Сезон 1 | Эпизод 01 | "Pilot" (Пилотная серия)

Cal Lightman (played by Tim Roth) sits in a room with a skinhead and his lawyer. The lawyer says his client isn't going to talk. Cal says it's okay because he can tell more from his silence. Cal says the FBI believes the skinhead wants mass casualties and they are searching two large black churches. Cal tells the skinhead that the FBI is wrong and he thinks they should look at small churches. The skinhead becomes agitated and his lawyer reminds him to stay quiet. Cal asks about a church in Lawton and based on the look the skinhead gives him, Cal determines Lawton is the right target. The FBI tells Cal his conclusion has no basis.

Cal uses the footage of the skinhead interrogation to teach a class. He tells the audience that the police found a pipe bomb in a Lawton church an hour later. Some of the attendees doubt Cal's abilities. Cal points out all the movements the skinhead made that clued him into the truth. Cal throws a book and the audience ducks. Cal says that real surprise only lasts a moment. Cal then shows images of different people flashing the same expression. He says the truth is written on all our faces.

Cal's partner, Gillian Foster, tells Cal they need to hire someone immediately. She hands him a resume and tells him it's the one. Eli Loker hands Cal a bunch of files and starts to tell Cal about his wild night. Cal walks off and his secretary tells him the mayor is on the phone. Cal takes the call and learns about a high school teacher who was killed.

Cal and Gillian go to the jail to talk to the suspect, a juvenile named James Colt. They're told he killed his teacher, smashed her head into a glass table, then fled the scene. Assistant US Attorney Hutchinson arrives and asks what the mayor needs to know. He says the kid had motive, means, and resisted arrest. They're then told that the US attorney's office wants to try Cooke as an adult, but they want to be positive he's guilty before they send him to death row.

Cal and Gillian meet with James and he tells them that he was out for a run and the police thought he was running from them. Cal asks if he's on the track team, then asks about his best runs. James's eyes dart around as he answers. Gillian asks if James had ever been to his teacher's house before and James says no. Gillian then asks how he felt about being held back a year. Cal jumps in and asks how he felt when he heard his teacher was dead. James says he thought it was God's plan, but adds that he didn't kill her.

After the interview, Cal reviews the tape. He looks at Hutchinson and notices something's off. Cal says he thinks James was telling the truth since he avoided eye contact. Hutchinson thinks that means he's lying, but Cal says people make more eye contact when they lie. Cal and Gillian then show James exhibiting sadness when he thought about his teacher's death. Hutchinson tells Cal he's a joke. Cal tells Hutchinson that he can tell he is having an affair with his assistant and she feels embarrassed about it because he's married.

Cal and Gillian go to James's school and talk to the principal. He tells the detectives that James's father had objections to the teacher's teachings since he was a Jehovah's Witness. Cal and Gillian then interview several students. They call the officer on the case and tell him that James didn't have any history of violence at school. Cal then gets into a fight with a man who stole his parking space.

Cal and Gilian go to the airport and Cal is pulled out of line for a random search. Cal is annoyed and the TSA agent, Ria Torres, asks him to open his briefcase. Cal reluctantly opens it and reveals it's full of cash. She asks Cal to go with her and Gillian asks the agent to go with them. Gillian then tells Ria that they would like her to work for them since she has a natural talent of picking out guilty people. Gillian and Cal leave and Ria says they forgot their briefcase. Cal tells her to keep it as a signing bonus.

Back at the office, Eli tells Cal that he just talked to the school guidance counselor about the student Cal said seemed breathless during the interview, Jacqueline. The counselor said that she had three appointments with the school nurse in the last few weeks and that could mean she had an STD or was on drugs. Gillian and Cal then argue about happiness.

Gillian meets with DNC Chairman Baldridge. He asks Gillian to find out the truth behind sex allegations against Congressman Weil. He says that the congressman is about to be named chair of the ways and means committee and he needs to know if the scandal is true.

Ria arrives for her first day of work and meets Eli, who confesses that he would like to sleep with her. Cal and Gillian then meet with James's parents. They look over the house and James's dad tells them that James spent too much time in his darkroom, which took time away from doing the Lord's work. Cal and Gillian ask about James's teacher and the school. They both reiterate their faith and say the school was corrupting their son.

Gillian tells Cal that she found out James's father got into fights with other members of his church. She suggests that he could have become angry seeing James near his teacher's house. Gillian also points out that James's mother referred to the teacher as 'that woman' which means she knew something about her that she didn't want to say. Eli walks in and says Jacqueline had no connection to James outside of school, but the nurse implied that she was pregnant.

Cal meets with his daughter Emily and they talk about Emily's mom's new boyfriend. Cal then meets Emily's boyfriend Dan. Emily makes Cal promise not to analyze her new boyfriend. Cal promises, then asks Dan if he plans on sleeping with Emily.

Gillian meets with the congressman. He says he never heard of the club he was rumored to be seen at. Gillian asks the congressman to tell him about the night in question. She then asks him to tell the story backwards. He struggles which tells Gillian that he is lying. Gillian asks if he uses a prostitute. The congressman lies and the detectives wonder why he shows more shame that politicians who are married with children. Cal then notices that the congressman made the same hand gesture that James made. Cal and Gillian wonder if James was having an affair with his teacher.

