Covert Affairs: “Walter’s Walk” [Recap]

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The episode starts by showing us the entire Ben and Annie beach flashback from the pilot: the beads, the sex, the smiles, the even more sex…then we shift to the subway tunnel fight with Stas, with Ben stepping in to save the day, and catching a train. It’s all shown in a blurred style, because it’s all a dream. Annie wakes up startled and breathless, unsure of her surroundings until she glances over at her nightstand as sees the beaded bracelet hanging from the base of her lamp.

Kitchen. Annie’s grabbing some coffee while Danielle is trying to get her daughters – both still nameless – ready for their day. Danielle is trying to explain that cereal, not Popsicles, is breakfast. Mmm…Popsicles. I love the orange ones. Annie is abstaining from that argument, because you know she’d love a Popsicle too. Danielle mentions that she and Michael (Hey! The husband got a name!) are doing this “will thing” and she needs Annie to sign. As a witness? Not exactly. Danielle and Michael want Annie to sign an agreement stating that should something happen to them, Annie would assume guardianship of “The Girls.” Really? Still no names? C’mon. Annie asks if she can think about it first, but Danielle doesn’t know what there is to think about. “It’s a no brainer,” she adds. Annie’s all I’m totally late for work and the Smithsonian is nuts about promptness. Annie grabs a banana and leaves while Danielle just looks confused.

Langley. Annie drives up to the entrance checkpoint, only with much less of an official escort than the last time. Inside HQ, she bumps into Auggie, who identifies Annie before she speaks by the sound of her heels on the floor. He’s good. He’s also carrying a box with his personal items in it. Seems that the DPD is moving into brand new digs inside the building, since the show got picked up for series and the sets used for the pilot were likely stricken. Annie didn’t know anything about this, but that’s only because the memo telling the DPD that they were moving was actually sent out three years ago. You gotta love the speed of government, huh? Annie asks Auggie what the CIA policy is on signing on to be legal guardian to your Nameless Nieces. Auggie says, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Your Family About Our Mission in Columbia.” Seems pretty clear to me.

They go through a big set of glass doors into the new home of the DPD. There are wall-to-wall monitors and computers and agents milling about setting up their new workstations. I love the smell of a fresh build-out in the morning. Smells like paint and cubicle wall foam. As if to make us all feel a bit disoriented in the new DPD, a few of this episode’s scenes are actually shot through this glass doors, so we see reflections of other people, and the opening and closing of the doors, and the refraction of the lens as it is in a state or constant re-focusing. I found this to be a pretty cool artistic choice, actually. I also think this is where all of the episode’s production value went to, but we’ll get into that later. Auggie is just happy to have offices with windows, “or so [he’s] told.” *snerk*

Joan waltzes up – and I mean waltzes, because that Kari Matchett is one slinky little minx – and says that she’s got a new assignment for Annie. Annie’s job today will be to debrief the walk-ins. Annie’s unsure what that means, and Joan breaks it down for her. Walk-Ins are people who come straight to HQ with possible Intel, and it’s Annie’s job to see if any of it holds water. This sounds a lot like Big Block of Cheese Day on “The West Wing.” Annie’s pretty sure this means a day full of nut-jobs, and Auggie confirms that Annie’s going down to Crackpot City.

Outside of the building there are trailers set up where the nut-jobs will be interviewed. Parker, the security guard, explains that the Walk-Ins will walk in one at a time. Annie is to talk to them, write up a report, and to see Parker if she thinks anything is actionable. Parker then scoffs at Annie, which is code for “follow me” I suppose, because Annie does just that. Inside a trailer, Parker shows her where the panic button is and hands her pepper spray. “Welcome to Walk-In Duty,” Parker gruffs before exiting the trailer. Bring on the nut-jobs.

First, a guy claims that in 1983 Ronald Regan and Fidel Castro had a secret meeting in Cyprus, where they began to conspire a way to control the world’s sugar supply. This is why the guy only uses Sweet-n-Low, and he almost loses his shit altogether at the concept of a stir stick.

A second guy just keeps stacking notebooks up on the table. Lots of notebooks.

A third guy is pretty sure he knows who killed Kennedy. Annie’s all durr, it was Oswald, but Third Guy is talking about Ted Kennedy. Oh.

Fourth guy just looks sick and then sneezes into a wad of Kleenex. Annie starts feeling a little green herself.

