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'In Plain Sight': Who Can You Trust?
I've said this before, but after this week, it bears repeating: In Plain Sight is getting better and better, and more and more I look forward to seeing what happens. When they laid out the premise for this week's episode, I was dubious, but in the end they pulled it off believably (or as much as possible, since I'm sure I was suspending disbelief).
And with that, let's go to the tape. We open in San Francisco a couple of months ago, watching con man Sergei on the phone, talking a Russian woman out of $5,000 for the fictitious Veterans of Afghan War Foundation -- which ultimately funds his boss' house in Carmel. Sergei gets busted by his co-worker/undercover agent, and goes into the program. Now in present day, Serge -- who prefers to be called Serge, thanks -- is flirting hilariously with Mary. "Her words say nyet, but her eyes say maybe not nyet," he tells Marshall, who assures Serge that Mary would "use him like a swizzle stick."
Back at Mary's house, Brandi's hurriedly packing, trying to make a flight back to New Jersey and Chuck -- and manages to spill some of the drugs from the Bad Suitcase onto the rug. Methinks that'll be back soon. On the way to the airport, she spouts some stuff from The Secret to Mary, as Big Sis tries to make Brandi see that Chuck's not her only option. After she's dropped off, Brandi waits until Mary's out of sight, then catches a cab to a seedy motel.
Meanwhile, Mary and Marshall are on their way to see Tascha (Angela Sarafyan), Mary's Russian bookkeeper witness from the premiere who wanted breast augmentation surgery. Tascha wants Mary to meet her new boyfriend, with whom she's in a clinch. You guessed it: Prince Charming is Serge. By the time Mary and Marshall get to her door -- they're late -- he's gone. But the debate begins: how do they handle this? How much have Tascha and Serge told each other? Should they separate them?
Tascha tells Mary and Marshall that they met through a dating service, and assures them that she's stuck to her story. She has switched jobs -- no longer a bookkeeper, she's now at Headlights (like Hooters, but klassy with a capital K), where she has insurance, a 401(k), and makes enough to get a 6% money market account. "Thanks to you helping me get new breasts, I've become everything you wished for me to be," she tells Mary. Well, there's the American Dream come true, no?
Mary calls Stan to fill him in (two weeks in a row where Stan gets to do something? Cool!), and have him decide whether or not they should be separated. They go to see Serge, and while they're there, Tascha comes over. Their presence inadvertently outs them to one other, and they're relieved -- to Mary's chagrin. Something smells wrong about this. Mary has a serious conversation with Tascha about the dangers and the specifics of the rules and their situation. Marshall talks to Serge about it while playing a road racing video game. I love Marshall, but in this instance -- and I say this affectionately because I love dudes too -- he's such a dude.
In then end, Tascha says she'll leave the program before she leaves Serge. Mary advocates to Stan that they separate the pair, but Stan says he'll let them stay together. And while all of this is going down, Mary plugs a flash drive into Serge's computer, trying to figure out what he's up to. Leaping over the line here, Mary. Marshall, unsurprisingly, freaks out when he finds out she invaded his witness' privacy, and both he and Stan say she got what she deserved when the encrypted files blow up her computer.
Back at the skeevy motel, Brandi's talking to Chuck, who walks her through how she'll meet with their connection and sell the ginormous stockpile of drugs she's been keeping in the suitcase. Brandi, by the way, seems at some point to have suddenly gotten Ellen Pompeo skinny. Brandi ends up meeting with a guy named Russell and his skeezy girlfriend in their room. And she begins to freak out -- what am I doing here? Taking a breather in the bathroom, she hears a noise from the shower -- and finds a very adorable, very quiet baby in the bathtub.
Determined to figure out what Serge's deal is, Mary goes to the dating service through which he and Tascha met. She finds out that after Tascha he's dated several other women, and goes to Tascha to tell her. Tascha forgives Serge the loser. Back at the office, a dejected Mary tells Marshall she's giving up -- you can't make people make the right choices, despite how hard she's fought to help. Marshall, who'd so furiously defended his witness' right to privacy earlier, turns out to have sent the flash drive to IT, which was able to recover a list of web sites that Serge had visited -- they think he's running an internet business. And, bingo -- sexyserge.com yields some, ahem, live action, starring Tascha. "I love you like an $8 whore," Mary tells Marshall. Alrighty.
The next day, Brandi goes back to skeevy Russell and his skeevy girlfriend in the skeevy motel room -- and goes to see the baby in the bathroom while they're waiting for the dealer to show up. It's an incredibly touching scene, in which Brandi gives this very sweet baby -- seriously, how did they keep this baby so quiet? -- her precious teddy bear, Biscuit, which Mary gave her when she was 5 to protect her from the monsters under her bed. "And he's really good at his job," Brandi tells the baby. Crying, she puts the bear in the tub with the little one.
Mary and Marshall go to see Tascha to tell her about Serge's web site venture, and interrupts them in a private moment. Poor Tasha is devastated. "How can anyone ever trust anyone with their heart?" she asks Mary, tears streaming down her face. Now she'll be relocated and have a chance to start over. Sarafyan brings the pathos in this scene, but doesn't overdo it. She turns a witness who you think was a bimbo because of the surgery request into someone who is sympathetic and a genuine innocent. You can't help but root for her.
And she's not the only one. Next thing you know, we're watching a police/ATF bust in the skeevy motel room. The cops haul out Russell and his girlfriend. And then an officer brings out the baby, and Biscuit. Brandi's watching from a taxi across the street -- she's the one who dropped the dime. Her conscious is resurfacing, it seems -- she couldn't go through with what Chuck wanted her to do. She's upset, she's confused, she's trying to do the right thing, and she's alone. And of course, she turns up at Raph's apartment. After the scene with Tascha, Mary, thinking through her own demons, heads over to Raph's, and uses her key to get in. And finds Raph on the couch. With Brandi asleep next to him. Mary turns on her heel and stalks out.
