And so the trend continues from the past few entries: some connection from my life inspires to watch a certain pilot and this week is no exception.
Recently I saw the new Tarantino film Hateful Eight, which I absolutely loved (go see it in 70mm if you can) and there on the screen I saw my old friend, Tim Roth. I absolutely loved him in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and immediately thought “Where has this guy been since the early 90s?”
After consulting IMDB, I was reminded of a TV show he was on: Lie to Me. It only lasted a few seasons on FOX and as the title suggests, it has a similar premise as CBS’s The Mentalist: A man who has an uncanny ability to tell if people are lying.
Going into this pilot, I loved Tim Roth and now coming out the other side, I still love him. But unfortunately, I had several seasons of The Mentalist in my memory bank for a ready to go comparison.
Obviously the shows invite comparison: the shows premiered within a year of each other.
Both of these shows are procedural dramas featuring a gifted man who doesn’t work as a policeman or an FBI agent but a freelancer for hire. Both men have a loner vibe to them, but perhaps for different reasons.
Even the lead actors are both not American, although Tim Roth kept his British accent, while The Mentalist’s Simon Baker masks his Australian one with a flawless American one.
Generally I don’t watch procedural dramas as much because it really doesn’t matter if you watch one episode or the entire series. There’s rarely a continuous through-line and every episode follows the exact same format. (ie. Law & Order: someone commits a crime and the guilty party is either the first person they interview or someone related to that person. House: it’s never Lupus, etc.)
I have to imagine the main reason to stay with a procedural drama then, would be because the characters are compelling and you want to visit them once a week to see what they’re up to.
Lie to Me didn’t really hit that for me - Tim Roth is smart, but in a callous Sheldon Cooper “I don’t care about people’s feelings” kind of way. His female work partner (whose name I can’t remember but she did look good in her work dress so I’ll call her Hot Dress) is clearly supposed to be his foil and I guess love interest? I didn’t really feel any chemistry, but there was an attempt at banter (Roth belittles Hot Dress for eating a pudding cup at 10 AM and then later for an orange slushy…yes, fortunately this is the show’s only awkward attempt at humor.)
Also the show relied heavily on the science of body language and facial ticks, which got very technical and didn’t really engage me. The Mentalist had more of a Sherlock Holmes feel to it of noticing tiny details and making everyone feel stupid. After watching several episodes of The Mentalist, I feel like I can play along and be smart like our “mind-reading” protagonist”. With Lie to Me, I feel like they constantly were teaching me the slight variations of facial expressions with real science (maybe?) and I didn’t feel engaged.
The biggest difference between The Mentalist and Lie to Me, which made me find the latter lackluster, is that I have no real backstory for Tim Roth or explanation as to why he is the way he is. On The Mentalist, Simon Baker has a very interesting backstory where he used to pretend to be a psychic and he pissed off a serial killer, Red John, on national television, and said serial killer murdered his wife and daughter. Red John is still at large and clearly Simon Baker is hoping to find him and exact revenge. Simon has a charming wit and fun loving exterior, so I was immediately charmed by him and then to learn of this dark past where he is dead set on revenge is absolutely thrilling.
So, as you may have guessed, I will not be watching another episode of Lie to Me, but I do highly recommend The Mentalist. Simon Baker’s quips alone are worth it and then the Red John hunt through-line through the series makes the viewing so much fun!
I give the Lie to Me pilot 5 out of 10 pudding cups
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