Cal and Gillian go back to James's parents and ask if James was having an affair with his teacher. James's parents become upset and say James wasn't having sex with anyone. Gillian tells James's mom that she can help her son if she tells them the truth. James's mom walks off, then returns with pictures of James's teacher that were hidden in his room. Cal and Gillian see the photos and ask if they knew James was spying on his teacher. James's dad says he told James that there is no greater sin than sex. James's mom begs them not to show the photos to anyone. Cal says they need to show them to James.

Cal takes the pictures to James. He asks if his teacher made him feel temptation. Cal suggests James took the pictures so he could fantasize about her later. Cal says he thinks James had been spying on her, took the photos, then one day he saw that she was dead. James says he didn't know she was dead. He admits that he had unclean thoughts and touched himself. He swears that he didn't know she was dead until he was walking away and saw the blood. He says he was going to call 911, but the police came and he just ran.

James is taken away as he screams that he didn't do it. Cal sees Hutchinson and says James was telling the truth. Hutchinson says that James lied about not going to his teacher's house, which is enough to convict him. Hutchinson adds that the photos add to his guilt. Cal says James is only guilty about his sexual arousal, which is why he failed the polygraph. Hutchinson tells Cal and Gillian to leave the case alone.

Gillian's husband picks her up at work, making an excuse for why he was late. They leave and Ria tells Cal Gillian's husband lied to her about why he was late. She asks Cal if he is going to tell her and Cal says no.

Ria then goes out to investigate the club that the congressman was alleged to have visited. Ria meets with Melissa, one of the prostitutes. She tells Ria most of her clients are regulars. Ria asks if she and her boyfriend could pay for her services on Friday. Melissa says she's busy on Friday nights.

Ria tells Gillian about Melissa. Ria says she doesn't think the congressman hits her and Melissa seemed to genuinely enjoy her Friday nights with him. Eli tells the ladies to turn on the news. They see that the congressman's sex scandal has broken open and he admitted to spending more than $82,000 on a single escort. The congressman walks out and reporters hound him. Gillian, Ria and Eli notice that the congressman looks disgusted. They wonder why he would be disgusted about having sex with Melissa.

Cal tells Gillian that James is on suicide watch. Gillian shows Cal pictures of the teacher at a car the same day that she was killed. Cal makes a copy of the picture. He blows it up and points out that she was having an argument based on her hand gestures. They think the teacher was killed by the person in the car.

Cal and Gillian meet with the principal and ask who the teacher could have had an argument with. Gillian asks the principal who drives the car in the picture. The principal looks at the picture, then says he'll try to find out who it belongs to. Cal asks if it's his car and the principal says no. Cal asks if he was having an affair with the teacher and the principal says no. Cal apologizes, shakes the principal's hand, holding it for a while, then leaves. Cal then tells Gillian that the principal's hand was colder the second time he shook it, which means he was scared.

Eli tells Cal that the car doesn't belong to the principal or his wife. Cal tells Eli to find out who's car it was. Ria walks in and says she knows why the congressman was so ashamed about what he did at the sex club. They then meet with the congressman and ask if Melissa was her daughter. Ria shows the congressman the form he filed to find his birth daughter who was adopted. The congressman explains how he was in school when they gave her up for adoption. He says he hired a private investigator to find her. The congressman says Melissa didn't know he was her father, but he wanted to help her, so he gave her money. They offer to tell the press the truth, but the congressman says no. He says he doesn't want her to get the recognition of being the congressman's wh*** daughter.

Eli finds that the car in the picture belongs to Jacqueline. Cal asks Jacqueline what happened to her teacher. She says she feels sick and Cal asks if it's morning sickness. Cal asks what they fought over. Jacqueline says she didn't kill her teacher. Cal believes her, but says he knows she knows who did kill the teacher. He asks again what they were arguing about. Cal is then handed a piece of paper. He reads it, then tells Jacqueline it doesn't matter anymore because James hanged himself in his jail cell. Jacqueline cries and says she didn't want anything happen to James. Cal asks why her principal recognized her car. He asks if she was sleeping with her principal. She admits that she was and she's pregnant with his baby. She says that her teacher found out and confronted her about the affair. She says she begged her teacher not to tell, but her teacher was going to turn the principal in. She says she didn't think he was going to kill her.

Several squad cars pull up at the school and the principal is arrested. James's parents begin to cry at the jail. James then walks out and they all hug, then leave. Gillian tells Cal that the principal confessed and was sentenced to 30 years. She then asks why he asked her to give him a note during his interview with Jacqueline. Cal says it's a secret. Ria asks Cal if they are going to set the record straight about the congressman. Cal says no. Ria asks if they are just going to let him throw away his career and Cal says it's the congressman's choice. Ria then asks what she's supposed to think about him if he lies to everyone. Cal tells her she can think whatever she wants to think.

I was not impressed by FOX's new detective drama. The facial expressions and hand gestures were over exaggerated and the detectives, or consultants, or whatever they are explained their findings like they were talking to children. Although I generally enjoy Tim Roth's acting, his character Cal Lightman was exceedingly annoying and unnecessarily arrogant. I have a hard time believing his ability to recognize facial clues to detect lies is a rare talent in the police field. Gillian Foster, Cal's assistant, or partner, or whatever she is can tell when strangers are lying, but she can't tell when her husband is lying to her. The show did a really poor job of defining the roles of the characters and the purpose of the agency. I assume that they are not official detectives and are just consultants, but if that's the case, then what authority do they have to bring people to their office and interrogate them? In my opinion, this show is going to have to tone down the acting and stop stating the obvious in order for it to be more enjoyable.