The biggest thing I will take from this eppy is the phenomenal acting. Gary Sinise and Eddie Cahill were incredible in their scenes ... very nuanced. It was wonderful to see two men, so gifted in their craft, go toe to toe. Now, I am a HUGE Gary fan, and he just had me glued to the screen during his scenes with Claire Jr. The way he shifted around, the look in his eye - spellbinding. He's just incredible and I love that the writers are giving him a chnace to show it off. *As for Anna/Lindsay, Faylinn ... maybe they just figure since showing her is harder now with the pregnancy, why not just focus their energy on the other characters? Plus, she was featured a lot in the early season, so ....
I was thinking the same thing. Anna has to stay behind things all the time, so I think that was why we had two good Lindsay episodes this season so far, IMHO.
I really LOVED this ep!!! First of all, there was really only one case -- although there were various ramifications from it -- which made it easier to follow than the eps where they have two or three different cases. Secondly, there was mucho Mac/Stella interaction of a deeply caring variety. Thirdly, the idea of a mentally ill person being involved in a crime was a good one. A lot of people who commit crimes ARE mentally ill and do it for reasons that seem "crazy" to normal people. Finally, I LOVED Mac having a chance to get in touch with a piece of Claire's past by meeting the son she'd given up for adoption. Probably my fave CSI:NY ep ever!!
Okay, I guess the moral of this episode is: Don't play paintball in a warehouse because you'll either be killed by a dirty cop who's trying to sell drugs, or kidnapped by a crazy lady who thinks that you are an alien. Seriously what on earth could have happend to that woman to make her snap? She was funny, scary as hell, and with the husband's words to Stella, "That's not my wife, She's still missing." ultimatly tragic. Finally some more background on Claire! Glad the writers haven't forgotten about her. I hope we'll be hearing more from her son in the future.(and now we have a complete pysical description of her should fanfic authors write flashback stories.) It's nice to know that there's more to her than the fact she died in the 9/11 attacks. This makes her seem a little more like a complete person. Loved Flack and Mac's scenes together. Eddie and Gary rule! I didn't catch the dirty cop's name, did we even learn it? Danny in those SHADES! *Swoons* He looked sooo yummy....anybody got screencaps? Damn, he looked HOT.
I'll admit to wondering as well why Peyton wasn't the focus of the stalking...might've made more sense though I did love all the Smacked-ness. I don't know who else is an Angel fan but my mom and I both had the thought that the kid resembled Connor/Vincent Kartheiser lol.
I liked the episode, mostly because of the tension between Flack and Mac. They both managed to walk a fine line, and not step over it too far and ruin a friendship. I loved the scene at the end with Mac and the kid. Very powerful, very emotional scene. But it just seemed a little odd to me, that Mac knew all about Claire having a child but has never mentioned it. I know he is this super private person, but still...this seems like a huge thing. And it seems odd that it would have never come up. All in all, it was still a really good episode. Love Flack at the beginning, going door to door. Loved the angst. Even had to snicker at the woman with all the metal stainers hanging from the ceiling, to keep the aliens from reading her mind.
Well, after last night, Mac Taylor is still not going to be on my Christmas list. To be fair, I know he didn't intend to hurt Flack, but it boggles my mind that six months after he's promising to get Flack through his painful ordeal, he's interrogating him on the street like a common hood. Mac wasn't wrong to ask the questions he did, but I *do* question the manner in which it was handled. It was so clinical, and I am not at all surprised that Flack got defensive. Here was a man he counted as a friend, casting doubt on both his credibility as an officer and his ability to judge the character of the people under him. It had to sting. I don't blame Flack for feeling conflicted about turning over the memo book. I don't think he wanted to believe that one of his cops was capable of disrespecting the badge and the victims he was duty-bound to protect, and the anger and frustration he felt was clear when he told make that "rapists" and "child-molesters" might walk because of this. His anger wasn't directed at Mac by then so much as at the whole rotten situation, and I suspect the he felt in some measure responsible for the impending fallout because he made the mistake of trusting a corrupt officer. And why do I have the sinking suspicion that Flack is going to be the one informing the victims and families of the colossal cock-up? Lord knows Mac Taylor, Arbiter of All That is Morally Right, will be busy saving the world on the strength of his nobility. The only quibble I haed with Mac in the closing scene was his sanctimonious screed about the Evils of Drugs, Mmmkay? As if Flack was twelve years old and not a seasoned cop in his own right. Sometimes, I get the feeling that Mac thinks he's the only man in the universe who feels a sense of conscience and outrage at the injustices of the world, and it grates. I hope that TPTB don't just sweep this under the rug and pretend that Mac and Flack are Bestest Friends again by next week. Flack was very clearly hurt, and a wound like that has to linger. I don't want him diva-bitching like Danny, but I don't think they should be chummy-chummy, either. Now that I've reamed Mac, I'm going to praise him. Gary Sinise chewed him some scenery in the scene with Claire's son, and my heart ached for Mac as he struggled for the words to breathe life into a dead mother for a son that never knew her. Mac is not a bad person by any stretch, just socially tone deaf, and that makes for some serious heartache. Was I the only one a-squee over Flack manhandling that doctor in the preview for next week? "Who the hell made you God, huh?" ~thud~ I wonder if that was residual anger at Mac or anger from his own long stint in the hospital after the bombing? Of course, my cracky little mind told me Flack was getting some payback on behalf of his gimpy wife, but it'll be interesting to see what the canonical reason is, especially if it touches on his family.
