Jane Doe: Ties That Bind

I enjoyed watching this series. I'm not looking to be stimulated intelligently. I watch PBS for this. I just want a happy ending.

A happy marriage is a plus. It could happen. The plots are not the formula ic, often sappy, stories on Hallmark. Like Lea, and Joe Penny is, well, ever so good!

My favorite episodes are the first one, and the one where Lea tells her husband she is a spy. I think it is a bit odd she got away with the puzzle thing for so long. Who has an emergency to solve a work puzzle late at night??

I find myself rewatching certain episodes for the pleasure. Kinda nice. I do watch McBride more often. John Larroquette is Just the best!

6/10 - not the best of the Jane Doe series, but a worth-while mystery

In "Jane Doe: The Ties That Bind," Cathy's son is doing a piece for school on "nature versus nurture." In Jane Doe's case (that's Cathy's alias when she works for the government) the question of nature versus nurture is an underlying theme. She embarks on a case with Frank Darnell (Joe Penny) involving a man being in two places at the same time. We know what's coming. When that comes, and there's still 45 minutes to go, we know what's coming next.

Lea Thompson stars as Jane Doe. This particular story is preposterous, though I've spent my time doing worse. Thompson is likable. The best thing in the series is Joe Penny by a mile. The worst thing about this series, by a mile, are scenes depicting Cathy's home life, which are great if you're trying to go to sleep. The family part is the major problem with this series and drags the rest of it down to an even lower level. The episode this week dealt with the older daughter getting permission to stay out all night. The script for these scenes was a total mess. Cathy (Jane Doe) tells her husband (Billy Moses) to have the daughter text every half hour. This is never mentioned again, but before the daughter leaves, she begs her father not to call her every half hour. He doesn't tell her to text. Later on we learn he's calling her every half hour. Then Jane Doe is concerned back in her office because her daughter hasn't called. No mention was ever made of her daughter calling her. Nobody in the show can get their cell phone to work - they're always conveniently out of range whenever the plot needs them to be. At the end of the show, the son gives his speech on nature versus nurture - which is not the speech he was practicing in his room.

The "Jane Doe" series has some action to it - and it has Penny - and a pleasant, if not fiery actress in Thompson. With some attention to the scripts, this show could be much better. The family is too perfect, the scenes are too ordinary, and they move too slowly. The music is horrific. The rest of the show is always more interesting, and some of the mysteries have been pretty good.

Mildly entertaining.

An irreconcilable conundrum. Except there actually are at least two possibilities which for some reason takes the good guys a while to figure out. I picked the wrong one. But that's revealed less than half way which leads to ..,. you guessed it, the same problem. No the writers wouldn't be that obvious. Oh but they were. Still not that close to the end.

Switch back to Cathy's family story and the wayward daughter. That eats up a chunk of what's left so we're back to the crimes. This time the writers use another device I can't believe they would use. Trouble is, they don't milk it.

At times the acting is less than stellar by almost everyone, especially the suspects. Jessy Schram isn't bad as a graduating Senior, but her role is a little too innocent. At times the law enforcement people looked a little amateurish.

As I implied, the storyline is a little narrow, but things keep moving.

JANE DOE: TIES THAT BIND is one of 8 Jane Doe Mysteries so far made by the Hallmark Channel and it's from the creator of the 1980's/90's PERRY MASON MYSTERIES & Dick van Dyke series DIAGNOSIS MURDER, so if you've seen either you'll know what to expect.

It stars Lea Thompson as soccer mom Kathy Davis who lives a secret life as 'Jane Doe' an agent for the Central Security Agency who works hard to separate her work and home life (her husband Jack is played by PERRY MASON star William R. Moses) while she solves crimes along with her boss Frank Darnell (Joe Penny).

In TIES THAT BIND Kathy & Frank investigate when CCTV surveillance put a CEO at the murder scene of his Friend who was going to be a whistle blower to some dodgy goings on in his Company - You actually see the Murder take place, which makes you think this is going to turn into a COLUMBO style mystery when it's a How-do-they-know-he-done-it rather than a Whodunit, but it becomes intriguing when the CEO has an apparent water tight alibi because he was having Dinner with the Mayor at a Restaurant the same time as the Murder took place.

So does the alleged killer (Robert Carradine) have a Twin?

You'll have to watch to find out!

The story ends up becoming improbable, bordering on ridiculous, but On the whole TIES THAT BIND is no better or worse than all the other JANE DOE Mysteries, once again the best performance comes from Joe Penny as CSA boss Frank Darnell, Lea Thompson is likable but rather unconvincing.

If you've seen the rest of the series, you'll know what to expect and you should enjoy.

*** out of *****