He and Foster have a talk that strays ever so slightly into the didactic as Cal argues that Kuransky is lying about the case and Foster says that given her husband was in the Pentagon on 9/11, she doesn’t want to impede the FBI from doing its job, whether the cop is lying or not. She also suggests Kuransky may appear to be lying because he’s been undercover so long, he’s become dissociative and stressed.
Cal decides to check the validity of the terror threat with Fletcher, a pal from his CIA days. I was delighted to see Fletcher is played by Kevin Tighe of Emergency, for those in the age bracket to remember that series. He confirms the CIA believes the threat to be real and asks Cal to let the case go. But Cal has an issue with allowing innocent young boys to go to jail on his watch. He tells Foster there will be complicating factors on many of their cases and they have to decide if the threat of group violence overrides Andre’s right to freedom. The topic of civil rights versus national security has been hot since the events of 9/11; I just wish the conversations discussing it felt a little more natural and less like a speech.
Lightman and Foster decide Andre’s rights are their priority, so they tell the police investigation Andre was telling the truth about having no gun. Something about Kuransky’s tale still bothers Cal, though, and he finally pinpoints what’s troubling him: if Duke has been undercover as an Al Qaeda agent for years, he too should show signs of dissociation and stress. But he doesn’t. Why?
Cal realises Kuransky is a rogue agent, lying to his bosses about Duke. A dig into the agent’s past reveals why. His military daughter was killed by friendly fire, which was covered up by the government. Kuransky has no doubt on where he stands on the rights of the individual versus the state. He cannot forgive the government for lying about his daughter’s death. Kuransky feels his daughter was owed the truth, ironically a feeling Cal shares, both about the daughter and about Andre.
However, the show stops short of really testing the tension between the rights of the individual and the state by having Cal’s commitment to the individual result in the exposure of the real terrorist cell, so everyone ends up safer. The letting go of the tension in some ways is a shame, as the issue is very real and hard to balance. Lie To Me occasionally suffers from being just a little predictable and the writers have to find ways to keep the dramatic tension high.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Cal's comment in the last second of the show sounded odd to me, so I rewound: definitely dubbed in. Not because that's not what he said the first time, but because they wanted it to be more clear, no room for confusion. Interesting.
2 - Phillip Winn
Oh, also, it's possible that the investigator didn't know he was being used, and was honestly trying to find the leak.
3 - Gerry
Hi Phillip, thanks for dropping in! I guess it is possible the investigator thought he was conducting a real inquiry, but I don't know that it makes sense to me that Cal would risk the agency's well being to conduct a test on Torres. What if she had folded? Once Cal sets a real inquiry in motion, he can't just stop it when he wants. It would be out of his hands. My impression was he set the whole thing up himself.
I think you picked up on a very interesting point with that "Night, love." It does suggest that there's more to come with the relationships among Cal, Foster, Alec and Zoe. Zoe clearly resented Foster's interference last week. Foster resented Cal's this week, though resentment may be too strong a term--she appreciated the sentiment, leading me to wonder just exactly what the sentiment is. And I also wondered if Foster is still fooling herself to some extent, and Cal knows that but will back away at her request. We had a lot of scenes with Alec lying and I may be wrong but I think at least one of them was to Foster with no one else around. Why use code words when they are alone? That use of "love' by Cal does suggest complications will be ensuing.
4 - Kate
"Zoe clearly resented Foster's interference last week. Foster resented Cal's this week, though resentment may be too strong a term--she appreciated the sentiment, leading me to wonder just exactly what the sentiment is. And I also wondered if Foster is still fooling herself to some extent, and Cal knows that but will back away at her request. We had a lot of scenes with Alec lying and I may be wrong but I think at least one of them was to Foster with no one else around. Why use code words when they are alone?"
Apparently eps 10 and 11 were swapped, which means originally this was to air before Zoe was introduced. If it had been that way, it may have been even more puzzling for Gillian to tell Cal to stay out of her life, while getting involved in his.
As for whether she's fooling herself: it's possible. Or, maybe she does know something but just doesn't want Cal getting involved. It did seem like he sensed there was something more going on. (Something she was trying to "hide".) And you bring up a good point about Alec lying to her when no one else was around. (I think there may have been a scene or two in "Love Always" where that happened. Though, now I'm not sure if they're saying he was using at that time, and maybe that's why he was acting strange.??)
Anyways, good recaps! :)