A copycat of a serial sadist is on the loose. Can The Lightman Group discover who it is?
Lightman goes undercover in the prison where the sadist is being held. He promptly picks a fight …
… and gets the crap knocked out of him. All to establish his cover.
Thwarted in his undercover role, Lightman arranges to interrogate the prisoner at his offices. This leads to conflict …
… with Gillian, who believes Lightman is putting his ego ahead of the objective.
The Smugness of the Lion.
Gillian interviews the copycat’s last victim.
Nice composition.
A fanboy of the sadist …
… threatened by an impatient FBI Agent Reynolds …
… reveals his secret shrine.
Reviewing footage of the prison debacle …
… reveals anxiety …
… in one of the guards.
He’d been passing letters to the copycat from the prisoner. One of which was forwarded within the past few hours.
This leads to …
… an attack on Gillian!
Torres, thinking Lightman been screwing up, arranges for one of the sadist’s victims to confront him.
Lightman screams at Torres for disobeying him.
Very nice shot.
Lightman reveals the copycat has actually murdered the latest victim …
… taking the final step the sadist never would.
Gillian reveals that Lightman has been conning all of them. She didn’t realize beforehand that he was playing The Long Con game.
The sick fanboy of the sadist was actually put to work going through ten years’ worth of fan mail! It turns out he video recorded a parole hearing …
… where one of the victims testified …
… and her husband seemed to lose control, spiral quickly into anger, and tried to attack the sadist …
… but the anger was fake and a freeze frame reveals an expression of adulation!
“He’s a fan.”
Earlier information helps lead Agent Reynolds and Lightman to the latest victim …
… and apprehension of the copycat.
Lightman reveals to Agent Reynolds that the FBI has put the Group on retainer. FBI cases will get priority. And as part of this arrangement, Agent Reynolds is permanently assigned …
… to The Lightman Group.
Millennium once did an episode about a serial killer copycat. It was interesting to see how differently the two series handled this idea.
What worries me is the addition of a gun to the Group and the elevation of FBI cases to the head of the line. Is this show going to become more of a shoot-’em-up? Dealing more with violence rather than deception? I understand how a skeptical character like Agent Reynolds can act as a surrogate for the audience, but will his impatience and doubt seem grating to viewers who don’t need such hand-holding?
Mike Cane's No Flickr Blog 
This is my favorite episode because of the Long Con. Lie to me has made a big point of promoting brains over force, notably in the torture episode, yet Cal asked for the “gun” on the team. I hope they will continue to show how people who might be ideological adversaries and approach problems differently can develop tolerance and mutual respect and use their differences to their mutual advantage.
By: Cassandra Vert on August 16, 2009
at 11:51 pm