Would You "Lie To Me"?

So there's this new show. And it's phenomenal. It is FOX's new drama, entitled "Lie To Me". It's all about a scientist who has spent years developing this method and training himself, and other, to detect the art of lying. More than that, the scientist (Dr. Cal Lightman) is able to use universal body language, facial expressions, etc. that transcend cultural boundaries to discover the truth. Gender, race, situation, the list goes on and on, but Dr. Lightman sees no difference. His highly trained mind sees past the borders we have created and sees universal emotion that he can apply in his search for the truth.

So here's the setup: Dr. Lightman was part of the federal government and a leading expert in the "deception detection" side of police training. He left to create his own private business for hire, usually by government agencies, to get to the truth of a matter. He's like a highly sophisticated P.I. in a way. So far in both episodes that have aired, there have been misconceptions that Lightman have addressed. In the most recent episode, a female soldier claims her superior raped her. A new recruit to the Lightman Group, a "gifted natural" believes her, because she lets her emotions get in the way and had sympathy towards her fellow woman. However, Dr. Lightman sees past this gender boundary and can imemdiately tell she is lying.

Lie To Me is based upon the studies of Paul Ekman, the noted psychologist and body language expert. In addition to this being a great show on its own, it shows us how cultural borders in our culture can be transcended. It shows that on some level, we are all the same. Many times during the episodes, they make the point that "emotion looks the same" on everyone, and use real-life photographs of notable public figures to prove this point. Although there have only been two episodes to date, Lie To Me is sure to be a hit show. It always keeps you guessing and, if you're like me, you try to figure out who's lying and what is really going on before the plot unfolds, simply based on what we can detect from the characters body language.