History Main / LietoMe

* WorkingWithTheEx: In the first season, Cal Lightman has to work with his ex-wife on several occasions, and ends up in bed with her a couple of times.

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---> '''Lightman''': I'll bet yours are sweaty. And hairy.

-> '''Zach''': "Great. Voice pattern analysis. Which one of you reads palms?"
-> '''Lightman''': I'll bet yours are sweaty. And hairy.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The end of "Funhouse", which, instead of ending on Cal and Emily and the burned birthday cake, gives us a mouse's-eye-view tour of the Lightman Group, ending by finding the mousetrap Cal set at the beginning of the episode.

* SpecialEffectFailure: In "Love Always", Cal demonstrates the shocking effects of gunfire by firing a semi-automatic handgun in the air; the scene is repeated in slow motion, too, and the gun is visibly fake: the slide doesn't move, and no bullet casings come out.

* [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Dios Mío, ¿Qué He Hecho?]]: the killer in "Headlock"

** Cal and suicides, for very good reason - [[spoiler: his mother was one, and he blames the psychiatrists for not seeing it coming]]. Most notably explored in "Depraved Heart". Also tends to flip his shit if a case involves teenage girls, since it hits close to his own daughter.

* TooDumbToLive: The conflict of the episode "The Best Policy" is kicked off by a young American man who brings his sister marajuana in a country where possession is an executable offense, and the Lightman group must assist in negotiating their release. Use issues aside, trying to bring narcotics across national borders and through customs checkpoints is risky at the best of times, but one would think that someone even considering it would at least want to ensure that the country they are bringing it into does not have the '''death penalty''' for possession. Flashing the bag of weed on the open road in front of government vehicles does not help either.

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Gillian in "Exposed". Cal in "Smoked".

* SpecialEffectFailure: In "Love Always", Cal demonstrates the shocking effects of gunfire by firing a semi-automatic handgun in the air; the scene is repeated in slow motion, too, and the gun is visibly fake fake: the slide doesn't move, and no bullet casings come out.

** From season two's finale: [[spoiler:Are we going to hear any more on Renolds, besides a passing comment about him hanging on by a thread?]] Hopefully, this doesn't become a habit.

* TooDumbToLive: The conflict of the episode "The Best Policy" is kicked off by a young American man who brings his sister marajuana in a country where possession is an executable offense, and the Lightman group must assist in negotiating their release. Use issues aside, trying to bring narcotics across national borders and through customs checkpoints is risky at the best of times, but one would think that someone even considering it would at least want to ensure that the country they are brining it into does not have the '''death penalty''' for possession. Flashing the bag of weed on the open road in front of government vehicles does not help either.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The episode Bullet Bump focuses around a murder at a political rally for a Governor of Virginia running for reelection. Governors are prohibited from serving consecutive terms in Virginia.
** In A Perfect Score, the teacher says she can "hit any percentile" on the SAT. A percentile shows the percent of test takers (for that year or specific test round) that scored lower than you, and would be impossible to guess.

* NoEndorHolocaust: It appears the entire lead cast have an immunity to PTSD. In one episode Cal get's waterboarded to death and revived a few times. That's kind of BeyondTheImpossible trauma that ''no-one'' gets over.

** Cal seems to have a thing for hot blondes with whom he's in over his head. First Poppy, the Vegas card shark (or, as Gillian calls her, "roulette"); then Clara, the former gold-digging businesswoman who, as of "Teacher and Pupils" [[spoiler: loans the Lightman Group around seven figures worth of money, making her the lead investor and Cal's new boss]]. She lasts until "Bullet Bump", [[spoiler: when we find out that Clara helped a politician's wife cover up a murder]]. Then there's Naomi, from "Double Blind", who [[BeyondTheImpossible actually successfully cons him]]. Now it looks like Wallowski's going this way, too.