What did you think? Are you still wishing, like me, that Marshall had more to do? Did you buy this storyline? And based on the preview of next week's episode, do you share the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach?
While I agree In Plain Sight has hit its stride, the overall quality is still not on par with some of the other summer dramas. The writing still needs polishing (maybe in season two) and some of the shows finer details and continuity seem to be overlooked or ignored, as they have all season.
A few examples:
I realize this is only TV, but should two highly trained, professional U.S. Marshal’s behave like 5-year-olds (Stan’s description) when they are in a disagreement over an issue as minor as what is on a witness’s computer? After all, they both work for the same agency.
Why does Mary just leave when she enters Raphael’s apartment and sees her sister? Wouldn’t her curious, investigative, confrontational nature take over and want to know why she didn’t get on the plane and what she’s doing hanging with Raphael?
Unless she was quoting something, Mary's ‘lesson’ voiceover at the end of this episode sounded like the actress just read the lines off a piece of paper. It was a flat, completely unemotional reading and really took me by surprise that I had to listen to it twice. If you have the episode saved, go back and listen to it again.
I think it was overly obvious from the very first episode that the massive amount of cocaine stashed in Brandi’s suitcase was eventually going to end up playing a major part in the show. In the preview for next week, it appears to put Mary in danger.
On the plus side, it’s good to see actor Mark Sheppard, even in such a small role (the weird drug connection guy). He’s appeared on a lot of shows (Firefly, CSI, 24, Medium, Bionic Women, Battlestar Galactica, etc.). Someday I’d like to see him in a good series as a regular cast member.
While I agree “In Plain Sight” has hit its stride, the overall quality is still not on par with some of the other summer dramas. The writing still needs polishing (maybe in season two) and some of the shows finer details and continuity seem to be overlooked or ignored, as they have all season.
A few examples:
I realize this is only TV, but should two highly trained, professional U.S. Marshal’s behave like 5-year-olds (Stan’s description) when they are in a disagreement over an issue as minor as what is on a witness’s computer? After all, they both work for the same agency.
Why does Mary just leave when she enters Raphael’s apartment and sees her sister? Wouldn’t her curious, investigative, confrontational nature take over and want to know why she didn’t get on the plane and what she’s doing hanging with Raphael?
Unless she was quoting something, Mary's ‘lesson’ voiceover at the end of this episode sounded like the actress just read the lines off a piece of paper. It was a flat, completely unemotional reading and really took me by surprise that I had to listen to it twice. If you have the episode saved, go back and listen to it again.
I think it was overly obvious from the very first episode that the massive amount of cocaine stashed in Brandi’s suitcase was eventually going to end up playing a major part in the show. In the preview for next week, it appears to put Mary in danger.
On the plus side, it’s good to see actor Mark Sheppard, even in such a small role (the weird drug connection guy). He’s appeared on a lot of shows (Firefly, CSI, 24, Medium, Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, etc.). Someday I’d like to see him in a good series as a regular cast member.
Sorry about the double post!
Doug | Aug 4, 2008 1:23:06 AM | #I'm sorry I love the show but really Brandi's storyline is ridiculous! With all the added airport security she was able to bring a suitcase full of nothing but smack through security without anyone noticiing - doesn't coke show up on the security film? And the wheedling Chuck on the phone "Baby, this is going to make us rich" She hasn't got sense enough to realise she's doing all the work? And that horrible sleazy couple with the adorable baby - I thought I'd wandered into a different show one that should have been on the porno channel since the other dim-witted blonde clearly wanted to jump Brandi's bones. and now that Brandi is back with the increasingly knackered coke-filled suitcase laying her head on Raph's accommodating leg, when can we expect sleazoid boyfriend to turn up and injure Raph's other knee whilst grabbing the coke bag?
With all Marshall knows about everything I'm surprised he didn't know about the wireless TV - that seemed out of character for him but then again I suppose he can't know everything.
It's nice to see that Stan developed some guts and over-rode his almost latent feelings for Mary and told Mary off like she deserved.
And I'm tired of shows pulling the woman off when she's giving the sleazebag a well deserved slapping? Mary could at least have let Tascha get a few more hits in before pulling her off!
Solly | Aug 4, 2008 5:21:21 AM | #Brandi didn't go through airport security -- she never got on a plane or even went in; just waited for Mary to leave before getting a cab.
Lisa | Aug 4, 2008 6:15:28 AM | #This show does get better and better. Last night's is a good example. I am delighted the ratings have been so great. Finally Mary McCormack has found
the role, and we love her.
Last night's show was good because Leslie Ann Warren's character wasn't in it.
MGC | Aug 4, 2008 10:07:05 AM | #Didn't Brandy arrive on the series by plane? Mary had Raphael pick her up from the airport.
Solly | Aug 4, 2008 11:45:56 AM | #"Didn't Brandy arrive on the series by plane?"
I was thinking that too. OTOH, given the logistics and expense, I don't suppose every airport has dogs sniffing every bag on every flight. Maybe she was just lucky?
When she came back out of the terminal I thought she was taking a cab to the bus station to avoid security.
The actress playing the Russian witness was pretty damn good, I thought.
Jane | Aug 4, 2008 12:23:50 PM | #I believe Brandi arrived by train in the first episode, not by plane.
MacKenzie | Aug 4, 2008 1:46:33 PM | #oh i'm loving this show even more each week. raph should have immediately said something to mary when she walked in the door. this is on him, including what comes down next week. but boy oh boy i can't wait to see what happens next week. and i'm sorry there are only two episodes left. i've so hooked into this show.
renee | Aug 4, 2008 2:47:08 PM | #
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