CSI: New York--'Admissions'

CSI Files · May 1 2008, 03:10 PM

Synopsis:

Prom night at Nathanson Academy turns tragic when guidance counselor Robert Greggs is found murdered, his face partially melted by hydrofluoric acid. Sid determines the acid killed Greggs, but also notes he took quite a beating before he died. Mac, already under pressure to make an arrest in the case of the taxi cab killer, is similarly harried on this case when he learns Inspector Stanton Gerrard's daughter, Natalie, is a student at Nathanson. The team gathers cell phones from the students, hoping to piece together the scene at the gym between 10:18 pm, the time Greggs was last seen alive, and 10:30pm, when he was found dead. Adam uses Photosynth to reconstruct the scene at the gym in pictures. Marijuana in a fish tank near Greggs' body leads the CSIs to suspect the Prom king and queen, but they insist the plants' presence was just a prank. Mac and Lindsay process Greggs' office, where Mac discovers a box of money and tokens hidden beneath the closet floorboards. The tokens lead Mac and Flack to a laundromat where they discover a hidden gambling hall. Mac catches sight of a man wearing Greggs' watch, but the guy claims Greggs gave it to him to pay off a debt, and has an alibi for the night of the murder. While the CSIs work their case, the Taxi Cab killer stalks another victim.

Hawkes discovers pepper spray around the victim's eyes, and he's traced keys found in the victim's hand back to Natalie Gerrard. Inspector Gerrard isn't happy about his daughter being questioned, but Mac reassures him. Mac and Lindsay speak with Natalie, trying to find out why her grades plummeted and she suddenly opted out of college. When Mac asks her if make-up found on Greggs' sleeve is hers, Gerrard storms in and ends the interrogation. Using Photosynth, Stella and Adam catch sight of a picture of Greggs leaving the gym, following someone wearing skull and crossbones cufflinks. Adam locates the boy, Jesse Carver, in another picture. Flack questions him, but the boy says he was only going to get his girlfriend Lacey Pearlman's keys. Before Flack can get further, the boy's father, Wallace, arrives at the station and puts an end to the interrogation. Mac joins Adam in the lab, studying the images from Photosynth and sees Natalie departing at the same time Greggs left with Jesse. Mac and Lindsay question Natalie again with Gerrard present, but Natalie soon asks to speak to Lindsay alone. She tells the CSI that she and Jesse dated, and that he got her drunk one night and raped her. She recalls another man being in the room as well. After seeing Jesse with Lacey, she turned to Greggs, hoping to prevent another girl from suffering what she did. Gerrard looks on, distraught. Natalie turns over the dress she was wearing the night she was raped, and semen on it matches Wallace and Jesse Carver--who are not in fact father and son but two adult men. Jesse, who is actually 32, has been posing as a high school student to get access to teenage girls. Mac and Flack apprehend the two men who say little before asking for lawyers. The CSIs leave the interrogation rooms, but rush back when they hear a gunshot ring out. They discover Gerrard, standing over Jesse's dead body, a gun in his hand.

Analysis:

What has gotten into Mac Taylor lately? Over the last few episodes--since the 333 caller was put away--we've seen a kinder, gentler Mac Taylor. He stood by Danny after Ruben Sandoval's death in "Child's Play". He gave Reed the scoop on the Taxi Cab Killer in "Like Water For Murder"--the same episode where he cut Lindsay slack despite the fact that she left evidence out and made the lab look bad during an evaluation. And in this episode, we see Mac being downright compassionate to Stanton Gerrard when the man's daughter gets caught up in a murder investigation. There was clearly nothing political about Mac's desire to make things as easy as possible for Gerrard and his daughter; Mac was simply being compassionate.

