Jane Doe, miss détective: La mémoire envolée

5/10 - intense Hallmark mystery seems to have lost some of what made the series so good to begin with

Frank Darnell has an agent at the airport to meet MI7 agent Custer and his courier Ian Smyth, who is carrying the names of 165 secret agents embedded in the Middle East. When the courier is jumped, Custer is disabled and the agent goes after the briefcase. However the attacker escapes and the recovered briefcase is empty. Custer reveals that Smythe had the names in his head – a detail that is all the more important given that Smythe has vanished into thin air. With Darnell scratching his head, Jane Doe is called in to assist but she has her own problems with her mother visiting.

The most recent in the undemanding but distracting Jane Doe series of films opens quickly and sets up a mystery of a missing man and I had reasonable hopes since the whole gimmick of this series is the idea that Jane Doe can solve complex puzzles. However when this mystery is solved relatively quickly it becomes a more generic kidnapping that doesn't actually require jumps of logic and puzzle-solving skill. That said it is still engaging in a daytime telly sort of way but it is never particularly clever. The first bit of the film did worry me though because the "mother" thread suggested that the home life would get some focus – which is never a good thing and indeed these scenes are painful to watch here too. Although it doesn't stay in the family, this thread is still pretty pointless and seems to be there to fill time and also as a woeful attempt to deepen the characters! The overall plot will probably suffice for those used to this series but that is not to ignore the fact that even the forgiving viewer will find some of the unnatural and clunky dialogue laughably bad. This is most evident in the family scenes but it does seep into the rest of it. The acting mostly matches this as the material gives nobody anything to work with – Thompson and Mills slow-motion diving out of a tiny explosion is the funniest thing I've seen in a while! Thompson is OK on a superficial level but she has no character and when asked to do more than solve puzzles she struggles. Penny is a good tough force but his performance is just what it is in the first minute as it is in the last. Mills is an unnecessary addition to the cast and she is stuck with nothing to do as the film does nothing with her character or themes and at times she is downright silly (her role in the end is daft), I hope her addition is not the way forward for the series. Franckenstein is a big slice of ham, Guliak is so greasy you could bottle him while Korot is sexy and dangerous albeit in a very basic way. As usual Moses is in it for minutes and given nothing to do – I suppose it is a steady paycheque because I can see no other reason for him being here. Yet again Mastroianni makes it all look good and slick but beyond this he can do nothing with the depth.

Overall then a fairly so-so entry in a fairly so-so series. The puzzles are OK but there was only one time where I felt Doe had shown logic to justify her position otherwise it was only OK. The script is clunky and unnatural (at its worst in the family scenes) and the actors generally have nothing to do.

I shouldn't be surprised considering this is a TV movie from a weak network like Hallmark. I have no issues with any of the storylines here included, but and I will only suggest this once on a TV episode of the movie series. If you're a spy or secret agent which they'd like to showcase Jane Does as, no one ever should know who you work for or what your code name is ever. I watched 7 episodes yesterday and only briefly did in the first episode and this one did she act completely secretive with her identity. From the moment, Lea Thompson's Cathy Davis revealed Jane Doe, CSA agent, to a witness I knew that would come back to bite her and boy it did so in some occasions. Michael Weston of Burn Notice played by Jeffrey Donovan is a true spy. Jane Doe/Cathy Davis is a free wheeling puzzle solver with a badge and rare use of anonymity. That being said, Lea Thompson otherwise did a good job as an investigator. Frankly, that's all I can say about her role.

How many times have we seen a film or TV show where a list of entrenched spies has been stolen? "Skyfall" comes to mind, hardly the first. "Jane Doe: Yes, I Remember It Well" is also about a list of spies placed internationally who are about to be exposed, but this time, the list is in someone's head. He's been kidnapped, and Jane is called in by agent Frank Darnell to take off her housewife hat and put on her agent one. Her cover is that she works for a company that invents games, and the name she uses at CSA is - right, Jane Doe.

This time around, Jane's mother, glamorous and still gorgeous Donna Mills, comes to visit, and it turns out that she, too, is a CSA agent about to be retired due to her age.

This series debuted with Mystery Woman and one other, and I always liked this series best. That isn't saying a heck of a lot, but it moves a little faster; the cast, with Thompson, Joe Penny, and Billy Moses, is better; and the stories are usually puzzles (though this one really wasn't) that Jane is brought in to solve. I'd say it's Scarecrow and Mrs. King meet Banacek. What doesn't work are the family scenes. As long as they stay out of the house, the series moves along.

Thompson and Penny really contribute to the charm and liveliness in this series. It's a Sunday afternoon kind of show, mindless entertainment with attractive stars.