In Plain Sight: 1.8 ‘Don of the Dead’ Review
Original Air Date: July 20, 2008
How much fun is the beginning of this episode of In Plain Sight? A whole lot. Devout Catholics Donald and Ruth Fraser, now Ferguson in WITSEC, can’t stand each other, but their religion makes them refuse to divorce. The episode opens with a murder in Boston sixteen months ago, just after the Frasers finish a counseling session with their priest. Don wants an annulment, but as his wife points out, the two of them are not Kennedys.
As the couple leaves, the biggest racketeer in Boston, Joseph Connor, stops by to shoot the priest for meddling in some unspecified business. The shooter ends up shot himself after the Frasers intervene. Now the spouses are unhappy together in WITSEC, where they run another homeless shelter in Albuquerque.
All seems good as the Fergusons continue disliking each other while dedicating themselves to their shelter, until one night Mary’s dinner with Raphael is interrupted by a phone call about a recent car accident. Don is supposedly burned to a near crisp. But when Ruth arrives at the morgue to say a tearful goodbye — although she couldn’t stand him, she does love him — the mortician’s news that the dead person had a severe alcohol problem and would have died in a couple of months from cirrhosis of the liver leads to the logical conclusion that Don isn’t the dead guy since he lived such a devout and busy life.
One of the details that strengthens this episode is how Mary sees some of herself in the sour relationship between the Frasers. Even so, that darn competitive thing with her sister Brandi, whose feelings for Mary’s boyfriend Raphael are clearly getting stronger (as are his for her), prevent the marshal from improving her troubled romantic relationship. The scene with all three on the phone together, Mary and Raphael both talking to Brandi, shows just how confusing and irrational this threesome is. Somebody’s going to end up very hurt and soon.
Meanwhile, the case of (un)dead Don gets more and more puzzling. A Native American tracker confirms he probably left the scene of the car accident injured, Mary and Marshall are unable to locate Connor’s two sons who love to intimidate witnesses, shelter worker Peter O’Dell claims Don wanted to fake his death to keep his wife out of jeopardy, and then mentally unstable shelter resident Phil claims he saw Don die. What is going on?
As Don tells Mary later when Phil’s rambling leads her to the roof of the church where a memorial service is being held for Don, it turns out there was an accident that resulted in the death of the alcoholic in the morgue after he stole Don’s car. Don is convinced he then heard the word of God assuring him the accident was Don’s chance to fake his death and leave Ruth so both could find happiness. Skeptical Mary doesn’t buy that explanation, of course, but since she feels the Frasers are two of the most decent people on Earth, she grants Don’s wish to let Ruth continue thinking he’s dead and to move him to another location.
Although some, like my TV buddy, might consider the main storyline too reflective or lacking excitement, I thought it was a nice change of pace that demonstrated the series can still be effective without a whole bunch of goons and crooks running around. Other highlights include the bittersweet scenes with Brandi, who continually grapples with her attraction to Mary’s man, even if she denies it, and Jinx, who eventually decides to go for it when auditions are announced for a local production of Sweet Charity.
Jinx’s boss at the bar repeatedly implies they’re both too over the hill to waste energy pursuing their dreams, but Jinx finally dismisses his negativity and calls to sign up. I believe we’ll see what happens with that on the next episode called “Stan By Me.”
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