For all its faults (see my preview), the premiere of season two of In Plain Sight made its biggest mistake by asking us to care about something that’s simply not worth a second thought: Mary’s (Mary McCormack) missing father.
For some reason, the absent parent is a popular theme these days. From Miles on Lost to Shawn on Psych, Chuck on Chuck to Michael on Burn Notice (is this a requirement on USA?), and many in-between, too many shows throw the hurdle in as both a growth impediment for the child as well as an ongoing crusade for the character. For some it works, for others, not so much. Worst of all? When it’s shoved down our throats on a show where it’s completely out of place. Enter In Plain Sight.
What happened to Mary’s father? I’m sure this isn’t the answer that they’ve devised, but I’m guessing that he simply ran hard and fast from his train wreck of a wife, Jinx (Lesley Ann Warren). And his disastrous second daughter, Brandi (Nichole Hiltz). Not surprising that he stayed in touch with Mary, although I’m not sure I understand her being comfortable with communicating with the father who abandoned her.
Anyway, the plot made for some great acting in the finale, with all three women having the chance to play to a very impressive dramatic range. But that was enough. I’m just not interested in Mary’s familial emotional side, or for that matter, her love life or other non-work relationships, period. For some reason, I just don’t want to get to know her as a complete person, just as a Marshal. Her relationships with her fellow agents, and her witnesses, sufficiently feeds both my need for knowing who she is, as well as her need as a character to display a full range of emotions. Just spare me the other drama.
In Plain Sight needs to take a page from fellow USA shows Psych and Burn Notice: while I hate the storyline with Shawn’s mother, the majority of his outside persona (besides with Gus) that we see plays out with his father, Henry. While they may have their moments, for the most part the pair play out a typical struggle between teenager and parent (forget that Shawn is all grown up!), which is just good fun to watch. And on Burn Notice, while I can do without Michael and Fiona’s sexual relationship, and Michael’s brother Nate (and at times his mother, Madeline, too), his colleagues are also his friends, so we see a nice mix of Michael the agent and Michael the man.
The same can work on In Plain Sight. As long as Jinx and Brandi were an afterthought, they were annoying but digestible. Mary is a federal agent, and the show succeeded when that colored everything else that we witnessed about her. By making her sob story anything more than part of her back-story, the show runs the risk of turning this darling little actenture (action/ adventure) show into more of an actama (action/ drama). That’s not what I signed up for. How about you?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Apr 20, 2009 @ 17:00 EST5EDT
I haven’t seen the premiere yet, but I did catch last season’s finale again. Like you, I spent the majority of the first season annoyed at the mother/sister presence and I was frustrated at how it dominated the season’s later episodes, but I did feel (as you mentioned) that the confrontation between the three women in the finale was absolutely incredible acting. I was riveted the first time around and the second, as well. While I have a feeling I’ll be annoyed at the Jinx/Brandi presence again this season, I do have to give props to all the actresses (including Mary, who seemed to “act dramatically and realistically” for the first time in the series there) for their performances in that scene. I highly recommend for people to check it out, if they haven’t seen it.
Well, I disagree. And I am saying that while I completely despise her family. Without them, it’s just another procedural. She is incredibly strong and talented in spite of the shit she carries with her every step of the way. Her father is only important insomuch as she held onto the fact that he didn’t abandon her, he abandoned them…her mother and sister. I think that’s a very important part of who she is and why she has come out with a more stable life than her kin. Bottom line is that good drama explores why someone is who they are…can you imagine Monk without Trudy being in the viewers face every episode?
What’s funny is that I just started reading the second paragraph and I thought – this is Aryeh. I didn’t pay attention going in, but knew it was you! LOL
*POST AUTHOR*
As long as it wasn’t only after you snorted in annoyance at my ideas, that’s cool :-)
I agree that the missing father could be an important part of Mary, but that’s back-story, not plot. The show spent the first ten episodes, or whatever, of last season, with it just being a thing that helped make her. That’s okay. I just don’t want to see it as part of the story going forward, with Jinx hunting him down and Brandi crying that she wasn’t daddy’s favorite.