* SpecialEffectFailure: in the fourth episode of the first season, Cal demonstrates the shocking effects of gunfire by firing a semiauto handgun in the air; the scene is repeated in slow motion, too, and the gun is visibly fake fake: the slide doesn't move, and no bullet casings come out.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Usually there are two cases per episode, with Cal and Ria on one, Gillian and Eli on the other. This has been switched up in Season Two with Cal and Gillian on one case and Eli and Ria on the other. One episode of Season Three had Cal and Eli on one case, and Gillian and Ria on the other, with decidedly epic results.

* WallBangHer: Would that scene in the "Double Blind" episode with Tricia Helfer in the kitchen count as an inversion of this?

* TheBechdelTest: Usually passes, due to Gillian, Ria, and Emily having conversations with each other (and with other female characters) that have to do with work. Surprisingly though, one of the first times we see Gillian and Zoe have an actual conversation/bonding experience (in "Pied Piper"), it's Zoe worried about Cal and asking Gillian to make sure he's okay, which plays into the stereotype, but is really kind of heartwarming for them.
-->'''Zoe''': You were always the only one who could get through.
-->'''Gillian''': That's funny, I always thought that about you.
** This then turns into a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when both agree that the only person who can get through to Cal is Emily.

*** Fired a loaded gun inside a locked room in the proximity of the South Korean ambassador.

* HesitationEqualsDishonesty: Deconstructs it: Prepared lies in fact generally cause people to answer quicker, not slower, because they have already prepared their story for questioning. The show goes on to explain that the way to catch these people is to ask them to recite their story backwards, which is a definite case of ShownTheirWork - your average liar won't bother to get ''that'' familiar with their story, but someone telling the truth will obviously be able to draw on their memory to answer (i.e. "I went to the park at about midnight, before that I was at the restaurant, and before that I was out giving candy to orphans.")

* HesitationEqualsDishonesty: Deconstructs it: Prepared lies in fact generally cause people to answer quicker, not slower, because they have already prepared their story for questioning. The show goes on to explain that the way to catch these people is to ask them to rehearse their story backwards, which is a definite case of ShownTheirWork - your average liar won't bother to do so, but someone telling the truth will obviously be able to draw on their memory to answer (i.e. "I went to the park at about midnight, before that I was at the restaurant, and before that I was out giving candy to orphans.")

** From season one's finale: [[spoiler:is Ria's partner Kurt still in his coma?]]
** From season two's finale: [[spoiler:are we going to hear any more on Renolds, besides a passing comment about him hanging on by a thread?]] Hopefully, this doesn't become a habit.
*** as of "The Canary's Song" we now know that [[spoiler:he's fine, just stuck at a desk.]]

*** Threatened a girl [[spoiler: with multiple personality disorder]] with rape to get [[spoiler: one of her other personalities to talk]].

** From season two's finale: [[spoiler:are we going to hear any more on Renolds, besides a passing comment about him hanging on by a thread?]] Hopefully, this doesn't become a habit.

* MostImportantPerson: Cal and Gillian, to each other. Explicitly stated in "The Whole Truth", when Cal says of Gillian (to his [[ThePaolo Paolo]], Clara), "she's my Leo" - meaning, she's the person he would trust with everything, including his death.

* ThePaolo: Cal seems to have a thing for hot blondes with whom he's in over his head. First Poppy, the Vegas card shark (or, as Gillian calls her, "roulette"); then Clara, the former gold-digging businesswoman who, as of "Teacher and Pupils" [[spoiler: loans the Lightman Group around seven figures worth of money, making her the lead investor and Cal's new boss]]. She lasts until "Bullet Bump", [[spoiler: when we find out that Clara helped a politician's wife cover up a murder]]. Then there's Naomi, from "Double Blind", who [[BeyondTheImpossible actually successfully cons him]]. Now it looks like Wallowski's going this way, too.
** David Burns is Gillian's Paolo from "Delinquent" to "Exposure". He seems perfect for her, a gentleman who works with kids and treats her like a princess. Unfortunately, he's [[spoiler: an undercover DEA agent up to his eyeballs in drug trades and gangs, and is, according to Cal, "one of the best liars I've ever seen". After he (along with Cal and Gillian) takes down Little Moon, he walks out on Gillian because the DEA is going to give him a new identity]].

