It passes Bechdel -- Joan and Annie talk about her mission repeatedly, and Annie and her sister talk generally about her life stress. (Annie and her sister also talk about a guy, but in a different, separate conversation. Also, I assume her sister has a name; I just don't remember it.) I think it's too early to call on whether Annie is "framed by the men in her life" -- I mean, there really aren't any men in her life ongoing. But there is the issue with her ex. Right now, drawing him out appears to be part of the reason for her recruitment; I'll have to see how that plays out. But even Sydney Bristow was very "framed" in that way -- Jack, Sloane, Danny (then Will) and Vaughn essentially formed the four corners of the world she traveled in. And yet I never for an instant felt like Sydney was not independent and taking control of her own destiny. So I'm not knocking "Covert Affairs" for that.
The writing was a bit ham-handed and obvious, but I think a lot of shows are that way in the beginning; call it "pilotitis." ("That's the silliest thing you've ever said, and I've known you for seven years, since we were college roommates!" is the kind of thing people say in pilots, never in life.) So we shall see.
Some of it was pilotitis, but it felt like a bad case to me. I'm not saying it's irredeemable, just that the more fumblingly a pilot handles the usual pilot issues, the more it potentially indicates less-than-good writing in the show's future.
I'll cede the point on Bechdel; I think the Joan-Annie interaction was retroactively tainted for me by the revelation that she's using Annie just because of her ex. (I was also somewhat annoyed that the "talking about the mission" largely consisted of Joan telling Annie she could pass as a hooker and advising her not to sleep with Stas, like she needed to be told. I haven't been told enough about Joan to figure out if that was deliberate condescension because she resented having to bring Annie in because of the ex angle and/or grief over whoever it was Annie's replacing, or if it was just some casual sexism.) That, and the fact that The Ex is the reason she decided to join the CIA (which was a little "Bwuh?" to me), rather than any sense of duty or patriotism or what have you; these were the main reasons I felt she was being depicted by her relationships with men rather than as an independent entity.
And yet I never for an instant felt like Sydney was not independent and taking control of her own destiny.
See, this was the feeling I didn't get from Covert Affairs. I felt like Annie was being puppeted around to an good extent; even though Sydney was being manipulated/not given all the information in a somewhat similar way, the way she reacts when she finds out says everything about her: she takes insane risks and competent action to preserve her position in SD-6, then goes to the real CIA to simultaneously serve her country, stop the bad guys, and take personal revenge for Danny and for being lied to. In contrast, I'm left not really sure what Annie is about, except that she still misses her ex two years after he ditched her, and she's trying really hard to prove herself. I just wish I knew why she loves this job now; instead of hearing why she chose to start out on this path two years ago, I want to know why she stuck with it.
Hmm. I suppose to be fair, I really should reserve judgment until Annie finds out about the machinations. Her reaction there will be enlightening. (I'm maybe being a little prematurely judgey and pessimistic, here.)
I think there are still several ways to write themselves out of these problems/unclear characterization, and I am willing to stick around to see. Annie's reaction to her hiring-by-virtue-of-ex-boyfriend is one; how she treats said ex when she inevitably runs into him is another. Joan's development will be interesting and, IMO, vital. I also think they need to stop wavering between saying "She's awesome at...things!" and "She's the clueless newbie!" and just pick one and stick to it (I vote "newbie"; that's a much more interesting arc). There's totally hope! I definitely hope I'm wrong and just being a cranky old paranoid fangirl. I'm just worried, because, as I said, I wasn't granted much faith in the writing by the pilot. We'll see. I'll be enjoying Christopher Gorham in the meantime. :)
I didn't take Joan's first conversations with Annie as badly as you did; she's clearly being condescending, but I got the impression that (a) it was more hazing than a statement of Joan's real belief in Annie's ability or lack thereof, and that (b) Joan does some variation of this to virtually everyone. (Even Augie catches some heat from her, and they've apparently worked together well for years.) That said, I kept comparing the call-girl scenario here vs. the ones in Alias. In Alias, the subtext of those scenes -- invariably -- was "men are such idiots that they will fall for this every time." In Covert Affairs, I felt like they were actually trying to play it as hot. So I didn't like that as much, but OTOH, I didn't find it overtly derogatory toward Annie.
