to go to the ladies room, and Eyal pretends to fix something on her collar while slipping the memory card from her camera. Annie asks him to have the bartender make her martini a little dirtier next time. She doesn't get quite all the way to the bathroom before she thinks about what he did and checks the camera. When she runs back to the bar, he's obviously gone.
Annie looks out the window and sees Eyal being piled into a white van. It could be an extraction team, but it doesn't look like one. She hails a taxi and has him follow the truck.
They follow them to what looks like a private estate. Gutsy taxi driver! Annie creeps around until she can get a good look at where Eyal is, then she calls Auggie. "Talk to me." He tells her that they've got a team 20 minutes out. Annie watches them pull a car battery, jumper cables, and a video camera out of the truck. "Remember that course they taught at The Farm how if you're captured you've got an hour or so to escape and then after that the odds of survival go to next to nothing?" "Yeah." "They've had Eyal for over an hour now." Auggie reminds her that there are four of them and she's not even armed. "He doesn't have anyone looking out for him but me." Auggie slowly sits, because he knows she's right. "Okay. Let's work the problem. Tell me everything you see."
She finds a lighter and some cigarettes and some rags. That'll do for a fuse, so she shoves the rags in the gas tank of the van and lights it. The bad guys run out of the building to see their very fake OMG van catch on fire and explode. I cannot believe this show does not have a higher effects budget.
While they're out watching the van blow, Annie sneaks in to find Eyal mid-torture. She starts to untie him, but a baddie walks in. Annie tosses something heavy and metal at his legs, knocking him over. Then she kicks him in the face, knocking him out. They steal the baddie's shoes, cause Eyal's got taken, and then head for a truck outside.
Either the truck doesn't start or she doesn't have time to try. The baddies run out, and they duck down in the truck to keep from being seen. "Any chance you've been issued a gun yet?" Eyal asks. "Not yet," she replies. Seriously, they send agents out without guns? WTF?
So they then hop back out of the truck and make a run for it. Annie hides behind a wall with a conveniently placed gardening tool. She should be able to gut the baddie with that. She chooses instead to smack him in the face with it. I assume she's about to dive for his gun when Head Honcho comes out. On the other side, the last baddie has his gun on Annie too. Head Honcho takes the time to put on his glasses as he raises his gun.
A shot! Head Honcho goes down, and Annie turns to see Eyal up on the wall, breaking the neck of the other baddie, his gun in his hand. They grin at one another and make a hasty exit.
At the train station, they chat a little more. He gripes about his lost shoes, she suggests he watch his back instead of stealing her memory card. "Well, that was painfully easy wasn't it. A little schmutz on the collar routine." "Red flags should have gone up when you brought out the Yiddish." He grins, and she demands to have her memory card back. He points into his open mouth. "You didn't. But the photo of Kannan!" He shrugs. "That's something for the higher ups to figure out."
Annie's train is called, and she suddenly realizes she didn't get a receipt from the cabbie. Eyal has a solution. He grabs something and starts to write, asking her how much the ride was. "500 euro." "500! Wow, you got totally ripped off." "You woulda done the same thing for me." "Those prices? Not a chance." Annie turns around to look at him again, and they both spend a moment trying not to feel the attraction. He tells her not to miss her plane.
When Annie looks at what he wrote, it says Happy Birthday. -E
Courtroom: Joan has been chosen for jury duty! It'll either be a long trial or just a short three weeks. Joan immediately pops her hand up and says she can't because her job needs her. She pays the guy next to her $20 to use his phone. She types out a text, and the next second a clerk walks into the courtroom with a note saying that Joan is excused.
CIA HQ: Auggie gives Joan a photo that Mossad cabled through. "They tell me it's a nice shot." It's Annie's photo of Kannan. "It's not easy, is it. Making decisions that affect your friends' safety," Joan says to him. "No, it's not." "I've got news for you. Doesn't get any easier."
Annie's House: Annie puts away her IDs and money in her safe. Her sister comes in bearing a cupcake with a candle, and Annie thanks her for the video message. "It came at the perfect time. You will never know how much that meant to me." Her sister asks how Topeka was, but Annie tells her that she didn't go to Topeka, she went to Paris. "Paris? As in Paris Paris?" "Oui." "How did that happen?" "It was a last minute thing at work." "Oh my freaking God!"
Annie apologizes for not telling her the truth, and she means it. Her sister notices the $6k bag and Annie tells her she spoiled herself for her birthday. Danielle thinks that's a fabulous idea, then lights the candle on the cupcake. "Now this might not be high fashion, but it is homemade."
Annie smiles and makes a wish.