In the latest episode of State of Affairs, stolen United States’ secrets are held on a stranded Russian submarine. While Charlie Tucker (Katherine Heigl) receives a telling image, President Constance Payton (Alfre Woodard) chooses a new director for the CIA.

When the episode opens, we see that a Russian submarine has sunk to the bottom of the sea, as it disconnected from the Russian ship that it was tethered to. Meanwhile, Charlie shares dinner with President Payton and her husband, Marshall Payton (Courtney B. Vance). Charlie says she hopes she doesn’t lose the feeling that her fiancé gave her. Meanwhile, the President wants justice, while Marshall just wants the truth. Charlie promises to fulfill both of their wishes. After leaving, a drunk driving Charlie receives an incriminating picture on her phone, which shows the night of Aaron’s murder.

Meanwhile, Anatoly Simonov (Alon Aboutboul) kills the submarine’s drivers. Anatoly makes contact with the CIA using the nickname, Nightfall, as it is revealed that he has been working with them for a long time. When the show returns, it is revealed that the Russians were attempting to tap into American fiber optics. Charlie speaks with Anatoly and attempts to discover his motives. Anatoly reveals that the team collect six months of recordings from the submarine, but the Russians don’t know about the storm.

It is revealed that the intel stolen included war plans and weapons specs. Of course, worse of all, the stolen intel also included information on all of the American assets throughout the world. When the show returns, Charlie provides the President with all of the information regarding Nightfall and the submarine. The President questions Charlie about Omar Fatah, but Charlie cannot provide her with any new information.

Nick pays a visit to Charlie. Again, he insists he is not behind the photo. Nick (Chris McKenna) insists she should tell the president about Fatah. Charlie requests Nick’s help discovering who sent the picture.
Meanwhile, the agents discuss submarines and liquor stores. Charlie says she wants to discover the truth about Aaron’s murder directly from Fatah and will put a bullet in his head afterwards.

Meanwhile, Maureen (Sheila Vand) questions Charlie about Nick and has some naught words about him. Garret Hansen (Matthew Bridges) tells Charlie that Nightfall’s handler is a deadman. Charlie makes contact with Anatoly and tells him that her father works with Nightfall’s handler. Nightfall seems to have heard all about Charlie and even claims to have met her once.

While Anatoly mentions the temperature is dropping, Charlie says help is on the way, as Russians begin knocking on the door. Missiles are headed towards the submarine. The President and Charlie discuss lying Russians. The president says she is announcing a new CIA director today. She tells Charlie the new director is going to be Raymond Navaro (Nestor Carbonell), the former Governor of Wyoming. Charlie continues trying to track down the sender of the picture.

Meanwhile, Charlie is introduced to Raymond. The President tells Charlie they’re not going to make it in time and the Russians have threatened to fire, if the Americans attempt to interfere. Charlie is told to watch herself and be cautious with Nick.

Afterwards, Charlie requests something she can use to get Anatoly to help them, which turns out to be his need for self-worth. Charlie tells Anatoly that he has been chosen by the President for a very important task. She also uses her childhood encounter with Anatoly to her advantages, by saying her father told him Anatoly was a hero. At this point, Anatoly is prepared to accept Charlie’s orders and requests a message be sent to his daughter.

Maureen tells Charlie she cannot play the records and Charlie agrees. Charlie listens to the recording, as she watches Sabrina make out with her boyfriend. Afterwards, Maureen and Charlie have dinner. Charlie reveals that she lied about the whole story she told Anatoly. After Maureen suggests Anatoly died a hero, Charlie ays he didn’t and instead died a spy.

Review


I was really hoping State of Affairs would get better. At the beginning of the episode, the show seemed to have slowed a notch, which seemed promising, but soon things began to spiral out of control. Charlie gets drunk, drives and heads to work. Then, her blatant disregard for Anatoly was unbearable. Not to mention, the overacting from Katherine Heigl. Charlie Tucker is perhaps the most unlikeable lead in any new television show.

However, Alon Aboutboul was actually intriguing, as Anatoly Simonov. He played the role perfectly and brought some reasonable emotions to the show. The problem? He is now dead and the show goes back to no interesting characters. Hopefully Alon will find a better role elsewhere. His performance elevated the show slightly, but not enough to distract from the impossible plot and hideous acting from Heigl. For that, the episode deserves a 6 out of 10 and nothing more.