Grade 'The Thing About Heroes'

I gave it an A. It was entertaining to watch even though I had the punchline pegged early on. Something about Drew from early on in the season sent up a red flag. I figured that there was something more to him. Even knowing that it was entertaing to watch it unfold.

My favorite scene was Mac playing hangman with the word puzzle at the start. It reminded me of him with the puzzle in Hung Out To Dry last season. I love when Mac decodes puzzles.

That was a cool scene with the laser as well at the end.

Loved Danny playing hero at the start. Go Danny !!

First episode in a long time and Lindsay didn't annoy the heck out of me. I have to say though I actually like her shorter haircut. It looks better to me.

Overall a really good episode.

 

I'm thinking the only reason I didn't like this episode was because I woke up specifically to watch it and it got explained to me twice about the whole 333 stalker. That and I have no food, I couldn't wait for it to end.

I loved Flack, but someone please tell me why the one guy that is getting stalked walks off on his own? *sigh* Mac you silly head.

Though it made me happy to see Danny and Flack attached at the hip. I'll probably like it better when I watch it again tomorrow.

But Flack made up for anything I didn't like with his snark.

 

1. It appears I was wrong about Drew.

2. .......

3. ....Really wrong.

4. .......

5. Yeah, Stella really shouldn't trust Drew.

6. .......

7. (insert stunned silence here)

8. A+.

9. That's all I can say. A+. Simply because I was not suspecting Drew at all.

 

I know! I had a "some people on the board are going to hate this" moment, which kind of threw me out of the story for a minute, but did make me chuckle. I also thought of the people posting here when Mac's cell phone rang. Things like this would make me realize that I spend too much time on these boards, but I already had that figured out. I started to realize this awhile ago, when every Lindsay scene started to make me wonder whether there would be snide commentary here or not).

Anyway, besides being incredibly clever (in that let's create an overly complicated scheme to destroy the hero because simply killing him while he's unconscious would be waaaay toooo easy kind of a way) our villian Drew is also pretty fortunate. I mean, what if it had been Flack or Stella who wandered into that spot without backup? What if Mac had not been alone for one second while in that office? What would our boy Drew have done with all his lazer beams and guns then?

Oh well, suspension of reality is always helpful and so I did enjoy the episode. No cute commentary from Sid though, and the whole anthrax thing seemed rather unnecessary, but still...

 

I was like arghIhatethatringtoneargh$#*%$*&#! :lol:

Snide? I resemble that remark! But yeah, maybe you haven't been here long enough if you still have to wonder. (I like a little bit of equal opportunity snarking, but Lindsay earns more of it than others overall, it would seem.)

Hey Flack, who you gonna follow?
Flack: IDK, my BFF Dan?

 

A-

Yay! We finally got the conclusion to the 333 story line.

I love the subway scene where Danny gets to play hero saving Flack, Stella, Hawkes and Lindsay...He was totally hot in that particular scene. :lol:

I love it when Adam and Danny interact. It was so hilarious seeing Adam geek out in front of Danny, again. They have amazing onscreen chemistry...much better than that between Danny and Lindsay! :lol:

Finally, Stella, you've figured it out that creepy stalker Drew was just using you to get to dear old Mac. I'm glad you didn't get your heart broken this time. Please stay away from creepy men. I wonder how this will factor into Stella's psyche, being a magnet for no-good men.

Flack, oh how I love you in this one...Don't I always? Loved your quip to Mac about not riding the subway. I loved how you were so authoritative in the last scene telling Drew to stay down! Now, who wouldn't listen to you?

Mac...you're only 44? Please! Now this information is now nagging me. If the events happened when Mac was 14, that means he was around the age of 20 when the Beirut barracks bombing happened. Well, that is plausible but then it means he went to college after that event...Ah, now this has opened a can of worms. Anyway, it was funny how everything came full circle from Snow Day, seeing Mac being held hostage, tied to a chair with laser sensors.

Erin Daniels as Det. Brennan was great in this one. She was great in The L Word and it's even better seeing her in a guest role on CSI: NY.

I couldn't be happier that finally the 333 story line is over. Bye Drew! Sayonara!

 

The only thing that bugged me about this episode was Lindsay calling Sheldon "Doc" before revealing the Anthrax.

It was as if we needed reminding that Hawkes is a doctor and so would know about Anthrax and could confirm it. A simple "Hawkes" would have sufficed.

Still it earns an A+ and ranks up there just a little below Snow Day which it had a connection to for me.

