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In Plain Sight: 1.2 Hoosier Daddy Recap
Airdate: June 8, 2008
In the second episode of USA Network’s new original series In Plain Sight, we get to see a little more of the softer side of U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack) when she has to protect a young boy named Lonny who saw his mother killed by drug dealers (the Cruz brothers), including his father.
Flash forward 18 months. Placed in her care, Mary admits she sucks with kids, but her boss Stan (Paul Ben Victor) tells her the kid needs an advocate and she’s the person for the job. Of course, her partner Marshall (Frederick Weller) can’t resist telling her she “sucks with adults too,” which starts a mini shove fight that ends up knocking Stan’s coffee all over him.
Needing to find a WITSEC family that can adopt him, Mary sets up Lonnie (now Leo) with the Billups family. There’s a funny scene where Mary is interviewing the Billups to see if they are interested in taking Leo, while Leo is watching through the hidden glass. Mary and Leo have obviously bonded during their time together as apparent from their banter.
Leo jokingly says, “You told them I was sweet?”
“You can be sweet … if your life depended on it… if the future of the free world depended on it… and if it sorta involved a cash payout … you could be sweet.”
Once they accept, Leo shows his tells the family (after seeing them pray through the glass) “I ain’t going to church and I don’t have a bedtime.”
Later at home, Mary can’t sleep because all she hears is her mother Jinx (Lesley Ann Warren) having sex with one of her one-night stands. The next morning, Mary gets even more upset finding the kitchen a mess, a purple bra in the sink and no coffee. Meanwhile, Jinx and her sister Brandi (Nichole Hiltz) are sitting by the pool outside lounging. Mary tells her mom “no more sleepovers” because “a daughter should never have to hear her mother doing what I heard last night.” She tells Brandi, who is supposed to have a life and boyfriend back in New Jersey, to contribute to the rent or put on the calendar when she will be leaving. She also tells Jinx to “get off your … and find gainful employment.”
Mary and Marshall then stop by the adoption celebration party for Leo and his new family, who all seem very happy together. Leo loves his little sister and other siblings, and his new mom says everything is fine except for Leo’s occasional nightmare.
Seeing the baby with Leo, Mary asks “What’s the deal with babies? I don’t get them” — it’s as if babies are aliens to her.
Arriving at home, Mary is happy to find that Jinx and Brandi have made one of her favorite meals, tuna casserole with Velveeta® and potato chip crust, one of the finest dishes out there, mind you. They are also quite proud of themselves for cleaning up. And Jinx is especially proud because she thinks she’s found a job selling cosmetics door-to-door. When Mary offers her help, she learns that Jinx needs $2,500 to get started with her samples. We see Mary’s soft side again when she writes on her To-Do list in the car that she needs to transfer $2,500 to her mom. Why, I have no clue. You can tell this will be a train wreck.
A little later, Jinx is practicing her pitch for her new job, saying her ex-husband was a great salesman. Brandi mentions was that “before or after he became a criminal and ran out on the family.” I’m wondering if that is a lot of the reason why Mary got into law enforcement. That’s also why she probably has a bad attitude about family and relationships. Going out to sale, Jinx is happy when she sells one eyebrow pencil, making $10, wanting to “celebrate” (read: drink alcoholic beverages). She then stops by her one-eyed boyfriend’s house for nookie. That’s another bad idea as while they are having fun, the boyfriend’s dog destroys $2,500 in samples. And of course, the boyfriend doesn’t love her enough to replace them.
Back at the office, Mary learns that the Department of Justice needs Leo to return home to Indiana to testify and even worse, his dad is suing for custody.
Mary tells the DOJ dude that they should be telling the father, “Sorry you murdered your son’s mother and that’s pretty much a deal breaker on the custody issue. Then tells the guy, “What the hell is wrong with you people? Can’t you strap on a set and do the right thing for once?”
Mary believes the father only wants Leo so that he can prevent his son from testifying against him and the Cruz brothers. The Billups family is livid that Leo is being taken away from them, but Mary promises to do her best to return him to them.
Marshall, Mary and Leo fly in, arriving in Indianapolis to a safe house with several U.S. Marshals. Leo easily works his way in to a Texas Hold’em game, taking the Marshals for their money. At bedtime, Leo jokes at Marshall’s pajama bottoms but Mary tells him “don’t let the PJ’s fool ya — that’s one bad-ass lawman.” Later in his sleep, Mary awakes to find Leo crying, comforting him. Leo wonders if his dad thinks he doesn’t love him anymore.
At the courthouse, Marshall shows his muscle when he tells Leo’s dad and his slimy lawyer to not attempt to get near Leo. Later, a car bomb outside the courthouse leads to an emergency exit for Leo, and Mary saves him in the nick of time, realizing it was a setup by the Cruz brothers to get Leo in the open.
Arriving back at the safe house, Leo expresses fear that he will eventually be killed, saying his father told him if someone wanted to kill a person bad enough, nothing could stop them. Mary tells him, “Yea, well, your dad never met me.”
While putting her guns up, Leo asks her about them. She asks him if he ever shot a gun. He says his dad had one like hers and then asks if she thinks his dad wants to kill him. Mary tells him no, but the people who work for him do.
Leo says he thinks that his dad doesn’t know and Mary needs to tell him. A few minutes later, Leo says he lied. He did shoot a gun once. The day his mom died. When Mary asks him what happened, he said that when he heard the commotion in the house and heard them threatening his mother, he got his father’s gun and saw them holding guns on his mother. He said he fired the gun but must have missed, because his mother still died.
Mary goes to see Leo’s father, wanting to talk about the day his mother was killed, telling him she knows now that Leo shot his mom by accident and he covered up for him (at least he did something fatherly). Leo is blocking out the memory. Realizing he’s not the monster she thought he was, she tells him he still doesn’t need custody of his son (because he’s a drug dealer and his drug dealer friends will eventually kill his son). Mary explains that he has a good life now with a new family, and she only wants what is best for Lonny/Leo. She tells the father to make peace with her taking Lonny from him. She leaves him with pictures of his son with his new little sister.
Going back to the safe house, Mary tells Marshall that she can’t give Leo up, and Marshall says he will help. The next day at the courthouse, Mary tells Leo it’s up to the judge, with Leo very skeptical. As he walks off, Mary says, “I finally find a guy who gets me and he’s 10.”
And of course, the judge rules in favor of the father, but in the last second the father decides to give up his rights so Leo can stay with his new family. He asks Mary if he can say goodbye to his son, but she tells him he’s already gone (because she wasn’t going to give him up — regardless of the judge’s decision).
By doing this, Leo’s dad is in danger from the Cruz brothers, so he is put in the witness protection program. Though it doesn’t say the details, they show Leo returning to his family with his dad being given some sort of visitation rights.
Overall, I believe the episode was really good because it shows even more of Mary’s character and how deeply she cares about the people she protects.
I’ve read other people’s opinions that Jinx and Brandi’s characters are pretty worthless. I will admit that the cosmetic crap was pretty dull, but I think these characters need to be given a chance to shine. I just think they need better storylines and I hope the next episode will let them shine a little.
Haven’t watched In Plain Sight yet? Catch up by watching the full epsiodes online.
Image: 2008© USA Network/Michael Muller
Tags: usa network, in plain sight, in plain sight series, mary mccormack, lesley ann warren, nichole hiltz, u.s. marshal, u.s. marshals, witsec, witness protection, usa series, frederick weller