In Plain Sight, "Hoosier Daddy": Patching things up

Spoilers for episode two of "In Plain Sight" coming up just as soon as I make a tuna casserole...

With Mary out of Albuquerque for most of this episode -- and therefore away from the family members who distract her from her job and drive her nuts -- this one was a bit straighter than the pilot. Sure, there was the "I can't believe you'd hit a girl!"/"You're no girl!" exchange I quoted in my initial review, plus Mary's reaction to finding One-Eyed Dan in her house, and the bulk of the mom/sis subplot was played for laughs (though it wasn't that interesting). But overall, "Hoosier Daddy" was more sincere than snarky.

Still, I liked it. For one thing, while some of the details were no doubt fudged -- the solution to the problem most of all -- the question of how to deal with something as relatively mundane as a family court issue within the context of WitSec was interesting. For another, I thought Mary McCormack played well with the kid, and after the "Look, I ain't going to church, and I don't have a bedtime" intro between him and his adoptive parents, I thought the story worked better on a more serious level. Wisecracking kid stories are really hard to pull off without getting annoying in a hurry, and so after establishing that Leo/Lonnie seemed like a clever operator, we find out that it's just a defense mechanism for a very damaged boy (one even more damaged than he realizes, because he's blocked out memory of shooting his mother).

I also appreciated that she let herself look so haggard throughout the episode to illustrate how exhausted Mary was from both family and professional obligations. (Most actresses either wouldn't want to wear such little makeup, or wouldn't be allowed to by networks/producers trying to sell their beauty.)

One note for next week: McCormack pops up late in next Sunday's episode of "Criminal Intent" for a fairly shameless "In Plain Sight" plug that includes Chris Noth asking the question "What's there to do in Albuquerque on a Sunday night at 10?" Unless you're a big fan of the Logan version of "CI," it's eminently skippable.

What did everybody else think?