We see the outside of the trailer again as a lady’s voice tells us that she’s there on her son’s behalf. Inside the trailer we see the woman and HOLY MOLE! She has got a serious…thing…next to her nose. Wow. Of course, in my head, I’m now watching Uncle Buck:

I’m Buck Melanoma. Moley Russell’s wart. Not her wart. Not her wart! I’m…I’m the wart. She’s my tumor. My…my growth. My…uh…my pimple. I’m Uncle Wart. Just old Buck “Wart” Russell. That’s what they call me, or Melanoma Head. They’ll call me that. “Melanoma Head’s coming.” I’m s…uncle! Maisy Russell’s uncle!

I really hope, somewhere in Heaven, Johns Candy and Hughes are having a grand time in each other’s company again. Sigh.

Anyway, the Mole asks if Annie’s ever heard of Numbers Stations. Annie defines them as short wave radio transmissions. The Mole says that Walter (her son) decoded a message. Annie’s doubtful, since the codes used are pretty much unbreakable, but Mole says that Walter is studying CompSci in college, and used his skills to decipher the message. The clue led Walter to a Mail Boxes, Etc. in Rockville where he saw a man take a blue Air Mail envelope out of a PO Box. Which is super uncommon at a place like that, right? Annie agrees with me, and The Mole knows she sounds crazy, but Walter thinks this man saw him, and now he’s scared. Annie starts in on follow-up questions, but The Mole can’t answer anything, and asks Annie to join her in the parking lot.

Out in The Mole’s car is Walter, who can’t be more than 10 or 11 years old. We hear X-Files-style whistling, and we go to…

CREDITS! The show has a credit sequence that is not flashy, but fun. James Bond-ish, in a cable network budget kind of way. They’re cool, but they totally stole the font from “NCIS.”

Back at the trailers, we get a close up of the book Walter is reading (Robert Ludlum’s “The Parsfial Mosaic”), and then a close up of Walter’s face, and his own mole. Good casting there. Annie approaches the vehicle and introduces herself. Walter wants to know what Directorate Annie works for, but she says that’s classified. She asks about the book, and it’s pretty much Walter’s favorite. Walter seems pretty ambitious about applying what he learns in books. I read a lot of horror books when I was his age, but I sure as shit wasn’t wading around in sewers looking for Pennywise. No way.

Back on the topic of the numbers station, Annie says she’s going to need the specifications, which Walter provides on a slip of paper. Annie wants to know if Walter recorded any of what he heard, and The Mole says that Walter didn’t want to bring his tapes onto the property. That is a smart kid. The Mole says Walter is scared, and not sleeping, and maybe this is all nothing but they really need to know one way or the other. Annie’s on it.

DPD. Joan is looking over something when she looks out onto the work floor and sees Mohinder Suresh unpacking a desk. Man, they really will let anyone into the CIA these days, huh? I hope that Peter Petrelli isn’t working in the evidence labs. Joan approaches Mohinder and calls him Jai Wilcox, so I guess I will too. Can I say that listening to Sendhil Ramamurthy speak in his actual American accent is just weird? It was like when I learned that James Marsters was from California.

Wilcox brown-noses Joan about the new location, and Joan is having trouble recalling assigning a desk to an agent who doesn’t work for her. Wilcox explains that he works there now, as a special liaison from DCS. Wilcox is surprised Arthur didn’t tell Joan, what with them being married and all. D’oh! Joan steels her jaw and asks Wilcox just what he’s hoping to accomplish at DPD. Wilcox metaphors that he’s to be seen as a Utility Infielder, to which Joan responds, “So you have a mediocre arm and can bat .230 from either side of the plate?” That doesn’t sound very good to me, but Mr. Workrate would know better than I would. Wilcox says he’s there to support Joan with whatever she needs.

Annie walks in and up to Auggie to talk about Walter, and asks if Auggie’s team could look into the numbers station information. Then Auggie hands Annie everyone’s lunch order. Rookies make the food runs, something Wilcox recalls smarmily as he interjects himself into the conversation. There is a lot of tension between Wilcox and Auggie. Annie, Jai; Jai, Annie. There’s tension there, too, but it’s different. Auggie exposits that Jai attended Yale, works for Arthur Campbell, and is son to Henry Wilcox – nay, THE Henry Wilcox – a man who once held Arthur’s job. Wilcox Lumberghs that Annie is really making a name for herself up on the 7th floor, which has Auggie asking what Wilcox is doing down off the perch anyway, and Wilcox says he works for DPD now, and Joan is thrilled. Auggie’s all suuuuuure she is. Wilcox departs, and Auggie asks Annie if Wilcox is hot. Annie lies and says no, and Auggie calls bullshit and sends her off to fetch the lunches. I’ll take a roast beef on rye, light mustard, so long as you’re going, okay? Annie?