It's something of a surprising move, given Mac's history with Gerrard. Gerrard was a thorn in Mac's side when Hawkes was framed for murder in "Raising Shane" and during a high profile investigation in "A Daze of Wine and Roaches". Even more than that, Mac believed Gerrard had it in for him after serial killer Clay Dobson plunged from a roof after an altercation with Mac in "Past Imperfect". Mac essentially blackmailed Gerrard and Chief Sinclair in "...Comes Around", bringing about an uneasy truce that ended the investigation into his actions with Dobson, but likely didn't endear him to either man. It's gratifying to see Mac, who isn't the most flexible or forgiving of men, acting so compassionate towards Gerrard. He could have easily taken a hard line with Gerrard--the man's daughter was at the center of a murder investigation--but it's gratifying to see him choose not to.

To read the full reviews, please click here.

Daquien · May 1 2008, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Career-ending or not, Gerrard's shooting of the man who raped his daughter is something it's hard to fault him for.

If murder is not a career-ending, what it would be?
Gerrard, being a police chief, should be the first to be respectful with the law, so, of course it's to fault him. Revenge is not the way of resolve things, now his daughter had been raped and will have her father in jail for a long time.

Faylinn · May 1 2008, 07:08 PM

But would they choose to prosecute him? The Deputy Inspector, with years of service in the NYPD, kills the man who attacked his daughter and who knows how many other young women--I'm not saying it's right, but would the DA choose to prosecute him? (God, I watch too many crime shows.)

I don't anticipate the storyline being continued to let us see what happens, but given that there's been a surprising amount of continuity recently, maybe they'll shock me. I'd like to see where this goes.

Great review, Kristine! I loved the stuff with Mac, Stella and Flack at the beginning, Danny and Hawkes' scene was fun, Adam's scenes were funny, Mac and Sid's scene was hilarious--a lot of good little character moments were packed into this episode, which I love. Kudos to the writing team!

Carmen and Kelen were both really good in their scenes, and the scene where Natalie talks about being raped and they show Gerrard at the end--I may have shed a few tears (not unheard of for me, mind you, but I don't tear up at NY much these days). It might have been more emotional for me if Anna could have mustered up some expression in her eyes. I spent the whole scene watching her face for signs of emotion and was still able to cry a bit, so the other actors were obviously putting in a powerful performance--I wish I'd concentrated on them and not tried to grasp something from Lindsay instead. *sigh*

nattybatty55 · May 1 2008, 07:27 PM

[QUOTE]But would they choose to prosecute him? The Deputy Inspector, with years of service in the NYPD, kills the man who attacked his daughter and who knows how many other young women--I'm not saying it's right, but would the DA choose to prosecute him? (God, I watch too many crime shows.)
[QUOTE]

Thats exactly what I was thinking as I watched it. Maybe a forced retirement?!?!

nattybatty55 · May 1 2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

But would they choose to prosecute him? The Deputy Inspector, with years of service in the NYPD, kills the man who attacked his daughter and who knows how many other young women--I'm not saying it's right, but would the DA choose to prosecute him? (God, I watch too many crime shows.)

Thats exactly what I was thinking as I watched it. Maybe a forced retirement?!?!

Elsie · May 1 2008, 08:47 PM

Great review Kristine.

I really enjoyed the episode, I loved the character interactions in it. Adam was so weird and Sid was fantastically creepy. Of course one of my favourite moments was Flack saying 'boom'.

As for Gerrard's fate. I agree that we probably won't see what happens to him, although I hope it will be mentioned at some point. I think they would have to attempt to prosecute him, after all he did walk into a room at the precinct and shoot an unarmed man, presumably with the express intention of killing him. Yeah the guy was a complete scumbag, but that's not really a good excuse for murder.

I guess there might be some psychological defence that could be argued, but I would expect him to be charged with a serious offence. I found it very emotional to watch, and I felt really bad for Gerrard.

PerfectAnomaly · May 2 2008, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elsie

As for Gerrard's fate. I agree that we probably won't see what happens to him, although I hope it will be mentioned at some point. I think they would have to attempt to prosecute him, after all he did walk into a room at the precinct and shoot an unarmed man, presumably with the express intention of killing him. Yeah the guy was a complete scumbag, but that's not really a good excuse for murder.

