Monsters of Television

Lie to Me pulled out all the stops this week. In the opening minutes, Foster and Lightman learn that a man named Andrews is coming to the office to reveal the truth about a long-unresolved mystery. Moments later, a bomb explodes outside the office, detonating the mysterious Andrews. To top it off, Lightman’s daughter is on her way to the office to attend a college visit with her dad. Nothing like a family in danger and the shock of an explosion to inject energy into a show.

In truth, these outward trappings of suspense were merely the surface appeal that covered a deeper conflict between Lightman (Tim Roth) and colleague Foster (Kelli Williams). The interplay between these two strong actors is always stimulating, and this week tried to up the ante on their banter by inserting mistrust into their friendship.

With the former plot points—the bomb and the cover-up uncovered—the program faltered. With the latter—Lightman and Foster examining the circumstances of their meeting—the program demonstrated its limitless potential, yet to be explored fully.

Last week I complained that Lightman is too much of a superhero. The only people that seem able to challenge him are his colleagues. But in order to do this, they need believable motivation to oppose him. Case in point: Loker happens to be outside the office when the bomb explodes. He enters a bit shell-shocked but quickly recovers to discover Lightman knows more about the explosion than he is admitting. Loker is understandably upset that he has witnessed a horrible murder, but his anger at Lightman makes less sense. Has Lightman not always proven that he can be trusted? Has he not always demonstrated (eventually) the method to his madness?

The motivation for angst among the colleagues needs to find new cause. Returning to the same tired ground of Lightman being too wacky to be believed has run its course. In particular, for those who are closest to him, a more personal and specific clash of values and/or personalities may allow these characters to develop, even within the procedural format.

A better moment for Loker occurs when he hacks into Foster’s computer. As the program makes explicit repeatedly, Foster is hiding something throughout this episode. When she issues such clichéd directives as, “Drop it, Cal,” we viewers are meant to wonder—what does she know that Lightman does not? Well, Loker decides to answer that question, and his actions, though unethical, demonstrate that a gifted but flawed character is always more interesting than a superhero. He pretty much disappears from the episode after this moment, though, so the potential for increased conflict between he and Foster dissipates quickly.

A few words about the surface mystery before I move on to the more important conflict between Foster and Lightman. I guess I can sum up my thoughts with two questions—first, could you follow all the relationships between these characters? And whatever your answer, did you find it worth your time to try?

The number of potential bad guys practically outnumbers the heroes. We have Doyle, the pseudo-terrorist (but sympathetic widower); Andrews, the former boss of Lightman and Foster who may or may not have set them both up; random FBI guy whose name I never really caught, who seems to be the true big bad here (yet who gains immunity, I think); and then there’s the fall guy, Finch, who actually has blood on his hands. With all these villains to track, how can a viewer possibly have time to care what happens to any of them? Sometimes this program mistakes complexity for intrigue. One strongly developed villain will always prove more captivating than four poorly developed ones.

Giving Foster a more mysterious past, however, may serve the series in future episodes. Turns out, she and Lightman met when she was asked to evaluate his mental stability by the Pentagon, for whom she worked. Lightman wanted to blow his whistle on a cover-up involving an IRA terrorist, and the powers that be wanted to undermine his authority. The show has mined Lightman’s complicated past with the IRA before, and I’m sure they will again. But until we learn more about his politics, I suspect these historical references will add more mystique than substance.

We ultimately learn that Foster acted to protect Lightman and his family, but the deeper discovery is that Lightman may not be able to detect when she lies. This could be a beneficial barrier between the two because it would mean Lightman would have to trust her the old-fashioned way—based on faith instead of science.

The conflict between faith and science that drove so much of the plot of Lost might be worth exploring more fully in Lie to Me. When trying to impeach a crooked FBI officer, Foster replies smugly to his declaration that their allegations are “wild” that in fact they are “based in science.” The look on her face suggests that science is the ultimate weapon, and the look of fear upon his (Oh no! Not science! Please, anything but that unstoppable force!) confirms it.

As long as this show persists in its devotion to science (reason over emotion, closed endings over open ones), the characters will remain static and somewhat inhuman. Perhaps that may satisfy viewers who enjoy programming that presents a more desirable vision of life, but for me, I like my programming a bit more messy.

Oh, and I know I never mentioned Lightman’s daughter again.  That was on purpose- because the show used her as little more than a red herring.  Ah well…