SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for CIA Season 1, Episode 5.

If viewers feel like they’ve seen CIA Season 1, Episode 5 before, it’s because they have. “Deep Cover” is basically the CBS drama’s shorter take on The Americans. As the title indicates, it deals with a pair of sleeper agents, but from Iran instead of Russia. And in 42 minutes, CIA is far more limited in its story.

The fact that the antagonist characters are Iranian does make the episode a bit awkward, considering current world events. But purely judging it on the merits, it’s the slowest-moving CIA episode to date until its final act. Despite a lot of things blowing up—including a pre-credits car bomb and a rigged laptop that startles Bill Goodman—the plot proceeds at a workmanlike pace. When Gina says to the group early on that there’s a conspiracy afoot, the audience is already there. Then it’s just Bill and Colin Glass following the procedural steps until they can capture the husband-and-wife sleeper agents.

The fourth act is when there’s much more physical action, and CIA gets more dynamic as a result. Colin gets into a physical brawl with the guy trying to deliver Canadian passports to the two agents, and then creates a massive hostage situation when he goes into a cafe to confront them. The crux of that, though, isn’t anything that either Bill or Colin does—it’s waiting for tech guy Miguel to shut down cell towers back at the CIA office.

The biggest takeaway from “Deep Cover” relates to CIA‘s ongoing mole hunt subplot. FBI recurring character Ian drops by to show Bill some video footage; Bill placed a tracker in the Aston Martin that Colin “borrowed” from Nikki Reynard‘s ex-husband in Episode 2. But instead of trying to fake out viewers with a vague idea that Colin could be the mole, CIA throws shade on Colin’s girlfriend Sarah. It turns out she works for a shady intelligence company.

On one hand, it’s nice that the creative team isn’t setting Colin up as a red herring—because obviously he couldn’t be the mole, given that Tom Ellis is the co-lead of a show that’s already been renewed for Season 2. On the other, Colin’s girlfriend as the mole also runs the risk of undermining his credibility with the audience. If he’s supposed to be an elite spy, what does it say that he can’t recognize when he’s being played? But that’s a question for the future. In the moment, “Deep Cover” is an average episode that fans can mostly forget about. It’s still early enough in the season that the best is yet to come.

CIA airs Mondays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.