I guess there might be some psychological defence that could be argued, but I would expect him to be charged with a serious offence. I found it very emotional to watch, and I felt really bad for Gerrard.

I agree he will be charged with something. He shot the bastard right between the eyes and then put his gun down which indicates he knew what he was doing and possibly that he premeditated the action. I don't think the police department could get away with forced retirement or a slap on the wrist in this case, even if it is CSI: NY we're talking about. I loved Gerrard in this episode and loved to dislike him in others. It's too bad we (presumably) won't be seeing him much longer if we see him in the future at all.

Top41 · May 2 2008, 07:54 AM

Personally, I hope Gerrard pleads temporary insanity and gets off.

His career is probably over, unless they go for a cover-up (doubtful). But yeah, I have a hard time faulting the guy for killing the man who raped his daughter. Is it right? Up for debate. Can one understand where he was coming from? Yes.

Sticks · May 10 2008, 09:36 PM

On a completely spurious point - all those phones collected, would they ever be returned or are they confiscated for good to be permanently held in the evidence locker? I would assume with things like appeals, they never get returned and it's just tough luck on the person they were collected from.

They have done this before on CSI Miami when they collected camera phones.

Top41 · May 10 2008, 11:51 PM

I would think the phones would have to be returned--they are people's personal property after all.

nattybatty55 · May 10 2008, 11:55 PM

^^^Exactly...and plus Adam would have worked his magic to copy the images first

Sticks · May 11 2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top41

I would think the phones would have to be returned--they are people's personal property after all.

I always thought they had to be kept in evidence lock up for the trial, so defence can look at them and examine them to see if the downloaded images were actually on the camera phone, and even after that, should there be a conviction for appeal processes, as they are evidence.

Elsie · May 11 2008, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sticks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top41

I would think the phones would have to be returned--they are people's personal property after all.

I always thought they had to be kept in evidence lock up for the trial, so defence can look at them and examine them to see if the downloaded images were actually on the camera phone, and even after that, should there be a conviction for appeal processes, as they are evidence.

To be fair, if I recall correctly, the images didn't really show them anything useful other than Jesse followed Robert Greggs out of the room, which Jesse himself then admitted. And then Jesse/Hank was killed, so there wouldn't really be a trial in the case of Robert Greggs, or at least even with the other guy on trial for something (rape? and who knows what else), there wouldn't be a need for the photos to be used in evidence.

Stella mentioned that she would try and gather as many phones as possible, so I assume they weren't forced to hand them over and she didn't have a warrant, and as such they would presumably be expecting to get them back, I'm not sure they could just be kept.

Sticks · May 13 2008, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elsie

To be fair, if I recall correctly, the images didn't really show them anything useful other than Jesse followed Robert Greggs out of the room, which Jesse himself then admitted. And then Jesse/Hank was killed, so there wouldn't really be a trial in the case of Robert Greggs, or at least even with the other guy on trial for something (rape? and who knows what else), there wouldn't be a need for the photos to be used in evidence.

Stella mentioned that she would try and gather as many phones as possible, so I assume they weren't forced to hand them over and she didn't have a warrant, and as such they would presumably be expecting to get them back, I'm not sure they could just be kept.

I was more thinking along general lines rather than this case in particular. I mean if I was defence attorney and one of the pieces of evidence against my client was an image captured on a mobile phone, I would demand to see the actual mobile phone with the image still on it or I would point out to the judge that the image could have been tampered with and demand that it be excluded.

Sticks · April 5 2009, 05:56 PM

I was just looking through my old posts, not sure if I go a reply to my general point.

Top41 · April 5 2009, 07:18 PM

I would think you'd have to ask a defense attorney or someone else in the legal profession for your answer.

I wouldn't think they could hold on to people's personal property for months on end, especially if the people weren't directly connected to the case (ie, they were just witnesses), but I'm not a legal expert, so I could easily be wrong about that.