 

Wow - A+

I wasn't sure whether I was going to like this episode, because some installments in the whole 333 arc haven't been too good, but I LOVED it.

-Loved how Danny stopped the subway train. He tried pressing buttons and stuff, then he just threw a rock at it and smashed it! He looked v. hot doing it, and also I just loved the whole rock-throwing thing - I feel like doing that to my computer sometimes. Oh, and the look on Danny's face when the train started moving and the doors closed was priceless.

-Lindsay was being Captain Obvious again this week when she said 'I think we're going for a ride'.

-Liked seeing Mac in Chicago. That scene with him on the unoccupied floor of the Tribune building, with the old security guy behind him going 'what are you doing/i wanna see your badge/i'm callin' the cops' etc reminded me of Dirty Harry type movies/shows where you have the good 'rogue' cop doing something he shouldn't while 'rent-a-cop' types try to stop him.

-Loved the Hangman/Letters thing. Mac is so cool with things like that, it reminded me of him doing that thing with the numbers in the first Shane Casey ep in s3. Very cool.

-Loved Brennan. I was worried she would come across as shrill-feminist aggresive lady cop, but she was very professional and realistic. She was pissed with Mac for coming into her jurisdiction, but was mature enough to get over it and work with him. Liked that he confided in her about the whole 333 thing (though it did mean we had to hear the whole friggin' story YET AGAIN) and agreed to stay a civilian. Brennan's 'keep your badge in your pocket' made me smile for some reason. And yes, privatename, she reminded me of Peyton too. When I saw the promo pics showing her from the back, I thought that was Peyton, and was like, what's she doing in Chicago?

-Liked the scenes with Mac and Jimmy. Jimmy was cool. It wasn't nice of Mac to accuse him, but I can understand why he did as the evidence did point that way. Loved that Jimmy came to help Mac at the end and save his little bro, and I was so happy he wasn't shot dead. He looked like something out of a mob movie/show though. Who was he on Prison Break?

-Flack's line about the subway was hilarious. I loved all the Flack/Mac interaction, though we didn't get as much of it as I'd hoped.

-Loved Mini-Mac- so cute! He reminded me of Reed- the hair was sort of similar. But, jeez, TPTB are BAD with ages. First with Stella and Lindsay last season who are both older than the various stories of them as kids made out, and now Mac. Mini-Mac looked about 12, and there is no way Big Mac is 44 or the same age as Jimmy. The whole motel-room scene was good and believable. I thought it was funny that Mac inadvertently worked for a mob guy when he was a kid, but it IS Chicago! I wonder whether Danny and Louie did a similar thing in NY when they were kids. Louie had Tanglewood connections, and isn't Danny's family supposed to have mob connections?

-FINALLY Stella works out Drew is the stalker and a bad guy. Yay! But if TPTB pair her up with ONE MORE CREEP, I will scream. Should be interesting to see how she deals with being a creep-magnet though. Poor Stell.

-Oooh, it was very nice to see Flack, Danny and Mac all looking hot and sexy in Kevlar. Triple yummy!

-I really liked that before they went Drew-Hunting, Mac and Sinclair actually talked to each other and Mac was able to make Sinclair understand why he was doing the whole thing. I wonder if because Sinclair has himself been the victim of a personal vendetta with the sexual harrassment/email thing that came up earlier in the season, he could understand Mac. Loved that Sinclair took off his jacket and put on a vest and came in to help them, it showed that though he can be a bit of an ass (like Mac sometimes is too) he's a good guy and true cop at heart. Go Bubba!

-Mac, sweetheart, when a crazy person is stalking you, you shouldn't wander off alone in his Lair. Flack, honey, you should have followed Mac, but you went with your man Danny instead, and that's sweet.

-Liked the whole Mac held hostage/laser scene. Drew was nuts, and what he did to Mac and Stella was bad, but I could understand why. He was only 7 when he saw that whole thing at the motel, and his family was destroyed. Though that clearly wasn't Mac's fault if you look at it from a logical adult POV, I can understand why Drew blamed him. People do crazy things when they experience severe rage and grief, and do bad things, but it doesn't make them bad people.


-Liked that Mac said he didn't want to be a hero, he just wanted to be him. Typical Mac.

-Mac will you PLEASE CHANGE YOUR FRIGGIN' RINGTONE? :lol:

-It was funny when Drew asked Jimmy on a date 'cause he thought he was talking to Stella! :lol:



-I liked that Mac said he still has nightmares about what happened, and that he seemed to feel something for Drew.

