Grade "Dead Reckoning"

How would you grade Dead Reckoning?

  • A+

    Votes: 13 18.6%
  • A

    Votes: 13 18.6%
  • A-

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • B+

    Votes: 8 11.4%
  • B

    Votes: 7 10.0%
  • B-

    Votes: 8 11.4%
  • C+

    Votes: 1 1.4%
  • C

    Votes: 4 5.7%
  • C-

    Votes: 3 4.3%
  • D+

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • D

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • D-

    Votes: 1 1.4%
  • F

    Votes: 3 4.3%

  • Total voters
    70
Did we ever have even a hint that there was a chance someone would not be returning this season? I know I never saw anything that came close to hinting that, so I don't think they would have waited until the last minute to decide who was going to be injured. But even if they had, or if they had put another character in the chair it's no excuse for the sloppy way it's been handled. They're professional writers and should be able to come up with a decent story line no matter how last minute they come up with it or which character they write it for. Having such glaring inconsistencies is inexcusable no matter how long or short the story arc or to which character the story happens to pertain. It would be unrealistic for any character to deal with being in the chair the way Danny has.
 
^ Aside from these articles; which were talked about a lot this summer?

They did seem prepared to get rid of someone. But yeah, it doesn't let the writers off the hook for not tightening up the storyline once they knew where they'd be going with it. Like I said, they're crap with personal-injury storylines (or at least, they've gotten worse over the years -- I guess Ryan's was handled okay). At the very least, Danny's progress in "Dead Reckoning" should've been left until maybe the tenth episode of the season. It's pretty bad that it took them longer to find Mac's 333 stalker than it took Danny to recover from paralysis.
 
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I liked this episode, so I gave it an A-. But the quality would have been much better if the scene that Lindsay saving Flack were made believable, such as the lady wields the knife like a lunatic lunges at him at the same time or something like that. She should have had a gun at least.
 
^ Aside from these articles; which were talked about a lot this summer?

Those answers to fan questions don't suggest anyone from the cast was ready to "walk." If anything, the indications we got this summer were that none of the cast wanted to leave and would only do so if TPTB got rid of someone. They all seemed to indicate they were worried they might be the ones to go. At different points I think Hill, Carmine, Eddie and Melina all said the cast didn't know if anyone was being offed. That points to TPTB making the decision of who lived, died and/or was injured and there's no indication they made it at the last minute.
 
My point is that for a lot of the summer, the show seemed to be preparing for someone to leave (whether by choice or because they'd be let go; it was TPTB's decision, most likely, but it was still a decision they were getting ready to make). There'd be no real reason to go with the "live or die" hints for all that time, otherwise. And we know they started filming "Epilogue" in late July, at least. I think there's a lot in this storyline that indicates it was made up last minute. I may be proven wrong in later episodes, but up to now I can't think of one scene/moment in the story that's been character-specific to Danny, that would seem particularly OOC if it were another character in the chair. No, not even the Kraft-dinner moment at the end of this episode -- theoretically, Danny and Lindsay's roles in that scene could've been swapped and it wouldn't have been that OOC. It's not like in S4, where "All in the Family" (for example) wouldn't have worked for any character other than Danny.

Not that it's any excuse for that sort of writing. Once they knew what they were going with, they should have tweaked the storyline more.
 
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My point is that for a lot of the summer, the show seemed to be preparing for someone to leave (whether by choice or because they'd be let go; it was TPTB's decision, most likely, but it was still a decision they were getting ready to make). There'd be no real reason to go with the "live or die" hints for all that time, otherwise. And we know they started filming "Epilogue" in late July, at least. I think there's a lot in this storyline that indicates it was made up last minute. I may be proven wrong in later episodes, but up to now I can't think of one scene/moment in the story that's been character-specific to Danny, that would seem particularly OOC if it were another character in the chair. No, not even the Kraft-dinner moment at the end of this episode -- theoretically, Danny and Lindsay's roles in that scene could've been swapped and it wouldn't have been that OOC. It's not like in S4, where "All in the Family" (for example) wouldn't have worked for any character other than Danny.

Not that it's any excuse for that sort of writing. Once they knew what they were going with, they should have tweaked the storyline more.

