Monday, June 7, 2010

Lie To Me... Again...

Tonight, a show I thought had gone the way of the dodo bird, returned to the air. The show is called "Lie To Me". It's about an agency that specializes in deception detection, or how to spot lies, and their efforts assisting law enforcement & other government agencies in exposing the truth. Based on the actual scientific discoveries of Paul Ekman, the premise of the show is that whenever a human being lies, the body unconsciously signals that lie. If you can read the signals, you can tell if someone's lying or not.

Tonight's ep was the one episode I was TRULY hoping they would make. I've always wondered how the science they use in the show would work against a psychopath. You know, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Given the nature of the show, the endgame of each ep can be fairly predictable, but the journey there usually holds one or two surprise turns for me. This ep was no different. I knew that Lightman (main character of the show, played by Tim Roth) would be running game, and that the hammer would most likely fall on him, but to take the game to the point of withstanding torture... It was an amazing thing to see.

In reading on the inevitable buzz about Lie To Me's return, I did see a remarkable amount of comparisons to "The Mentalist". While I do like "The Mentalist", I think it's unfair to compare the two programs. The basis of "Lie To Me" is the detection of lies through small unconscious body gestures. The signals that contradict what the person is saying. It's about dichotomy between the body and the mind, and figuring out what the biology says about our psychology. That study and interpretation is what makes episodes like the one tonight so intriguing. It's an example of scientific inquiry into a mind that is, for lack of a better term, an aberration. "The Mentalist" is more focussed on law enforcement using unorthodox tactics, like Lethal Weapon, where "Lie To Me" is more about cutting edge behavioral science proving to be useful for law enforcement, like cutting edge mathematics was useful in the show "Numb3rs".

If you haven't watched the show, dear readers, please tune in and check out "Lie To Me", it airs Mondays on FOX. It'll be a good time

1 comment:

  1. Oh God Rodney, I think you purposely make these irresponsible comments just to get a rise out of me. And yes Rodney, I know that your world doesn't revolve around me, but you make your "DELIBERATIONS" so easy to take apart. I love this show, and if you would've asked me, I would've told you that the only reason why this show was on pause, was because of 24. It was always coming back. I love The Mentalist, and like always, here is where we are going to differ. Would you agree, by your own statement, that detection of lies through small unconscious body gestures is the basis of Lie To Me? When you say detection, may I substitue that word for another, like let's say observing? If so, then your comment concerning The Mentalist not being comparable to lie to me is complete rubbish, simply because that's exactly what my man Patrick Jane does. From the VERY FIRST EPISODE when the mother of the killed daughter by her husband asked Jane if he was psychic, he immediately replied, no, there's no such thing, I'm just quite observant, so there's no point in LYING TO ME. Now, that's not verbatum because I haven't seen it in a while, but I'm sure it goes something like that. Not to mention in almost every episode that follows he keeps telling someone new the same thing. There was even one episode, if I recall, that someone didn't want to hear his scientific approach, so he just said ok, he's a psychic. Anyway, I think your slipping Rodman. I think you're living in your head too long without a referee to call foul on you when you make a mistake. That's ok, as long as you continue to post on here, I'll be your referee, lol. There, of course, was a part in the show where the psycopath tells lightman, a good chess player always thinks 5 moves ahead, where lightman responds, a great chess player only thinks one move ahead, the right one. That was awesome!! Hey, did you ever get into Burn Notice, like I asked you too? It's really getting good. I like what they're doing with it. Also, I'm sure you'll like to hear that, this is Smallville's last season finally. I try to stay in touch with all my shows so if you want to know something about a show, and don't want to look around, let me know, I'll probably already know it, or will look it up for you. Well, until next time, this is your follower, signing off.

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