Cal (Tim Roth) and Ria (Monica Raymund) are on the case of a female soldier, Lake (Alice Lagano) who accuses her commanding officer, Sgt Scott (David Anders) of sexually assaulting her. Immediately it's apparent there's plenty to lie about in this episode, giving the intrepid team lots to ponder and explain in terms of body language and face contortions. Or just plain face pulling to the rest of us. One major attraction of this show is that people lie: be they politicians, lawyers, celebs, so it's fun to see them squirm and have their behaviour explained. Especially as when they make an expression they don't really notice they're doing something wrong, or are hiding something. They seem to think their behaviour goes unnoticed. But lies are always found out, which is why it's great to see it in action.
Cal and Ria question Lake and her facial expressions, body language, reveal she's lying about being raped by Scott. Evidenced by her not feeling any disgust over what happened to her - if it happened. Cal and Ria also question Scott who remains calm throughout, even when Cal grabs his arm as he's leaving to feel his muscles. Cal is hugely impressed with his muscles. Scott doesn't flinch in the way normally expected, or gets angry, but he isn't gay either. Ria carries out a background check on Scott and finds he has a criminal record for various crimes, but the one that stands out for Gillian (Kelli Williams) is the arson charge. This means he's more likely to have raped as both arson and rape are crimes which exhibit the assertion of power.
Gillian and Eli (Brendan Hines) look into allegations of a bribe accepted by a basketball player, Earl (Theodore Perkins). He could have chosen any school (university) but when questioned on this, he reacts angrily. Lake's colleagues are brought in for questioning and when Cal questions one of them, the other two watch the video of Lake, which Cal deliberately leaves on pause. Unbeknown to them, they're being secretly filmed. when this tape is later watched, it's noticed none of them showed any reactions. Strange since women are meant to react in a predisposed way to rape if they believe the attack actually occurred. Lake admits she wasn't attacked but accused Scott to protect her platoon. Cal notices Ria's negative reaction towards him.
Cal: "You know, generally it's not a good idea to call your boss an idiot."
Ria: "I didn't say you were an idi..."
Cal: "but your buccinator did...that's a pretty impressive combination of contempt and disgust."
Ria and Eli have a bit of a chat where he asks her about Cal and his abysmal treatment of her. Especially when Cal noticed her sneering at him earlier. Eli claims it's cos Ria is "uneducated." Cal knows she's a natural, whereas he had to study people over the years. She was naturally born that way. He then tells her he's never been with a Latina woman before. Eli that is. Ria discovers one of the women form the platoon, Rebecca (Amy Rosoff) is missing, AWOL, and her writing matches the anonymous complaint of harassment filed against Scott. They find her at her grandfather's house and she finally comes clean about being continually raped by Scott in Afghanistan. Unknown to Ria, Cal has called in the army.
Once behind bars, Rebecca is afraid no one will believe her story. Cal posits "they won't believe me." Major Harris (Charles Parnell) wants to convene an immediate court martial, but Scott admits to fraternization, stating Rebecca is his girlfriend. To prove this he gives them photos of the two of them together. Well that's Mr Sark, oh I mean, Scott down the river then, that's the worst thing he could have done. As the photos reveal Rebbecca is afraid of him, shown by her eyes. Rebecca says she had to go along with what he told her otherwise he would have made her drive lead in the convoy. She lost a friend driving lead. Rebecca takes a polygraph saying Scott forced her to have sex with him. Scott accuses her of lying, causing him to get angry and when that happens, something always lets slip. He goes on to say that when Rebecca was with him, she'd never have to drive lead. In the process admitting he did rape her. Scott was allowed in the army even though he had a criminal record, as he had a "moral waiver" which is funny, not in a laugh out loud kind of way, but as if he had a moral waiver to condone what he did.
Eli shows Gillian photos of Earl on the court, where he feels he's exhibiting an emotion. But it's not, it's pain. Gillian asks him to sign a ball for her. He sticks out his chin, a demonstration of anger. Eli throws him a ball on purpose which he catches, revealing he is in pain. He took the bribe, as it's what he's earned, what he would have earned, if he could have played pro basketball. Gillian later gives him a cheque from a trust fund, set up by Taft for his college fees. He got good grades in his Econ. She tells him it's up to him whether he takes it or not.
Cal shows Ria a bottle of Valium, that's how Rebecca passed the polygraph. He tells her Ria doesn't know about the science of facial recognition so people could get hurt. She notices a feeling of shame from him when he says people could get hurt. When she confronts him over this he tells her she doesn't know what she's talking about. Ria: "You're lying." Cal: "Get used to it."
Running for three seasons, must have something going for this show, maybe the network had their own facial expressions analyzed for the show to carry on, ha, cos a show just based on lying could get old and boring pretty quickly. Luckily you get bursts of character defining moments from the cast. Gillian's a food junky a la "Brenda Leigh 'The Closer' Johnson" style.
Cal's outburst at the hot dog stand about the seller not washing his hands. Yuk, people who fidget like that should not handle food. Then Eli tells Gillian not to get a muffin from the muffin stall. No mention of why Gillian's husband was lying to her from last episode though, which I hope does get an airing.
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