Auggie and another tech are fiddling with a receiver, searching for the frequency from the info Walter provided. After dialing in the signal, Auggie Casey Kasems that “this long-distance dedication goes out to Stu.” The other tech smiles at this, so he must be Stu. They hear a sound like someone’s playing a recorder, or bashing away at a Fisher-Price piano, and Stu’s all WTF? Auggie explains that whoever is using the frequency will just play anything to retain its use, and to prevent bandwidth hijacking. Suddenly, a female voice comes on their receiver, and recites a series of numbers. Doesn’t that mean that the Smoke Monster is about to attack? Auggie listens long enough to determine that the number aren’t random, but rather a complex cyclic permutation. A sophisticated encryption. A smooth criminal. Okay, maybe not that last one, but that would have been the perfect way to work “Annie, are you okay?” into the script later.

Writing supervisor? Call Me. I’ve got lots of ideas.

Stu speaks for the rest of us when he asks Auggie what that means. Auggie says that Walter may have uncovered the real deal. Dun DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUN.

Annie is driving somewhere. Her cell phone rings and she answers, but she’s not using a hands free device. That’s illegal in DC now, Newbie. Just because you’re CIA doesn’t mean you’re above the law. Except that you probably are. Also, why are you using a Motorola flip phone from a hundred years ago? THAT’S likely why she doesn’t have a Bluetooth. Anyway, the operator says that a Helen Newman is calling, and Annie says to put it through. We never got The Mole’s name before, so here it is now. Helen is also not using a hands-free device to tell Annie that they’re being followed. Annie says to come back, and Helen says that it was when they left Langley that they began to be followed. See? I told you all last week…the CIA needs to up the mobile surveillance training STAT. Helen dramas that she never should have said anything and hangs up on Annie. Annie then gets a call from Auggie telling her that he thinks Walter’s onto something. Annie’s all tell me something I don’t know.

DPD. Joan is giving us the ball: Helen and Walter? MIA, with an APB out for their location. The transmission Walter found? Originating out of Belfast – yet my cell service goes out during high winds? – so Joan is having the UK Desk looped in. Joan then passes the ball to the UK Desk, who says that the signal and related whatever appear to be the work of the Irish Republican Army. Wilcox is all, 1987 called and it wants its Bad Guy back, but no one is amused. Joan smacks him down by stating that despite all of the various agreements and accords, the IRA has been actively recruiting and planning mayhem and destruction anyway. UK Desk says that they coordinated with MI-6 and they think that the signal was intended for a Michael Cahill, who is a known bad person who liked to plant bombs during Lent, which Joan says they are now 20 days into.

UK Desk did not give up exposition for Lent, so he continues on. Cahill went to prison in 1995 and was released six months ago. Tired of the thug life, Cahill is intending to move to America and start over. Wilcox wonders how Cahill even got a Visa. Joan thinks that sounds like an ICE problem, and shuts Wilcox down again. Awesome. I love Joan so much right now. Joan says Auggie will continue to monitor the signal, and UK Desk adds that he’ll work out the details with MI-6 while Annie is to go check out Helen and Walter’s apartment and try to find recordings and/or anything else that might be helpful.

Annie is on it, but UK Desk stops to hand her the Protocol, telling her that she’ll meet her MI-6 counterpart at 5pm. The Protocol is the script they’ll use to authenticate one another. Joan looks down on Annie – because Joan’s up on a riser – and snots that Annie’s not going alone.

Cut to Stu rolling a hand cart down the hallway, transporting something that looks like the love child between a 1960’s typewriter and an internal combustion engine. Annie spots it and comments on how Old School it looks. Auggie says he’s bringing the machine out of mothballs because it was once used to decode Russian spy code during the Cold War. Google it, kids. Auggie says that whoever is sending out the signal has gone Analog in a Digital world. Annie’s pretty sure that computers can handle the job anyway, but Auggie wants to use “Big Bertha” to see if the numbers station is using a more archaic sequencing, and he could really use Walter’s tapes.

Joan interrupts Arthur during a meeting, and really wants to know what Arthur’s up to planting Wilcox in her department. Arthur is upset that his meeting with Finnish Intelligence isn’t Finnished yet, and Joan snarks about the Finns even having any. I hope for her sake this show never airs in Helsinki. Arthur wonders if he missed a therapy appointment, and says that he thought Joan would appreciate someone like Wilcox on her team. Joan thinks Wilcox is there to spy on Annie, which Arthur clumsily denies. Joan then assumes Wilcox is there to spy on her instead. Arthur says that with Conrad gone (I guess Eric Lively booked another gig before the show got picked up) Wilcox is now a key part of the “Transparency Initiative.” That sounds like the title of an event comic from Marvel, doesn’t it? Joan says that the transparency should work both ways and walks away.

Farmer’s Market. Annie is being told by Auggie to follow the protocol exactly, even if it tells her to wear a polka dot bikini. We get a look at the authentication script, and I’m sad to report that it does not tell her to do that. Annie spies her contact, a square-jawed man who isn’t in a suit like the protocol says he would be. Annie walks up to MI-Sex (my wife’s words) and they authenticate each other. No, not like that. Pervs. They play out the script, like good acto- um, Agents.

As Annie and MI-Sex drive away from the market, they pass a banner on the street that says “live with culture.ca” on it. Oops! The show films in Toronto, you see. Sloppy, show.

MI-Sex introduces himself as James Elliott so I can stop calling him MI-Sex, and breaks the ice by complaining about the boring protocols. Annie tells Elliott that he was her first, and Elliott remarks about her age and field experience, saying that it’s a good ten years before MI-6 agents are even let out from behind their desks. Then he rags on her old school cell phone, and Annie explains that by the time the CIA fully vets any tech it is already five years too old, citing “Encryption Through Obsolescence.” This show is really not making me feel comfortable about the capability of our intelligence community. Elliott flashes his fancy newer phone just because he can.

Kensington Place. Annie and Elliott decide on Yuppie Couple Visiting Friends as their cover, and head into the apartment building. Once Elliott picks the lock – and gives Annie a run down on the type of lock he just picked – they enter the apartment. There’s mail on the floor inside the door, so no one has been there in a day or so. While looking around the apartment, Annie notes the collection of spy novels. Elliott likes the old novels as well, since they were less about flash and gadgets, and more about The Spy Life. Annie says that it’s all about wearing trench coats and smoking cigarettes underneath lamp posts? Not anymore, Elliott responds, showing off the nicotine patch on his arm. Annie congratulates him, and he says he’s “half way there.” Remember that.

In Walter’s room they find a treasure trove of tech, old and new. I’m pretty sure Walter’s dad is David Lightman. If you don’t know who that is we can’t be friends anymore. They find all kinds of recordings, but nothing past last week, so Annie figures Walter has the new tapes with him. Elliott leaves to check out the rest of the apartment, while Annie explores the Walter’s War Room.

Just then, the doorbell rings. Annie calls for Elliott, but he doesn’t respond. The doorbell rings again, and Annie checks the peephole just in time for the guy in the hall to kick the door right into her face. OW! That’s going to leave a mark for sure. Annie and Doorbell Guy fight it out all over the living room, and just as DG is about to get the best of Annie, Elliott shoots DG in the head. This is starting to become habit with you, isn’t it Annie?

Elliott searches DG’s body, but finds no identification. He says they should leave, and Annie goes back to Walter’s room to grab the hard drive out of Walter’s computer, knocking over some radio tubes in the process. They spark and smoke when they break. Remember that.

DPD. Joan is being informed that the Bethesda authorities are getting calls about shots fired where Annie and Elliott are. Joan bitches about response times, wishing the Newmans lived in DC where the cops are slower. Sadly, it’s true.

Annie and Elliott are rushing down a back stairwell, and when they reach the lobby of the building it is swarming with local LEOs. They straighten up and try to walk out, but are stopped by a uniform. They are saved by a detective who seems to have gotten a heads-up about who they are, and are free to go. Whew!

In the car, Annie is a little shaken up now that it’s certain that Walter is being hunted. Elliott says that the IRA is nothing if not “dogged.” Annie asks how Elliott can stay so calm when he’s just killed someone, and Elliott says that he’s “not calm; focused.” It should also be noted here that they have stopped in traffic in Dupont Circle (or the Toronto equivalent), and if this really were Washington DC they’ve have been hit by several cars by now, and offered sex and drugs from the local parks department volunteers. Elliott says that the old spy novels have one thing right, and that having a family is all it takes to be able to live both a normal life and a spy life. She wants to lead the Glamorous Life. She don’t need a man’s touch. Not really. I’ve just been listening to a lot of R&B lately. Annie asks if family is worth it, and Elliott says he wouldn’t know. Elliott then gets out of the car.

