Grade 'Dead Inside'

Discussion in 'CSI: New York' started by Top41, Nov 12, 2008.

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How would you grade Dead Inside?

  1. A+

    16 vote(s)
    24.6%
  2. A

    22 vote(s)
    33.8%
  3. A-

    11 vote(s)
    16.9%
  4. B+

    9 vote(s)
    13.8%
  5. B

    6 vote(s)
    9.2%
  6. B-

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  7. C+

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. C

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. C-

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  10. D+

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  11. D

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  12. D-

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  13. F

    1 vote(s)
    1.5%
  1. SpeedyMeg25

    SpeedyMeg25 Coroner

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    Welcome to the madness alynk ! ;)

    Eddie and James do kind of look alike, I see what you mean.
    It would be interesting to see how the writers would handle it if he was cast to play Flack's brother.
     
  2. Faylinn

    Faylinn Adam Fangirl Super Moderator

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    Oh dear, I think you just made Danny cry. :(

    :p
     
  3. Ceindreadh

    Ceindreadh Pathologist

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    well up to the last scene I would have voted this an A+
    but seeing Flack snog Angell like that had me wishing for a puke bucket.
    WTF was that supposed to be? Are we to assume that they've been together and we've not seen it or does Flack randomly kiss his co-workers like that?

    Angell is just waaaaay too smug for my liking.
     
  4. PerfectAnomaly

    PerfectAnomaly Resident Smart Ass

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    Since we've seen them flirting I assume we're supposed to believe it would make sense for Flack to kiss her. Flack did mention going for Irish coffee in AitF and Angell said, "I know just the place," which could mean either of their appartments. Actually, the more I think about it, Flack kissing Angell based on what we've seen so far makes more sense than Danny and Lindsay's supposed relationship based on what we've seen between them so far.
     
  5. Elwood21

    Elwood21 Pathologist

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    Haven't been able to comment before now, and it's interesting to see what still stands out about the episode days later.

    B. Ever so grudgingly. And only because of Kathleen Munroe.

    Seems lots of people liked this ep. Me not so much. I liked parts. I wanted to like more. Disappointed. The main case felt purely incidental to absolutely everything else, and the Everything Else lacked focus and unity.

    I thought the opening was great, loved it, and the shot pulling out from the barge with Stella was just a great sequence. I also liked that New York featured strongly in the episode. Happy when it really feels like the show's world is anchored in NY. The usual stock and cut shots tend to blur into being taken for granted. But this started with a scene and premise that was new and not seen before.

    The case quickly became very meh & mundane, and took a back seat. It certainly wasn't strong enough to be a solid surrounding framework to encompass everything else TPTB packed in. The resolution of the case was uncomfortably skincrawly, and all I could think was poor Mac/Gary, having to keep a straight face and a sincere, even expression while reassuring the woman, "no, not at all." Um, sorry, but yes, creepy. Hugely. There's good acting for you, pulling that off.

    The episode actually felt more like a series of scenes to set up things we will see more of down the road. Flack's sister. Flack an' Angell. Stella and the ongoing Greek odyssey. Adam being Adam and integral to how the labs function to solve cases, no matter what TPTB throw at him to keep cases quirky and interesting.

    I think the star of this episode was Kathleen Munroe as Samantha Flack. I'm finding that in eps pre-5.09 I'm having to give kudos to TPTB much more than I expected. They've had some solid shows this season. Well, til now really. But they not only created a great character to help flesh out Flack a little more, (and that in itself is overdue and a great thing), but they recognized how good the actor is and how well she and Eddie click as struggling siblings on screen, and boosted her involvment to be more recurring than originally planned.

    I think Eddie was great, but he really had the harder straight role, playing to his sister's downward spiral. I think Samantha is a gift role for a recurring actor. I think the role is good for the show too. The show's had characters for love interests and internal office conflicts, but they haven't had anyone quite like this. Not even Louie really compares. Reed sorta. Samantha's a very well developed character for a recurring one, and ultimately not dependent even on Don to have a background story of her own. And I do think that strength and depth to her character are a great complement for Don to play off of too. I hope we will see more of Samantha and Don.

