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Another West Wing guest star on In Plain Sight

One of my favorite actors guest stars on 'In Plain Sight.' Who would have thought, though, that he'd play crazy so well?

- Season 4, Episode 2 - "Crazy Like a Witness"

It is ironic that I fill in on In Plain Sight coverage for the episode that guest stars Bradley Whitford. Some of you might not know about my freakish obsession complete fandom for The West Wing, and, especially my all time favorite TV character, Josh Lyman (I guess if you didn’t know before, you certainly know now). Though, seeing Whitford on IPS shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He’s just the latest through the revolving door of Wing alums that have appeared on IPS, and continues the tradition of stellar performances in doing so.

I’m not entirely sure, though, that I can cozy up to the idea of anyone looking like Josh going completely off the deep end (though, to be fair, he very often teetered right there on the edge). Paranoia, false or otherwise, has always been an interesting plot motivation on In Plain Sight. But was Adam jumping at shadows, or was the threat real? The bit at the end, about the driver of the car that killed his wife, seemed to point to the idea that maybe he did have something to worry about. It is a question I would love to have answered at some point.

If I could tweak anything about the format of In Plain Sight, it would be the ability to revisit certain witnesses. Many of the one-off characters that we’ve seen in three plus seasons are worthy of returns, but their stories rarely allow for it (I wonder exactly how many witnesses have been relocated out of town just before the end credits roll).

The character development of both Jinx and Brandi over the last several seasons is, compared to where they started, damn impressive. Neither of them are anything near what they once were, to the point of being plain weird. However, when the episode closes with Mary agreeing to be her sister’s maid of honor, it hammers home that all three of the Shannon women are only shadows of who they used to be.

Albuquerque Geography: Unlike last week, where I was easily able to identify two of the locations around town, nothing jumped out at me (Two Fools Tavern, featured in “A Priest Walks into a Bar,” is a great pub, and makes a mean cottage pie). What I couldn’t tell, though, was whether or not the greater Albuquerque area stood in for Minneapolis (which it has for other cities many times before).

Notes & Quotes

  • “Just make sure my witness shows up safe and sound at trial.” – Zietman
    “Wait, safe and sound? Is that new? It’s not an either or thing?” – Mary
  • Speaking of guest stars? John de Lancie? Awesome (and, ironically, also has a couple of West Wing episodes under his belt)
  • So, none of Marshall’s new girlfriend this week, but a reminder of his past with Dr. Finkle?

Photo Credit: USA

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