SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for CIA Season 2, Episode 2.
The second episode of CIA Season 2 is almost completely self-contained. “Dead Drop” is a tongue-in-cheek title for a story that’s really centered on a guest character rather than either of the CBS show’s two leads. And that’s perfectly fine, because what the episode does reveal about ongoing plotlines really isn’t great.
The case (or is that mission?) of the week involves one of Colin Glass’ rivals—because fans just know he’s probably got several—interrupting his meal to ask for his help. Viktor knows he’s been poisoned, and he wants to find justice before his death, in less than 12 hours, In exchange, he’ll help the CIA foil a plot to identify and execute all of the American assets in Russia. The Russians are the most familiar villains in the spy genre, so audiences have an idea of what to expect from that first interaction. Colin and Viktor will end up on the same page while chasing the truly bad Russians, and then Viktor will die tragically just before the episode ends.
The plot moves steadily enough, with the expected banter between Colin and Viktor about their shared history. One wonders how much more mileage CIA can get out of Bill not knowing what’s going on or what’s being talked about; his not having spy expertise is what makes the whole premise of the show work, but eventually his moments of being clueless are going to stop being funny. And it’s not a surprise that the person who poisoned Viktor is someone he knows well; there’s usually a fourth-act twist in many TV dramas these days. The procedural part gets rushed at the end, with Nikki Reynard just being told that the Russians have been put on a plane, but that’s because CIA has to make room for Colin and Viktor’s goodbye scene. Colin takes Viktor to see the cellist he fell in love with play one last time, and Viktor dies just a few moments into her performance. It’s very obvious, but it’s still touching, because so much time has been spent getting to know Viktor (and not really getting to know any of the antagonists) that the audience is sad to see him go.
The real impressive part of “Dead Drop” is that it also lets viewers get to know CIA‘s new addition, Teddy Marsh, who was introduced in the season premiere. Teddy first basically spills the truth to a shopkeeper when she and Gina are dispatched to pick up a viola that’s not a regular Viola; about the only thing she doesn’t say is who she works for. But she comes off much better later on, after volunteering to take the place of a woman the Russians are targeting. Teddy literally fights for her life in the back of their van, and it’s her strangling the driver that gets the van to roll to a stop. It’s nice to see a new character play a significant role early on in the season instead of waiting to find out what they bring to the series.
And it’s a good thing that the episodic plot in CIA Season 2, Episode 2 is well-executed, because the mytharc elements aren’t. “Dead Drop” undoes the sense of progress made in the premiere, because here’s Toni Napier again, and she’s talking to Nikki about “coming back.” One of the strengths of that first episode was that it cleaned the slate for Colin—but apparently that’s not actually the case. This prompts the question: how long are the writers going to hang onto the plotline, especially with the mystery about Bill’s dad and the Felix Vincente chase to also service?
There are two references to Vincente, presumably just to confirm to CIA viewers that the show is going to make an ongoing plotline out of him. And as for Bill, Episode 2 ends with him confessing to Katie that he works for the CIA. This obviously is a huge step for Bill, and also another contrast between him and Colin, since Colin’s love interest last season was kept in the dark for a long time. Yet the scene itself just feels so flat and a little anticlimactic, since the episode ends before Katie does anything more than stare. One can’t help but compare it to early scenes in the great British spy series Spooks (or MI-5 if you watched it in America), where Tom Quinn and his boss Harry Pearce talk about lying to their loved ones. Harry tells Tom in the very first episode that he didn’t inform his wife he was a spy until the day they were married. CIA doesn’t have to go that far with Bill and Katie, but it could do so much more with such an important story beat.
But ultimately, this is Viktor and Colin’s story, with Bill’s decision as the subplot. It may have been more efficient to save the latter for an episode with Bill in the lead, just so this leap of faith for his character wasn’t so much off to the side. And the return of Toni, even if it’s just one scene (two if one counts the photo of her that Colin chooses not to burn), feels like doubling back on something that was already done. Maybe it’ll make more sense as that plot goes on. As it is, “Dead Drop” has a better standalone plot than it does ongoing mystery, which is a little bit ironic for a show that’s supposed to be all about secrets.
CIA airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