They could have gone with the "live or die" as marketing so people would watch the premiere. What's the point of watching if you know from the get go that everyone is going to be fine? Just because they were hinting someone might not be returning for whatever reason doesn't indicate one way or the other about when they came up with the story line. There's also no way to tell from the episodes themselves. They could've come up with the story line mid S5 and still written it as crappy as if they'd come up with it the week before the premiere. Unless someone associated with the show comes out and says the story was thrown together last minute there's no way to say either way. In fact, IMO the sloppy way they've handled DL since day one with all of the plot holes and telling without showing tells me it's much more likely they didn't do it last minute. But again, that's not something I can "prove" from watching the episodes.

I disagree with the Ruben storyline only working for Danny. We know from Flack's history he works with kids in his off time. It could have easily been a story where Flack was with one of those kids and that kid got killed. Turning the death into nothing but a plot device for furthering the Drama Llama was specific to DL, but the story up to that point could have easily been written for another character. Hawkes could have been volunteering with kids and one of them got killed and as a doctor he couldn't have saved them. And either Flack or Hawkes could have tried to stop a parent from taking revenge on the responsible party. The possibilities for the basic story line was not limited to it happening only to Danny. I don't think the fact that it was Danny they chose indicates one way or another how planned or not planned in advance the story was.
 
Fair enough about not knowing exactly when they came up with the wheelchair storyline, although I just think there would be more character-specific moments in it if they'd planned it ahead of time. But yeah, I can't prove it for sure.

However, I think the Ruben storyline was very specifically planned (even long before the DL--dramatics) for Danny. I don't disagree that the premise itself wouldn't have worked for any other character -- Flack, Hawkes, whoever -- but I think it would've played out in a very different way if it had been anyone else starring in the storyline. I can't imagine any other character handling the Rikki situation quite like Danny did in "All in the Family" -- like, I can't see either Flack or Hawkes not calling in their missing gun, or making one of their friends chase them all over town (then again, with the Flack 6.08 storyline coming up, I admit I'm not completely sure about that); even if they did still try to stop the mom from taking revenge. The writers took Danny's personality into account when deciding how the Ruben storyline would play out. And they don't seem to have done the same with this wheelchair one -- which is why Danny's emotional-ness seems to have been "killed".
 
NY is having an interesting relationship with the relativity of time this season. Evidence is collected and subsequently processed before Mac & Don have left the scene with a confession.
ah, well i thought something different about that - i did initially go "blimey that was fast" but then i thought - well, the way mac was at the crime scene right at the start, it wasn't like he was processing, he just seemed to be looking at it - there was no sign of kit or markers or anything else, so i assumed that he'd *returned* to the crime scene after getting all the evidence in/processed, so that he could meet flack with the woman, who had presumably been at the precinct for a while being processed herself, which would've given time for the scene to be processed, assuming that the CSIs were sent as soon as the woman turned herself in and before she was processed. bloody hell, that's a lot of assumption on my part and a lot of processing!:guffaw:
;) :p. Was glossing to make a point, m'dear :lol:. Yes, I got that the compacted introduction was done to set up the episode's format and premise of backtracking a confession in the face of forensic evidence that seemed to contradict it.

And yes, I got that Stella had already been to work the scene, and had returned to the labs, and that some time had passed while she was processing, and that Mac was visiting the scene, probably the following day, to ply his marvel eye, whereupon he was presented his confessing murderess by Flack, after she'd turned herself in to the police station.

The longer the duration of time between Mac & Stella's visits to the crime scene, the easier it is to swallow the DNA result, but the longer the duration, the odder that field trip by Flack and the confessing murderess is.

It's odd for me that the (presumed) first time Mac directly hears her confession would be more than a day or two after she'd turned herself in; if it's the same day, well, Stella's an Energizer Bunny; also odd that the confession took place at the crime scene if at some point they were each already at the precinct/labs/NYbatcave/whatev. That 'lil field trip tweaked an eyebrow, even while knowing it was for dramatic Crime Scene Goodness complete to Stella documenting & collecting evidence and then returning to the labs to begin processing to the point of being able to bugaboo the confession with a phonecall to Mac that he answers while staring both at the scene and the killer all by teaser's end.

Any way ya look at it, Stella deserves a coffee and a muffin, or mebbe a Caf-Pow or two. :lol:

Ideal teevee world of course, one can also get DNA profile results back toute de suite, with no back log, and the deadline that matters is the end credits, or in this case, the first commercial break. Weeeeell. I suppose it's also possible that Stella and Mac got those (STR?) machines they were arguing about last season in the face of Adam's pink slip (...and dun dun dunnnnnnh, our bearded friend from the tech republik was nowheres to be seen...:p)

What I was mainly doing was poking at the stretching, bending, folding, compacting and general all around Temporal Origami NY's been practicing in conveniently producing lovely and decorative airtime so far this season :p. My secondary point was that the teaser set up felt very rushed (and of course it had to be to fit it all in) compared to how muddled the storytelling (as opposed to the just the story) of the investigation was, which then saw an ultimately incredibly rushed resolution.

