'In Plain Sight': Brandi goes to the slammer

I've said it before, and it bears repeating: If you find yourself in trouble, you want Mary Shannon on your side. And on this week's "In Plain Sight," trouble abounds -- mostly for Brandi, who finds herself arraigned on federal charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy in connection with Mary's kidnapping. Good times.

You're not dreaming -- spoilers ahead...

You know it's going to be a bad day when you wake up with the FBI storming in and arresting your sister. Mary was in the middle of a pretty bizarre dream about Brandi getting busted, complete with Marshall fighting a pink FBI bunny, when Brandi, well, gets busted. But Mary's an awfully cool customer, and in obvious distress makes sure her sister at least has some clothes on over her pajamas and some shoes before she's hauled downtown. What she can't figure out is what the FBI's discovered about Brandi now that they didn't have three months ago.

In the midst of the chaos, Jinx tells Mary about her half-sister, Lauren (Laura Prepon), who Mary immediately suspects is FBI. Things don't look more promising when they find a bug in one of the torn-up walls. Convinced and on a mission, Mary asks Eleanor to help her out and call in some favors with her FBI peeps to find out if there's a surveillance warrant and if Lauren's a G-woman. And she's really not nice about it. It's hard to watch Mary become a harsh, suspicious, unhappy whirling dervish, driven by guilt, fear, and pain, and I've got to hand it to Eleanor (I love Eleanor) for being so cool and calm when she finally has enough and puts Mary in her place.

Marshall's nothing short of a hero, acting both as an incredible support and what amounts to a Greek chorus, trying to get Mary to entertain the idea that she not only can't control what's going on, but she's not responsible for how Brandi's lived her life. Little by little they try to figure out what's the deal with FBI Special Agent O'Connor (Will McCormack -- and boy is it fun to watch him go head-to-head with his real-life sister), who took over Brandi's case the day Mary was kidnapped. He was supposed to be on the New Jersey drug bust, but traded duty with a colleague who ended up getting killed in the raid. Is it guilt that his buddy got killed and he survived?

Marshall heads to New Jersey to find out. O'Connor's guilty all right, but it's because he traded shifts to have a tryst with his colleague's wife. Mary busts into the session where O'Connor and the Assistant U.S. Attorney are offering Brandi a deal that stinks to high heaven that would land her in jail for 25 years. When they threaten to indict Mary on the same charges, Brandi caves and is about to sign, against the pleadings of both Jinx and Peter's lawyer, who Jinx summoned against Brandi's wishes. Mary lays out for the whole room that Brandi was in O'Connor's custody when she got the call from Spanky that's the lynchpin of their conspiracy charge, and that the information they're building everything on comes from a meth addict who's made a career out of testifying against other meth addicts. "Which means you're either directly involved in the conspiracy or incredibly inept at your job," she spits, getting right into O'Connor's face. "Which will you claim when you take the stand?"

That mystery solved, Mary turns to getting to the bottom of another: her father. In the midst of her out-of-control office rage, Marshall points out that with all of the pain she's been carrying around over her father, coupled with the shock that she may well have a half-sister, Mary has never tried to find her father. She has resources at her disposal, and surely pursued her line of work with this in the back of her head. Yet she's never followed through on what she wants or needs.

So she makes a trip to Mesa Correctional Facility in Arizona, to see her father's bankrobbing partner. Contrary to the reports, her father was arrested, he said, and went to jail. But he must've made a deal, because he ended up walking out of prison accompanied by a couple of suits. The convict tells Mary he'd assumed she'd come and see him when she got older, looking for answers, but he had none to give her. Except that her father loved her more than anything, and she was practically all he ever talked about. Which, in the end, makes Mary want to cut the cord -- or the bug. Just in case Lauren planted it on behalf of her father, Mary says goodbye and cuts the wire.

Also:

• I can't end without mentioning the rest of Mary's fantastic army -- Bobby D, Raph, and Stan are all stupendous in playing their parts in getting to the bottom of Brandi's case. Would that we'd all have such a safety net.

What did you think? Did you honestly believe Brandi would've taken the deal? Do you think Mary will find a way to make it up to Eleanor? What do you think will happen with Brandi and Peter now?

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