And while the role of the ex in her life and her recruitment has yet to be determined, I feel like they've already given us proof that -- while his past might be the reason she was called up early -- he's NOT the reason she's here. He provided an impetus for her to join the agency, but she also clearly has the curiosity and intellectual ability for it; also, we see that terrific parachute jump in the beginning. As you say, if we'd met Sydney Bristow weeks or months before she got the scoop on SD-6, how would she have looked? (Well, Sydney would've gotten that device out even under enemy fire. Obviously. But There's Only One Sydney Bristow.) I felt like Annie wasn't supported as well as she could've been, but I didn't think she was undermined.
The writing was a bit ham-handed and obvious, but I think a lot of shows are that way in the beginning; call it "pilotitis." ("That's the silliest thing you've ever said, and I've known you for seven years, since we were college roommates!" is the kind of thing people say in pilots, never in life.) So we shall see.
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I'll cede the point on Bechdel; I think the Joan-Annie interaction was retroactively tainted for me by the revelation that she's using Annie just because of her ex. (I was also somewhat annoyed that the "talking about the mission" largely consisted of Joan telling Annie she could pass as a hooker and advising her not to sleep with Stas, like she needed to be told. I haven't been told enough about Joan to figure out if that was deliberate condescension because she resented having to bring Annie in because of the ex angle and/or grief over whoever it was Annie's replacing, or if it was just some casual sexism.) That, and the fact that The Ex is the reason she decided to join the CIA (which was a little "Bwuh?" to me), rather than any sense of duty or patriotism or what have you; these were the main reasons I felt she was being depicted by her relationships with men rather than as an independent entity.
And yet I never for an instant felt like Sydney was not independent and taking control of her own destiny.
See, this was the feeling I didn't get from Covert Affairs. I felt like Annie was being puppeted around to an good extent; even though Sydney was being manipulated/not given all the information in a somewhat similar way, the way she reacts when she finds out says everything about her: she takes insane risks and competent action to preserve her position in SD-6, then goes to the real CIA to simultaneously serve her country, stop the bad guys, and take personal revenge for Danny and for being lied to. In contrast, I'm left not really sure what Annie is about, except that she still misses her ex two years after he ditched her, and she's trying really hard to prove herself. I just wish I knew why she loves this job now; instead of hearing why she chose to start out on this path two years ago, I want to know why she stuck with it.
Hmm. I suppose to be fair, I really should reserve judgment until Annie finds out about the machinations. Her reaction there will be enlightening. (I'm maybe being a little prematurely judgey and pessimistic, here.)
I think there are still several ways to write themselves out of these problems/unclear characterization, and I am willing to stick around to see. Annie's reaction to her hiring-by-virtue-of-ex-boyfriend is one; how she treats said ex when she inevitably runs into him is another. Joan's development will be interesting and, IMO, vital. I also think they need to stop wavering between saying "She's awesome at...things!" and "She's the clueless newbie!" and just pick one and stick to it (I vote "newbie"; that's a much more interesting arc). There's totally hope! I definitely hope I'm wrong and just being a cranky old paranoid fangirl. I'm just worried, because, as I said, I wasn't granted much faith in the writing by the pilot. We'll see. I'll be enjoying Christopher Gorham in the meantime. :)
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And while the role of the ex in her life and her recruitment has yet to be determined, I feel like they've already given us proof that -- while his past might be the reason she was called up early -- he's NOT the reason she's here. He provided an impetus for her to join the agency, but she also clearly has the curiosity and intellectual ability for it; also, we see that terrific parachute jump in the beginning. As you say, if we'd met Sydney Bristow weeks or months before she got the scoop on SD-6, how would she have looked? (Well, Sydney would've gotten that device out even under enemy fire. Obviously. But There's Only One Sydney Bristow.) I felt like Annie wasn't supported as well as she could've been, but I didn't think she was undermined.
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