Forty very deliberately presented minutes passed, picking away at that confession, and then they suddenly needed to lightening solve the case with time to spare in order to have Flack drinking, Haylen kleening, and Danny rocking Lucy. Was an odd, stumbling grinding whiplash eppie for flow, and not engaging to the point I'd be happy to just nod and smile along the way. Not for a polygamous husband and the sudden discovery of a Q-Tip line worker who rates the attire her employment mandates as secondary to her personal aeration.

The other, second knife-wielding triple murderess courier woman was the most interesting killer in the ep, (no matter how good that first "would you do it again?" / "...all seventeen times" bit was), but she also came to feel like a device to shoehorn Flack's Freeze in. The final Swabbie plot twist responsible for calling the confession into question and clearing the other woman of additional crimes should have been more interesing. But it was parachuted in last minute. While we got five more after the fact of non-case related Drek. Yes, intended to come across as moving and/or meaningful moments, character moments, but the ep wasn't stitched together well enough to benefit from that kind of counterpoint.

I know Flack drinks beer and goes to bars. The freeze itself let me know he's still struggling. I know Haylen's a Kleen Up Tech. I know it Rainz in NYC. Whether Danny's waltzing the end of this ep or the start of the next one, who cares - and by that I mean it was a foregone conclusion he soon would. Not least because Hawkes himself is apparently a Rain God. Cos it freakin poured for progress. I guess they need that week between just to explain how Messer's gonna be chasing perps soon. Gad help me if he joins into a dance battle this week to win some info :lol:. I think Haylen's scene was probably the most interesting choice to include, and could have been better, but it at least managed to touch on both the case plot and put the character in an interesting scenario to play. The over-arcing stuff didn't seem to add much while the case resolution really seemed to suffer, to the point of bat-signalling MadMac all over again.

i *really* liked the scene between mac and flack - i'm glad mac has finally come out and said that there's a problem rather than just leaving flack to it, i also think it's interesting that flack's giving mac a good run for his money on the whole "closing up and not saying a word" thing
I'm glad that someone came out directly to call Flack on his state of being. I'm not so keen on how it was set up to do so in this ep. while I don't doubt shooting the suspect in Pay Up affected Don, I'm still not entirely sold on the Freeze.

It's a good comparative point by CandyCoroner regarding Stella/Frankie and Flack, one that is making me reconsider my take a little bit. It's also a good point that we don't really know how much the others know of Flack's actions in the warehouse raid, and it certainly seems the shooting wasn't questioned. I do rather think that having to shoot your ex in your own home in self defense might leave a slightly different kind of scar than Flack following thru on "God help him" from Pay Up. Haven't finished mulling that yet. I admit I don't think I can ultimately begrudge the depiction of Flack hesitating as aiding in the illustration of his overall struggle, but I can't say I like how it was staged in this ep.

I think the set up was written in such a way it couldn't have been anyone other than Mac talking to Don as a result, something I don't really have any problems with. But I also think how it played out between them will make it more interesting down the road where Mac is concerned, due the choice Don left him with. I'm also not in the least surprised that Flack didn't open up, and don't think he would have, to anyone; the tone and time and place were hardly such that's when he suddenly would.

I also think the writing in the ep where the characters were concerned was overall a little blunt, and that how Mac approached Flack was an example of that. I think the scene with Stella and Sinclair was another. I think the Danny/Hawkes scene was another again. I do think all three were interesting to watch for various reasons, but they all did stand out as Scenes of sorts all the same. NY hasn't found a way to mix it's mallets with it's more typically well-integrated on the go interaction (nor a balance in dealing it's drek).

