This week’s Lie To Me continues to develop the show’s re-focused vision on the character relationships and on Cal Lightman in particular. As the title suggests, control is very much on the characters’ minds, with a side helping of trust, as Lightman reluctantly heads to Mexico for a holiday and Foster reluctantly works with an old protégé of Cal’s.
Cal’s ability to trust and give over control is stretched to the limit as Emily demands to be taken seriously while working on a case with her dad and his former, possibly sleazy, protégé impresses the heck out of his current staff. For the most part, the episode works very well, though I had a couple of quibbles in both the A and B stories. Nevertheless, new show runner Ryan’s tweaks are serving the show nicely, and I expect the emphasis on the character drama will continue to build my interest now that a couple of longer term arcs are being set up.
The episode opens with Foster in a very wifely manner trying to hustle Lightman out the door to go on vacation to Mexico with Emily. She accuses him of not trusting his staff to do their jobs without him. Lightman protests he has absolute faith in his staff, but convinces no one, as he usually keeps a very tight grip on the reins of the Lightman Group. Whether Cal has enough trust to allow other people control in what he considers his domain, professional or personal, is the dominant thread tying the two cases this week together.
Cal and Emily have a gentleman’s agreement while in Mexico that Cal will treat Emily like a grown-up if she behaves. I always like episodes that feature Emily, as I think Hayley McFarland has wonderful chemistry with Tim Roth. As we saw last week, Cal is having some difficulty accepting his daughter’s growing independence and his daughter is not slow to point out he doesn’t find it easy to trust her. Their shared vacation forces them to confront again where the lines of trust and control are between father and daughter.
To begin with, Lightman’s control issues are centered on his office — despite his assurances to Foster about trust, he’s set up his computer to monitor The Lightman Group via webcam. Emily chides him for not letting go of work — until a man from the American Embassy shows up to ask Cal to help track down a missing woman whose 12-year old-daughter is now alone in the resort. Emily is immediately drawn in, empathizing with the young girl and sure her dad can solve the case. She pushes Cal, who doesn't need a particularly hard shove, to get involved. And since they are on vacation together, that means she gets involved, too, which initially doesn’t bother her dad as much as I thought it might — and perhaps should.
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