 TV Crush: Lie to Me
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Jul. 4th, 2009 @ 10:54 pm 
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So, getting triggered by episode 2 aside, I'm kind of in love with Lie to Me.
It has exactly the sorts of things that I tend to like. Ten things to say about it:
1) Plots that revolve around sociopolitical issues that treat them with much more subtlety and complexity than is usual. (At some point I'll post spoileriffic meta on this stuff, because: seriously, it's kind of awesome.)
2) Every single character in this show is, on some level, broken. And it's handled really damn well. The character interactions are complicated, and it pulls off some really interesting dynamics. The show passes the Bechdel test with flying colours - and, hell, we have complicated friendships between men and women that aren't sexualised at all.
3) So, hey, the major characters include two men and two women. One of the women is Latina. She's not a stereotype, she's brilliant in some ways and flawed in others, but they managed to make her strong without being "feisty".
4) So, of the two "senior" (in the agency) characters, one is male, one female. The male is Cal, and he's messed up in the head, so his primary relationship outside the agency is with his daughter. His daughter is awesome - she's fifteen, so she does some teenagerishly silly things, but she's basically a good kid - and Cal knows it, and they have a good, yet not unrealistically flawless, relationship. The female, Foster, is married - her relationship is also not without its complications, but it's handled really well too, imo.
5) The two "junior" staff members, Loker and Torres, are both single. Both have been seen dating - Torres has been seen responding to (respectful!) overtures from two men, in the episodes I've seen so far, one white, one black. Loker's date that I've seen was with a black woman. The "inter-racial" aspect of these interludes isn't mentioned - it's just about attraction. (Did I mention that the men involved were totally reacting to her as an intelligent and charismatic woman, not just to omg a hottie?)
7) Which is not to say this show is all about some kind of post-racial utopia - in fact, this may be the first TV show I've seen that actually takes on the concept of implicit/aversive racism, the idea that subtle racism is alive and well and dangerous. Hell yeah.
8) No, seriously, complicated relationships. That don't need to be wrapped up for a Hallmark moment, that don't need to be sexualised, none of it. If I were to write fic for this show, so far, at least, I could only possibly write gen, or possibly BFF fic. God, it's awesome to see recognition that relationships between men and women can be strong with no sexual component.
9) As a rule, no-one makes an issue of the fact that Torres is beautiful. (Seriously, she's stunning.) Because the thing is that just about all of the interactions between the characters, they're at work, and so people are professional - and the unprofessional moments aren't about sex, either, even slightly. The one time I've seen Cal touch her, in an unprofessional way, he was pushing her away and that was it. Because what matters about her is that she's brilliant.
10) I've seen eight episodes so far, and not been disappointed. However, I am compelled to say, as much as I recommend it to people who like intelligent TV, if you have triggers, you might want to check spoilers for the plots in case they're dangerous to you. (I hadn't thought of this as an idea - after the triggering from episode 2, Dean said, "I hope you're checking spoilers for each episode to know it's okay for you to watch," and I said, "Hey, that's a really good idea," and Dean facepalmed.)
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