* AgentMulder: Loker, especially in "Beat the Devil".

* BannedFromArgo: Cal's not what you'd call welcome in Vegas.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Cal and his ex-wife Zoe, who have started sleeping together again occasionally, [[spoiler: partly because it was his way of convincing her to break off her engagement to another man and partly because they just can't keep their hands off each other]]. He also convinced her to [[spoiler: open her own practice instead of moving to Chicago - and taking Emily with her. He buys her share of the Lightman Group out, taking a loan out to cover it. Gillian [[{{Understatement}} isn't happy]], but understands]].
* BerserkButton: You really don't want to threaten Cal's daughter. He will destroy you for it.

* BilingualBonus: In the beginning of "Pied Piper", Wilkes is praying the Confeitor, the confession of sin from the Roman Catholic church (which is also the origin of the phrase "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa") in the original Latin.
* BiTheWay: "What was his name?" "Denise Watson."
** "It was experimenting, Loker!"
** Subverted possibly because she never did say what the "results" were.

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Mostly averted. Lightman's daughter Emily gets into trouble in a few episodes, and occasionally talks back to her father, but otherwise, she's pretty sweet for a fifteen-year-old girl on television.
* BreakTheHaughty: Loker. The guy's gone through enough emotional trauma to start approaching ''sociopath'' status.

* BritishFootyTeams: In one episode, Cal is seen wearing a claret and blue scarf, the colours of West Ham United. See, not a glory hunter.
** They're the colours of Aston Villa too, but Lightman's a Londoner.
* BrutalHonesty: In the pilot, Eli Loker claims to tell the truth 100% of the time, which he terms "radical honesty". It's starting to break down, though.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Lightman and Loker.
** Subverted in Loker's case, in that Lightman continually tests him. He passes (generally), but it is always implied that [[AnyoneCanDie he could have been fired]] if he screwed up.
* ButtMonkey: Poor Loker. Guy gets everything from tortured by his boss for kicks, to lied-to by his colleagues when it's expedient, to [[spoiler: almost ''blown up'']].

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Lightman trained for years to get his skills, while Torres has a built-in talent for it.

* CluelessChickMagnet: Loker to [[spoiler: Emily Lightman. He's interested in protecting her and being polite, she thinks he's into her]].
** It also could be that [[spoiler: Cal had used Emily to teach Loker a lesson about meddling, which would mean that Emily wasn't actually into Loker at all, but was just pretending to be in order to go along with Cal's scheme--she just overdid it with the kiss]].
*** Really? Did you see [[spoiler:Cal's reaction and the fact that Emily had to resort to violence against Cal to get him to forgive Loker?]] This is definitely a legitimate example of chick magnet Loker.

* TheConscience: Gillian for Cal. Loker for everyone.
** In "Pied Piper", neither Gillian nor Zoe are having any luck getting Cal to open up about [[spoiler: how he's taking being responsible for the execution of an innocent man]], so they call in the only person they ''know'' can get through to him - Emily.
* ConsummateLiar: Meet Cal Lightman, liar extraordinaire. Not only is he the best damn liar on the show, he's so good at telling who's lying that if he were to use his powers on himself, the universe would collapse. Seriously.
** Naomi Russell in "Double Blind", who engineers an art theft for pretty much the sole purpose of getting the Lightman Group in to consult, thus matching her excellent talents at deception against Cal's expertise in detection. Because she looks like ''Tricia Helfer'', needless to say, she plays him like a puppet.
* CrazyPrepared: Cal has in his office a safe containing at least three pistols, one shotgun and several cases of ammunition.
-->'''Reynolds''': Damn, Lightman. You're not messing around, huh?

* DeadpanSnarker: Loker all the time. Reynolds has been stepping it up in season two.

* DisabledHottie / DisabledSnarker: Sarah, the new grad student in season three, who is also deaf. Looks to be a possible love interest and foil for Loker.

