SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for CIA Season 1, Episode 6.

Anyone who’s seen Homeland will appreciate CIA Season 1, Episode 6. The plot of “Pledge of Allegiance” is essentially a smaller-scale version of the original premise of the Showtime drama (and the Israeli series that it was based on). Obviously, the CBS series can’t make its plot as complicated, but it makes up for that with some really fun casting.

“Pledge of Allegiance” begins with a teenager’s abduction in Turkey, and then reveals that Patrick Graham is now part of a jihadi group operating in New York. Once Patrick is taken into custody, the episode swings back and forth to keep viewers guessing whose side he’s really on—exactly like Nick Brody in Homeland. CIA simply doesn’t have enough airtime to fully explore the emotional component of this storyline; mostly, this is about identifying the bad guys and making the arrests.

But because there are some talented actors in the mix, the episode is able to hold viewers’ attention. Lance Daniels, who’s previously appeared on three other Dick Wolf shows, portrays Patrick with the right balance of cynicism and hurt to perplex the audience; the best scenes in the whole hour are the back and forths between Daniels and Necar Zadegan as Nikki Reynard. Chris Bauer (The Wire, For All Mankind) guests as Patrick’s father, political Anthony Graham. Viewers will also recognize the actor playing Anthony’s second wife Kimberly: that’s Kathleen Rose Perkins (Episodes, Dexter: Original Sin). The biggest missed opportunity is that when Kimberly is revealed as the true mastermind, her downfall happens entirely off-screen. Audiences are deprived of Perkins getting her full villain moment, which would have been so much fun to see.

In fact, a fair bit of this episode gets handwaved at the end. Kimberly is arrested off-screen. A fourth-act showdown with some mercenaries is pretty short-lived. Bill Goodman’s concern about how mercenaries found everybody so quickly gets brushed off by Colin Glass and Nikki as just something that happens in the spy game, which feels a little blase—even if that’s basically setup for Bill to have the episode’s final scene with Jubal Valentine. At this point, one wonders how many times CIA is going to ask Jeremy Sisto to come over from FBI just to get mole hunt updates. The first time was neat, but this is starting to become a plot crutch. (At least Jubal has more to do here than Nikki got in this week’s FBI.)

The good news is that the episode is directed by Jon Cassar, who is a bonafide expert at shooting terrorism thrillers; his best-known credit is the years he spent making 24 look like absolute cinema. The scene in which a podium explodes looks great, and Cassar does very well with the last act scenes, considering that they take place largely in the dark, One wonders how much cooler he could’ve made this episode look in the light, or if the final showdown had been extended into a full MacGyver-style kind of action sequence.

“Pledge of Allegiance” may have uneven pacing, but it’s a winner because of the talent packed into it, including Cassar behind the camera. Perkins plays the seemingly perfect wife role to a T and could’ve done even more. Bauer knows the assignment as the gruff political figure. But the episode doesn’t work if the audience doesn’t connect with Daniels, and he delivers. This trio of guest actors overshadows the series regulars. CIA is clearly still trying to find its footing, but it’s got the casting bit nailed perfectly.

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.