LRF NOW Original Series: Sisco - Season 1 Episode 1

 

Sisco
Genre: Crime/Drama
Executive Producer: Greg Yaitanes
Writer: John Malone
Based on characters created by Elmore Leonard

Season 1 Episode 1 - Karen Makes Out

Cast:
Willa Fitzgerald .... Karen Sisco (Regular)
Scott Bakula .... Marshall Sisco (Regular)
Matthew Glave .... Milt Dancey (Regular)
Nick Gehlfuss .... Carl Tillman (Regular)
Dominik Garcia-Lorido .... Kathy Lopez (Recurring)
Tom Sizemore .... Sonny Franseze (Recurring)

Opening Credits Song:
"One Hit (to the Body)" - The Rolling Stones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gfoD4SIE3Y

Plot: On the sixth floor of the ultra-modern Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. United States Courthouse in Miami, Deputy US Marshal Karen Sisco (Willa Fitzgerald) goes over the rules of witness protection with Detroit mobster turned government witness Sonny Franseze (Tom Sizemore). She reminds Sonny that if he is caught breaking the law or having any kind of contact with anyone associated with organized crim, he will be sent back to prison and he will no longer be protected by the US Marshal Service. Karen's boss, Chief Deputy US Marshal Milt Dancey (Matthew Glave), enters the office and gives Sonny his new identification documents.

At a marina restaurant, Karen meets up with her father, Marshall Sisco (Scott Bakula). He gives her a birthday present: a new handgun and a Prada suit. Karen thanks her father, but insists that he spent too much money. Marshall tells her that his private investigation business is booming and once again offers his daughter a job working for him. Karen once again declines his job offer as she wants to build her own career without any nepotism.

Carl Tillman (Nick Gehlfuss) pulls up in front of a smaller branch of Florida Southern Bank in a white pickup truck. He puts on a ski-mask and enters the bank just as it is being opened for the day. Carl aims a gun at the teller, Kathy Lopez (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) and politely asks her to empty her cash drawer into a bag. Once the drawer is empty, Carl thanks her for not pressing the alert button, but jokes that she should feel free to as soon as he leaves the building.

Karen goes to a beachfront bar, drinking a Jim Beam on the rocks. Carl sits down next to her, telling the bartender to put her drink on his tab. There is a clear mutual attraction between Karen and Carl. He starts trying to guess what she does for a living. A social worker? A teacher? Lawyer? She offers to tell him what she does, but he says it is more fun guessing. Carl then tells her that he is a charter fisherman. After their drink, Karen says she has to go. Carl walks her to her car, asking if he can see her again some time. Karen tells him to follow her. Carl gets into his truck and follows Karen to her yellow stucco bungalow in Coral Gables. As soon, as Karen and Carl enter the house, they begin making love on the living room floor. Afterward, Karen tells Carl he is welcome to stay the night but that she has to be dressed and out the door by 6 am. Carl then guesses that she is a flight attendant. Wrong again.

Karen wakes up before dawn, finding herself alone in bed. Karen walks through her house naked, slowly getting ready for her day when she hears a noise in the kitchen. Karen grabs a pistol and silently sneaks into the kitchen where she finds Carl making coffee for them. Seeing the gun, Carl holds his hands up in the air. Karen puts the gun away and puts a robe on. She sits and drinks coffee with Carl. She tells him that the gun was a birthday present from her private investigator father. Karen asks Carl is he's going out on his boat later. He tells her that his boat is out of the water right now as he's getting ready to move it to to a different marina. Looking at the time, Karen tells Carl that he needs to leave so she can finish getting ready, but that she would like to see him again.

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"From the get-go, Sisco benefits from having the trademarks of its source material's author Elmore Leonard: a sun-soaked setting, simmering romance, the intersections between the different corners of the law and the criminal underworld it pursues. Perhaps the biggest flaw with the pilot is that felt a tad bit slight, leaving me wanting more--which also means I'll happily take five more episodes." - Frank Estelle, Boca Breeze

"Sisco's pilot thrives on a strong sense of dramatic irony, giving the show a nice, fun style. Willa Fitzgerald is quite the find as the titular law woman already. In fact, the entire pilot cast feels pitch perfect, but what else would you expect from a John Malone-penned series?" - Cal Crowe, Washington Globe

"The pilot of Sisco does feel a bit small, but it does the job. It introduces what appears to be all of the major players and gives us enough unique, entertaining moments to draw us in as a viewer. It also made it apparent that this series is going to be about Karen's relationships with the various men in her life rather than villains/crimes of the week, which is refreshing." - Katie Barnes, Washington Herald