“Secrets and Lies” – aired on April 1, 2018
Written by: Chris Ambrose
Directed by: Peter Werner
Grade: 1 out of 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
I will begin by repeating what I have adamantly said in both of my reviews of the first two episodes. The synergy between the two lead characters, Lizzie Needham and Dylan Reinhart, is the number one strength of this show. The best scenes in each episode featured the two of them engaged in meaningful dialogues pertaining to their private lives. Next, there is also great acting talent in the supporting cast of characters. Then, and only then, come the episodic murder cases.
Judging from the three episodes aired so far, the above order represents the “compelling-to-mediocre” barometer of Instinct. Alan Cumming and Bojana Novakovic have sure succeeded in portraying Dylan and Lizzie as unique characters that mesh well together to form a dynamic leading duo. The supporting cast with Whoopi Goldberg as Joan the editor, Naveen Andrews as Julian, Sharon Leal as Jasmine the lieutenant, and Daniel Ings as Dylan’s husband Andy have performed well, only insofar as their limited appearances have allowed them. The murder-case-solving portions of the episodes, on the other hand, have felt rushed and filled with contrived plot devices.
Yet, the show belongs to the procedural crime-drama genre and the murder cases presented each week must often take precedence over character development. In fact, the ultimate challenge of being the production team of a TV procedural is to fabricate unique and captivating plots, knowing that others have previously done it thousands of times, over decades, in other shows. The murder case matters, and how it is handled must enthrall the viewer. Instinct has not done that so far, and unfortunately, “Secrets and Lies” has pushed the bar very low.
Look, I want Instinct to succeed. I am a fan of the people behind the show. I love watching Cumming perform. I applaud CBS for swaying away from norms and deciding to go with a gay character as the lead in a crime drama. I already expressed in my review of episode 2 how well the show handles Dylan and Andy’s relationship. I have been a fan of Bojana Novakovic and Naveen Andrews since seeing them in previous shows. I am an admirer of the showrunner Michael Rauch because I thoroughly enjoyed the previous series in which he was heavily involved (Royal Pains). I am pulling for Instinct, I really am.
I cannot, however, dispose of my impartial-reviewer hat when I write for this blog. As a fan of the show, “Secrets and Lies” is an episode that makes me want next Sunday to arrive as fast as possible, so that it can be left behind. As a reviewer, I struggle to organize my thoughts, in order to express just how problematic this episode was.
Let me begin with the most alarming problem, the bewildering resemblance of the murder case’s set-up with an episode of Bones, the third episode of season 5 called “The Plain in the Prodigy.” Believe me, if you saw both episodes, you may think my “bewildering” is too mild an adjective to use in order to describe the similarities. So, I will elaborate further.
I will first give you a somewhat-extended synopsis that perfectly applies to both episodes, although they are nine years apart.
A male teenager is killed. The investigators discover that he comes from an Amish family. He used to play piano, unbeknownst to his family due to the fear of their disapproval, because the Amish do not play musical instruments. The boy also used to secretly take lessons from a piano teacher in town. He eventually left to escape his surroundings for the city with another boy from church, much to the family’s dismay. When our investigators talk to the parents, they notice that the mother is devastated, and the father harbors some bitterness toward his son for not having listened to him. The other boy eventually left, and he continued to live alone, until he was mysteriously killed. At first, the investigators suspect he immersed himself in the guilty pleasures of big-city living (weed, sex, etc.) and got in trouble, but little by little, they learn that he did not.
There you go folks! One synopsis for two episodes of two different shows. If only the similarities ended there. They go a lot further.
When Booth and Bones enter the room at Levi’s family’s house in Bones, they comment that there are “no posters, no video games.” When Lizzie and Dylan enter, they comment that there are “no posters, no electronics.” Booth follows it up with a snarky “if I was a teenager, I’d want out of this place too.” Dylan follows it up with “if I was a teenager, I might want to get out of this place too.” Wait a minute, I say to myself, what is going on here?
Few seconds later in Bones, Booth discovers a wooden box with stones and a photo of Levi in it, at which time Levi’s mother walks in. In Instinct, Dylan discovers a wooden box with popsicle sticks and a photo of Caleb in it, at which time Caleb’s mother walks in. Each mother says that she was not aware of the box. Then she notices, in both episodes of course, that our two protagonists (Booth-Bones or Dylan-Lizzie, take your pick) are holding a photo of her son. She asks them with a soft voice, “is it possible for me to keep it?” in Bones, and “do you think it might be possible for me to keep it?” in Instinct. Booth-Bones-Dylan-Lizzie recognize a mother’s love for her son and hand her the photo(s). She looks at the photo and begins to cry as our Booth and Bones in “The Plain in the Prodigy” and Dylan and Lizzie in “Secret and Lies” watch her with sadness. Yes, it is worrisome, and I don’t mean the mother crying. It is worrisome because the two scenes are identical.
Lo and behold, there are 88 stones in the box of Levy, the dead boy in the episode of Bones. Lo and behold, there are 88 popsicle sticks in the box of Caleb, the dead boy in “Secrets and Lies” of Instinct. Excuse me? Wait, there is more.
