For the first time in my life, while watching a TV seriese — it was "Lie to Me", S02E04 — I saw some realism in an acted scene. The sort of realism like "Why doesn't anybody ever use the restroom?" or "Why isn't anybody ever hungry? It is a well known truth that, in filmmaking and acting in general, "frivolities" such as using the bathroom or eating (just to mention the two introduced above) are included exclusively when they serve some purpose or action to advance the plot.
Being a movie-lover (and thus, at least to some extent, drama as a whole), you can imagine my utter surprise when something completely unnecessary to the plot and even to the character development happened while watching a trivial TV series. To tell you the truth, it was very subtle. But still scripted; I mean, it couldn't possibly have been the actor (or, in this case, actress) ad-libbing it. There was circumstantial evidence to prove it. (OK, so "circumstancial evidence" and "proof" in the same sentence maybe isn't the best of choices; but bear with me for a second and I'll explain what I mean.)
The character danced. She danced.
Well, more accurately, she "moved to the rythm", she bobs her head. The character, Ria Torres (portrayed by Monica Raymund), sits in her car listening to music, drives up to some house, but, before getting out, needs to check something in a folder (the folder lying in her car actually does serve a function in the plot; so the whole scene has its purpose). And after having stopped the car, while checking the folder, she sways to the music blasting out of the radio.
The diegetic music coming out of the car's stereo is actually the "evidence" that the whole thing must have been planned: The scene would have worked just as well without any music at all. So what other reasons could be behind her enjoying the music? There is no direct reference to the music in the episode. A character trait? Possibly; the character displays youngness, some sort of freshness compared to the quite some years older other (main) characters. She is the youngster, protege of the series' protagonist Dr. Lightman. Her young age was actually a crucial aspect right in the previous episode (S02E03). That appears like a pretty weak selling point for her moves, but still a plausible explanation. Later in the episode, the character blames herself for not locking the car in that particular instance referred to in the scene in question. So maybe the music (and her obvious being distracted, almost beleaguered by it since she is even responding physically to it) does indeed play a central role in the episode? Even this theory seems like quite a stretch, though it appears more believable since more directly connected to the action than the depiction of a character's trait.
Anyway, whatever the reason: I was thoroughly astonished by that couple of seconds. It's been a while since a simple scene carried me away so completely as to inducing me to write a 3000 character "essay" about it.
So even TV can have an effect on me…