* GuileHero: Dr. Lightman: Some of his plans involve manipulating his own team and being not quite as good of a liar as he really is, to the point that his employees can't figure out what he's really up to until the episode is nearly over...and sometimes even after they know what he did, they are unable to figure out why until he tells them.
** Cal meets his match in Andrew Jenkins from ''Blinded'', a serial rapist who blinds his victims. What's worse is that he knows how to throw off Cal. [[spoiler: Until near the end of the episode when it is revealed that Cal was playing him the whole time. As Torres says, "He's scary good."]]
* HandsomeLech: Both Loker and Cal, to varying degrees.

* HelloAttorney: Cal's ex-wife, Zoe, once memorably described as "Legs, Cleavage & Associates".

* HypocriticalHeartwarming: Cal's allowed to treat his team like dirt, but the minute anyone ''else'' does it, he gets pissy.
-->''Right now, you're hoping [Torres] messed up so you can blame this on someone else. Amusing. Laugh-a-minute. BUT YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!'' (Cal, in "Double Blind")
** And then he turns around later and tells Torres that if anyone "takes a bite out of her", to make them regret it.
* IAmVeryBritish: Averted. Cal's accent would happily pass muster in a British-produced drama. Good thing too, seeing Tim Roth was born smack bang in the middle of London.

** This may have been true in the beginning, however, one of the plot points of Season 1 was him deciding there were situations where it was ok to lie, and leaving this idea of radical honesty behind him.
* InterdisciplinarySleuth: Lightman is trained as a psychologist.

* {{Jerkass}}: It's hard to understand how Cal's still employed with the way he tampers with investigations. Looking at the way he treats virtually everyone in his life (even the people he supposedly ''likes''), it's a wonder Cal hasn't been shot more often.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: . . . and then you watch him being a father to Emily or teasing Gillian, and we realize that he does have his good points.
** JerkassWoobie: . . . and when he ''finally'' opens up and admits his failings and feelings, you just want to hug him. A particularly poignant example is the opening sentences to his (as yet [[RunningGag still-unwritten]]) book:
--->''"Let me be clear. I understand very little, least of all the people closest to me."''
** And as for Cal still being employed... well, he ''does'' own the company.

* MoralityPet: Emily. Most especially and obviously for Cal, but as we find out in "Sweet Sixteen", she's also one for [[spoiler: Gillian. In 2003, after the Pentagon botched the assassination of Jimmy Doyle, Gillian was assigned as Cal's psychiatrist and told by Finch that if she didn't ensure that Cal kept quiet about the cover-up, he would go after Emily. Gillian suppressed everything about the conspiracy to keep Emily safe.]]

* [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]]: Gillian, usually in the form of explaining the intricacies of the lie detection process to Torres or the clients of the week.
* MsFanservice: Gillian Foster and Ria Torres. Cal's ex Zoe, in her occasional appearances.
** Especially Gillian "embracing the Vegas" in that one-shoulder ''leather'' [[SugarWiki/TheLittleBlackDress little black dress]] in "Fold Equity."
*** Not leather -- [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sequins.jpg black fabric with sequin detailing]] -- but still smokin'.
** Gillian preparing to get a suspect out of a bar. She puts on some makeup, then bends over, breaks out the cleavage, squeezes her boobs and asks Reynold what he thinks. His answer: "You don't wanna know what I'm thinking". Granted, it might have been a comment on the whole plan (which he has some reservations about, to put it mildly), but the embarrassed look on his face says otherwise...
** Gillian's [[ShesGotLegs legs]] have become a frequent sight, which is lampshaded in "The Canary's Song":
--->'''Gillian''': They call you "Wheels"?
--->'''Wheels''': They call you "Legs"?
** Torres's date outfit in Mexico.

* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Cal, to everyone's annoyance.

* OnlySaneMan: Reynolds and Loker, but only very rarely at the same time.

* OverprotectiveDad: Cal, who is the new poster boy for the trope.
* ThePaolo: Cal seems to have a thing for hot blondes with whom he's in over his head. First Poppy, the Vegas card shark (or, as Gillian calls her, "roulette"); then Clara, the former gold-digging businesswoman who, as of "Teacher and Pupils" [[spoiler: loans the Lightman Group around seven figures worth of money, making her the lead investor and Cal's new boss]]. She lasts until "Bullet Bump", [[spoiler: when we find out that Clara helped a politician's wife cover up a murder]]. Then there's Naomi, from "Double Blind", who [[BeyondTheImpossible actually successfully cons him]].

