U.S. Marshall Mary Shannon must protect her witnesses and take care of her family with the help of her partner and an unlimited amount of snark. Stay tuned after the music for our five-minute rant about season four!
[Listen now] | [Go to iTunes]
Story Analysis & Ratings:
Lucy says: 3 Pops ~ Lucy’s comments are coming soon.
Lucy’s rating breakdown: Protagonist: 3, Main Cast: 3, Supporting Cast: 3
Alastair says: 3 Pops ~ This show does so much right, but is compromised by a unlikable, self-righteous protagonist. Enjoy it for the episodic storytelling, but don’t hold out hope that anyone will meaningfully arc — or stick around if they do.
Alastair’s rating breakdown: Protagonist: 2, Main Cast: 4, Supporting Cast: 3
Poll: Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Info:
Story: U.S. Marshall Mary Shannon must hunt down witnesses for federal cases in the witness protection program while also raising a rather dysfunctional family and her own personal life. Creator: David Maples
9 responses to “Ep. 56: In Plain Sight”
Um, the mp3 link does not work.
It’s not working in iTunes either.
Can’t wait to listen, even though it sounds like we have some differences of opinion on Mary.
Sorry, Jennifer! There was a technical snafu, and the file didn’t finish uploading. It’s there now, and all should be well. Enjoy the show!
I want to preface this by saying that Eve Dallas from the In Death book is one of my favorite characters ever, so abrasive and difficult heroines are not an issue for me. I like Mary most of the time, but every now and then she becomes too much for me. The reason I watch this show is because I love Marshall so much. And in those episodes that focus on him, I actually like Mary better. I don’t think she feels superior to him, although there may very well be episodes where it comes across that way. The strongest impression I have of what she thinks of him is in the episode with his father, and she actually sticks up for him when his father criticizes him. I totally agree about her mother and sister vanishing from the show, and that still irritates me. I’m trying to cut season 4 slack because of the real life pregnancy thing, but it’s hard. However, in comparison with the crap that was the last season of Bones, it actually comes off looking good. I’ve never been more horrified by anything else on TV, but that rant doesn’t belong here.
Heh. This is a talk about the entire show, not those two episodes!
(Note: this post will talk about the show beyond “Trojan Horst,” sorry. Though Trojan Horst is my favorite one because of the Mary/Marshall moments. Adorable.)
My feelings on this show is that I’ve always enjoyed Mary, but I like attitudinal characters, and love Marshall. (That man is stunningly beautiful and yet has a voice that would be appropriate on Joe Pesci. How the heck did that happen, universe?) But I Could. Not. Bloody. Stand. Brandi, Jinx, and Rafe in the first two seasons. They are beyond awful and dragged the show down far more than Mary’s ‘tude ever did to me. Especially Rafe in his way because in real life Mary would have eaten him for breakfast and them as a “couple” didn’t work whatsoever. But the first two characters grew up, huzzah, and Mary finally broke up with Rafe, so improvements all around.
I actually don’t think Mary is that much of a “perfect” person, other than for comparison’s sake because her mother and sister were NOT the adults in the family. Mary had to be in charge of everybody–no wonder she came out as she did. It must have been like herding cats growing up. Most people would be driven crazy by her, but she had to be the hardass.
As for season 4: I am still waiting around for The Inevitable Announcement Episode to show up on Hulu already, so technically I haven’t seen it yet. I loathe that plot development, of course. I realize that Mary couldn’t hide behind a desk/giant purse or get shipped off to the FBI while the show becomes The Marshal Marshall Show given the show’s setup, but I wish they’d just NOT brought the show back again until 2012 under those circumstances. Between this one and the pregnancy on Bones (for similar reasons), it’s just…ugh. I hate watching completely non-nurturing, non-motherly characters getting pregnant and keeping it when that makes no sense for the characters. (Or in the case of Bones, using it as a bad excuse to force those two together without any actual couplehood first. Ughola.)
I’m another one who watches this show mostly for Marshall. Love that man. So pretty. I also enjoy that he’s Robocop’s kid in real life. LOL.
@Katie: I like Eve Dallas too, so I’m not against this type of character. It’s Mary specifically that irritates me. 😉
@Jennifer: You’re right, we ended up talking more about the show as a whole than the two episodes we watched for PopD. It’s a problem, I think, when you’re talking about a show you’ve already seen — it’s like discussing the first chapter of a book when you have already read the whole thing. We’ll try to limit ourselves more in the remainder of the season, and for the TV shows we’ll watch as part of the mystery series in the Fall.
I’m running behind in the PopD calendar, as I am in the Universe in general so I haven’t seen the episodes yet and I’m never seen In Plain Sight but I did get to hear the podcast. I’m wondering if Mary’s character is a bit like the Dana Delaney character in that new show ‘Body of Proof’ or whatever it’s called. I find her very unsympathetic and unlikeable in the pilot and I totally understand why her ex-husband and child don’t want anything to do with her. I do like the rest of the cast and she does grow on me some and soften a bit but in general she doesn’t make for an enjoyable character..
At least in the first seasons, it’s not the same thing. I loved Mary from the beginning and I couldn’t even finish the pilot of Body of Proof, I loathed that woman so much. They set up why Mary is the way she is, but they also give her tremendous intelligence and real skill at dealing with the people she works with. She’s one of my favorite characters ever.