When you think of identity theft you usually don't consider that person to be your identical twin sister. In The Lying Game, Emma Bennett, who grew up jumping around through different foster homes, discovers she has an identical twin sister named Sutton Mercer who lives in Arizona with her wealthy family. Sutton decides to go to California in search for their birth mother, and Emma poses as Sutton while she is gone. When Sutton returns a series of events happen that put she and Emma's lives in danger and they are threatened that they will be killed if they switch back. One night Sutton and Emma's boyfriend, Ethan, confront a fellow student, Derek, who admits he was ordered to drown Sutton. The next day Derek is found dead and Ethan is falsely accused for the murder.
I have always thought the concept of being falsely accused of murder was something that works it self out in the end- that somehow the truth will always come out. Unfortunately this is not the case in reality and innocent people can be found guilty for others' crimes. However, I believe my understanding of this truth-will-prevail idea comes from how the issue is dealt with and portrayed in the media. Of course, Ethan seems even more guilty because he has a juvy record and he books it out of town when he thinks the police blame him.
The truly interesting part about his episode and the surrounding episodes is the corruption and schemes of the District Attorney, Alec- Sutton's godfather. Obviously in this case Alec is man of authority and holds a lot of power, but he pulls off plenty of shady stunts that make the viewer despise him especially since he is suppose to be a man of integrity, honestly, and an upholder to the law. This concept of people wanting to watch problems and corruption in the criminal justice is one that Rafter mentions in the text book. Americans find it entertaining to watch characters who should have good moral integrity participate in acts of crime because it goes against the grain of what the criminal justice system should be.
Before Ethan's court date, his brother Dan, who is a cop, thinks that Ethan doesn't have a chance of winning the case because the state appointed attorney doesn't believe Ethan isn't guilty and will just try to find other motives that will give him less jail time rather than fight for his innocence. This connects to the inequality and problems that lie within the criminal justice system even in the real-world.
Back to the good ol' DA, Alec knows more information about Derek's death, but he holds it back because he has secrets that can't be exposed due to their criminal nature. I honestly believe that a real DA would give up those secrets in order to protect the innocent even if it costs him his job. So, though this does make the point of problems within the criminal justice system, this show takes it to the extreme.
The issue of bribery is also an interesting one to discuss since this is seen frequently in crime films/shows. Somehow the bribery thing always seems to work and the criminal justice system becomes even more flawed, but from my understanding that is not so easy to do in the real world.
In the end, Ethan is able to get a top-notch lawyer and they can't find enough evidence against him to have a trial. Sutton, Emma, Ethan and Thayer (Alec's step-son) are sent a picture of Alec winding up to hit Derek with a tire iron so he gets arrested and most of his shady secrets come out to prove his innocence from the actual murder, but he still has plenty more he's kept to himself.
So there are plenty of crime related events going on in this show simultaneously, but they all add to the drama and the scandals we crime media lovers can't get enough of.
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