TV Show Review: In Plain Sight - Season 4

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: More interesting cases with real characters

Cons: New character is too perky and one dimensional

The Bottom Line: 

Mary and Marshall

Make excellent guides through the

Dark world of WitSec

"I'm Not a Team Player, Stan.  And That's a Direct Quote from Last Year's Employee Evaluation."

I have gone from luke-warm to loving In Plain Sight.  This show on the USA Network focuses on the Witness Protection program via the office in Albuquerque.  It definitely deals with the seedier side of life since many of the people involved are criminals.  It’s realistic, but darker than I normally like.  Yet the main characters’ sarcasm keeps me coming back.  Season 4 threw a new twist into the mix, and it made for an interesting season.

Since season three was the only season of the show to not end with a cliffhanger, this season feels like a fresh start in some ways for Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack).  Oh, she still has witnesses to protect along with her partner Marshall Mann (Frederick Weller).  The biggest change at work is that their boss Stan (Paul Ben-Victor) has hired a new agent in the ultra-perky Delia (Tangie Ambrose).  Oh yeah, andMarshallhas a new girlfriend – detective Abigail Chaffee (Rachel Boston) who is also a bit too perky for Mary’s tastes.

On the home front, Mary’s mother Jinx (Lesley Ann Warren) is still sober and actually building a life for herself.  But the big news is Brandi (Nichole Hiltz) who is planning a wedding to her dream guy with Mary’s acting as the maid of honor.  That is, if Mary can find time away from her job at WitSec.

So, what kind of cases does Mary handle this season?  There’s the personal when Brandi is accused of stealing a car and Mary calls on a witness to prove she didn’t do it.  Then there’s the con man who pleads himself into witness protection if he can team up with Mary to catch a bigger criminal.  Love comes between a witness and the suspect in a crime he was a witness to.  A teenager finds she’s been living in WitSec while another has to give up her promising music career after a crime is witnessed.  And an Amish couple must adjust to life in the big city after seeing a crime on their farm.

While the storylines are not the happy go lucky stuff I normally watch TV for, I find them compelling and satisfying.  While it’s rare for Mary’s witnesses to come back for more than one episode, they are usually pretty well fleshed out so we care about the outcome.

As always, Mary and Marshall are a great team.  Their zingers at each other are fun, as are their opposite personalities.  Mary is the very definition of a pessimist whileMarshallis an optimist tempered by realism.  It allows them to protect their witnesses and help them adjust to their new lives.

My big complaint about the season are the new characters brought in.  Actually, I did warm toMarshall’s girlfriend Abigail.  She may be too perky for Mary’s tastes, but I think she’s perfect forMarshalland turns out to be a realistic characters.  I wish I could say the same for Delia.  That woman is so sickening sweet it’s quickly tiring.  I was looking forward to seeing her irritate Mary, but by her third episode, I was rooting for her to meet a nasty end.

I mentioned a new twist to this season earlier.  Mary McCormack was pregnant in real life, so they wrote it into the show.  It was such big news, so I was surprised that it took them so long to actually introduce the storyline into the season.  It also takes advantage of TV time since over the course of the 13 episodes here, she goes from getting pregnant to going into labor.  Watching her deal with this does a lot to further develop her character, and I loved watching that part of the show.

Of course, all the actors make the show compelling.  They are so refined at this point that I can’t imagine anyone else in the parts.  The writers continue to give the characters great dialog and some very funny one-liners.  The show may be a bit on the dark side overall, but you can usually count on at least one laugh a week.

With thirteen episodes, it's not surprise that this is a four disc set.  And the episodes are presented in widescreen and full surround.  Extras are limited to the usual deleted and extended scenes and a gag reel.

Delia was enough to take a star off the season, but the show is still very compelling.  If you are a fan, you’ll definitely enjoy season 4 of In Plain Sight.

Season 4 Episodes:

1. The Art of the Steal

2. Crazy Like a Witness

3. Love in the Time of Colorado

4. Meet theShannons

5. Second Crime Around

6. Something A-mish

7. I’m a Liver not a Fighter

8. Kumar vs. Kumar

9. The Rolling Stones

10. Girls, Interrupted

11. Provo-cation

12. A Womb with a View

13. Something Borrowed, Something Blew Up