'Lie to Me': Military assault, accusations and college basketball bribes

Lie to Me is a brand-new show, but there are so many things it's already doing right. Its characters are smart but by no means perfect -- and their quirks aren't (yet) annoying. The pace is quick and feels tight, but even though it's a procedural the vibe is loose and never anxiety-inducing. It's based in Washington, D.C., but it's finding stories to tell that have nothing to do with politics (aside from the congressman storyline of the debut). And if this week is any indication, those in charge were smart enough to ratchet back a little on the quirks that were great in a pilot but would get old if overused -- the continual exposition and the slo-mo zooming in on the microexpressions that Cal Lightman sees. Bravo.

Spoilers ahead -- and I did wash my hands...

In case you haven't figured it out, Cal's a little eccentric -- and he can't resist an opportunity to show someone how wrong they are. Which he does with an ostrich egg while prove a point to the Homeland Security officials who are super-psyched about their flashy new hand-held polygraph machines. You guessed it: if you're anxious, the egg breaks. Let's just say I'm glad I don't have to clean ostrich yolk off my shoes.

One of this week's big cases involves a female Army specialist who's served in Afghanistan accusing her platoon leader of rape. Cal and Ria head to Ft. Meade to interview the soldier in question, Sheila Lake. The alleged perp is not being court martialed yet -- his leadership on the Pakistani border is needed, the CO says, and if they start proceedings he'll be off the line for six months. Then I'm afraid we can't help you, Cal tells him. Why waste taxpayers' money if the truth isn't what you're after? Right on, Cal. The CO assures him he takes the accusation seriously, but if he's going to pull this guy off the line, he needs to know whether Lake is telling the truth.

The secondary case is about whether Earl White, a 6'5" basketball player who's been named national high school player of the year for the last three years has taken a bribe from a booster at George Washington Carver University. The kid lost his mom, is raising his younger brother alone, and is planning to go pro in the spring. This case is Gillian's -- she takes Eli along for the ride -- and the good Doctor immediately proves herself to be basketball obsessed, rattling off statistics with the same speed as my college-basketball-loving husband. The college athletic association wants to know whether they have a new player-taking-bribes problem on their hands. Eli's fantastic, calling the bluff of the league guy who's trying to sell the idea that forcing players to go to college for a year is more for their benefit than for the colleges.

Back at Ft. Meade, Cal and Ria interview Lake, trying to get a sense of whether her story's real. She describes some harassing behaviors from the guys in the platoon -- there are four women and 30 men -- and then relays the story of her attack by Sgt. Scott, her platoon leader. In their interview with Scott, Ria goes a little bad cop, taking a tough tone as she tries to suss out whether he's telling the truth about attacking Lake. As he's leaving Cal uses one of his hands-laying-on tactics, like he did with the principal last week. He puts his hand on Scott's arm -- that's quite a bicep you've got there (he actually touched the tricep, but whatever), he says. You must love the weight room. Then he asks the guy out for a drink. Scott keeps his cool and looks puzzled -- isn't this a little inappropriate? he asks. The smile on Gillian's face pretty much says "Here we go again" -- I'm going to like seeing what Cal comes up with on this front week to week. The point: if Scott fit the profile of a power-assertive rapist, he'd have been disgusted by the come-on. There was no "deception leakage" (I'm going to try to use that term in a sentence as often as possible.), though he was certainly angry about the rape accusation, which could actually point to his innocence.

As they watch the tape of Lake's interview, they notice that she's exhibiting none of the emotions a rape victim typically displays when recounting her story -- no shame, no fear. She's lying. And Ria's back is up because Cal's suggesting that her prediliction toward believing the woman is clouding how she sees the case.

Meanwhile, Gillian and Eli meet with the rich booster who's suspected of bribing White. They use a handy-dandy gizmo to analyze how his voice changes when he's experiencing anxiety -- and it's all around the questions about the bribe. But it doesn't make sense -- why would White take a bribe if he's a year away from a fat NBA payoff? Looking at the way he juts his chin when talking about the pros (indicating anger) and the way he grimaces when he catches the ball (pain), they realize that a big NBA career isn't in White's future. He's got arthritis. No one will take him, so of course he took the bribe, he tells Gillian. And his exposure means he loses his scholarship and is suspended from school. But Gillian's sympathetic; White did well on his economics midterm, and he really wants a degree. So she convinced Cal to put their fee into a trust that White can use for college. It's an interesting twist: to actually make things better for a kid about to be incredibly embittered by the system. I'm not sure how well that would fly in terms of professional ethics, but I like it anyway.