-Yay for Mac not shooting Drew dead at the end. I hope Drew gets some help and doesn't ever come back. I wouldn't mind seeing a confrontation between him and Stella in Rambo-mode though, as TPTB did deny me the Rambo!Stella scene I'd hoped for in this ep.

So, this ep was excellent and made up for the writers occasionally dropping the ball with the whole 333 thing throughout the season. Nice job, TPTB.

 

I definitely liked this ep alot, gave it an A!

I have to echo many of the sentiments posters have said above, and I also chuckled to myself when we got the retelling of the 3:33 story, and the crappy ringtone :lol: Knowing there was some gnashing of teeth somewhere in csifiles boardland...

I didn't like the cop Brennan at first, but she definitely came around. And let's face it, she had every right to be aggressive and suspicious of Mac from the beginning. Laughed when Mac was trying to call on his cell phone, and she told him "Sorry, you get bad reception here" (meaning the building), and Mac quipped "I get bad reception everywhere, here..." (meaning her). Glad to see they came to a truce. Same thing earlier with Sinclair putting on the vest and going in with Mac as part of his team, loved it!

The age thing bothered me too, CSI writers have a tendency to do that. I prefer to silently add an "ish" on the end of every year or age figure that they give us, and that seems to work better for me. The events from Mac's past happened "30-ish" years ago, making Mac mid- to late-40ish, etc., same with Stella's earlier storyline from last season, involving her past. Throw an "ish" at the end of everything, and it's more believable.

We got to see a little bit of all the main players last night, which was good. Loved the entire subway sequence. I also thought the entire ending sequence was pretty well done, too. Drew was crazy as a bedbug, but I'm so glad Mac both sympathized and empathized with him, since he knows what it's like to violently lose a loved one.

All in all, great ep, and great round-up of the 3:33 storyline. (And I don't ever want to hear a rehash of that "It all started in London..." again, until summer reruns! :lol: )

 

A

I liked how they tied everything together and that in the end Mac's stalker and Stella's stalker ('cause he was) turned out to be one and the same.

And it was great to find out that Mac has some black sheets in his childhood too, made him a little more human to me.

I was glad we finally got to hear Stella say that she never really considered dating Drew and that she always mistrusted him a little...bit strange that she kept all his gifts though ...

I did expect the brother to be the one to get shot, but still the end scene was suspenseful enough to not let that bother me and fortunately the kevlar (whose manufacturer must be one of this season's main sponsors) saved the day once again...

And totally shallow, but I'm really starting to look forward to my "run Danny, run"-moments every week...so sexy...

 

Good episode! But GAH! Why did they do a recap when Mac just ends up telling the entire story(complete with flashbacks) all over again? There wasn't any need for it.

Superhero Danny! Loved how he was able to stop the train and save everybody.

So now Lindsay is using the nickname Danny & Adam gave Hawkes. It was a little jarring to hear her call him Doc, but what the hey? It's a cute nickname.

It was interesting to see bits of Chicago. Poor Mac, that's a horrible thing to have to live through. Liked how Mac knew that Sinclair had sent Flack out.

Why does Stella always seem to attract creeps? Drew was a pretty obvious suspect(for me anyway) but I still felt sorry for him by the episode's end.

 

Definitely an A+ from me. Fantastic episode!

I avoided this thread before watching the episode, to keep myself in the dark about everything that happened, and boy was I glad I did that. I read the spoilers quite some time ago, so I already knew that Drew was the 333 stalker (thank goodness, we can finally stop saying that. LOL), but it was fun to see Stella figure it all out. You go, girl!

I think this episode has the honor of having the longest teaser in the history of the show. Usually the teaser scene is about 2-3 minutes before the opening credits come on, but today it went on for about 6 minutes. No complaints from me, though...

The opening scene with the runaway train was great. But was I the only one who thought, "What about the body?" when all 4 of them left the poor dead guy behind and headed for the front of the train? :lol: And Danny saves the day! He is so my hero. Flack looked so adorable when he was bracing himself inside the train, hehe. Honey, you could have just used your gun to shoot the lock instead of hitting it with the butt of your gun. :lol:

It's about time we saw a good side of Chief Sinclair. Nice to see him come down his high horse and offer to go in with the rest of the team. I still don't know what to think about his moustache though. :lol:

Frank Grillo is an okay actor, but wrong for the part of Jimmy. He did a good job, but he looked a little too young to be the same age as Mac. Speaking of, Mac is 44? Seriously? Random trivia: Frank Grillo played Nick Savrinn in Season 1 of Prison Break, which was filmed in Chicago. Here, we first see Jimmy in Chicago as well. Oh, and Grillo really is 44 years old this year.

