Brief spoilers for episode three of "In Plain Sight" coming up just as soon as I work on my lasso skills...Of the five episodes of "In Plain Sight" I've seen (including next week's with Dave Foley and one down the road with Wendell Pierce), "Here Comes the Bride" was the most overtly farcical, even with guest star Missi Pyle doing relatively subdued work compared to what she's usually asked to do. We had the runner about Marshall taking mambo lessons (and the boss showing him the right way to do it), Mary having to tart herself up and then try to take out bad guys in two very uncomfortable, revealing outfits, and that wonderful moment at the end where Dershowitz the cop rode by in the background, pulling the second bad guy along with him. (That was much better than had we actually watched the rest of that chase go down.)
And because it was quite funny, I didn't mind the predictability of the story (Mary was so convinced that the Missi character was unreformed that of course she would turn out to be), or the waste of Joanna Cassidy as Missi's prospective mother-in-law (a paycheck's a paycheck, I guess), or that I'm supposed to buy the thirtysomething Cristian De La Fuente as a promising minor league baseball player (though I suppose he could be a Crash Davis career minor league type who's hitting well at a position where the big league club is thin).
The show's not always deep, but I'm really digging it.
What did everybody else think?
Also digging it, though there isn't usually much to comment on for each episode. This episode seemed more contrived than the other two, in all the ways you mention as well as the very clichéd "breaking down on the train tracks" moment.
ReplyDeleteLast night's episode also featured a character with my exact full name... first time that's ever happened that I can remember. Very unnerving to hear your name being called on TV. I felt like Homer in the "Max Power" episode of the Simpsons. Luckily I didn't stock up on scarves.
bobman, I had the same feeling when I heard my name on Medium (not my full name, but then again there's only two or three of us with that full name in the world, if Google's to be trusted).
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about this show is even the contrivances manage to seem somehow fresh -- like the train tracks. The stalling out, the dress caught in the car door. Yet fresh because no man came sweeping in to save her, she saved herself by pushing that stupid car off the tracks. How very Mary.
Though I didn't much like the way they dolled Mary up. I can believe her sister would think she looked hot, but I can only barely believe Mary would go out dressed like that. Seriously, a lavender fake fur shrug? Even Mary should have known that she looked like a cheap slut, rather than an expensive slut like the rest of the party guests.
I'm enjoying the show, but I really hated the train tracks scene. It was just so contrived. And if she's driving to the airport, why is the plane taking off from behind her? It didn't look high enough in the sky to have done a loop around. (OK, that was overly nitpicky.)
ReplyDeleteThe only part I didn't like was the plane at the end. Is there only one flight out each day? No chance his flight was delayed? That always bugs me when I see it.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking the show, and definitely enjoyed this one the most out of the first three. The jokes were both funny and in-character, which meant I wasn't bothered by the somewhat thin plot. Also, all the on-screen characters were there for a purpose, unlike last week's subplot with the mom (who I've found pretty annoying so far - swap her out for more Paul Ben-Victor!).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm curious as to whether de la Fuente is coming back, or if the producers changed tack after the pilot and decided to drop him in order to pursue some other romance for Mary.
-Lance
It continues to remind me of a summer version of Veronica Mars, not that that's a bad thing. But after I saw her "dolled up," I couldn't help saying to myself, "She looks like Manila Whore Barbie."
ReplyDeleteAs bobman said "Also digging it". It's kinda of quirky, but like I've mentioned before, I like the local ABQ stuff. There was one scene in this episode that could have been shot from my neighborhood... the view of Rio Grande valley was right and so were the types of houses.
ReplyDeleteAlso, anonymous questioned the flight schedules from here. Let me sum it up this way. I recently moved here from Atlanta, home of Delta Airlines. Delta only has 3 flights a day from ABQ to ATL, and the last one departs at 11am!
Best line of the episode: "What kind of slutfest are you going to?"
ReplyDeleteI gave up on this show after watching the pilot. The show doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a tale of a gritty police officer starring a female lead we would not expect to play a gritty police officer (a la Saving Grace)? Is it an episodic procedural? Is it a self referential show filled with bon mots and attempts at humor (a la Veronica Mars)? Is it a show written by those whose only working knowledge of criminal and police procedure comes from watching other shows written by people with a similar ignorance? Of course, after the protagonist, herself a U.S. Marshall, expresses disdain for "the feds" in the form of the FBI, I sighed and gave up.
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud, several times. The fact that it seemed so cliched and trite didn't spoil the genuinely funny episode. But I'm an easy sell when the humor is there.
ReplyDeleteThe train tracks scene was a little too lame.
Though I didn't much like the way they dolled Mary up. I can believe her sister would think she looked hot, but I can only barely believe Mary would go out dressed like that. Seriously, a lavender fake fur shrug? Even Mary should have known that she looked like a cheap slut, rather than an expensive slut like the rest of the party guests.
ReplyDeleteThat bugged me more than anything. Mary's not what you would call girly by any stretch of the imagination, but I think she would have a little black dress in the back of her closet. Not that it kept me from laughing like hell. Because yeah... a lavender fake fur shrug? She was totally a candidate for What Not to Wear.
Too bad Mary's mother isn't more like the character Joanna Cassidy portrayed in this episode. And too bad Cassidy isn't in the cast. I've never disliked Lesley Anne Warren, but she's just not doing it for me.
I think this was the best episode so far. For me, it had just the right balance of comedy and police procedural.
I made it half-way through this episode and gave up. She has boobies! Haw haw! I won't be watching the rest of the season.
ReplyDeleteNothing about this show intrigues me. I'm bored from the very second I hear that dull, documentary style intro. I don't like the unappealing family members, the squinty partner, or the lead character acting mainly with her jaw.
The show doesn't do much to evoke or use its Albuquerque setting, which is disappointing.
I'm waiting for the return of "Burn Notice."
I'm with A.H., I couldn't finish watching it.
ReplyDeleteI just keep thinking "They took off The 4400 for this crapfest!"