After he sees a harassment report filed anonymously against Scott, accusing him of surprising women in the showers and entering barracks unannounced, Cal brings in Lake's three platoon mates. He wants to interview them individually, and of course as he leaves the room he leaves Lake's interview tape up on the screen, and captures the other women watching it on a speaker phone/camera. Which I really hope my bosses don't invest in. Anyway, what he sees: no one's reacting emotionally to Lake's story; they don't believe her. What's more, they all show reactions of disgust when asked about Scott. Which makes sense when it turns out that he's really a bad guy, and has a rap sheet to prove it. A felon, he's got a record on possession, arson (which has a high corrollary with rape) and assault and battery. Never mind that people with a record aren't supposed to be eligible for Army service, unless they're granted a moral waiver.

The point is, Lake's lying. And making a false accusation against your sergeant is a crime, so she's arrested. But as she's being hauled away she protests that she did the right thing, and was trying to protect her platoon. which leads Cal to wonder: Would you lie to right a wrong? What if Lake lied about being the victim, but not about the crime? There's one woman who used to be in her platoon, Rebecca Metts, who went AWOL four months ago after her transfer request was denied. And her handwriting matches that on the anonymous harassment report. Ding! Cal and Ria end up smoking Rebecca out at her grandfather's house in Baltimore, and she tells them her story. Scott had never been a problem in the States, but the assaults started in Afghanistan, and continued nightly for months. She couldn't protest; he was her platoon leader, and if she refused, he'd make her drive in the dangerous lead position of the convoy. She can't bring herself to testify, so Cal brings in the MPs to haul her off to jail.

At the base, Rebecca's a wreck, convinced that no one will believe her. Scott offers to plead guilty to fraternization, saying that they had a consensual relationship -- and offers photos of them smiling together as proof. Rebecca looks terrified in the pictures, though. And Cal comes up with a plan to make it clear that she's telling the truth. Knowing how much stock people (wrongly) put in polygraph tests, Cal makes sure Rebecca's hooked up and interviewed, while Scott, his lawyer and the CO watch from the other room. She says that she did refuse him once, and that Scott forced her to drive lead in the convoy for a week. Which is a lie, and Scott vigorously protests -- she never had to drive lead while they were together, he says. So, while her safety was in your charge, you traded it for sex, Cal responds. And the court martial begins. How'd she beat the polygraph? Ria wonders later. Valium -- takes the edge off. Keep that one in your mental file, kiddies.

In the midst of the two cases, we've got a bit of an HR issue -- and surprisingly (to me, anyway) it has nothing to do with Eli's "radical honesty." Cal hasn't warmed yet to Ria, the "natural" whom they hired away from the TSA last week. Gillian's encouraging him to take her under his wing and work with her, teach her what she doesn't know. But that'd be too easy. Cal gives her a bit of a hard time in the same way that your high school English teacher who thought you weren't living up to your potential did. He's skeptical of naturals, because they're all instinct and no science. But she's got Gillian's support and encouragement, and she's thick-skinned enough to tough it out. It also makes for a nice moment between Ria and Eli, as he explains to her that of course Lightman would be a little put off by her -- she's a natural at what he's spent two decades of his life studying. She's not educated, and since she hasn't been required to focus on verbal skills, she hones in on body language.

Ria's smart enough to give back a little bit of her own -- though sometimes it's unintentional through her own mircoexpressions. She's not trained on the science, but she's not wrong either, she tells Cal. "When you don't know the science, you don't see the whole picture -- and people can get hurt," he tells her. She picks up on a gesture of shame as he talks about people getting hurt, but (I'm thinking this will become a pattern) he won't discuss it and walks out, keeping his own counsel on his own terms.

What did you think? Would you lie to right a wrong? Was Rebecca's polygraph -- and Cal's role in it -- justified?

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon