selenak

Following reccommendations, I've watched the premiere and second episode of Undercovers, the new show by JJ Abrams (how many projects does he have running right now?), featuring a married pair of agents. One of whom is played by the actress who was Martha Jones' younger sister Tish. So far, it's great fun. The surroundings are familiar Abrams country (especially if you've watched Alias), like a comfortable pair of slippers; the way spy missions are handled, the comic juxtaposition between life and death situation and getting a phonecall from someone from your civilian life (for first season Sydney, this was Francie, for Sam(antha), it’s her sister), the gruff superior (think Terry O’Quinn’s season 2 character, not Sloane), the geeky fanboy agent, the smart ass best friend (hello Weiss, hello, Will). I don’t mean this as a criticism, because it doesn’t feel repetitive in the sense that Abrams just gave the characters other names, on the contrary. He gave each of those familiar tropes new twists, and the result feels like a fresh meal even if the nutriments are already known. (Food metaphors will probably show up often in my reviews, because Our Heroes’ civilian life consists of heading a catering service together.)

Most importantly, there’s our leading couple, Steven and Sam, married since five years and out of the spy business for that long, until the plot device of the pilot means they go active again (without abandoning their civilian life, however). It's still rare for a show to start with their male and female leads married, foregoing the usual UST games, and so far, it's paying of nicely; Sam and Steven do good marital banter, and the actors have chemistry while also selling that these two are comfortable with each other, not a new couple. Meanwhile, Abrams also gets mileage out of fellow agent Leo having worked with both of them but at different times before their marriage and having had a fling with Sam back in the day, and new support guy Hoyt (aka the obligatory babbling geeky character in an Abrams show) having an open fanboy crush on Steven. And when I say crush, I do mean crush. None of which is presented in a gloomy soap operating way, I hasten to add, but in a screwball comedy with spies manner.

Eye candy factor: the wardrobe for spy missions is predictably gorgeous (seriously, it cracks me up that the CIA in Abramsverse obviously has access to the best fashion designers), and while Sam gets her clothes off more often than Steven, she has an equal share of action scenes, so no complaints there.

Lastly: since this is a factor in other reviews: both Sam and Steven (and Sam's sister) are black. The other CIA agents featured so far are white. Bechdel-test related, the show wins because while Sam and her sister have one brief conversaton about Leo, all the other times they've talked about the catering business which the sister is handling when Sam and Steven are away on spy missions.

I'll definitely keep watching.