The CIA operatives on USA's "Covert Affairs" entered controversial "Zero Dark Thirty" territory during last night's episode. Annie (Piper Perabo) returned to Colombia after receiving information that tied Teo (Manolo Cardona) to a bomb conspiracy. While Annie would rather take the route of persuasive, scrutinizing probing, CIA Station Chief Calder Michaels (Hill Harper), prefers the more direct, albeit painful method: torture. Calder proceeded to torture Teo to make him reveal the target of the bomb while Annie looked on. According to Entertainment Weekly, Harper described the scene as their "'Zero Dark Thirty' moment." Harper claimed that the scene is a telling look at the fundamental differences between Annie and Calder.
"Annie and Calder see the world differently," Harper told EW. "Even though they both have the exact same goals - protect our country, serve our government - they have two completely different views about what's the most effective way to do that. He believes that there are bad people in the world that can't be changed, and sometimes you have take drastic measures and/or even eliminate people to make the world safer; she believes that people can be turned and changed, and sometimes it takes a wink and a smile and sometimes it takes giving someone information they didn't know."
Harper reveals that he actually did hit Teo (Cardona) in real life (but did not injure him) to make the torture scene appear more realistic. "At first, we were gonna put a pad on [Cardona's torso], but we couldn't hide a pad because his arms were up above his head, so his shirt pulled up," Harper said. "I mean, I'd really hit him, and after every take, I'd be like, 'Are you okay? Are you okay?' And he'd be like, 'I'm fine, come on, let's do this.'"
The episode also illustrated the tension between Annie and Calder, which many fans dislike because of the budding relationship between Annie and Auggie (Christopher Gorham). Harper is aware of fan discontent via tweets from upset fans. "They're like, 'They finally got together, and it looks like you might be messin' things up!'" Harper said.
Besides the torture scene and relationship between Annie and Calder, the other story arc saw Joan (Kary Matchett) finding incriminating evidence of Senator Pierson, which she used to blackmail her way to the top of the CIA's Domestic Protection Division. However, fans speculate that her personal history may interfere with her new role.
Watch the next episode on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on the USA Network.