Covert Affairs' Liane Balaban: Make-Out Scene with Chris Gorham Was "Pretty Cool"

Playing a Russian computer hacker on Covert Affairs was "awesome" enough for Liane Balaban. But getting to make out with Christopher Gorham on top of it? "More than I can ask for," she says.
"I can't lie. That was a lot of fun," Balaban tells TVGuide.com. "Doing a romantic scene is just like doing a technical scene, like even when I watch the clip, I see that he was very good about brushing my hair away from my face so the camera can see me. It's not as romantic as it may seem. But still, it was pretty cool to make out in a train car!"

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Fans will get to see the train hook-up on Tuesday's episode, which will focus on Gorham's blind CIA special ops officer Auggie Anderson. Longing to do field work again, Auggie gets his wish when he is assigned to track a computer hacker who shut down Washington's communications system. The hacker turns out to be ex-girlfriend Natasha Petrovna (Balaban), whom he dumped years back."She is the woman scorned. There's anger definitely when they first meet again, but it doesn't stay too long!" Balaban says. "I think in learning more about his situation as the episode unfolds, she begins to understand his motivations. At the time, it was out of left field — so painful because it was so unexplainable."

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Helping Auggie's case is that he's now blind. He still had his sight when they were dating. "She has a line about how it's not fair [because] she's the one who should be mad at him and he comes back with this horrible injury [from the field] that's deserving of so much sympathy," Balaban says. "Obviously she feels bad, but it's one of life's cruel ironies as well."Though Natasha was hurt by Auggie, Balaban doesn't think she staged D.C.'s communications blackout to seek him out again. "Impulsive and hot-blooded" Natasha is more politically motivated. "I think she's someone who speaks truth to power and has always been incredulous of government and authority figures," she says. "Natasha's described as 'chaos in a bottle' by Annie (Piper Perabo). I think that's pretty indicative of who she is. She's also very passionate and has strong convictions about what's right and wrong."

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But is Natasha the right woman for Auggie? Noting that Auggie "gets pretty emotional" when they reconnect, Balaban thinks Natasha is "the one that got away" and "definitely" needs to come back again. Balaban — who will "kick some ass" as a shady suburban housewife in an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles next season — was only attached for one episode and has not yet heard about returning for Season 2."I would love to come back. What a wonderful character to play," she says. "If she comes back, I would like to see Natasha called on as an expert for something. I'd like to see them use her mind. The CIA might need an extra hacker from time to time."Covert Affairs airs Tuesdays at 10/9c.