....as i've said before i think mac being such a contained character will make it hard for him to get to flack, but at least he seems to be trying. i thought it was interesting that he said "people are concerned about you" - it was a fair enough thing to say, but maybe he could've been a bit more personal about it, after all they are meant to be friends of a sort, and maybe then flack would've been able to open up a bit more. that said, i'm a firm believer that mac has very clear work/personal boundaries so saying anything more emotionally invested, even a simple change like "i'm concerned...", would be highly unlikely.
I'm not sure Mac was looking for a deep revelatory weeping conversation to ensue, so much as an acknowledgement that something was amiss, and that Don didn't handle the event in question well. I think the way it was written had Mac coming off a little agressive in his approach (nice mallet), which made me (in playing the game with mallets) read it as first more a query of one professional to another, from one who knows what's going on and took the other at his word he could deal while working thru things, and then a step back from that to both soften that approach a bit and also let Flack know that there's been a wider observation of his state by saying "we're all concerned." It wasn't a very personal approach, and I don't think it was meant to be, not in that time and place. I also think, if I'm playing allowances, that they're continuing to set up Flack's slide and distancing, his rather solo journey thru everything, as further evidenced by his scene at the end.

Lindsay unattached to Danny is a first this season and it feels GOOD. I don't care how much I dislike the character and the actress, the more we see of her, the less I'd fear that Danny is never going to be interesting again. More of solo Lindsay, PLEASE.
I wish I could agree. In principle I'm glad Lindsay's getting writing separate from Danny; I don't really care but for having to sit thru it either way; "unattached" now seems to double her airtime, which I'd rather grown accustomed to and fond of having abbreviated...:p:lol:. Lindsay moments were coming fast and furious in this ep, and what with the overload of DL and DLL tacked on regardless, it was all a little much to take for me :lol:. I wish also that I was more invested in what's being written for Danny, but I've gone from groaning frustration to increasing disinterest over the past few seasons, and not just this one alone.

I am very glad to note that Lindsay's not been a Martyr in this at all. The fact that she's suddenly the complete opposite is more than a little jarring to the point I might need to borrow Horatio's shades to deal with her sunniness is something else altogether. Add to that her participation in a Flack scene I find less than palatable, and she's jetpacked to being S6 UberMontana-Messer, lab wizard super mom supportive wife meteorlogist wide right tackle (your kung fu is good). I know there was an extended chat in the Lat/Long review thread about the sudden turnaround for her character. Count me in as one suffering whiplash and blinding oversaturarion.

A little Lindsay goes a long way for me, whether expertly or abjectly portrayed by AB.

If you expect me to buy Flack as a blossoming alcoholic, I'm going to need more than one half-empty beer. Flack drank more than that on social outings with his friends. Show him with five empties, or being cut off by the bartender. One beer to cope with stress, while a bad idea, doesn't not make him a closet boozer.
I agree. I appreciate the depiction of Flack's struggle to cope, but if I'd not read that one casting call that implied Flack was descending into alcoholism, I'd not necessarily have guessed. And yet. I suppose that could be the point, for casual viewers to be really shocked at how far he's crumbled once that aspect of his problems is more pronounced.

And how did Mac know just from looking at a box of swabs to check the factory?
Back to that rushed ending. Had to conclude that the show had determined that the montage stuff tacked onto the end of the episode was somehow more important than having a decent case and resolution, no matter how lateral the final Twizt.

If this is the method they've developed to include more of the personal focus (than they've previously managed) as well as the cases, This does not bode well.

And what about Lindsey. She could have shot her. But instead made the decison to play hero, and tackle her. If the woman was the deadly threat Lindsey made her out to be, wasn't Lindsey being reckless by tackling her; instead of neutralizing the threat with a bullet to the arm or leg?
I think law enforcement are trained to aim for the centre mass of their targets, not arms or legs etc. But in teeveeland they certainly coulda had her do so. I do wonder/get the impression that had the perp not been a rather petite woman, they'd not have had Lindsay tackle her, despite her S2 bodycheck. Most characters beyond Flack and Mac and I guess Danny aren't renowned for tackling people. And Lindsay certainly hasn't been portrayed that way in years. It did come across as another way for the writers to show us how Awesome Lindsay is. Ya know. In case we'd missed that so far this season. I think having the weapon in question be a knife was a factor in Flack hesitating, as was the fact she was doing everything she could to incite a suicide-by-cop barring actually attacking him or someone else. I actually can't really begrudge Lindsay making the choice to tackle the woman, seeing as she was distracted and focused on Flack. Mebbe they ought to carry tasers or something. (Or mebbe they're saving that for some other topical ep). The whole scenario setting Flack up to Freeze is more what I'm having trouble with. If they felt the need to do so, I'd have hoped for something other than this. Additionally, no, I'm not keen on having Lindsay mixed into Flack's drama. Not bloody keen atall.

