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In Plain Sight: "Stan By Me" Review

When Brandi sees the light, Mary gets kidnapped

Last week, Mary's sister, Brandi had a change of heart. Instead of going through with a scary drug deal, she anonymously tipped off the cops and had the intended buyers arrested. Unfortunately, Spanky, the big drug boss was none too happy to hear this news and told his goons to kidnap Brandi, the hot blonde living in Mary's house. However, they're called goons for a reason - they kidnapped the wrong hot blonde.

Even though the season leading up to this point has been disappointing, we were kinda looking forward to this episode. The fact that Mary got kidnapped and that the format of this episode would be a bit different were both interesting features. Maybe we'd see Marshall and Stan work their detective magic? Maybe Mary would use her brains, (or her fists) to escape? With only the season finale to go, we'd finally get moving on the "Mary's professional and home lives collide" storyline, which they've been building (or stalling) since the first episode.

Sadly, and not surprisingly, they failed to deliver on the show's promise for some suspenseful television. For example, the crux of the episode is that Mary's been kidnapped. She's chained to a wall and guarded by those pesky goons. How is she going to escape? Why, with the help of the loaded gun strapped to her ankle that the goons conveniently overlooked. Give me a break. Things like that are insulting to viewers who have been watching crime shows for decades. Like on a mystery show when the innocent bystander finds the dead body and immediately picks up the knife, getting his fingerprints all over it, and thus becoming the primary suspect. You can't write scripts like that anymore. Viewers are too savvy. Mary McCormack in "Stan By Me."

And as for the supporting characters, why are they still wasting time on them? Haven't we seen heard enough about Jinx's singing career or the tedious Brandi/Raphael relationship? Those storylines haven't progressed in weeks, yet they continue to chew up minutes that could be used to make the main story arc stronger. Instead, Marshall, Stan and Bobby D.'s investigation into Mary's kidnapping is reduced to a few phone calls, because there isn't time left for red herrings, wrong turns or mistakes – you know, stuff that makes a detective show interesting.

Plus, we'd been waiting all season to finally meet Chuck, Brandi's mysterious boyfriend who got her involved in this whole mess. But he turns out to be a sniveling little weasel that had three lines of dialogue before he was killed. Again, nipping any chance at suspense in the bud.

Let's cut to the chase: This show is a mess. The mysteries aren't interesting, the investigations aren't creative and the characters aren't anything beyond paper-thin stereotypes. But the worst part of all is that week after week, the episodes always begin with promise. There is something there. This show could be cool. However, every week they figure out a different way to blow it.

In Plain Sight First Aired Jun. 2008