It was a little weird to hear young Jimmy call a young Mac, "Mac". I don't know why, it just sounds funny to me. :lol:

Oh, Drew. Your presence will most definitely not be missed by Stella. I didn't even catch the thing about the color of the X's on the puzzles. Kerr Smith did a pretty nice job when he turned nasty this episode, and with the subtle creepiness in his earlier appearances.

Mac should really change his ringtone. :lol: That's all I gotta say about it.

I chuckled a little bit when Drew said, "Hey, baby". He sounded so natural and casual, like he and Stella had been dating for real. :lol: But then again, the guy's a total nutjob. When I didn't hear Stella chewing his ear off, I knew there was something else going on.

Same for when Flack appeared with Jimmy at his side. I was like, "Oh dear, Jimmy's the one who will get shot." Glad to see no one died in this ep, actually. Drew was nuts, but they managed to write him as a semi-sympathetic character, so you can't really blame him for what he did. Just get some help, Drew, and don't ever come back for Stella again.

Oh, how I loved aggressive!Flack at the end when he was yelling at Drew. *melts*

I was almost expecting for the final showdown to happen in Chicago, and we definitely could've done with more scenes in Chicago. But I heard that they only filmed there for a day, so I wasn't getting my hopes up too high. Great Mac/Flack scenes, loved it when Flack appeared out of nowhere, hehe. And great line by Flack, too - "As long as it's not on the subway." I feel ya, Donnie. If it were me, I'd probably be avoiding subways for the next year or something. :lol:

I was always wondering why the 333 stalker chose to start calling Mac when he was in London, after the events of Snow Day. Now I get it, the whole "Mac is a hero" thing probably set him off. And I feel a little smart now, having made that connection. Heehee.

Definitely an episode that I'll be re-watching a few more times. GUH. I just love this show so much!!!

 

I don't think I can grade this without watching it again. I loved some parts of it, but it still annoyed me a little. But then Mac's 333 stalker storyline has always annoyed me, so maybe I'll give this one an A just because I won't have to hear about it again. I laughed at Mac's retelling of the story at the beginning, but I had been expecting it and I'm sure I actually sighed with relief and had a little smile when he concluded. :lol:

I loved the train ride! That was fun, and to see them all bracing themselves for the impact added to the excitement. Of course, Danny saved the day which is awesome, but however much they try and explain it I will still never quite get how Drew managed to set that whole thing up. And of course, he was in Chicago at some point to dig up a body and then set up the hanged man for Mac to find. Even if it was an unused floor he must have done it fairly recently or else he wouldn't be able to guarantee that Mac would even find out about it? But then, I could probably go on all day about how ridiculously unbelievable the plot line was. Did Drew really keep his brother's bloody shirt all that time? Was Drew's plan really to attack Mac in the bistro place where he works? Because that seems a pretty flawed plan which relies on many factors to come into play, including the truly bizarre assumption that, even with Sinclair in kevlar joining in the fun, Mac is left on his own and can be silently attacked, drugged and then taken down a tunnel without anyone noticing?

It does sound like I didn't enjoy much of it, but that's not really the case. The Chicago part, whilst short was interesting. Brennan was annoying, but then Mac would annoy me with his mystery and half answers. What I did like was Mac telling the story of the fateful evening to Flack. I thought that Flack seemed surprised and confused as to why Mac wouldn't have gone to the police and why they lied, I would even suggest that Flack disapproves of Mac's behaviour. Flack really does sometimes see things as black and white, and he looked as if he had learned something new and unexpected about Mac.

I did enjoy the ending, wondering who would walk through the door first, it's just that Drew really is the most incredible, talented and the luckiest stalker of all time. :lol: All because his brother died 30 years earlier and he doesn't agree that Mac is a hero. (I did love the Snow Day reference, even if I think they were all heroes that day and not just Mac).

I also loved Stella realising she was right not to trust Drew. Of course, I do love it when they have been looking for evidence and not found a thing for, in this case a week, and then all of a sudden they realise something which breaks the case. :lol: And Adam geeking out, yeah there was a crime, but it doesn't mean the gadgets can't be cool Danny.

 

The only parts of this episode that irked me were the *two* recaps of the 333 storyline. Both times it came on I couldn't help but type out to my chat buddies: It was a dark and stormy night.... So hokey.

Otherwise it was a great episode, very suspenseful with a killer ending. Mac really should have taken Drew out though: now he has an even bigger chip on his shoulder.