Lie to Me (TV Series) Funhouse (2011) User Reviews

The Muffins

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 2 February 2024]

Cal Lightman arrives home and sees Emily with her friend Amanda Dobar in the kitchen. Emily tells Cal that Amanda is worried about her father Wayne, who has been interned in a mental institution for five years. Cal and Dr. Foster visit Wayne and Cal believes Dr. Mitch Grandon is drugging him since it is an expensive hospital, and his family is wealthy. Cal drinks a juice and learns that Wayne was about to jump off a bridge with his daughter Amanda when he was sent to the facility to be treated. Amanda lives with her Aunt Gina since the incident, and Cal and Gillian visit her to talk to the teenager. Cal eats a muffin and goes to the mental institution to break Wayne out. However, Dr. Grandon and a nurse try to stop him, but Cal punches the nurse on the nose. Visibly hallucinated, Cal is hold by Dr. Grandon for 48 hours in accordance with the law. Now Cal inspects the institution and comes up to a surprising conclusion.

"Funhouse" is the nineth episode of "Lie to Me" in accordance with IMDb (tenth in the DVD Box released by Fox) with a funny storyline. The drugged Cal, tripping, talking to his mother and father, is a entertaining part of the show. Loker after eating the muffin is hilarious. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Funhouse"

The entire reason for S3 to exist

[yunafires · 10/10 · 3 November 2021]

This episode, right here. Granted, the use of hallucinogens or drugs in general is an overused trope to reveal more about the leading man, but Tim Roth is so exceptional that it totally works.

We already knew since S1 what happened to his mum. And, thanks to S3's at times awful writing, we cannot possibly forget that his mum, well, offed herself. But here we actually get to see Cal interact with her and see, very briefly, his fears laid bare.

He's stripped of his usual narcissism and cocky swagger, and we see a man getting older, just some years shy of 50. We learn a bit more about his parents and what shaped him to be the father that he is to Emily.

Everyone holds their own against his lunacy and gets their time to shine, even the tragically underused Loker. But its the scenes in the mental hospital that shine brightest, along with a cast clearly having fun.

Whilst I've many problems with S3 overall, this episode and Veronica reach S1 levels of greatness and are entirely the sole reasons to watch the season.