    I think the thing with Stella and the Rat etc, was a nod to profile and continuity about the Greek coins and Diplo-immunatic Scar Dude, and keeping the denoument episode from being a complete left field revisitation. Makes little sense to send a Rat to a detective as a warning unless the Fisherman took more from the body, or somehow left a record of something else he came across or witnessed, for example. Who knows. What I'd be willing to accept is that it's a personal case for Stella that she works on back burner, and that it was mostly a way to set up Stella for Breaking da Rulez and running counter to how she's previously been portrayed. We'll see how the TPTB Continuity Keiblers knit this together, and why they bothered to have it here. Felt like a scene soley devoted to stringing this along until the next big Encounter for Stella. At least a possum didn't throw her down a set of stairs or something. Still, I liked the Rat Fisherman, and in a way I'm glad he's not just been forgotten. Mmmm. Ratmail. The guy shoulda sent the pizza too. He wouldna had to pay for the delivery. :p

    As for Don and Angell.... (BTW what the hell is her name? Jessica? Jennifer?) well... just uh, ......dammit. *Sigh* Wtf was that? :vulcan: Whatever I thought I would have been happy to see develop between Flack and Angell, that final scene was odd, perplexing and vaguely unsatisfying. What a throwaway afterthought of a moment there. Yes, perhaps it was to suggest they've been an item for some time now and the interaction we're gonna see with them has skipped over prelims. But with their previous chemistry in mind, their prelims coulda been good. Skip right to a rather oddly placed afterthought of a snog instead. There are a whole slew of deliberate decisions made and people involved to stage a scene like that, and all I could do was go :wtf: eh...wha? um, why?

    No relationship should upstage an ep or the show. And no, this scene didn't. It didn't take away from the scene with Samantha in her meeting. It didn't take away from Don brooding and embarking in the pedestrian equivalent of Danny riding emocycle thru city streets. But it definitely did stick out. Another odd disjointed moment in a very fragmented episode. I hope that whatever else is written for them is not so indifferently tossed out.

    I like Angell. She was always independent and snarky enough in her own right. Fit with the spirit of NY and the show. Fit with the precinct side of things along with Flack. From that scene in the squad car of Flack busting his game out on her, I also thought these two had chemistry, and I don't mind them being together. One regular character, one recurring. Good balance. But I hope she also continues to get some separate material more along the stronger lines of last week's episode, and will continue to be used as a secondary detective character even while they're together, and not just seconded to a romance. Mind you, there was little that was romantic about that scene. Maybe we won't hafta worry about sacharine so much with these two. I hope for that too. Sadly little present in that scene that sparked as much as previously either though.

    Oo. :D Adam smoking root veggies. Another great moment between him and Stella. (Why bother with a rat in a box when you can have moments like this instead?) Nothing like putting your 'erb of choice in a ...spent cartridge casing (?!) and then that in a root pipe. Cos, ya know. That's how I shop for all my produce. How can GSR enhance this flavour & experience? And doesn't everyone travel with cartridge casings in their pockets along with loose change to indulge? :vulcan: That's a new one on me. I wanna know what TPTB were smoking when this came up... :lol:

    :shifty: :p Still no sign of Danny's glasses. Maybe Horatio pilfered them, wanted to look smarter. But Danny managed to hide his sunglasses at least. Puts Horatio beyond suspicion I suppose. Maybe TPTB pilfered them. Wanted to look smarter??? Kidding, kidding. :p They must have just wanted to try and soften the blow when they gave Carmine the script for 5.09. Soft and blurry. Take the edge off the whole thing. ....Seriously TPTB, call Props. Please? They got glasses.

    Lookit Lil Lindsay gettin' the all the screen time and even the Mental Percolation steady-cam Swirl montage. Meh. Evs. She wasn't atrocious this week, but memorable only because they gave her so much screen time, not for standing out by anything she did with it. Sheldon will stick in my memory far longer for two simple words than she will despite all the time she got.

    Um, Hawkes? Midnight ...Schnack?? Methinks Sheldon's been into da scooby snacks. Or perhaps smoked a few in a turnip bong. :p Would also explain his lack of focus and playing with the skull puzzle pieces while Sid da Man was trying to talk. Doesn't everyone love Sid's stories? But no, the Creepy Place was reserved for the guests this week, so he didn't get too much to do, and Hawkes' focus wandered.

    The whole episode lacked focus. Some great moments. But they were moments. The whole was not greater than... yada. Ya know.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2008
  6. Faylinn

    Faylinn Adam Fangirl Super Moderator

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    MMM, COOKEHS!

    [​IMG]

    Sadly, when I saw the whole 'carrot' thing mentioned in the spoilers, I was curious about WTF they were actually talking about and Googled it.

    I found a LOT of sites. o_O

    Someone, somewhere, has done this. I'm sure of it. :p

    Now on a more serious note...

    Exactly. It didn't detract from everything else that happened, which is good - it just seemed unnecessarily tacked on to the end (IMO, of course, YMMV).
     
  7. CSI_GEEK_GIRL

    CSI_GEEK_GIRL Victim

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    I can personally say never out of a turnip or a carrot, but we used to use apples all of the time.

    Has anyone else noticed the marijuana theme that TPTB seems to be on recently? Two eps in a row... wonder how long it will continue. Any thoughts?
     
