If In Plain Sight has a secret weapon, it is Mary Shannon. In an era dominated by male antiheroes (think House or Burn Notice’s Michael Westen), Mary Shannon was a breath of fresh air. She was prickly, cynical, emotionally unavailable, and deeply dedicated to her job. She wasn't "likable" in the traditional network TV sense; she was real.
Mary’s younger sister, who frequently dabbled in trouble with the law. IN PLAIN SIGHT -2008-2012-- Complete TV Series ...
Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, In Plain Sight centered on the Southwest Regional Office of the U.S. Marshals Service. Unlike traditional cop shows that focus on "the collar," this series focused on the "afterlife." If In Plain Sight has a secret weapon, it is Mary Shannon
In Plain Sight concluded in 2012, just before the peak of “Peak TV.” It won no Emmys and generated little scholarly attention. Yet its legacy is significant. It anticipated the “trauma procedural” ( The Killing , Mare of Easttown ) and the “complicated woman in a hostile landscape” subgenre ( Ozark , Yellowstone ). More importantly, it offered a sustained critique of American individualism: there is no self outside social and legal recognition. To be “in plain sight” is to be vulnerable; to be hidden is to be safe but dead. Mary Shannon’s ultimate achievement is not saving witnesses but accepting that she, too, is a witness—to her family’s failures, her own loneliness, and the impossible demand that a woman protect a system that will never protect her. In the end, In Plain Sight is a drama about the labor of looking after the disappeared, and the slow disappearance of the one who does the looking. She wasn't "likable" in the traditional network TV
The show revolves around Mary Shannon (played by Mary McCormack), whose primary responsibility is to oversee and protect witnesses in the witness protection program . Her charges range from career criminals to innocent bystanders, all of whom have one thing in common: someone wants them dead.