Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mary's Witness Gets Caught 'In Plain Sight'

Is there really anything more entertaining than a super intense episode and Mary being, well, Mary complete with her quick wit and sarcasm? I didn't think so. This outing had the unfortunate timing of starting right after the awesome Cold Case finale on my viewing schedule, but it held its own nicely. I have to give the creators and the writers MAJOR props for creating a character who is both sarcastic as hell and compassionate and caring. It's a delicate balance that Mary juggles beautifully. She could easily be completely closed off, but she's not. She blocks out some, but lets in those who matter the most. The character reminds me a bit of Bones's Dr. Brennan, but where Mary is able to walk the line between her sarcastic/keep- people- at- arms'- length emotional issues and the right amount of care and compassion needed for her job (and life in general), Brennan is not. She's all closed off (and uses her enormous intellectual knowledge to keep others away) and lacking a lot in the caring/compassion column. It's nice to have a Mary out there who presents both.

One area where Mary has everything in common with Dr. Brennan is their kickass job skills. She's cool as a cucumber under pressure, always thinking ahead and good with people. All of these skills came in very handy as she tended to a witness trapped in a pile of rubble and a literal sitting duck for those who wished to knock him off before he could testify against them in a pending Department of Justice case. She sacrificed her own safety and played EMT while they desperately awaited help. All of this while the threat of a further collapse loomed overhead. And there was the overzealous "journalist" whose get- the- story- no- matter- the- cost tactics almost outed Mary and, in the process, could have ruined her career. Some quick thinking and a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" exchange saved the day.

Something was missing in this one... what was it?? I just can't put my finger on it... something just felt lighter. Oh, right! The mother. Can't say I actually missed her. In all honesty, I just now realized that she wasn't in this one. This rehab development has done wonders for the side-story part of this show already!

BONUS: Read LillyKat's post on series star Frederick Weller (Marshall) from a recent conference call she attended with the actor!

In Plain Sight airs Sunday nights on USA Network. If you missed this week's episode, check it out for free at Hulu.com

2 comments:

John said...

Can you imagine Brennan climbing into bed with someone at the end of a tough day for comforting like Mary did with Raphael at the end? I can’t. Of course Mary has grown, since I don’t think she would have done it a year ago.

The drama and drag of Jinx were not missed. When she gets out of rehab I hope she is more under control. I am not so naïve as to think she will be a pillar of strength.

Brandy was also much better, or at least bugging someone other than Mary. (In other episodes, I could see her calling Mary while Mary is in the crumbling building and asking her pick up her laundry and being pissed when she wouldn’t.) I hope this episode means Malina will be recurring.

TVFan said...

I completely agree that Mary has grown quite a bit since the beginning of the first season (something that we still haven't seen with Brennan and it has been 4 seasons!). And I, too, was glad to see a maturity to Brandy, especially this week. Her lack of calling and moaning coupled with her decision to face those whom she lied to was great. Like you, I'm hoping Malina is recurring as well.