The Positively Positive

Tim Roth and Kelli Williams with guest star Daniel Ross in Lie To Me, season 2, episode 7 “Black Friday”

This episode started out with something that is so scary to me, I could barely watch. A crowd goes out of control in front of an electronics store on “Black Friday” and people end up trampled to death. As it turns out, this part of the story mostly plays out in the background, while another case takes up most of the spotlight.

Putting Tim Roth into funny hats, etc., seems to be a theme recently. Earlier this season found him in a big floppy hat and this episode started out with him in a frilly apron. This guy has proven that he’s such a serious actor but sometimes it’s really fun to laugh at him too.

In this episode, a 16yr old boy ends up quite literally on Lightman’s doorstep, asking for help to find out who his real parents are. The rest of the episode, Lightman and Foster work to solve that mystery, coming up with more than a few possible parents. The boy’s real father is found but rather than being happy, he is upset with finding out that his “real” parents are far from the ideal he had envisioned. In the end, the boy learns to accept the man for who he is and starts a new life with not only the people who raised him but the father he was taken from in the first place.

All the while, Loker and Torres work on the Black Friday case. Turns out Lightman was using it as a test for Loker and the moment he tells the truth, costing the Lightman Group over a million in the process, he passes.

Overall a good family themed episode just in time for Thanksgiving.

More Lie To Me…
Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 1 “The Core Of It”
Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 2 “Truth Or Consequences”
Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 3 “Control Factor”
Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 4 “Honey”
Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 5 “Grievous Bodily Harm”
Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 6 “Lack of Candor”

Mekhi Phifer and Tim Roth in Lie to Me, season 2, episode 6 “Lack of Candor”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

 As I watch Tim Roth’s Lightman practically dancing his way through a scene, I am struck by two things. Number one, the guy never seems to sit still for more than a second. Number two, he really enjoys what he’s doing. The only thing is, I’m not sure who is enjoying it more – Lightman or Roth himself.

The week’s episode had the Lightman group once again helping out one of their own. Last time it was Lightman who got into a spot of bother (as the English might say), but this time it was Agent Reynolds.

One of my favorite scenes was when Lightman got into Reynolds’ face until the other man finally slammed him against a wall. The pure glee in his eyes as he got the guy to do what he’d wanted all along, (which was fight back), was excellent. From then on, the two of them were working together. Especially after Lightman erased the footage of Reynolds admitting to murdering a man while undercover – effectively putting them both in the same boat to prove how he was truly on Reynolds’ side.

They team up on Reynolds’ handler from the case, played wonderfully by Alicia Coppola. And rather than a pretty predictable outcome of her getting caught by threatening Reynolds or somehow coming off as the “bad guy”, she instead is caught because she tries to protect him.

In the end I saw another reason why I like this show. Much like some of my other favorites (NCIS for one), this one has a group of people who treat each other like family. When Reynolds tried to thank Lightman for all his help, he is told to shut up because “family doesn’t need to stand on ceremony”.

Overall another great episode that ended with a line that shows how much these characters really care for each other.

More Lie To Me…

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode “The Core Of It”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 2 “Truth Or Consequences”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 3 “Control Factor”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 4 “Honey”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 5 “Grievous Bodily Harm”

Tim Roth and Lennie James in Lie To Me, season 2, episode 5 “Grievous Bodily Harm”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

In last night’s episode of Lie To Me, Cal is visited by an old friend who needs his help. I got a big kick out of watching Tim’s British side come out in full force as he worked with Lennie James. The two of them made a great little duo and there was no doubting that these two characters got up to a lot of mischief when they were younger.

We find out that Cal owes his life to Terry and he has come to collect. He forces Cal into using his skills to win a poker match so that Terry can repay a debt to a pretty scary Russian mobster. Then Terry draws Cal in further as the mobster decides he wants to use Cal’s talents for his own use. In the end though, it is the mobster who is caught by surprise as Cal has been working undercover for Agent Reynolds the whole time.

This episode had a lot of funny moments thanks to the great interaction between Cal and Terry. As an NCIS fan I especially enjoyed the fact that Cal slapped Terry on the back of the head when he was frustrated with him, not once, but twice. Looks like someone’s been going to the Gibbs school of dealing with partners.

