Although I seldom watch TV series, I spent hours watching all the episodes of Lie To Me (2009), and still wanting more. The main character is Tim Roth, known as the pianist in The Legend of 1900 (海上钢琴师 in Chinese), acting Dr. Cal Lightman specializes in expression interpretation in the show.
At first, Lie To Me caught my attention because of its themes, psychology and micro-expressions, which I believed could help interpret, or read, people's thoughts through their behavior and facial expressions.
Yeah, TV shows can't offer much knowledge about professional areas, but the good shows would definitely stimulate you to dig in deeply in specific fields, so does Lie To Me. It inspires me to search about Paul Ekman, who is the prototype of Cal Lightman, and Ekman's study about human emotions and facial expressions. That opened a new window to an unknown world for me.
Back to the show, Cal Lightman is the founder of The Lightman Group, a private company that provides paid services (sometimes free of charge for particular reason) to identify lies: questioning people, observing and analyzing their reactions, then determining who is lying or not.
People prefer dramatic stories. Most of the time, Lightman and his team work as detectives for various clients, including the local police and the FBI. They follow the clues to uncover why people lie and what's behind those lies, providing us with insights into criminal psychology: murder, rape, bribery, embezzlement, fraud, kidnapping, bank robbery, etc.
The faces of tragedy change, but its soul remains the same. I realized what fascinated me most, beyond the use of professional knowledge, were the life stories present in the show. As the audience, we gradually find out truths behind lies alongside Cal Lightman. Lies often have their own background: some driven by desires for money, some by impulsive decisions, some to protect others, and some stemming from antisocial personalities. All of us have our own excuses, so everyone is probably right in their position.
Lightman's work procedure starts with suspects, then person relative with the lie, using Social Engineering method to break down lies into different parts of problems that can be cracked: speak the right things in right place and time towards right people, pushing them to expose true feelings, break through psychological barrier, then they will tell the truth by oral language or their face and body.
Human society lies on both truth and lie. Normal people will think not telling lies is a good thing. However, sometimes we need white lies, told to avoid hurting someone's feelings or to spare one from discomfort. White lies indeed lies, but it tends to hurt nobody. In the TV show, as a father, Lightman often tells white lies to his daughter Emily, and vice versa. Also, as a leader, Lightman tells whites to his teammates too. Although it doesn't change the fact that he is always full of lies to people around him.
Nobody wants to be fooled. Nobody does not lie. Nobody can live without lies. How can we distinguish between true and false? What should and what can we do after that? For what reasons will we lie to others? What will drive us to lie to teammates, close friends, family and people we love? Can we tell truths meanwhile nobody gets hurt?
There are more questions we need to ask.
I have to say I am quite envy of Lightman and his family, which the husband divorced his wife Zoe. They love each other. The key is, both of them love their daughter Emily and try not to argue when the child presents, giving her a family with love though the marriage is over. No one wants a broken family.
后话
《Lie To Me》带给我另一个值得深思的问题：在什么情况下回去拆穿身边人所面临的谎言，即使对方不愿意被你干涉；后果可能是断交。
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25-03-18
25-04-03