Lie To Me – Season One (2009/Fox
Blu-ray)
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: C Episodes: C+
To be honest with
you I was expecting Lie to Me: Season
One to be much more exciting. The
series showcases little depth and repeats the same type of cases over and over
again. Series like SVU and CSI have relied
on a working formula for over 10 years, but the difference is that those series
infuse action, mystery and character development into each episode to hold the
viewers’ attention; Lie to Me has
very little of any of those elements. Whereas
the series, starring Tim Roth as a highly intelligent investigator who can spot
a lie in an instant, showcases interesting aspects of human emotion and psyche
it lacks in every other way. With a
brilliant cast of actors and plenty of FOX’s money backing it I tuned in
thinking I was going to view a creative and captivating series; instead I was
served up hour after hour of the same episodes with different supporting actors
and mildly tweaked storylines.
The series (as
previously mentioned) stars Tim Roth as Dr. Lightman, a world renowned
scientist who specializes in observing human behaviors, particularly
recognizing lies from even the smallest gesture. Dr. Lightman and his troop of “truth seekers”
work as private contractors who are hired by everyone from the Federal
Government to High Schools to find the truth behind some mysterious and not so
mysterious events. All in all that is
the entire series. Dr. Lightman has a
daughter who he tried desperately to connect with as well as seemingly having a
cavalcade of skeletons in his closet that have made him the person (and
scientist) he is today. Each of Dr.
Lightman’s assistants seem to have their own issues as well ranging from being
overly truthful too having an obviously shady/lying husband who she turns a
blind eye to; but all in all these side stories are bland and I could not care
less.
All in all I was
expecting more and was delivered quite less than a stellar series. The acting is great, but other than that I
can dismiss this series and move onto the next without losing too much
sleep. The main problem stems from the
fact that the series becomes tiresome as you observe the same story repeatedly
and little is revealed throughout the episode to hold your attention. Most of the season I could be on the computer
or folding laundry and I would miss very little in terms of critical details;
leading to the conclusion that Lie to Me
is mediocre at best and watchable if nothing else is on at that time.
The technical
features on Lie to Me: Season One do
not live up to the Blu-ray name as they fall short of what is expected from a
High Def presentation. The picture is
presented as a 1080p 1.78 X 1 AVC @ 21 MBPS encoded digital High Definition
transfer that has issues with contrast, color, and black levels from beginning
to end. The contrast and color never
seem bold enough and the blacks disappoint as they fail to frame the image and
fade into the rest of the picture.
Surprisingly there are little compression issues even with 5 episodes
squeezed on each Blu-ray disc; so unlike other series that have had a good deal
of issues with compression after lazily cramming to many episodes on a single
disc, Lie to Me has little too no
compression issues. The other surprising
issue with the picture quality is the level of digital noise that some episodes
display; for such a new Blu-ray and new series, there is no reason this should
be occurring. The sound is a DTS-HD
Master Audio Lossless track that gets the job done, but is far from thrilling
as the series displays little action and heavily utilizes the front speakers to
carry the dialogue driven series. The
dialogue is crisp, clean and strong but in no way will blow your surround
speakers up with a quality audio presentation as the series is limited in what
it offers.
The extras are
nearly nonexistent as only two featurettes are included on this set. The first is a feature entitled “Truth About Lies” that explores the
casting and creation of the series that all in all is well made, but feels too
self promoting and ends up being your standard series promo spot. The second feature includes some Deleted
Scenes that neither add nor detract from the series, but overall are drab and
unexciting. There are no Audio
Commentaries to be found, which for a brand new series is odd; especially with
a big name like Tim Roth attached.
Commentaries would have at least given the viewer more insight into
where the inspiration for the episodes/series came from and what we can expect
to come in the future; because as of now I am not so sure this underwhelming
series has much to offer.
The series
obviously has the money t back it and the acting is superb, but in the end it
all seemed too formulaic and I found myself thinking “ok, get on with it.” I knew the person was lying before the actors
even told me as the facial expressions are overly exaggerated and even if you
missed the obvious twitches, blinks or hand motions the “experts” were there
one second later to say “look at the way they…” or “if that was the truth they
would have…;” in the end being too overt for its own good. I honestly think the series has more to offer,
but if it continues on the same path of little action and monotonous plots the
series will surely fail. And that’s no
lie.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
