In Plain Sight: 1.2 ‘Hoosier Daddy’ Review
Original Air Date: June 8, 2008
Now we’re talking. After watching “Hoosier Daddy,” the second installment of In Plain Sight, it becomes much easier to understand why viewers would do well to hang in there and stick with the new dramedy for at least a few weeks.
This episode has much of what the extended premiere lacked: a shorter length, for starters, as well as more involvement from Frederick Weller’s supporting yet essential character Marshall Mann, a tighter plot that provides deeper insight into Mary McCormack’s lead character Mary Shannon, and — yes! — some genuine action in the style of Burn Notice. Among my favorite scenes are those with Marshall ordering a lawyer to step back or get hurt in the courthouse and the fire alarm emergency that causes mass panicking in the courthouse.
The only thing that could make the episode, and thus the whole series, better is if Mary’s mother Jinx (Lesley Ann Warren) would move to New Jersey with her youngest daughter Brandi (Nichole Hiltz), never to be heard from again, except maybe in a couple of flashbacks. Is the subplot involving the two — Jinx getting a job selling cosmetics that are ultimately destroyed by her supposedly one-eyed lover’s dog after Brandi drives her around all morning — silly or what?
Going back to Mary, we learn a lot about her in this episode. For instance, the U.S. Marshal, who sometimes testifies in court under the alias of Sarah White from the Department of Justice’s Family Relations division, doesn’t “get” babies, which is no crime — lots of people don’t.
Yet despite her confessed absence of mothering instincts, Mary does a mighty fine job of protecting and comforting her latest witness, ten-year-old Leo Billups, formerly Lonny McRoy. The boy is not only the lone child of a notorious drug dealer who works for the notorious Cruz crime family, but he also witnesses his mother’s death in the presence of said notorious crooks; hence, the need for protection.
Smart-mouthed Leo is just about to be adopted by a suitable family in the witness protection program when his father Vernon shows up after serving time for the murder of Leo’s mother and demands custody. Mary and Company think the fake fatherly gesture is to prevent Leo from testifying against his dangerous employers, but they aren’t 100 percent correct, a good thing that eventually enables Mary to convince Vernon to do the right thing for his child.
When Vernon makes that concession — withdrawing his custody claim — Mary helps him out, as well, arranging for Vernon to enter WITSEC and reunite with his son. To the show’s credit, I truly didn’t see the two plot twists at the end coming, and Leo’s role in his mother’s death actually makes his father Vernon look like a heroic parent, something that seems impossible throughout the early scenes.
A couple more episodes like this, and In Plain Sight will be on its way to fitting in with USA’s other entertaining crime dramedies.
And in case you’re wondering — no, neither Cristián de la Fuente nor Todd Williams appears in this installment.
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