There were some serious moments as well, provided by the rest of the team as they worked to solve the mystery of a threatening video being sent to a public school. The young girls who turn out to both be victims (one for being teased and the other for being forced to do it by a sadistic teacher) did fantastic work drawing me into that storyline as well.

Overall a strong episode of the series that gave us a little more insight into Cal’s past and let us see that he started out as a bit of a “bad boy”.

More Lie To Me….

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 1 “The Core Of It”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 2 “Truth Or Consequences”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 3 “Control Factor”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 4 “Honey”

Guest star Garrett Dillahunt and Tim Roth in Lie To Me season 2, episode 4 “Honey”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

I’m not sure how it works with anyone else, but for me, the point at which I go from simply liking a show to loving it usually happens on the turn of a dime. There will be a moment (sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes sad) where suddenly I know that I’ll have to watch the show forever.

That moment happened for me last night on Lie To Me. A crazed gunman claiming that he didn’t kill his wife (all evidence to the contrary) comes in and takes The Lightman Group hostage. This all happens in the first few minutes and right before the opening credits the man nearly shoots someone, points a gun at a girl’s head and asks the room in general if anyone thinks he is kidding around. Cal’s response “Absolutely not.”, added with the rest of the drama had my heart pounding in my chest.

The rest of the episode played out very well with Cal and some of his people negotiating to get all of their employees out of the building. Cal offers himself up as a hostage (no real surprise there) and proceeds to try and solve the mystery of who actually killed the man’s wife. All while staring down the barrel of a gun that he has no doubt will be used on him if he doesn’t come up with the right answers.

As it turned out this episode had a second “moment” and if I hadn’t already switched over to loving this show, that one would’ve done it as well. After doing everything they could to solve the murder, only to find out that the man’s wife was forced to sleep with another man and in trying to get herself out of the mess she got herself killed, Foster (played excellently by Kelli Williams) tells the gunman the news. She knows he won’t be pleased and in a second of weakness breaks down and begs for Cal’s life. Cal softly says her name just twice, but with only those words he managed to convey his gratitude for the plea and sympathy for her predicament. It was truly a powerful scene.

The show ends with the team rallying to save not only Cal’s life but the man responsible for the wife’s murder. They refuse to give the murderer over to the gunman to be killed. In a tricky maneuver, they pull the gunman’s attention off of Cal long enough for Agent Reynolds (Mekhi Phifer) to wing him with a shot to the arm.

In the end, Cal goes off on his own to obviously think about things. That he arrives at Foster’s door came as no real surprise and had me wondering if I was missing something about the relationship between them (since I missed the first season of this show). When he asks to spend the night in her spare room and they hug instead of kissing (which a part of me expected), my love of the show grew even more. Perhaps these two characters will share more someday, but for me it meant so much more to watch them get through a tough day together as friends.

Overall this was my favorite episode so far and as I’ve only seen four episodes of this series, has me very excited to see what else is in store.

More Lie To Me…

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 1 “The Core Of It”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 2 “Truth Or Consequences”

Lie To Me, Season 2, episode 3 “Control Factor”

Tim Roth and Hayley McFarland in Lie To Me season 2, episode 3 “Control Factor”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

The sight of Tim Roth in a floppy hat with a big slather of sunscreen on his nose was probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. In this episode Cal has practically been forced out of the office to enjoy a vacation with his daughter. But as we all know, in tv land this means the last thing he’ll get is a day off.

Cal is brought in on a case of a missing woman in Mexico. Once again I have to marvel at how a show about people who figure out if people are lying, is so compelling to watch. I guess it’s because we get to see so much more than that. Cal and his teammates, even his daughter, have to talk to many people to piece together just what happened.

As they get further into the case, Cal once again has a sparring match with his daughter. He hasn’t quite figured out how to protect his daughter without driving her completely insane. But in the end, the two of them always work it out, each allowing the other the freedom to act as a teenager and over-protective father, respectively.

While Cal is away, a former rival is called in to help with a case at his home base. The best part of this storyline was Cal’s reaction to the man and how he managed to get at the guy without even being there. Cal turning the sprinklers on from his laptop at the pool was hilarious.

Overall a great episode, featuring Tim Roth in a floppy hat. Need I say more?

More Lie To Me…

Lie To Me season 2, episode 2 “Truth Or Consequences”

Lie To Me season 2, episode 1 “The Core of It”