  8. flackie_boo

    flackie_boo Hit and Run

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    I have totally noticed that too! I even mentioned that to my friend when we were watching it. Maybe they're getting us ready for a surprise cameo by Cheech and Chong.
     
  9. CSI_GEEK_GIRL

    CSI_GEEK_GIRL Victim

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    lmao! Cheech and Chong on CSI NY!!! That's bloody brilliant!:guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:

    Hmmmm wonder what the story line would be... and I can just hear Danny and Don now....:guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:
     
  10. flackie_boo

    flackie_boo Hit and Run

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    lol that would be great. It would probably have no plot to it, they'd probably just kinda be at the scene and then have to get interviewed as witnesses by Danny and Flack and the interview would go nowhere. lol they should get them on the show.
     
  11. PepeBee

    PepeBee Rookie

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    Just watched it last Thursday/Friday (because it was already midnight). It was my way of not falling asleep over homework.

    Gave it an A for the awesome Flack/Sam screen time since I'm all about Flack.:alienblush:

    I was rooting for some Angell/Flack action but I squirmed and stopped watching when the kiss happened. It was sudden, and IMO out of context and out of place and unnecessary at the moment. But maybe, I'll get used to it.

    Looking forward for the 100th episode already! :thumbsup:
     
  12. Vertigirl

    Vertigirl Hit and Run

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    i gave it an A
    i liked it very much! a lot of flack/sam and danny/lindsay :adore:
     
  13. Curiosity

    Curiosity Prime Suspect

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    Agree. Icky was exactly the word running through my head at the end of this episode. The case itself was rather mundane with a few sensational elements (the floating house, virtual relationships) thrown in to try and dress it up. Didn't work for me though, and I couldn't find a way to grade this one higher than a C, no matter how good the Flack storyline was.

    Based on Mac's and Stella's reactions to the daughter and mother, I had the impression we (the audience) were supposed to feel bad for them, but I couldn't dredge up much sympathy -- the whole scenario was just rather disturbing and pathetic. And when the daughter asked Mac if it was sick for her to miss her online boyfriend/father because he made her feel important, my brain was yelling, "Yes, it is, Mac, and you should be directing her to get some help instead of suggesting its normal for her to react that way!" This was another case where the characters' sympathies seemed misplaced to me.

    So a major markdown in the grade for the case itself and just a few points off for lack of continuity on the budget storyline. Did they air this one out of order? I thought the vacation solution would only buy Adam a few weeks at most, but he (and everyone else) seemed oddly nonchalant about it, considering Adam's job is still presumably on the chopping block. With everything else they threw into this episode, I agree they could've put in a few lines between Adam and Stella to address what happened in the last episode.

    Oh well, they do get some positive points for continuity with the Greek embassy and Rat Fisherman storyline. And I also think Stella and possibly Danny are going to do something (maybe try to trap the guy using Stella as bait?) that somehow gets them into trouble.

    The Flack storyline was well done. Great job by EC and KM. The producers and writers should give Eddie Cahill a big thank you, methinks. While the other characters have had some good episodes and/or moments, I think Flack has been the most consistently interesting and entertaining character so far this season.

    I think I had a different view of the kiss, however. It seems Flack and Angell have become closer friends and maybe they've been out for coffee/drinks a few times (otherwise, I don't think Don would've called her for a ride), but I don't necessarily think they're in the middle of a romantic relationship that's been happening offscreen. Instead, I saw the kiss as a rather impulsive, emotional gesture on Don's part. He had asked Angell to come, but now he needed space to deal with all his concerns about Sam. In the moment that he walked away, however, I think he realized that Angell, who was trying to be supportive, might be disappointed and a bit hurt by his actions, so the kiss was a way of saying "I'm sorry/Thank you for understanding/I care about you, maybe more than just a friend." In that context, it made sense to me, and I thought it was a rather sweet and gallant thing was Don to do, especially considering all the emotional turmoil he was going through.

    I think the writers are still free to keep them where they are for a while -- in the early awkward stages of trying to sort through (and acknowledge) feelings and figure out where to go from here. That's my take anyway. I promised myself I wouldn't actively ship any couples on this series for a variety of reasons, but Flack and Angell do have chemistry imo, and I could buy into them as a couple if the writers don't rush things too much and keep them in character.
     
  14. FlackFan01

    FlackFan01 Police Officer

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    Cheech and Chong! :guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::eek: :lol:
     
  15. chikitorocks

    chikitorocks Victim

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    I loved the kissing scene with Don and Jess although I wish they would stay flirting with each other. It's much more fun that way. :thumbsup:

    AND CHEECH AND CHONG WITH DON AND DANNY WOULD BE HILARIOUS!
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2008

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