TV-Reviewed

It’s no secret that I wasn’t impressed by the premiere episode. Mary came off very rough around the edges and wasn’t that likable. Her image was vastly improved upon in the follow-up episode, “Hoosier Daddy.”

We got to see a much softer side of Mary this week when she and Marshall were put in charge of protecting a 10 year-old boy who had supposedly seen his father shoot his mother. I liked how initially Mary appeared to have to be mother to the boy, but she didn’t care for that idea. Instead, she found another WITSEC family to take him in as one of their own.

When the father was released from jail, he wanted custody of his boy, but the U.S. Marshals didn’t like that idea because he works for drug dealers, presumably from Mexico. They believe that either the father or the people he works for want the boy dead because he is scheduled to testify against the father and it would do irreparable harm to the drug dealer’s organization.

While Mary is off with Marshall, Mary’s mother gets a job. This was quite a shock. The job, however, doesn’t go so well. Selling cosmetics is an expensive operation. She had to borrow $2500 from Mary just to get buy the cosmetics. That is some expensive makeup! Then there’s the fact that a dog gets into the makeup and ruins it all. It was a hilarious secondary story.

Just when things weren’t looking very good for the young boy’s health, Mary made a move that changed everything. She showed the father photos of the boy, happy as can be with his new family. This was a bold move that paid off. Still, I’m questioning whether or not this would have gone this far in real life. The judge’s character was questionable. I don’t think a real judge would give the father custody.

Despite a complaint here and there, “Hoosier Daddy” turned out much better than the pilot. Mary was still just as strong of a character, just her rugged exterior was toned down a bit. There has to be some sort of happy medium for the actress and writers to find. She can’t always protect children. The Mary shown in the pilot was fun to a point, but I found her to be very off-putting.

Rating: 7.8

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