Really good episode! (Finally) The last one I really liked was the T-shirt episode. Most of this has already been said, but the Flack/Mac drama was so well acted and written. Really good. I like when the friendships and business cause angst. ADAM! Yes. I loved Adam and Danny. Cracked me up. And Clair Jr. will always be the Beev to me. I'm interested to see where they take this "relationship" or whatever. Mac made me sad when he tried to reach out to Beaver, but got shut down. So tragic. Alien lady, really funny and sad. I wish they had expanded a bit more on her. She needs her own episode! I REALLY REALLY like it when they work one case. I feel like the cases are better when they are more developed. And the whole team can pull together. What I didn't like: Weird camera stuff and special editing effects. What is this? Miami? No need, no need. And thank goodness, no nearly naked women in this episode. That's a trend that I could do without.
I gave the ep an A-. It was pretty good and I loved the Mac-Flack interaction (actually, I like anything that has Flack in it), but it was not a Flack-centric episode (as someone upthread stated)--the story didn't focus on him. I'm disappointed that we still haven't learned anything new about him since Season One, but I guess that's to be expected since he's not one of the CSIs. However, he is the character that enticed me to watch the show, and since he's not getting developed beyond what we had in S1, it's time for me to find something else to do in this time slot.
Or else, as my favorite lab tech puts it, "Stick with bowling." This episode was an A+. Again, Eddie Cahill is the quiet and shining star of this show. Beyond Carmine's ability to wrench our hearts out and Gary Sinise's ability to become both boss and father-figure convincingly, Eddie Cahill as Don Flack Jr ( as well as Hill Harper as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes ) is the glue of the show for me, particularly in this episode. We knew he hates suspects, but here we get a real glimpse of why that is. If only this episode had touched more on his father... But it is and has been Flack's perfect comedic timing or display of angst or anger that make him, for me, the easiest character to understand. You knew I was going to go there, so... ADAM! I was very, very excited to see him, despite the fact that I knew beforehand he'd be in the episode, I was very much heartened to see so much of the tech. For one, I enjoy how Mac and Lindsay gave him a verbal nod as Lindsay described the black cocaine. Second, I have always loved the interaction between Danny and Adam, and this episode highlighted that again. Danny insisting that the tech respect the time it took him to collect the "rust stuff" from the scene was great. The moment where Adam shamelessly makes a "The Price Is Right" reference ( no, for real, I could use a washer and dryer ), his manly little fist-touch with Danny as they agreed about bowling, and of course the moon rock -- no matter what, Adam has the ability to change the mood of the show with an almost silly enthusiasm -- but it stays on topic because this tech pays attention to the details. I'm hoping Adam isn't a space filler while the director attempts to hide Anna's pregnancy -- seeing him more often in this season has made me a happy girl. That said, where in the world IS Lindsay? And again, I missed Hawkes -- but next week's episide is supposed to reveal more of his backstory, so maybe I can handle that. Anyway, like I said, I enjoyed this episode quite a bit, not the least of because of Mac's interaction with Flack AND the scene where he and his stepson are talking. It was nice, very nice, to see some of the mask crack on Mac, and to realize that every day without Claire is still a struggle for him. And, of course, I loved the SMACKED.
Re: why Reed assumed Stella was his mom and not Peyton, I think Stella was simply at the right place at the right time. The kid had just started staking out what he assumed was still his mother's house, and Stella happened to be the first woman out the door. She would have been about the right age, so he immediately jumped to his erroneous conclusion. After that, he stalked her on the streets and going to work, but evidently never again at the house, or he probably would have seen Peyton coming and going, and that would have really confused him. As it was, Stella happened to be the first woman he saw on his stakeout of Claire's house.
I gave this one an A, I really liked id. Great to see Flack in the spotlights again, he deserves it. I liked the case, character interaction, it had humor, I liked it, so much better than last weeks episode.
hmm I wonder if that's a clue Mac hasn't moved...I'd think he actually might have just because staying in their place would've been a heartbreaker. But perhaps he didn't move to a new apartment.
Well... I really liked this episode, but I'm left with some huge questions. What on earth happened to the paintball dude? Is he dead? Am I blind and missed something big? I thought Flack was a homicide cop... why would he be doing a drug bust? I wish the ending would have been a little more balanced, because quite frankly, they crammed too much stuff in this episode with the three story lines: the case (which should be the most important), Flack and the dirty cop, and Mac's nephew. I really liked the paintball player story, thought it was very interesting, but I feel like they could have done a little more with it. (Cinematography was excellent!) I liked the alien woman twist- very sad/creepy/weird/crazy. I can understand Flack in the beginning when he didn't have all the evidence, but at the end not so much. The consequences were valid, but he shouldn't have let that influence his decision. I liked seeing how much he loved his job- when he was jabbering with the other detectives about the Rangers and when they were making the drug bust- he looked so gleeful when they caught the bad guys . The whole Mac/Claire/Nephew thing was interesting, but I think it would have been better in a later episode. That was my first impression. Now I'm gonna go back and watch it again.