Annie pulls into the driveway at home, and sadly watches Danielle and the Nameless Nieces playing board game through the window before going into her quarters for the night.

Joan and Arthur are out for dinner. They bicker some more over Wilcox until Arthur pulls rank and tells Joan to suck it up. The waiter takes their order. Joan will have the salmon, while Arthur will have the bone-in rib eye, rare. I’ll have what he’s having, please. Joan says that there is always at least one constant with them, and that’s the rib eye steak.

When Arthur was married, and they were seeing each other, he’d order that. (This goes a long way towards explaining Joan’s paranoia that Arthur is cheating on her, seeing as how she used to be The Other Woman.) When they were courting, he’d order that. Now they’re in this weird place, but he still orders that. Arthur says that in a job full of double-speak and misdirection, here’s a truth: He wants it to work with Joan. He hits Joan with the Eyebrows of Love, and they start getting all schmoopy.

The next morning, Annie’s getting dressed and is sporting some serious torso bruises. I’m sure that tight blouse isn’t helping those to heal. Danielle comes in, saying that she and the Nameless Nieces really missed Annie at Game Night. Annie says she’s not sure she can sign The Will, and Danielle gets understandably bitchy about it, saying that Annie could but simply won’t. Annie’s all don’t judge me, and Danielle’s all I’ll just house you and entertain you and support you instead. Meow. Danielle stomps out, sorry she ever asked Selfish Annie for anything.

Gym. Annie’s taking it out on the heavy bag. (When I first typed that, it said “Gyn” which would have made this next sequence a whole lot different.) Auggie walks in (see!) and wonders what’s up with Annie’s Aggro. Annie boils it down: Her sister thinks she’s ungrateful, she couldn’t save a single mom and her son, and she keeps getting the shit kicked out of her despite all of her training. Otherwise, it’s all Unicorns and Rainbows.

Auggie says that the Farm Training is good basic stuff, but pretty much useless in the field where fights are much less controlled. He then gets his Mickey on, and we get a mini-training montage as Auggie helps Annie learn some new moves. What we don’t get is a motivational song by Survivor, Kenny Loggins, or even Toronto’s own Geddy Lee. That scene would have been ∞Awesome∞ with a little Rush.

DPD. Joan is looking smart (and freshly laid, I might add) in a hot blue dress, and tells the team that Doorbell Guy has been identified as an IRA member and a known associate of Michael Cahill. Furthermore, Cahill’s on the move. UK Desk adds that Cahill is on a train into DC from Baltimore as they speak. Joan figures that Cahill, who is no fan of mistakes, is coming in to clean up DG’s mess and a joint team of CIA and MI-6 will intercept Cahill at Union Station. Class dismissed.

Annie is worried that they haven’t located Helen and Walter yet, but Joan says that it’s bigger than that now. The hard drive Annie collected was corrupted, Helen’s car was found in long-term parking somewhere, and her cell phone is off. They’re in the wind. Annie’s sure that Walter’s tapes are the key. Wilcox is eavesdropping on the conversation, as Joan wonders if Annie’s worried about Walter because she thinks it’s all still relevant, or just because she feels bad for them. Annie says both. Wilcox doesn’t see the harm in letting Annie follow through, and Joan reluctantly concedes. Joan then turns to Wilcox and explains that She’s the Boss, and he needs to remember that.

Kensington Place. Annie cuts through the crime scene tape and begins to search Helen’s apartment again.

Union Station (only not really). Cahill is off the train and heading for an exit when he’s met by several suits with guns. By the way, this all takes place next to a Scotiabank office, and underneath a Canadian Flag. I think the location scout needs to sack the set dresser, and fast. Those are some seriously glaring mistakes right there.

Back at the apartment, Annie finds a lead in the form of a picture of Helen, Walter, and Walter’s father standing in front of a sign for Spruce Knob Nature Cabins. Annie places a phone call, and when she asks about a mother and son who may have recently checked in, the overly helpful desk clerk informs Annie that “they weren’t taking any calls.” Bingo! I made enough of those kinds of pretense phone calls in my career as a Private Investigator to know that, sad as it seems, it really is just that easy sometimes.

DPD. Joan has Cahill in the interrogation room, asking him what he’s doing in DC. Cahill says he’s there to see an old friend, but Joan needs more than that. Cahill says that he’s put everyone – friends and enemies alike – that he’s moved on. “Oim a peaceful mahn.” Joan then Maddens that Cahill is either lying, or telling the truth. Well, duh.