-

I dunno why Flack's arc is so much more compelling to Danny's, beyond my own preference; there does seem a better thruline so far.

You would think that a Wounded storyline would be ideal to contrast Messer, a guy who doesn't like to be constrained, now being challenged in the physicality he took for granted. And we have seen a little of that. Albeit in yelling Lookit Me and then alternately pumping up and giving up and now finding his feet again. I suppose they could have done all that without trying to heighten the stakes by having the injury threaten his ability to walk at all, but the show does tend to favor the extremes. I mean, Flack was saved by a shoelace, if I recall :lol:.

I don't really care if the walk/don't walk story was a change of plans. I don't care if the inclusion of the pregnancy was an improvisation. I don't care if it was originally intended to be a CSI ripped open in the S2 bomb blast instead of Flack. I'd guess that writing is always an evolution, and it then gets lifted off the page by myriad choices by myriad people, and not just the actors. Whatever is being produced, I just want decent airtime to result. Mixed bag of reviews so far this season, and I guess fluidity and consistency are reasons. Flack's line has some, Danny's seems less so. As for Danny being a flatter version of himself, well, that's not new to S6 and particular to this storyline. That's somehow a larger trend that I hope they turn around.
 
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NY is having an interesting relationship with the relativity of time this season. Evidence is collected and subsequently processed before Mac & Don have left the scene with a confession.
ah, well i thought something different about that - i did initially go "blimey that was fast" but then i thought - well, the way mac was at the crime scene right at the start, it wasn't like he was processing, he just seemed to be looking at it - there was no sign of kit or markers or anything else, so i assumed that he'd *returned* to the crime scene after getting all the evidence in/processed, so that he could meet flack with the woman, who had presumably been at the precinct for a while being processed herself, which would've given time for the scene to be processed, assuming that the CSIs were sent as soon as the woman turned herself in and before she was processed. bloody hell, that's a lot of assumption on my part and a lot of processing!:guffaw:
;) :p. Was glossing to make a point, m'dear :lol:. Yes, I got that the compacted introduction was done to set up the episode's format and premise of backtracking a confession in the face of forensic evidence that seemed to contradict it.

oh, ok then ;):p i agree though, bits of it seemed incredibly hurried and other bits dragged out too much, it wasn't a great balance!

Any way ya look at it, Stella deserves a coffee and a muffin, or mebbe a Caf-Pow or two. :lol:

defintely! not that i know what a cafpow is :lol:

I also think the writing in the ep where the characters were concerned was overall a little blunt, and that how Mac approached Flack was an example of that. I think the scene with Stella and Sinclair was another. I think the Danny/Hawkes scene was another again. I do think all three were interesting to watch for various reasons, but they all did stand out as Scenes of sorts all the same. NY hasn't found a way to mix it's mallets with it's more typically well-integrated on the go interaction (nor a balance in dealing it's drek).


i agree, those scenes were all a little heavy on the mallet wielding. i wonder where the nut is that they're trying to crack...

I'm not sure Mac was looking for a deep revelatory weeping conversation to ensue, so much as an acknowledgement that something was amiss, and that Don didn't handle the event in question well. I think the way it was written had Mac coming off a little agressive in his approach (nice mallet), which made me (in playing the game with mallets) read it as first more a query of one professional to another, from one who knows what's going on and took the other at his word he could deal while working thru things, and then a step back from that to both soften that approach a bit and also let Flack know that there's been a wider observation of his state by saying "we're all concerned." It wasn't a very personal approach, and I don't think it was meant to be, not in that time and place. I also think, if I'm playing allowances, that they're continuing to set up Flack's slide and distancing, his rather solo journey thru everything, as further evidenced by his scene at the end.


i also agree it could only have been mac having that conversation with flack, and that he was trying to point out that he wasn't the only one that noticed, but i think maybe he could've been a bit softer about it, after all flack is meant to be a friend as well as a colleague. i don't think flack would've opened up anyway, and mac wouldn't have tried harder anyway because he's not the pushy type in personal things, but it would've been nice if he'd been more of a friend and less of a boss. but in character and context it was just what i would've expected. i think you're right about them making it clear flack's out on his own, and that makes for a better storyline, but i still think mac's approach could've been softened a little. flack could still have pushed that away!
 
