Watching Mary enter a men's room, make jokes about the man at the urinal's genitalia, and finally get the information she needs from him proceeds exactly as the audience knows it will from the moment she enters the bathroom. McCormack pulls it off though. She even apologizes at the end of the scene for the small genitals joke, as though she knows that the audience has heard it before.
The other basic problem with the series is that the first few cases and witnesses Mary gets involved with are not that compelling. Like the main characters themselves, the witnesses and cases feel as though they've been pulled from well-worn models. There's the Italian mobster family from New York, there's the boy whose father is a drug dealer and a danger to young ones. It almost feels as though in creating the show the producers sat down, watched a ton of cops and robbers movies, and pulled characters from them.
Again, that's not necessarily wholly negative. The show seems to be asking what happens to these criminals after they decide to become a witness for the state. What if Kay went to the cops rather than just divorcing Michael? What if "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero had gotten away from New Jersey? What would have happened to these people then? It's an interesting question. Unfortunately, however, In Plain Sight doesn't seem to have a very interesting answer yet.
Maybe it will in the future. The third episode sent for review, "Iris Doesn't Live Here Anymore," is markedly more entertaining and engaging than the first two. Hopefully, the episode indicates movement and is not just an anomaly.
Additionally, it should be noted that the series certainly has enough good elements to give it the benefit of the doubt early on.
In Plain Sight premieres on USA June 1 at 10pm.
Article comments
1 - Josh Lasser
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