I agree with Modwild. In fact, I watch all three of the USA shows Aryeh mentioned, and would miss the character drama he is annoyed by, with the exception of Cybill Shepherd.
In Plain Sight, specifically, from its pilot onward has never been just an action/adventure show. There has always been heavy drama via Mary’s trainwrecks of personal relationships. That she is an effective Marshal in spite of all that is the fascinating bit.
*POST AUTHOR*
But couldn’t that just be something that shapes her?
Until recently, Shawn’s (Psych) relationship with his dad was shaped by his mother leaving. It gave considerable color to his character, and to the show, without her needing to come back and be annoying.
Michael’s (Burn Notice) relationship with his family drove him into his career, and the pilot had him ferrying his mom to an appointment in a stolen car. We saw exactly what made him tick via her, without having them get into the drama of where’s daddy, take care of Nate, why didn’t you call me, blah, blah, blah.
None of these shows would be procedurals without the outside relationships, because each show is character driven, has light comedy, and there are subplots that run through them continuously. And as for emotion, we see it seeping out of Mary as she handles her witnesses (the innocents). I don’t need to see her wounding Rafe again to know that she has a heart (or lack thereof, as the case may be).
Don’t forget the classic whine “Michael, what is going on?!” :)
If I’m following your reasoning correctly, you seem to want those characters not involved in the action/drama/professional storylines of these shows to inform the main character, but not actually be characters themselves?
If so, I submit to you that many viewers wouldn’t care about these distractions without actually experiencing those dramatic scenes with said characters, including them having their own scenes without the leads. Showing us exactly what the main character goes through, not just telling us about it.
Shawn’s blaming his father for the loss of his mother is just an aspect of his relationship with his father. His relationship with his mother herself is an entirely different animal.
If Michael’s family were just cardboard cutouts to be ferried from safehouse to safehouse, we might think him even more cold-hearted rather than having added sympathy for his woes.
There are times that I like Rafe more than Mary actually. And both the comedy and the continuous subplots you mention include these family relationships, which develop the main characters for the audience.
*POST AUTHOR*
No, I’m saying they should color the stories and main characters, but I don’t need their particular blend of annoying. Like my example with Shawn’s mother: what would have been lacking with the fact that she shaped Shawn and his relationship with his father if she had never appeared?
I’ve gotten nothing from Mary’s fights with her sister over her lazy ways, or Michael’s brawls with his brother over his criminal behavior. It doesn’t mean the characters shouldn’t exist, just that their, let’s say active drama, I can do without.
Shawn’s relationship with his mother is absiolutely separate from that with his father; I just don’t want to suffer through it. All I need from her is how she shaped Shawn the man and his relationship with his father.
I’ve felt significant effect from Michael’s family without needing to see him physically brawl with Nate. There’s an active and a passive side to each of these characters, and passive doesn’t mean we’re only told about them and don’t see them. It just means they only wade so far into the pool. And certainly, they don’t run with their own stories (Brandi saving that baby last season? What was that about?)
Look, whether you agree or not about the right mix, you must recognize that In Plain Sight has displayed a considerable amount more drama and emotion than Burn Notice and Psych, and I think it has more to do with the lead being female than anything else. Which then makes the argument: if the other two shows can do without so much sobbing and still be far from stiff, why can’t In Plain Sight do the same?
I can sympathize with not wanting to watch characters I find annoying, but you do realize that other viewers will have different preferences. Like you suffer through the scenes with Shawn’s mother, oftentimes I suffer through the scenes were Henry or Shawn’s just being an ass to the other. I also take different things away from Michael and Mary’s families.
I think In Plain Sight from the beginning has simply been much less of a light-hearted comedy than Psych or Burn Notice, which had less to do with the lead being female than with her being heavily damaged (and not in Shawn’s clownish way). I’ve never seen the original treatment of the show, but I understand that it was much darker than what we ultimately got in the pilot, and I think that that tone has stayed with Mary’s character. Certainly many of the scenes with her family are incredibly cringe-inducing, and that’s intentional. They could easily have gone the way of Psych, Burn Notice or Monk with this show, but they chose not to. Perhaps In Plain Sight is just not what you are looking for?