Plot-bunny: Lie to Me / Highlander

[marbleglove]

So, I just recently watched the first disc of Season 1 of Lie To Me. And despite my initial qualms, I enjoyed it a great deal.

Of course, now I want the Lightman Group to come across Methos and MacLeod, and possibly Joe Dawson, too, of Highlander. Because really, they’re constantly around dead bodies, and they’re constantly lying.

First, there’s the simple character confrontations:

At some point, Eli Loker says something or another absolutely honestly which is against all social custom, as is his personal custom, and while Dawson and MacLeod look nonplussed, Methos only looks mildly and momentarily startled.

“You remind me of an old friend of mine, Thomas.”

All the Lightman Group people can see the flash of grief on Methos’ face as he mentioned his friend.

“And was he killed by his unhappy coworkers?”

Unhidden humor. “No, despite our doubts, all the evidence pointed to a natural cause of death.”

“Thomas?” Dawson asked doubtfully. He just knew that Methos was talking about Thomas the Rhymer, cursed by the Faerie Queen to never tell a lie. Thomas the Rhymer was a myth. Wasn’t he? “For real?”

Then there’s the actual meat of the matter:

“What’s odd is the group of them.  They are all extremely talented liars, however they differ on the extent of their lies. Dawson appears to have secrets just like any other man who may know that his friends are serial killers.”

“Oh yes, because there are so many such men that there’s a type.”

Lightman ignored that comment, in order to continue. “MacLeod appears to be lying about everything he does or thinks with the shining exception of what his name is. Meanwhile, Pierson appears to be telling the absolute truth about everything, with the shining exception of what his name is.”

“And did you catch the fact that both MacLeod and Dawson think that Pierson is lying?”

“Oh yes. Which begs the question: is he a good enough liar to fool us or a good enough truth-speaker to fool them?”

Comments

[ignescent.livejournal.com]

oooooh, sounds awesome. Can I bribe you with something to write this? :D

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Well, I did just rent discs two through four to watch this weekend, so who knows what inspiration might strike (and then hold me hostage until it's written properly.)

However, if you want to offer bribes, I am open to having someone write me the story for one of my other plot-bunnies.

[ignescent.livejournal.com]

I can try and campaign for other people to pick them up, but I'm /not/ a good fanfic writer. I do have access to gourmet chocolate and coffee though. :)

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Gourmet chocolate and coffee... It is possible that cafe mocha is a way to my heart...

[ignescent.livejournal.com]

oh, and apropos of nothing other than the fact that I'm de-lurking today (I think it's the snow) - you are one of my all-time favorite writers, and I often go back and read your fic over and over again just because I adore it so. 'Her Kingdom is as Great' not only is wonderful, but has inspired actual paintings, and 'A square peg in a round hole' is one of my absolute favorite fics of all time. :)

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you liked them. Periodically I pick at the next part of "Her Kingdom" but it's still being tricky. There are paintings inspired by it? Where?

It sounds like you are pretty well settled: snow, chocolate, and coffee. I hope you also have a fire place, a quilt, and possibly a purring cat.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

When I watched Lie to Me I spent the entire time wishing they would meet Methos too :0).

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

I just finished episode 12, and at this point I'm half convinced that Lightman IS Methos (in a very good disguise, of course.)

[lita-of-jupiter.livejournal.com]

oh this would be interesting!

especially if they try to tell Mac and Joe their conclusions...

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yeah. And then they'd be equally confused because surely Methos has been lying. They know he has. Hasn't he? And it would be this whole moras of confusion. Heh, heh, heh.

And it could very easily happen, too, because Lightman might try to confront them all together and see what their joint reactions show.

[lita-of-jupiter.livejournal.com]

I can really see that happening although i cant quite picture what Methos reaction would be

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Maybe:

Mac and Joe are all uncertain, Lightman is intensely watching them all, and Methos is leaning back in his chair watching them all with some amusement.

"I don't know how The Game started," he said lightly, "but I do know why it's called The Game."

Lightman considers: Pierson is telling the truth, casually, but MacLeod and Dawson are stunned and unnerved.

"Because there are rules, there are winners and losers, but most importantly, because the only way to not go insane is to not take it too seriously. Relax people."

Dawson laughs and sits back in his chair as well. "Okay, old man. I'll quit worrying."

MacLeod looks betrayed for a moment, and then relaxes himself. "Who says you're not insane?"

And now Dawson and MacLeod were both ten times harder to read than before because their thoughts (and therefore their faces) weren't thinking about the subject on hand, but thinking about their friend and whatever The Game was.

"What's The Game?" He knew capital letters when he heard them.

Pierson smiled sweetly at him. "A game, of course. You're not invited."

[lita-of-jupiter.livejournal.com]

I love that Pierson would use double meanings and truths to not lie and at the same time not tell the truth either...

obiwan style... the truth from a certain point of view...

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Plus, a lot of the deception detection has to do with seeing how people feel about what they're saying or seeing. Are they surprised, ashamed, guilty, etc?

Methos probably shows those feelings in the universal way, he just doesn't have them in reaction to the same things as most people do.

[lita-of-jupiter.livejournal.com]

and he really does see things from different perspectives... and with a unique set of values which would further complicate any readings done on him.

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

And MacLeod's probably still modern enough to not have quite so different a perspective from most of the people the Lightman Group interviewed but he might give them some odd readings with his tendency to have flashbacks all the time. They ask him about one thing, but he'll be thinking about something similar but different when he answers.

[lita-of-jupiter.livejournal.com]

hehehe yeah... especially if they ask him something about criminals and he flashes to Amanda, Cory and his own adventures...

than mention murder and he flashes to Kurgan and Kronos, etc

everything slightly screwed...

kind of reminds me in an episode of Angel's early seasons where the client is a Geek and he asks:
"Are you familiar with dungeons and dragons?"
and Angel replies
"yeah, I've seen a few..."

misunderstanding due to different life experiences

[marbleglove.livejournal.com]

I had forgotten that quote from Angel but it is awesome. And exactly illustrates the point: communication does break down occasionally. Hee.

It would make an awesome parallel story as the interview is told from both perspectives.

MacLeod would have all of these interesting historical questions and, while he certainly wants to help solve whatever crime is being investigated, he'd still be almost completely focused on his own issues.

Lightman, on the other hand, would be getting all of these peculiar cues and trying to piece together what they said about the particular crime.

[lita-of-jupiter.livejournal.com]

i wonder what the rest of Lightman's group would be getting from the exchange?


would be very confusing