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Lie to Me – Time to throw Mummy under the bus

Can you be a sadist AND a masochist? Or would that make you just poorly researched?

Do people like these pageant mothers and daughters really exist? I assume they do in some form or the media representations of them wouldn’t be so consistently vicious.

Cal Lightman is always the best and most interesting thing about Lie to Me. In order to enjoy the show, I just have to accept that fact. I am going to be critical of the plots and the other characters. That may be a failing I have, it may be a failing of the show, or some combination. But Cal is starting to rub off on me. I don’t think it’s sheer audacity on his part, either. The character is just plain witty. Upon meeting the head of a beauty pageant, Cal immediately asks her,

“Is that Candice with an “i” or Candace with an “a,” because I find Candace with an “a” to be far more classy. You know what I mean?”

What an obscenely rude question: There is obviously only one correct answer, and there is no way not to be offended by it. I wouldn’t want to be around him in real life, but damn, that’s funny. Especially later when Candice asks him if he finds his prejudice helpful, he tells Foster,

“Candice with an “i”. Not an “a.” I knew it.”

It’s too bad the show doesn’t have time or opportunity to discuss how completely wrecked Mr. Fletcher’s life would really be by this. Loker is right: The grapevine works quickly. How long would it take for rumors to cause people to question Fletcher’s innocence? When the other girls came forward, I thought maybe we had something akin to The Crucible happening. Well, that would probably take an entire series. The show likes to bite off more than it can even swallow hole.

Even Megan, who was pretty interesting when she was a sadist and a bloody emotional vampire, becomes pretty tame at the end. Simply having Cal tell Megan that his mother killed herself and that she can get more revenge on her mother by staging the pageant to come in second (I assume it was fixed based on the conspiratorial tone the end had) than she can by killing herself. But they repeatedly talk about Megan as a sadist: She gets off on inflicting pain on others — and by cutting herself. That’s masochism. Even her smiling at pageants is masochistic. So, which is it? And even if she quits pageants, she is still going to need a LOT of help.

So, I thought the writing really unraveled toward the end, though it had some promising bits.

Torres comparing how Cal treats Loker to Megan’s mother, and then comparing Loker to Cal when Loker wants a government job rings a few too many derivative House bells for my taste. Is Foreman just like House? Does he hate him or want to be him? Maybe this is just how male dynamics in the workplace operate, but having two shows with this subplot on the same network, back to back — come on, don’t you guys hire researchers or something?

It was pretty funny when Sarah and Charles did the red dot test. I wonder if they’ll go snipe hunting next week. But I hope Loker gets a job soon. He’s not adding much right now.

Photo Credit: FOX

Categories: | Episode Reviews | Features | General | TV Shows |

10 Responses to “Lie to Me – Time to throw Mummy under the bus”

October 12, 2010 at 2:15 PM

I would answer that question from the title but then everything Craig Ferguson always jokes about when it comes to Germans and sexuality would become a) true and b) everyone around here would start looking funny at me just because I happen to know something about the subject ^^;

Let’s just say there are books on the topic and I am curious little critter who likes to read about almost everything.

October 12, 2010 at 2:57 PM

Oh, Come ON! Please tell me! So, are you saying you’re into S&M? (I am just kidding– please tell me!)

October 12, 2010 at 3:05 PM

Basically almost anyone who’s a masochist is also open to sadism and the other way round, but to a far lesser extend. Kinda like a tid for tad and “I’ll try it” situation. Sometimes so little that couples never reverse the roles. It’s a matter of trust and control. In this case though I think the personal cutting was just a way to display this on TV without it being in any way kinky. Although I have to admit that that is mainly about dominance not pain. But since the step isn’t that far to simply switch places and for the sub to try things out he/she likes herself.

And this is about people in BD(SM) relationships, not about people just going to a dungeon and paying someone to be dominated. A professional IMHO would most likely not allow the customer to live out reversed fantasies because the level of trust within a paying situation is different than a real relationship.

Basically I got into contact with people who were into this via the internet and then got a book and read about it. It’s just about the same for me as talking about Latter Day Saints. Got a book about that too :-)

October 12, 2010 at 3:11 PM

Oh and the other thing is my last name – check https://www.peitsch.de and https://www.peitsche.de – Peitsche means “whip” and for a couple of years I got E-Mails every couple of months from people with sticky fingers who forgot the last “e” for the peitsch.de domain. And that page is about S&M.

I got a couple rather funny E-Mails in my “Fun” folder here from al kinds of people. I usually answered a couple of them, for instance the guy who wanted to really punish a woman and how much that would be I wrote he should first invest in get a keyboard that isn’t sticky.

The best answer I ever got though was from a Domina studio in Frankfurt. I wrote them back that the pictures they sent were sent to me and that if they want them to get published they should send it again. I felt sorry for them because they just offer a service. The answer was so awesome. It basically said the slave who messed the E-Mail up was punished accordingly. I was so ROFLing ^^;

October 12, 2010 at 3:08 PM

Ah, is this a coincidence or do you know from my posts (my copious posts) that I was raised LDS?

October 12, 2010 at 3:13 PM

I tend to pay attention and wanted to express that I don’t mock anything but rather try to understand. Of course mocking is easier when you know stuff more, that’s a given. I was raised catholic myself but left the church by the way.

October 12, 2010 at 3:16 PM

Touche, lol. What is it like leaving the Catholic Church? Any drama associated with it?

October 12, 2010 at 3:48 PM

None. I did it in the end because I didn’t want to pay money for something I don’t live anymore. The weird part was having to go to the local IRS offices to do it because we pay the churn via the state. I know… Separation of church and state my ass

October 12, 2010 at 11:44 PM

Hey! It’s my friend, Sebastian! Talking about BDSM, dumping Catholicism and sharing a new face! ;-) You devil, you.

October 12, 2010 at 11:56 PM

Hmmmm. Guess who gets to have a rosary said for them tonight. :)

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