Spruce Knob. Annie locates Helen’s cabin, and Helen opens the door right away when Annie knocks. That’s no way to stay alive, Helen. Just saying. She’s relieved to see Annie, though. Annie tells Walter that he was right about everything, and that his tapes are very important to finding out who’s behind it all. Walter is ignoring her, with his nose stuck in the Ludlum book. Annie levels with him. The CIA gets a lot of cranks pulling their chain, they dismissed Walter’s “chatter” too soon, and they’re sorry. Annie’s sorry. Annie tells Walter that this isn’t a novel, and promises that he’ll be safe. Walter finally looks up at Annie.

Outside, Annie sets the tapes on the dashboard and begins to play them over the phone to Auggie, back at DPD. She then LEAVES IT ALL IN THE CAR and goes back into the cabin. Really? That doesn’t strike me as secure at all. Auggie tells Stu to crank up Big Bertha, and they get to work.

Annie’s speaking with Helen over a campfire. Annie is asking about how it is taking care of Walter, and Helen says that “When it comes to family, you do what you have to do.” Helen also says that she’s glad someone is taking it all seriously, because they contacted everybody, including British Intelligence. A light bulb goes off in Annie’s head, and she goes back to the car to talk to Auggie.

Annie wants to know what the CIA knows about James Elliott. Elliott told her he hadn’t seen a file on Walter, but if Helen contacted MI-6 then there would have been one. Annie also mentions Elliott’s nicotine patch and his “half way there” comment, and putting that with the fact that they are 20 days into Lent, and that Elliott’s file listed him as Anglican. Auggie still thinks it’s all still coincidental, but then Annie flashes back to when Elliott was making fun of her phone. Sure enough, she finds a bug. As if on cue, Elliott and some Henchmen arrive.

There’s where Auggie’s Michael Jackson call-back would have gone, in case you were still wondering.

Inside the cabin Annie is rounding up Helen and Walter, and spots some more radio tubes like the ones in the apartment. Annie gets an idea. Annie disconnects the gas line from the oven and sets up the radio tubes near the front door. Annie tells Helen and Walter to get out, and they leave through the hatch in the floor, so they can escape under the cabin. Annie stuff towels under the front door so the Henchmen don’t smell the gas, and follows Helen and Walter out through the hatch.

Sure enough, when the Henchmen go through the front door the tubes fall and break, causing sparks that blow up the cabin. Bye Bye, Henchmen. Elliott was standing back a ways, because he’s smart like that. He spots Helen, Walter, and Annie running away and opens fire on them. Annie sneaks up on Elliott, and they duke it out. Annie’s new hand-to-hand skills give her the advantage (this time), and she finishes Elliott off, first with the pepper spray she was given the other day, and then by bashing him in the noggin with a big rock.

As the scene is being cleared, Auggie informs Annie that the tapes were all they needed. Elliott is a double agent for the IRA, and they were planning the bombing of a British bank in DC. Elliott set it all up to look like it was Cahill behind it.

Annie then goes to the black and white where Elliott has been cuffed and stuffed. She wants to know if it everything he told her was a lie, including what he said about family being important. He says that “it was the only true thing [he] told [her].”

DPD. Joan releases Cahill. Cahill comments that you can never really escape your past, and Joan tells him to “look forward.”

In Arthur’s office, he’s asking Wilcox about Annie. Wilcox says Annie is smart and intuitive, while Arthur says that with Ben Mercer out there, Annie is one of the few things that will get the Agency anywhere near him. He instructs Wilcox to stay as close to Annie as he can get. I think one of his eyebrows even winked right there. Wilcox brings up Joan’s objections to this arrangement, and Arthur alpha males that Joan is his problem, not Wilcox’s.

Outside the DPD office, A&A are saying goodbye to Walter. Auggie presents Walter with a set of headphones just like his. Helen is grateful for everything and everybody.

Home. Annie is nuking what looks like leftover lasagna when Danielle walks into the kitchen. Danielle says that Annie is an amazing Aunt, the Nameless Nieces love her, and that she doesn’t need a piece of paper to know that Annie will be there for them. Annie just smiles and hands Danielle the signed papers, which she filled out 20 minutes ago. Annie says that she’ll absolutely step up, because “When it comes to family, you do what you have to do.” Danielle’s jokingly peeved that Annie let her go through that whole speech, and Annie winkingly says that it was very convincing. The sisters hug it out, and then each grab a fork and dig into the leftovers.

NEXT WEEK: Annie’s has her first foreign op, someone can’t keep his hand off her ass, and the usual hijinks. Y’all come back, now!