Lie to Me, Season One (2009)

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TV14

Reviewer: Carissa Horton

Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) is your typical Englishman living in America. He engages people with his wit and sarcasm, is seriously lacking in charm, and yet still manages to find a very atypical niche in society. Whereas most suspenseful television programs focus on crime scene investigation, law enforcement, spies, or even the justice department, Lie to Me focuses on something entirely unique. The Lightman Company, founded by Cal, specializes in detecting lies. According to Cal there are over 10,000 components of micro-expressions people use every day that betray their emotions. A twitch, a shiver, a blink, an eyebrow movement, any and all of these expressions can be interpreted to mean something. These expressions cannot be stopped because the emotion is entirely natural. It's a reaction. When a person is lying, that person cannot help but reveal his guilt or anxiety, anger or fear. But these micro-expressions can only be put to proper use when they can be interpreted. Enter "The Lightman Group" with Cal Lightman leading the charge. Cal works daily with his right-hand man, or in this case woman, Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams) and their crew consisting of Eli Loker (Brendan Hines) and Ria Torres (Monica Raymund) along with numerous nameless individuals. Newly recruited, Ms. Torres is Cal's protégée and so tags along behind him on cases ranging from corrupt Wall Street Moguls to prep school murders to protecting a South Korean ambassador from assassination. And all by detecting deception in the people being interviewed.

Cal trusts no one and is the king of liars, yet he occasionally allows people (usually Gillian) to glimpse his true personality. He has hurt others and has been hurt, which means he erects a wall between himself and the world. By observing detection, "The Lightman Group" finds it difficult to sustain healthy relationships. They simply cannot turn off their gift or training and this usually leads to heartbreak, especially when Ms. Torres uncovers the truth about a love interest for Loker, leading to an unhappy parting. Even Cal is not immune, for despite Ms. Torres' inexperience, she observes little details in Cal's interactions that cause her concern. Their gifts are truly unique. “The Lightman Group” works with the police, with private firms, with the families of kidnap victims, all for the greater good of perceiving lies. Thankfully, evidence is usually found to back up their allegations or all of the cases would be inadmissible in court. It's true that deception detection is only a working theory at the moment, but it still makes for an extremely intriguing watch.

I confess to serious admiration for Fox's originality in Lie to Me. Not only is the very idea utterly unique but they cast a British actor as the lead and let him stay British, something completely unheard of in American shows. Not that I’m slamming Hugh Laurie in House. True, Tim Roth isn't the best-looking Englishman to hit the American TV circuit, but he certainly has personality. And once I was two or three episodes in, I had grown quite fond of him, probably because his interaction with his female costar, Kelli Williams, is so utterly brilliant. The scriptwriters really made good use of their chemistry for Cal and Gillian. She is a married woman and neither one of them would ever cross that line, but she has a sincere attachment to him. I think she sees him as I do, as a lost soul in need of redemption. She's Watson to his Holmes. I wish I could speak so fondly of Loker. He began as an intensely honest man who never lied to anyone, which naturally made him rather irritating for the audience since he just spewed forth the truth, but then the writers altered his established personality and made him a deceiver. He's more interested in revenge than in doing right by the victims, an attitude that was not present in the first few episodes. Such a shame because I would have liked Loker otherwise, brutal honesty and all. As for the character of Ria Torres, she had an interesting start. They found her working as a security monitor in an airport, tested her abilities by behaving suspiciously, and then she found herself recruited into "The Lightman Group" making obscene amounts of money. She sees the truth in everything, especially now with proper training, and finds it difficult to hide what she sees from others. It's a good trait, especially coming from so talented and lovely an actress. Each character has his or her own flaws, but no ill can be spoken against their talent.

Television shows which haven't been recommended to me usually make me wary. I expected a great deal of language and sexual content from this. What a pleasant surprise that there is nearly no offensive language in the show at all! There may be an occasional word here or there, but it is so minor it is barely noticeable, at least in this season. The sexual content is kept to innuendo apart from a couple of exceptions. There is talk about one character wanting to sleep with another and sometimes the cases involve rape (this is in "Blinded" and, while not graphic, is very disturbing since it puts even Gillian at risk) and prostitution. In "Life is Priceless," Cal is drinking rather heavily. The one episode I disliked was "Depraved Heart" because there's a scene with strippers in it. So unnecessary, but almost every crime show has at least one episode of this ilk. You can slip the entire episode or just that scene. There is talk of a man cheating on his wife and a wife cheating on her husband throughout the series. In "Better Half" Cal's ex-wife Zoe makes an appearance, needing his help on an arson case, and it's clear to everyone that there are still intense feelings radiating between them. This makes sense since during their marriage neither one of them cheated on the other, they have a beautiful teenage daughter, and their fondness for each other can't be hidden (although Cal was rather clueless to the posturing going on between Gillian and his ex). Cal and his ex end up in bed. Nothing graphic is shown other than his ex-wife putting on her shirt and him in bed... I wouldn't have an issue with it if they were still married, but let's face it, they're not. We're meant to feel confused about how to react when in reality, right is right and wrong is wrong and this "oops" was very wrong. But these little incidents make the show genuine and give conflicted emotions to the viewer.

Politics, on the other hand, can get a bit, well, touchy. Okay, so the show keeps language and sex to a bare minimum, but they push it with political views. One episode in particular, "Undercover," I found to be especially grating because of the accusations hurled left and right at former President Bush and the War on Terror. It was uncalled for, and since the insults were being spoken by a man guilty of near terrorism himself as a form of revenge, it only made them more disgusting, especially since Cal gave him a sympathetic ear. The guilty party is put away but it doesn't take back any of the wrongful  lies spoken against a former president of this country. Thankfully, none of the other episodes involve such a predominantly liberal bias although there are a few minor mentions with a left leaning in "Sacrifice." I wish I could say "Undercover" was easily skipped, but it does tie into a previous episode that is vital to the series, so if you're likely to be insulted as I was, you'll just have to grind your teeth and bear it. Also be very aware of the lies. This show is about liars and while most of the characters don't lie, Cal does. He lies when he sees a benefit to the company, to himselfy, or sometimes just for the heck of it.

Lie to Me is original. I value originality in a television program. It reminds me of when 24 was the hottest thing on TV because it was a fresh, new idea. Violence is present in every episode, but it's usually implied and not seen and the show has its mature thematic elements, but they don't push the limits too far. An Englishman is cast in the leading role, and a slouchy, grouchy Englishman at that. If I were to say one thing against it other than what's already been said is that they spread themselves thin. Two plotlines are covered in a single episode. This detracts from the main case and does cause some mild confusion. Here's hoping that confusion is limited in the second season.