Grade = B-


I wasn’t familiar with the real life case, so the swab contamination angle actually was an interesting twist for me. And as someone who’s been critical of some of the logic leaps the CSI’s make to solve complicated cases, it was interesting to see them following the evidence down the wrong path for a change (despite Mac’s Special Powers of Discernment which eventually saved the day). They spent so much time analyzing and discussing the evidence, though, that the episode really seemed to drag at certain points.


The best storyline this season continues to be Flack’s downward spiral. Kudos to the writers and EC for their efforts so far. I thought the approach Mac took with Flack seemed appropriate given the circumstances. In his own way, I think Mac did try to be a friend to Flack (at least in the first episode), but it’s obvious that Flack’s not getting better, so I don’t think it was wrong for Mac to adopt a more formal, sterner tone with him. As others have said, the freeze scenario involving the delivery woman seemed a bit too contrived. I kept thinking that if Flack shot the woman in that type of situation, he could very well expect to see himself on the evening news complete with headlines charging unnecessary and/or excessive use of force.


Re: Haylen, I’m still neutral on her. The scene with Stella was ok, but I also had vibes of some of Stella’s early interaction with Lindsay. Don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing at this point. Maybe it’s a chance for the writers to make up for some of the lost opportunities in the past. I thought Haylen’s last scene was actually the more interesting one and her apparent awkwardness in knowing how to handle the situation with the second wife was what I would expect from a relative newbie.


Not sure what to think about Danny’s storyline. Good scene with Hawkes, but once again, there doesn’t seem to be much depth to this arc. Maybe they are actually trying to give the audience a break from D/L angst and do more of a “feel-good” storyline. As contrived as that last scene was, I admit the image of Danny holding little Lucy got a smile and “Awww….” from me.


Interesting that the writers had Stella be the one to talk Sinclair into delaying the press conference and also named her along with Mac as leads for the investigation. I wonder if they are setting up a scenario whereby Stella will be offered a promotion and have to decide whether to stay or go. Or perhaps something will happen with / to Mac, and she will have to take over the team for a time. Lots of possibilities….


An ok episode, but not one of the best.
 
Just realized that I never commented on last week's episode. Really rough week...anywho...haven't read everyone else's comments so sorry if I repeat.

Elwood is right...timing on first scene was odd, DNA was unbelievably quick. Wife #1 walks into precinct and confesses, CSI's go to scene and then Flack follows with wife in tow. DNA results are in before she leaves scene. I guess I'll suspend disbelief on that.

Liked Danny and Hawkes scene. Hawkes was a good choice to yell at him. Not that I don't think Anna could have handled it but it was a good opportunity to introduce someone else into the mix with Danny. He and Lindsay have been sort of isolated so far in dealing with his injury. Everyone seemed to be walking around him and asking LIndsay how he was instead of dealing directly with him. Glad Hawkes got in his face.

Haylen...I have to say I'm pleased with the way they are handling this one. She's being viewed and treated like a student, or someone observing. They are keeping her from being a part of the team dynamic (so far) and that's good imo. She still annoys me to a certain extent but was less annoying in this one than before. I actually liked the bit about the food. That was good. The "curvature of the salad" was a bit much, but oh well.

On Flack freezing...he lost focus and at one point didn't seem to see the girl with the knife at all. Had she taken advantage of that he could have been hurt. Lindsay had to do something and at the angle she was at it would have been hard to shoot the girl without endangering Flack too. If she moved to the side she could have been attacked herself. Heroic moment for Lindsay but believable in my book. I love how she tried to cover for him with Mac.

Danny seems flat in these scenes with physical therapy. He doesn't seem whiney, just not really into the character at that point. As much as people say Anna can't handle the emotional scenes, etc, etc, etc, I don't think Carmine is doing such a wonderful job with the wheelchair story. His work related scenes are good, his interaction with Lindsay is great, wonderful, terrific, but I'm not feeling the authenticity of the therapy scenes.

The ending was sweet, Anna nailed the emotion of seeing Danny standing with Lucy perfectly! Watching Danny with the baby makes me wonder how he is with babies in real life and whether this makes him want to have any himself.

Only real complaint I have is that by the end of the show I felt really disconnected from the suspects in the case. We have wife #1 that confessed and seems to be a real cold fish, wife #2 that seems sweet as pie yet says she's glad w#1 killed him first so she wouldn't have to and a delivery girl that is responsible for three killings as a B case. Somewhere in all the character moments and the evidence I lost contact with all the suspects and when it was over I had to go back and review to make sure I understood who killed whom and why. Did anyone else have the same problem or should I just chalk it up to a really rough week personally and not be critical of the writing of the show?:confused::confused::confused:
 
I realize I haven't graded it either!! :eek:

A-

I really liked the episode, in large part because there was so much great character stuff here. I love the storyline with Flack--I wasn't sure I'd buy him freezing but I bought the situation as it unfolded. Of course, this isn't the first time Flack didn't fire at someone--he also didn't shoot the guy in the premiere before that guy shot his partner... but then, the partner was the one who shot up the bar/shot Danny, so I can buy it on that level, too.