32 of Levi’s 88 stones are black, the other 56 are white. 32 of Caleb’s 88 popsicle sticks are black, 56 are white. Bingo! They 88 stones/popsicle sticks represent the keys of a piano, as says some genius in the investigating team of Bones in the 2009-episode and reveals Dylan in Instinct nine years later. Thus, Levi/Caleb was a piano player. Are you kidding me?
The investigators brilliantly figure out, uttering similar phrases in both shows, that Levi in Bones and Caleb in Instinct must have snuck away to take piano lessons since their parents would disapprove if they knew. There cannot possibly be too many piano teachers in their small towns, the investigating teams of Bones and Instinct deduce, so they decide to find the one he took lessons from for a talk. So, they meet the piano teacher. In both episodes, she is an older woman, and in both episodes, she can’t stop reminiscing about what a talented piano player Levi/Caleb was. She also informs Booth/Bones-Dylan/Lizzie that she never charged him because he was a “prodigy” (both women use the exact term). He inexplicably stopped coming after a while. Then, she shows them a clip of Levi/Caleb playing the piano. And by this point, we are beyond “resemblance” or “similarities.” I am literally experiencing a severe case of déjà vu.
Thankfully, around the 16-minute mark, a second corpse is discovered in “Secrets and Lies,” the two plots begin diverging, and the nightmare is over. Or is it? Because, at the end of the episode, Booth and Bones will visit Levi’s parents one last time and show them the clip of their son playing in front of their admiring but tearful eyes, in the exact same way that Dylan and Lizzie will visit Caleb’s parents one last time and show the clip of their son playing the piano as they watch with sad faces.
For goodness’ sake, what happened here? I would like to believe that this is just an extraordinary string of coincidences or oversight by the producers. Yet, I cannot help but wonder, how did anyone in the production team of Instinct not raise the red flag here? Surely, the dozens of people involved with the show must have a vast knowledge of recent crime shows. Furthermore, the writer of “Secrets and Lies,” Chris Ambrose, was a co-producer/producer of Bones for two years! Am I to believe that he has never heard of “The Plain in the Prodigy”? He left Bones the season before the episode aired, but does that mean a thing when there are so many identical developments, down to the details, in the set-up of the murder case?
Ok, let’s finally get to the contents of “Secrets and Lies,” and of only “Secrets and Lies.”
The investigation moves at a rapid pace with plenty of plot devices that are too convenient to ignore. At one point, Lizzie and Dylan arrive to the outside of a house of interest. Two characters, both extremely useful to the advancement of the plot, magically walk out one after the other shortly after. Long gone are the days of hours-long stake outs for detectives. Dylan, of course, moves in to talk the first one, while Lizzie apprehends the other who tries to run away. Narrative movement expediently executed, we move on.
Then, there is the epiphany moment in which Dylan figures out from the sentence that Lizzie utters as she is ranting about her sister Katie behaving irresponsibly. “That’s Katie’s way, she decides what is real” Lizzie says. Reinhart dons his “Eureka” face and figures out who the killer is because, you see, the killer also “creates the narrative.” I can watch Cumming and the mastermind Dylan Reinhart he portrays for hours, but that seemed far-fetched even for his genius brain.
Unlike the first two episodes, Joan and Julian (Andrews and Goldberg) do not appear in this episode, although their presence would have certainly helped. There must be so much that Instinct’s writing room could do with an ambiguous character like Julian Cousins to intrigue viewers, but we are still waiting.
Lost in the shuffle, there are some wonderful character-development moments for our protagonists. As noted above, we meet Lizzie’s sister Katie for the first time. We learn more about the main characters’ private lives. The case-solving is driven more by Dylan than by Lizzie in this episode, but Novakovic truly shines in the scenes centering on Lizzie’s difficult relationship with her sister. We learn that alcoholism runs in her family and that Lizzie is at a loss on how to help Katie.
Dylan gives her some valuable advice that includes an inconvenient action plan. That scene, along with the next two, work together to treat us to the best sequence of the episode, none of it involving the dreadful case. It includes the aforementioned dialogue between Lizzie and Dylan followed by Lizzie confronting Katie, and finally, and finally, Dylan and Andy having a drink together at the bar. The conversations are delightful and consequential.
Kudos to Ings, for portraying Andy in such a natural way, the only recurring character with significant time in this episode. Hats off also to Genevieve Angelson who properly conveyed Katie’s inner dilemma to the viewers. I can’t say the same for the Nicki character and I will leave it at that.
Last-minute thoughts:
– It took three episodes, but the show started on its advertised time for a change.
– Dylan’s wardrobe, wow!
– Nicki’s accent sounded more like she was from an eastern European country than from New England.
– Smart move to have the short narration by Dylan to start the episode in case there were viewers who joined the show for the first time.
– In the next few days, I will post a preview of the second new show that I will be adding to Durg’s Reviews. Check back.
Until next week…