I came across an interesting detective program wrapped in a drama about a U.S. Marshal who helps place people in the Federal Witness Protection Program. It was called In Plain Sight. The main character, Mary Shannon, relocates witnesses in her professional life and has to contend with a bizarre mother and sister in her personal life. Be warned, I am not writing about this series due to its overwhelmingly Catholic themes. Although the characters are interesting and likable, they are far from virtuous. There is one episode in particular that I paid close attention to- as I do whenever Catholic characters are portrayed on television. The episode was titled Don of the Dead. The story, which aired a few weeks back, was about Don and Ruth who witness the murder of a priest and are put into the Federal Witness Protection Program. Although they are unhappily married, they are still together because they are devoted Catholics. At one point, Don is missing and suspicion falls on Ruth. That is all I’ll say about the storyline. I’ll admit the plot was less interesting to me than the way the writers handled a married couple who were practicing Catholics. At first, I thought the Catholic characters were going to get the same treatment from Hollywood that most Christian subjects receive- mild contempt. In the first scene, the interaction between Don, Ruth and the Priest was a bit crass. The Priest, although not long on the screen, fell just short of the familiar negative stereotype. But after the opening scene, you could tell that the writers took the time to learn about the Catholic religion and some of the nuances, which brought a certain amount of realism to the program. These are details that have been lacking in many other programs with Catholic content (of course, I’m talking about the mainstream media). I understand that the complexity of the religion makes it easier just to paint with broad strokes when writing for an hour crime drama. This episode of In Plain Sight may have slipped into the old stereotypes at times, but it is worth checking out. I felt that they were trying hard, within the art-form, to fairly represent Catholic ideas. That is not to say the characters were not extremely flawed. This really comes out at the end of the hour with some very strange notions about how God chooses to communicate. But like I said, they tied.
Although the original air date was a few weeks ago, you can watch all of the episodes online:
1) Just go to: http://www.usanetwork.com/series/inplainsight/video/fullep/
2) Wait for the commercial to play out
3) Click on the Episode 108- Don of the Dead
You can catch the season’s final episode on Sunday at 10:00pm, 9:00pm central.