* PapaWolf: Don't threaten Emily. Just don't. If Cal doesn't ''begin'' by punching you out, rest assured, he'll get there [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown along the way]].
** Loker found this out the hard way when he told Lightman Emily kissed him. Or rather, his ribs found out. He later admitted he should have saw the punch coming because Lightman is "[[BerserkButton an emotional wildfire]]" in regards to Emily.
** In "Black and White", when Cal catches Emily [[spoiler: messing around with a boy at home when she's supposed to be at school. He's freaked out she's sexually active, but Emily actually lost her virginity "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny two boyfriends ago]]".]]
** Cal takes it to new heights in "Beyond Belief" when a cult leader makes threats toward Emily. He finds one of the cult's minions outside his house, so he takes a tire iron to the guy's car, drags him out onto the street, and says he'll fuck him up further if he sees the guy again.

* TheProfiler: Lightman knows the characteristics of criminals, in addition to his ability to read behavior and body language.
** Gillian is probably a closer example, as she's a trained psychologist and has her PhD in it.
*** They both have [=PhDs=] in psychology, though in different branches, as Foster is a clinical psychologist and Lightman is a social psychologist.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Reynolds is shot in the season two finale, "Black and White", and all we know is that he's "barely hanging by a thread". He won't be returning in season three.]]

* RebelRelaxation: Lightman's default mode; parodied by the cast [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JX9gU5AfYs&feature=player_embedded here]]. It serves as contrast to Foster's perfect posture.
* SecretIntelligenceService: "Secret Santa" reveals that Cal is former MI6 and fought in the Yugoslavia Wars.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Gillian with her husband's lies.
** Also Dr. Lightman with his daughter. He knows she's lying, but he can't call her on it every time or he'll drive her away... [[spoiler: just as he did with his wife, which is why she's his ''ex''-wife now]].

* ShowyInvincibleHero: Lightman is ''never'' wrong but boy does he have fun arranging things so that he wins.

* SpicyLatina Ria Torres, so, so much. Also, her sister Ava when she briefly appears.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Cal, in season three, for reasons unknown.
** {{Flanderization}}?

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Usually there are two cases per episode, with Cal and Ria on one, Gillian and Eli on the other. This has been switched up in Season Two with Cal and Gillian on one case and Eli and Ria on the other.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: What happened to those two schoolgirls in "Truth or Consequences" [[spoiler: who bullied another younger girl into taping losing her virginity with a college boy? Seriously, were they really just going to get off like that?]]
** [[spoiler: The camera of one of the girls ended up being taken as evidence, implying that those two ended up feeling the heat.]]

** What happened to the girl with [[spoiler: split-personality disorder]]? After all she's gone through, including some not-too-gentle treatment from Cal, you'd think they'd at least dedicate a scene to showing her as she recovers or something.
*** This isn't surprising. We ''never'' see the fallout of any of the Lightman Group's cases, even those who have gone through considerable trauma.

* WillNotTellALie:
** Loker claims to at the beginning. By mid-season one, he's already lied in the course of an investigation.
** Gillian doesn't claim to never lie, but her sense of morality and ethics won't let her. It's deconstructed in two episodes:
*** ''Sweet Sixteen'': [[spoiler:Gillian's DarkSecret is exposed; she lied to Cal for ''seven years'' to keep him from investigating a case. The bad guys had threatened his family, and Gillian made a DealWithTheDevil to keep them safe.]]
---->'''Cal''': So all that talk about you being a bad liar is just an act. That's a lie.
---->'''Gillian''': Depends on the lie.
*** ''Dirty Loyal'': [[spoiler:Cal asks Gillian to lie to IAB for his sort-of-girlfriend, Detective Wallowski, even though she knows that Wallowski is corrupt and she's duty-bound to tell the truth. Gillian does lie, but we have yet to see if there will be consequences.]]