TV is the New Reading

‘In Plain Sight’ comes back strong in third-season premiere

It seems pretty clear to me that someone spent some time thinking about this.

Last season, the dynamic of USA’s “In Plain Sight” changed pretty radically when Mary McCormack as U.S. Marshall Mary Shannon had to shield her mooch of a sister, Brandi, from a federal drug charge, which became all the more difficult when Mary was targeted by the dealer Brandi’s boyfriend had ripped off.

In reaction to the violence that ensued, Brandi has been toeing the line and going to meetings, where she met up with a new boyfriend – one who isn’t a drug dealer, so that’s one in the plus column.

However, in that she was staying with Mary, the Feds ripped out Mary’s drywall searching for the missing drugs. Mary had a season-long staring contest with the feds demanding that they repair the damage to her home, which they refused to do because the head of the DEA office ... doesn’t like her very much.

It was an OK season, and it was a decided improvement on the first season, which seemed to be the crazy-of-the-week that Mary and her partner, Marshall Mann, would have to babysit for witness protection, her primary duty.

The show seemed to operate as a sort of laugh-free comedy that relied more on personality quirks and weird compulsions than actual cases or events that might draw these people to our attention before letting them drift uninterestingly away once again.

By the end of last season, Mary landed in the cross-hairs once again, this time protecting a mid-level Central American political asylum-seeker who had a following and everything.

In that case, the client was upset by how nice her accommodations were – “I can’t live in luxury while my people are suffering,” she said. She found a much-less-nice place in a gangland barrio. Mary objected – she’d be much harder to protect in such an exposed situation. But the client insisted.

Mary set her chin and determined to make the best of it. By the end of the episode, however, the presence of U.S. Marshals was rubbing the locals the wrong way, and Mary got caught in the crossfire. The season ended with her in a hospital bed.

The first part of the third season focused on her recovery. Her family hovering concerned, Mary just irritated by her inability to complete her physical therapy and return to work.

A lesser show would have made this the focus of the entire episode. This show has improved somewhat.

Along with Mary’s recovery, her partner managed to track down her assailant, just in time for Mary to make the collar – thank goodness the guy wasn’t in any condition to put up much of a fight.

More to the point, there was a classic who-knew-what-when standoff when one of the witness protection clients – one who hadn’t even told his new family about his protected status – is targeted when informa- tion about his past is leaked, and Mary is pulled in to investigate.

Was it old business partners? Was it his kid shooting off his mouth? Or was it his new wife finding out something she shouldn’t? Whatever the deal would shed light on where the next threat is coming from, but no one is talking.

As it happens, Brandi was able to come to the rescue in this case, giving Mary the perspective she needed to track down a leak and plug it up. Along with the repairs to the house while Mary was laid up, Brandi’s really becoming more of a contributor than a mooch.

USA’s slogan says “Characters welcome,” but they don’t always evolve. There seems to be more character development on “In Plain Sight” these days and I for one approve. The show seems more often to reach beyond the easy storyline and challenge itself and its viewers to something more complex.

If this trend keeps up, it will strengthen this already reasonably compelling show considerably. Keep up the good work.

“In Plain Sight” airs at 10/9c Wednesdays on USA.

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