I liked the confrontation between Mac and Flack. It's going to take more than Mac's "what's going on with you?" to get through to Flack, and really, I wish someone else was trying. It would be great to see Stella or Danny reaching out to him--I think he'd be more inclined to open up to either of them than Mac. I like Mac and Flack's dynamic, but I wish we could see the characters Flack is closest to noticing his actions and worrying about them.

I didn't mind Lindsay's tackle either--it was kind of nice to see her back in action. She's been getting on my nerves a lot less this season because she hasn't been so whiny and self-involved.

I liked the scene between Danny and Hawkes a lot, but I do think it's too early for Danny to be walking.


Danny seems flat in these scenes with physical therapy. He doesn't seem whiney, just not really into the character at that point. As much as people say Anna can't handle the emotional scenes, etc, etc, etc, I don't think Carmine is doing such a wonderful job with the wheelchair story. His work related scenes are good, his interaction with Lindsay is great, wonderful, terrific, but I'm not feeling the authenticity of the therapy scenes.

Really? I thought he did well in the scenes. There's just not a lot there for him to work with--it's all very pat and typical. I got a lot of frustration from him, and really felt the struggle, at least what we saw of it. But Carmine does the intensity best, and when most of his scenes are just about routine lab stuff or family stuff with Lindsay, well, that's not going to showcase his best work. It just kind of highlights how the romance props Anna up--she's been better this season than she ever has before--at a detriment to Carmine/Danny's character.
 
I realize I haven't graded it either!! :eek:

A-

I really liked the episode, in large part because there was so much great character stuff here. I love the storyline with Flack--I wasn't sure I'd buy him freezing but I bought the situation as it unfolded. Of course, this isn't the first time Flack didn't fire at someone--he also didn't shoot the guy in the premiere before that guy shot his partner... but then, the partner was the one who shot up the bar/shot Danny, so I can buy it on that level, too.

I didn't even mention this one. I really like how they are developing the story slowly. I loved how he asked W#1 for her perspective. Shows us that he's struggling.

I liked the confrontation between Mac and Flack. It's going to take more than Mac's "what's going on with you?" to get through to Flack, and really, I wish someone else was trying. It would be great to see Stella or Danny reaching out to him--I think he'd be more inclined to open up to either of them than Mac. I like Mac and Flack's dynamic, but I wish we could see the characters Flack is closest to noticing his actions and worrying about them.

True, true. He and Stella are close, as are he and Danny. Either of them would be preferable to Mac but I will say that Mac can challenge him on a level that maybe they can't. I feel like the show thinks that exploring both Danny's and Flack's storylines at the same time will be too much so we are getting hints of Flack while they are steamrolling Danny to recovery very quickly.

I didn't mind Lindsay's tackle either--it was kind of nice to see her back in action. She's been getting on my nerves a lot less this season because she hasn't been so whiny and self-involved.

It's like Anna has breathed new life in to Lindsay this season.

I liked the scene between Danny and Hawkes a lot, but I do think it's too early for Danny to be walking.

Meh, it's a business at the end of the day and they want numbers during sweeps in November. At least he's not walking around unassisted yet. He may have stood at Lucy's crib but he wasn't tap dancing yet.

I guess I can also say I would rather they play out the Flack line slower because with the way they set up Danny's injury with no permanent damage it would seem unrealistic for it to be drawn out over the entire season. They can continue to play with Flack's emotions for a while but Danny's physical therapy involves an extra set, equipment, and a bigger change to his character.


Danny seems flat in these scenes with physical therapy. He doesn't seem whiney, just not really into the character at that point. As much as people say Anna can't handle the emotional scenes, etc, etc, etc, I don't think Carmine is doing such a wonderful job with the wheelchair story. His work related scenes are good, his interaction with Lindsay is great, wonderful, terrific, but I'm not feeling the authenticity of the therapy scenes.

