Lie To Me

This was the first season of Lie To Me that shows on Fox.
The premise of the show is that it is scientifically possible to determine whether a person is lying by their facial and body expressions. "The average person tells three lies in ten minutes of conversation." I've always been intrigued by shows that have a psychological element to it. As soon as I started seeing advertisements for Lie to Me I knew I wanted to watch it.

With each episode we learn a little more about the Lightman Group team that works the cases that come in. Whether a case comes from the FBI, the mayor or the District Attorney, they work as hard as they can to determine the truth of the situation.

They try to show more of Lightman's background with each episode, but not so much that there isn't still mystery as to who he really is. For me, though, I'm having a hard time connecting to his character because I still don't get what drives him. There are hints and half said clues, but it still doesn't really give me much of a connection. Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, usually at the end of a show, it ends and I'm left going, "Oh. Ok. Maybe they will continue this next episode." But they don't. So, I'm confused about this part.

What they do well is portraying all the different types of situations in which this type of approach is helpful in law enforcement investigations and interviews. A kid kills her friend and tries to hide it in order to keep her college entrance. A serial killer orchestrates an apprentice from within prison. The range of cases are as interesting as they are varied.

Throughout he show, I wish they focused a little more on the life issues the characters are facing themselves. A show is a lot about the premise and plot of the scenario, but it is also about the characters. I think they could have done a little bit more to flesh out the relationships between the characters.

The episode of the season finale was appropriately suspenseful and climactic. The ending of the season seemed almost like a regular episode. There was no ending suspense that would cause me to say, "Hey, why did you have to cut it off there?! I need to see more!!" (Such as with the Castle finale). It ended as a complete episode but with several places I think they could have ended it better.

All this being said, I watched every episode and was disappointed when I couldn't watch it as it showed (rather than online, though I would often watch then again online even if I saw it). I hope the show is back next season with even better scenarios and correcting some of these issues I mention.

Lie To Me - * * * 1/2