I’m on my fourth episode of In Plain Sight off the DVR and am pleased to report it’s at least as good as Season 1 – possibly better.

I braced myself for disappointment, recalling the less-than-stellar sophomore outings of Burn Notice and Kyle XY.

Would Mary — after having been kidnapped, nearly raped and killed in the first season finale before she managed to kill her would-be killer and save herself, never mind the FBI crusade against her and her family because of what her long-missing father may or may not have done and her sister’s involvement with a big-time drug dealer — remain the strong-yet-vulnerable tough-as-nails funny-as-hell Mary we’d grown to love in Season 1? And if she did, would it be as if the rough end to Season 1 never happened?

No need to worry. Four episodes into Season 2 and despite Mary’s return to work and Jinx’s stint in rehab, the house is still trashed from the tossing the FBI gave it.

Mary was followed around for one episode by a psychologist who — rightfully, redeeming generations of TV psychologists — deemed Mary’s work the one thing in her life that kept her sane and decided she needed to be back on the job. In fact, I liked the psych quite a bit. She put up with Mary’s hostility exceptionally well and actually gave Mary some good advice: “Cut yourself some slack.”

Somehow, the creators of this show and actress Mary McCormack have managed to craft a character who is funny, smart, sexy and scary – let’s face it, you do NOT want to cross Mary Shannon – all at the same time.

Add to that her fabulous partnership with Marshal Marshall (hee!), her usually adversarial relationship with cop Bobby D, her completely selfish yet evolving baby sister Brandi, her fresh outta rehab for booze mom Jinx, her sensitive refusing-to-call-it-love relationship with Raphael, her fatherly boss Stan and her inability to cope with Eleanor, the new alpha female in the office – well, then you’ve got some kind of a show.