‘CIA’ Reveals Colin’s Backstory — Or Does It?

Ahead of the CIA series premiere, showrunner Mike Weiss told TV Insider that Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss are great at playing the CIA intelligence officer who keeps his secrets close and the FBI agent who’s “really good at chipping away and getting him to reveal himself inch by inch.” We’re starting to see that already, especially in the second episode on Monday, March 3 … or are we?

As the new partners head upstate for an op, they must work with a foreign intelligence officer who claims she wants to defect, Mona (Melinda Michael). And it’s through conversations with each other and her that viewers start to learn more about these new partners. Maybe. After all, Weiss also shared, “Colin has a fascinating personal life, but when you meet people that Colin seems to know or that Colin might be involved with, it’s not exactly clear if he’s working an angle or if he’s genuinely a friend, a romantic partner, or what. We’re going to be setting up a couple of incendiary devices over the course of the first few episodes, and they will go off by the end of the first season, I promise.” It seems that the end of “Fatal Defect” may have just set up one of them. Warning: Spoilers for CIA Season 1 Episode 2 ahead!

Mark Schafer/CBS

As the episode begins, Colin joins Bill at the elevator up to the CIA SCIF as the FBI agent is talking to his fiancée, Katie, on the phone about meeting with a realtor. Later, as he ignores a call from her, Bill shares that they’re supposed to go condo hunting this week, and it’s the third time he’s canceled. Colin can’t believe he’s only just learning his partner is engaged. “Maybe if you ever asked me a single personal question,” Bill points out, then asks if Colin’s ever been married. Colin says he hasn’t, adding, “If you have someone you care about, then you have a weakness and weakness gets you killed. But congratulations.”

While they’re lying low at a vacation house belonging to Nikki’s (Necar Zadegan) ex-husband, Colin shares that he grew up in England, his mother died when he was 10, and his dad left “us” three months later. When they get a moment after that, Bill tells him he’s sorry for everything he’s been through. “You have to be a machine in this job,” the CIA case officer says. And so while Bill sees Katie has a reason to make it home or dinner, Colin argues she’s a pressure point, someone who can be used against him. For Bill, that’s “a lonely way to live,” but Colin would rather that than be compromised.

Colin then opens up a bit more to Mona’s son as he’s threatening to blow up a building. He knows that those who recruited him told him his mother abandoned him, picked at that wound because his people did the same to him when he was recruited. He says his mom died when he was 12, and his dad walked out three months later without leaving a note. They pushed on that bruise and told him he didn’t need a family, that they were his family.

But how true was that? As Bill notes, he gave two different ages to Mona and her son for his mother’s death. When he asks if any of it was true, Colin asks if it matters.

At the end of the day, Bill heads home only to find Katie’s not there. She did leave a note, however: “Saw some good places today XO.”

We also see Colin go home … to a house in the suburbs! Furthermore, there’s a woman and a child, Max, inside, both happy to see him as he joins them for dinner. He kisses the top of Max’s head, kisses the woman — she’s not wearing a ring, so their exact relationship status is unknown — and tells them he missed them. Who are they to him? Is Max Colin’s son? Is this real or part of an assignment? With a kid involved, we’d hope it’s not the latter…

What’s your theory about that last scene? How truthful do you think Colin is about his backstory in this episode? Let us know in the comments section below.

CIA, Mondays, 10/9c, CBS