TV Recap: Lie To Me's "Sacrifice" - Page 2

With Al Qaeda claiming the suicide bomber was American-born Bata, and that there will be more attacks to come, the investigation focuses on Bata’s associates to find the other bombers. Bata’s soccer coach is pulled in for questioning by the FBI, due to his brother’s connection with an extremist group. Lightman pulls strings to be able to talk to him and is angry at the way the questioning is being conducted. The specter of Guantanamo Bay hangs over the scene as Reynolds make a point of defending the new administration’s attitude to detaining terrorist suspects, denying Cal’s suspicions of the soccer coach’s mistreatment.

The FBI deputy director in charge of questioning the man doesn’t help Reynolds’ cause much, as she threatens and intimidates her charge. Cal takes over, telling her, “Your setup increases fear, which puts up barriers to get at the truth.” He also tells Reynolds that Al Qaeda benefits from the U.S. using morally dicey interrogation methods, because the terrorists use the outrage at the methods to help recruitment. Lightman calms the suspect down and finds out he is not the terrorist, though he has brought illegal Somali children in to the country to give them a better life, supposedly safe from the violence of their homeland. With terrorism, however, there is no safe place.

After focusing on the disruption in the non-Muslim community, the story moves to the disruption in the Muslim population. Foster and Torres visit the Imam of Bata’s mosque, who asks them, “Do you have any idea what this will do to our community?” He tells Foster she can talk to Bata’s friends, but they are all on guard, fearful of being painted as terrorists because of their religion. Foster and Torres are both wearing headscarves in deference to Muslim beliefs — but also as a trap. Torres “accidentally” removes her headscarf, looking for disgust reactions that may signal fanatical views. She finds a few, but the ambiguity in trying to separate fervent belief from criminal belief is highlighted as Loker comments, “Any fundamentalist would show that. Doesn’t prove he is a terrorist.” Foster acknowledges the case so far is questionable, but says, “It’s a place to start.”

To everyone’s horror, a second bomb blows up at Langley Oaks shopping mall. Emily is very shaken as she realises she may know some of the victims. Al Qaeda’s strategy of creating even more fear by the thought that American citizens are behind the bombings is working, with no one feeling safe or able to reassure the children. Lightman cannot lie to Emily and say he knows when it will be safe again, so he tries to protect her by shutting off the television. However, she’s not the only one extremely upset.

Article Author: Gerry Weaver

Gerry loves film, books, a few television shows (House, True Blood and Lie To Me come to mind), and writing about them.

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