Really? I thought he did well in the scenes. There's just not a lot there for him to work with--it's all very pat and typical. I got a lot of frustration from him, and really felt the struggle, at least what we saw of it. But Carmine does the intensity best, and when most of his scenes are just about routine lab stuff or family stuff with Lindsay, well, that's not going to showcase his best work. It just kind of highlights how the romance props Anna up--she's been better this season than she ever has before--at a detriment to Carmine/Danny's character.

He did better with the positive stuff, wanting to walk, but it was the giving up scenes that I couldn't get into. He just didn't make me believe him. I don't see one's success being a detriment to the other. How so? Each has the responsibility to make their character believable and both have done so with the exception of my pickiness about a few of Danny's emotional scenes.
 
It's like Anna has breathed new life in to Lindsay this season.

Well, the scripts, too. I think the writers are giving her material she's better with than they have in earlier seasons.

Meh, it's a business at the end of the day and they want numbers during sweeps in November. At least he's not walking around unassisted yet. He may have stood at Lucy's crib but he wasn't tap dancing yet.

But I think it would have been a more meaningful victory if we'd seen Danny really struggling over the course of the season.

He did better with the positive stuff, wanting to walk, but it was the giving up scenes that I couldn't get into. He just didn't make me believe him.

Personally, I liked his anger and frustration, but also the fact that though he was growling, he wasn't over the top angry. I think Danny is depressed, and so we're seeing something of a muted response.

I don't see one's success being a detriment to the other. How so? Each has the responsibility to make their character believable and both have done so with the exception of my pickiness about a few of Danny's emotional scenes.

The problem is that Danny is much more interesting when he's angsting or going through some big drama. The happy family scenes don't serve him as well, and Anna is the one who benefits from the Lindsay is so supportive and great scenes. So that's why I feel the DL relationship is to the benefit of Anna and detriment of Carmine. He does fine with the material--it's not that--it's that he excels with the deeper, darker stuff.
 
Originally Posted by CSI_Cupcake:
Only real complaint I have is that by the end of the show I felt really disconnected from the suspects in the case. We have wife #1 that confessed and seems to be a real cold fish, wife #2 that seems sweet as pie yet says she's glad w#1 killed him first so she wouldn't have to and a delivery girl that is responsible for three killings as a B case. Somewhere in all the character moments and the evidence I lost contact with all the suspects and when it was over I had to go back and review to make sure I understood who killed whom and why. Did anyone else have the same problem or should I just chalk it up to a really rough week personally and not be critical of the writing of the show?:confused::confused::confused:

I did. I've been wondering if I should have gone back to my original review and edited it a lot, because the first times I watched it, I remember being annoyed that we didn't even get the killer's motive for why she killed the vic. Reviewing it much later made me realize the killer I'd been annoyed over (the delivery girl) hadn't even killed the vic; that was wife #1 :alienblush: So I'm guessing they caught the delivery girl by chance. But even now I'm still confused on how they caught her, since I thought the random DNA that was appearing in the case belonged to the Qtip-factory girl.

Originally Posted by Top41:

Originally Posted by CSI_Cupcake:
I don't see one's success being a detriment to the other. How so? Each has the responsibility to make their character believable and both have done so with the exception of my pickiness about a few of Danny's emotional scenes.
The problem is that Danny is much more interesting when he's angsting or going through some big drama. The happy family scenes don't serve him as well, and Anna is the one who benefits from the Lindsay is so supportive and great scenes. So that's why I feel the DL relationship is to the benefit of Anna and detriment of Carmine. He does fine with the material--it's not that--it's that he excels with the deeper, darker stuff.

I'll agree about Carmine being stronger with the angsty-drama scenes (I liked the scenes in therapy much more than the one at the end; and for me, even now he still doesn't make me buy the recent DL scenes). But to me this is like saying they used DL in S4 to the benefit of Carmine, at the detriment of Anna (assuming you found Anna's angsty-DL-scenes unbelievable). What's the difference? I mean, DL has been far from happy-fluffy-bunnies throughout the course of the show; IMO Lindsay was generally more positive before the DL storylines started, not to mention the issues people often have about the way she responds to Danny. Wouldn't that suggest they should be staying away from DL altogether?

For my part, I'll be the first to admit they don't always get handed the best material, so I can see how some scenes would come off weaker; and quite frankly the handling of the wheelchair storyline sucks. But they both usually make it work for me. I didn't mind so much not finding Danny believable at the end of "Dead Reckoning", because he was strong in the Hawkes/Danny scene, and in the second therapy session.
 
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