The series centers on US Marshall Mary Shannon (The West Wing's Mary McCormack), who serves in WITSEC (witness protection) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first thing that must be mentioned about this show is how surprisingly original it is in its case-of-the-week storytelling. Although there are some character-based serialized elements (more on that later), the show primarily focuses on a different witness each week that is under Mary or her partner's protection. Since the witnesses vary from former criminals to civilians and everything in between, there is a lot of range in their characters, as played by various guest stars. One way the creators keep these stories fresh is that they often don't simply follow a new witness as they deal with adjusting to the program. Instead, they will often begin the episode with a flashback to the crime that was witnessed, then flash years later to the present. This allows them to tell original stories about these witnesses, not necessarily related to the crimes they witnessed. Although an episode will often center on Mary ensuring the safety of her witnesses when possible threats arise, these threats are impressively diverse as these one-note characters are typically well-written and fully rounded on their own.
Even though the creators do an excellent job with the weekly cases and characters, the show wouldn't be very engrossing if the main characters were not likable or identifiable. Here too the show excels with the excellent performances of Mary McCormack as Mary Shannon and Frederick Weller as her partner Marshall Mann (hilariously named Marshall by his parents in a failed attempt to prevent him from becoming a Marshall like the rest of his family). Mary is difficult to get along with to say the least. She has little patience for optimism, emotional issues, and people who beat around the bush. Although she's rough around the edges, Mary's bluntness and low tolerance for BS is understandable given her environment; namely a runaway fugitive father, an alcoholic mother, and a perpetually-in-trouble little sister. Although these characters have grown each season in semi-serialized plots, Mary is the one who has difficulty changing and not judging those around her. Contrastingly, Marshall is relatively easy-going and accepting, though he seems to be the only one who truly understands Mary and can stay on her good side. With his rationality and proclivity for minutia, and her stubbornness and unwonted principles, Marshall and Mary maintain a steady rapport of banter that reveals there very real friendship.
Another particularly great thing about this series is how it continually manages to grow and improve each season, largely thanks to the slight tweaks that come with new showrunners (season 4 sees another showrunner switch after the recent change up for season 3). These alterations aren't very noticeable as the core of the show remains the same, but they slowly become apparent as you realize how the characters and their environment have developed. While Mary and Marshall's growth is slight, the development of the supporting characters, like Mary's sister and mother, is more noticeable, though not at all forced. This steady progression is another key draw of the show as it depicts a world of characters that slowly evolve, just as they should naturally.
Bottom Line: Though on the surface it may appear to be a cookie-cutter procedural, this show is worth checking out for its surprisingly original and engaging stories, as well as its appealing and fully formed characters that will further your investment in the plot-lines.
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