Mary Mara Movies

Brooke Adams, the wife of Monk star Tony Shalhoub, appears in this final episode of the series' third season as Abigail Carlyle, the mother of violin prodigy Daniel Carlyle...and a key player in a bizarre extortion plot. Monk is called in to investigate after a 22-month-old kid named Tommy (played by twins Preston Shores and Trevor Shores) shows up carrying a severed human finger in his tiny fist. The clues lead Monk to deduce that the finger belonged to a violin player, and this leads him to a meeting with the Carlyles. It doesn't take long for Monk to realize that "Daniel Carlyle" is an impostor, and that the real Daniel has been kidnapped--and to top it off, THIS crime is inextricably linked to little Tommy's grisly discovery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No sooner had actor Joe Pantoliano's character literally lost his head as mobster Ralph Cifaretto on the HBO crime series The Sopranos than he switched to the "right" side of the law on the CBS weekly The Handler. Pantoliano was cast as veteran FBI agent Joe Renato, who was placed in charge of a group of rookie undercover agents operating in L.A. Each of Renato's chameleon charges was a master of disguise and deception, ideally suited for the various FBI stings to which they assigned -- but still not yet dry behind the years insofar as surviving deadly situations. Featured in the cast was another Sopranos expatriate, Lola Glaudini, as eager young agent Heather, Anna Belknap as Lily, Ken Weiler as Roy, Hill Harper as Darnell, and Tanya Wright as Marcy. The Handler debuted September 26, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this gritty drama, a woman discovers that her long-lost mother is now her partner in a cutthroat prison gang. Treasure (Yolonda Ross) is a young African-American woman who grew up without a mother and has been in trouble with the law most of her life after falling in with a rough-and-tumble street gang. Treasure has long been told that her mother, a hard-as-nails female criminal nicknamed "Brownie," died years ago, but one of Treasure's best friends and gang-sisters tells her about meeting a hard-core "lifer" named Brownie in an adult lockup, and Treasure wonders if she might be her mother. About to turn 21, Treasure goes out of her way to break enough rules to be sent to the State Facility for Women, where Brownie (Davenia McFadden) is also held. Treasure soon meets Brownie and discovers she is indeed her mother, but finds that the longtime prisoner would prefer to regard her as a gang ally than as a daughter. Treasure also learns that not everyone welcomes her presence in Brownie's gang, especially Kit (Rain Phoenix), a drug dealer who runs with Brownie and feels that her daughter is forcing her to divide her loyalties. Stranger Inside was directed and co-written by Cheryl Dunye, who previously made the controversial independent feminist satire The Watermelon Woman; the film was premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival prior to its telecast on the premium cable network HBO, which financed the project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The crew makes the disturbing discovery that the PeaceKeepers have planted a locator beacon -- or tracking device -- somewhere on the living starship Moya. It is now necessary to perform surgery on the vessel, but the only practical anesthetic is located on a hostile planet that has never experienced extraterrestrial contact. In his efforts to obtain the anesthetic, Crichton realizes anew that he is truly a stranger in a strange land. The second Farscape episode filmed, "I, E.T." was the seventh to be shown, making its broadcast bow on May 7, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramedics Shep (Ron Eldard) and Raul (Carlos Gomez) respond to a call from the projects, where an abandoned row house yields 22 youngsters suffering from malnutrition. Though his actions in this crisis are compassionate, Shep nonetheless makes a careless remark which Benton (Eriq La Salle) and Malik (Deezer D) regard as racist. Benton has other problems in the form of Jeanie (Gloria Reuben), whose husband, Al (Michael Beach), wants a reconciliation. In other developments, Greene (Anthony Edwards) is served with divorce papers while on the job; and Carter (Noah Wyle) tests out a risky surgical procedure on the terminally ill wife of octogenarian Mr. Rubadoux (Red Buttons). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having completed medical school, Carter (Noah Wyle) invites Benton (Eriq La Salle) to his graduation -- only to miss the festivities himself because he's too busy comforting his patient TC (Gabrielle Boni). Meanwhile, Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), fed up with the bureaucracy and backstabbing of hospital politics, quits her job; and Greene (Anthony Edwards) is forced to back Weaver (Laura Innes) for the job of attending physician if he wants to appoint Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) as chief resident. This final episode of ER's second season includes an unresolved plot strand involving Benton, his erstwhile lover, Jeanie (Gloria Reuben), and an HIV examination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having endured four consecutive night shifts, Greene (Anthony Edwards) reluctantly tackles night number five with only a skeleton crew -- and an inordinately large influx of patients. Among those passing through the doors of the crowded ER are an abusive husband whose wife has retaliated in a violent fashion, a lap dancer, a teenager who has swallowed antifreeze, and a young girl who was injured in a car accident that Greene had witnessed while grabbing a sandwich at a nearby restaurant. At the end of it all, Carter (Noah Wyle) can only express admiration for Greene's handling of a near-impossible job -- not to mention a last-minute innovation in patient care. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Benton (Eriq La Salle) strongly suspects that Vucelich (Ron Rifkin) is manipulating the results of his study on the "clamp-and-run" procedure. Elsewhere, rumors buzz throughout the ER that Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) are lovers. And Carter (Noah Wyle) risks his career when he goes ballistic while dealing with an alcoholic patient named Nathan (Mark Pellegrino) and Nathan's "enabler" girlfriend, Angel (Charlotte Ross). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unable to cope with the pressures of surrogate motherhood, Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) considers giving up her sister Chloe's baby, Suzy, for adoption. Back at the ER, Ross (George Clooney) and Greene (Anthony Edwards) quarrel over subjecting four-year-old AIDS victim Chia-Chia (Joshua Hoon Cho) to a very painful medical procedure. And Benton (Eriq La Salle) takes a personal interest in his patient Vicky Mazovick (Jennifer Tighe), a victim of abuse at the hands of her police-officer husband (Thom Mathews). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carol (Julianna Marguiles) goes on a fascinating and frightening ride-along with paramedics Shep (Ron Eldard) and Raul (Carlos Gomez). Back at the ER, Weaver (Laura Innes) continues to rub everyone (except the equally contentious Benton [Eriq La Salle]) the wrong way; Ross (George Clooney) treats Byron (Jameson Baltes), a nine-year-old fledgling pyromaniac; and Carter (Noah Wyle) goes to ridiculous lengths to impress Harper Tracy (Christine Elise). And on the domestic front, Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) has her hands full caring for her sister Chloe's baby daughter, Suzy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A wealthy older woman is found murdered in her apartment. By the time the police and the D.A.'s office catch up with the likeliest suspect -- the woman's much-younger lover, Steven Gregg (Richard Cox) -- he is fully prepared to accept a plea bargain. But the case proves to be far from cut-and-dried when further investigation reveals that Gregg was lying about the last time he saw the victim alive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a rookie cop who witnesses a robbery in progress on her first night on the job. With her more experienced partner using the men's room, Megan decides to take action on her own. She creeps into the supermarket where a man (Tom Sizemore in a small role) is holding the clerk at gunpoint. Megan gets close enough to shoot the gunman, and calls out for him to drop his weapon. He spins the gun toward her, and she unloads her service revolver into his chest. His gun goes flying, and a bystander, Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), surreptitiously picks it up and takes it home. Megan's superiors, unable to confirm that the man she shot was armed, suspend her. Eugene, a wealthy commodities broker, becomes obsessed with Megan. He sets up an "accidental" meeting between them and begins dating her, romancing her with fancy restaurants and helicopter rides over Manhattan. He also carves her name into the bullets he uses to gun down strangers in the street. A tough homicide detective, Nick Mann (Clancy Brown of The Shawshank Redemption), gets Megan's gun and badge back so she can help him track down the psycho killer. Eventually, Megan realizes that Eugene is the killer, but he uses his money and influence to elude the law, and he starts coming after Megan's friends and family. Megan's determination to bring Eugene to justice quickly becomes a very personal obsession. This intense cop drama, Blue Steel, was director Kathryn Bigelow's major studio follow-up to her well-received indie vampire flick, Near Dark. Bigelow co-wrote both films with Eric Red (The Hitcher). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide