I'll give the CSI:NY writers credit; they tackled the idea of a deaf family with panache and sensitivity. No one developed Sooper Sign Language Fu skills, and while Mac was the first CSI to clue in to the deafness conundrum, it wasn't a ridiculous leap of logic. And I will love Flack forever for leaving the disability factor out of his initial rundown. That, more than anything else, speaks volumes as to how he perceives and values people. The family's deafness was secondary to the fact that they had been victimized. (It also lends credence to my not-at-all-secret belief that Flack's getting some gimpy love at home, but that's neither here nor there.) The interpreter was a lovely touch, not to mention dead sexy; too bad he won't be back. I loved the inventive approach Mac took to determining the murder weapon, though I'm confused. Was the weapon recovered on-camera, or did Mac just guess that Cole Rowen was deaf? On what basis did he link Rowen's print with the murder weapon? I also want to heap praise on the writers for exploring the nuances of deaf culture specifically and disabled culture in general. Yes, Virginia, there is a difference in perception and self-acceptance between those who have supportive friends and parents and those who don't. A case in point: When I was born in the prehistoric 1970s, not much was known about disabled psychology, and advocacy groups were just beginning to effect changes in education and mainstream socialization. Disabled children were intergrated into "normal classrooms" in 1973(or was it '75?). Doctors often gave parents the direst of predictions about their child's future. My mother was told that I would likely be profoundly retarded and never live independently. She refused to accept that and went into such deep denial that I was not allowed to accept my disability and find ways to cope on my own. She was so determined that I be normal that she refused any adaptive equipment beyond my wheelchair. No special buttons on clothing, no special bras, no hand splints for writng, no reachers. If I wanted something that was out of reach, I either found a way to stand up or I went without. To use modified equipment was to concede that I wasn't "normal", and she just...couldn't. So I ended up a lot like Cole Rowen, acutely aware of my difference, and just as aware that it made people uncomfortable. I always tried to do exactly what my teachers wanted in school because I didn't want to compound the disappointment they surely felt at being saddled with me. I was eager to make friends but seldom did so for fear of rejection. To this day, I refer to myself as "broken" or "defective", and when I was in school, I hated being stuck with the "Special Ed" kids because even though I knew the normal kids shunned me, I didn't want to be lumped in with the "freaks" and "retards", either. I knew I wasn't them, but I had no idea who I was. By contrast, a college buddy of mine was raised by parents-a father, especially-who hit the ground running. Mr. K spent his life making sure that K knew she was as good as anybody else. He gave the concept of normal the finger in favor of what worked for K, and if that meant a house with nothing but ramps, handrails, sling seats, and automatic doors, that was just cherry. He loved K; he celebrated her. On her 16th birthday, he hired a band and took K four-wheeling and mud-bogging. It didn't matter that it required some ingenuity; it was what K wanted, and it was her birthday, and by God, he found a way. K graduated college with honors in three years, and last I heard of her, she was working as an accountant for Christopher Reeve's foundation. I guess where I'm going with this is to say that I knew damn well where Cole was coming from with his wholesale rejection of his deafness because I've been there. I've tried what he did, to pretend it could all be fixed if only...and so I sympathized with him even as I wanted to slap him for trying to distance himself from that part of his life. Add to that his obvious desire to shield his daughter from the stigma he'd endured all his life, and damn, did it hurt. "There's a possibility I could be the father, yeah, but it's not like I'da married her; I mean, she was deaf." "You're a real piece of work." "What Detective Taylor meant to say was you're a scumbag with an eighty-dollar haircut." Oh, Flack, thank you for that eye-popping anger and loathing. Not only was it dead sexy to see you snarl like that, but it reaffirmed your inveterate decency. And kudos to Mac for looking like he wanted to rip Seth Wolf's arm off and beat him to death with it. I was going to comment on Stella and Lindsay's interactions, but this commentary is already mammoth, so I think I'll save it for tomorrow.
This was a really great episode. Despite having a 101 degree temp and needing to get up at 4:30 this morning for work, I stayed up and watched it, and I'm so glad I did. (Of course, I also recorded it to watch later, that's the fun part about VCRs ) No only did we have deaf actors Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin as well as CODA Jerry Ferris, but also actors Amber Stanton (Allison Mitchum) and Russell Harvard (Cole Rowen) are also deaf. (Deaf actors playing deaf characters AND having major roles in a storyline...now there's a concept. LOL) With the inclusion of the cop interpreter, it was nice to see the actors being able to sign at their own speed and not having to slow it down for the audience. However, a cop as an interpreter was...um...inventive. I just wish they had more cops that knew sign let alone have someone on the force that can actually interpret conversations, which takes more practice and training. But, hey, at least they did call in an interpreter and didn't have the Mac talking to the 'terp instead of the parents (a la CSI:LV) or suddenly have someone 'know' sign language. The effects on the show were done extremely well, going to complete silence to show the perception of the deaf. I really liked the scene in the office when Mac turned to the phone to call about Carl Rowen (which thankfully they explained the lack of TTY/Relay use with the CI prior to this). When the camera cut to Marlee and Troy signing to each other, no sound, no interpreting, not captioning, I admit I cheered. Only people who knew sign would have caught what they said...hehe. When the sound suddenly cut out on the TV when Gina pulled out Cole's CI transmitter was awesome. I admit at first I thought she'd tried to pull his hair or something (grabbing what hurts is the best line of defense), and my TV had cut out on me (we were having problems with it earlier in the night). But when I saw the transmitter in her hand, I knew what had happened. Excellent atonage to the loss of residual hearing when a CI is implanted. One negative here is that they portrayed Gina as being able to read Mac from that far away without any problems while scared to death with a shotgun pointed at her. Gary Sinise barely moves his lips so he's hard to read anyway, but at least he didn't yell or overly exaggerate his words like some do. I don't know who was responsible for actually making this storyline happen, but bless them. Not only did we get the deaf family (played by actual deaf actors), there was a lot of respect played to the deaf person's other senses. The vibration of the snow globe (if it got to her at all) probably wouldn't have set off any alarms and the gunshot from that distance only felt strange under her feet. However, the sound did set off the baby alert monitor (a nice touch to the ADLs available). In addition, we got the CI thrown in with Cole and his parents wanting it, while Dennis and Gina didn't see any purpose in it. The relationship between Cole and Allison ended over the CI when she didn't want the CI as she didn't see herself as an outsider, while Cole never fit in with his hearing family. Also, Cole's stigma of growing up deaf perpetuated wanting to be a part of the baby's life, especially if she was deaf (something that is commonly seen in the deaf community). Of course, I can't leave out the 'wonderful' Seth. Faced with the possibility that he could have been Elizabeth's father, his response was that it didn't matter as he wouldn't have married a deaf girl. Unfortunately, many hearing/deaf couples that I know of have gone through that. With the sacrifices that both sides have to make in the marriage (moreso than just a regular marriage), many times a happy medium cannot be found. You have to make sure your in the room with the person and they can see you before you talk. Walking up to surprise your spouse when you are home early could lead to a frying pan upside the head (as my sister-in-law found out recently...LOL). The deaf parent won't hear the baby crying and if a deep sleeper will not see/feel the alert monitors go off. Many hearing just decide to 'have a fling' and move on to another hearing person when they are ready to settle down. Finally, it was brief but even a quick mention that Dennis was a lawyer and out of the country on business (while it may have triggered some people into thinking he was the killer) was an excellent way to show that deaf can do anything hearing can do (except hear) and aren't just the stereotypical 'disabled' sitting around waiting on their check. I'm looking foward to another viewing of this episode when I get home.
A cop who can sign.......hmmm.......who else do we know who can sign..........they should have called Grissom
I gave it a B. The episode was really well made. Great acting too. I'm loving all of the nice eye candy I hate the fact that Lindsay wasn't in it very much. I miss having her on there a lot. I really don't like the whole Mac/Peyton thing. He needs to stay single...hehe.
I like Lindsay. Most here know that. But I will say that this has been handled poorly because, while we understand Lindsay's experience was traumatic, we don't understand its resurgence now. Think about it. Lindsay's been dealing with scary, gory crimescenes for a long time, some of which, as others have noted, that have more in common with her experience than this eppy's cases. And she was fine. So why now? That's my problem. Inconsistency. I don't think her experience is being dismissed, we're all just troubled by how its being written.
^ That's exactly it, at least in my case. With all the hype & spoilers surrounding Lindsay's dark secret I was expecting something big. Now all we're left with until it's all revealed is that Lindsay survived a horrible massacre & honestly, I would have liked to learn more. I wonder what distunguishes these deaths from the others for her...
I'm just curious on how Anthony Zuiker screwed this up. I'm glad Mac and Peyton aren't over. They seem to have great chemistry on the screen and I'm glad they're not over. Along with everyone else, I only enjoyed the 'A' case. The 'B' case could have had potential, but it didn't. Now, they had a "out there" star. Popular, well known, yet she couldn't act. Now, we have the possibility of Christina Agullera here in February as a guest star who has never acted in a television series. Now I have the feeling that she's going to screw up as well. I'm feeling doubtful, with very little hope. Episode grade: B-.
I can identify to a point, La Guera...in my case though I'm the one who wants everyone to see me as normal and not as someone with a problem.(in my case it's high functioning autism). I often resent people trying to help me out even though a lot of good has come of it and want to prove that I can do things the same way everyone else does. I can kinda see the wanting to be accepted and hating the fact that Wolf (gotta watch that I don't add an E on there lol it's not like Miami's Wolfe) felt the way he did about his family. I've met many HFAs and asperger's who don't see their condition as a disability so I kinda understood why the deaf girl wouldn't want a CI. She simply didn't see it as a problem but as just part of who she was. I enjoyed both the LV and NY eps...am glad as has been said that at least the chars didn't suddenly know sign or anything like that. A I think both portrayls were done pretty well, though I saw one person say WP did extremely bad sign . Anyway at least Gris's was keeping with his character background.
Voted B+ Marlee Matlin's excellent performance was more than enough to compensate for that figure skater's 'acting' (I had never heard of her, but she should stick to skating) I did like the sound effects they used in letting us 'experience' what it is like to go through everyday life without hearing. But I do think they went a bit overboard with concentrating on that I found that the killed teenager's parents did not look like they were very schocked about their daughter's death. Especially right before Cole kidnaps Gina and Elizabeth; they are walking towards their car smiling and looking like they are having a really good time The only good thing about the skater's case (because it was funny) were Danny and his paint obsession :lol: Thought the Mac and Peyton thing was cute. The man deserves a little happiness. And where was Angell I got the impression that Emmanuelle and Claire were a 'two for the price of one' deal, but I guess I was wrong.
I really liked this episode and gave it an A. The ice-skating case didn’t annoy me, but the main story was just so superior to it. I didn’t know that all of the actors were really deaf in real life. It is awesome that they casted that way! It was weird to see Mac as a hostage negotiator, but I loved that they snuck the baby out of the car. It was so cute and actually looked real, which I guess it was because they usually only dolls for newborns, right? He was hot, wasn’t he? Since the actors really were deaf, I guess they actually knew how to do sign language, right? I’ve never actually seen that episode, but I did think of Grissom and him knowing sign language. I agree. I can’t imagine how traumatized she must have been. Now I haven’t seen all the episodes with Lindsey, but given her dramatic emotions in this episode I was thinking that maybe her case had recently been reopened or new evidence had been found or something. In Love Run Cold, Lindsey tells Danny that something came up which she thought was over. I’m guessing that she recently got some new info about the crime, causing it to be constantly on her mind and at least affecting her on this specific case. And this isn’t big? The idea of her being the only survivor of some kind of massacre is big to me, and a lot more original than I expected. Obviously it affects Lindsey, but I was expecting some like run-of-the mill storyline. I was not disappointed with what her secret is, only that we didn’t find out that much about it. (But I guess they’ve got to save something for sweeps.) I had never been a huge fan of Mac/Peyton, but I’m actually starting to enjoy them after this episode. Obviously Mac felt really bad about what he did and he should, he called her Claire and pushed her hand away, (BTW, has Claire ever been on the show, or do we know what she looks like?), so it was nice to see him show some emotion and hug Peyton. I surprised even myself by thinking that the scene was really cute.
Here's a quote from the futon critic website about the man who played the sign-language interpreter: "Jerry Ferris ("The Bachelorette 3") guest stars as officer Marty Santucci, a police interpreter for Gina Mitchum. Ferris has been signing his entire life as both of his parents are hearing impaired." As for Lindsay's secret, I don't think anybody has said that there was anything wrong with what they showed, or that it wasn't a 'big' deal--what I notice is that people are unhappy that it's been built up for so long and then, when we think we're finally going to learn what happened, we don't get a lot of information.
Touche... I didn't think about that till you said it. But now that you said it, it makes a lot of sense. Loved that sign interpreter. Danny who...? Ha ha. I'm just joking. But I thought he was very good looking. Mac/Peyton is growing on me. I don't get giddy everytime I see them, but I really like how they were handled in this episode. She really does bring out the softer side of Mac.
Definitely enjoyed this episode, but I like Marlee Matlin a lot anyway. I used to love Reasonable Doubts. I recognized the actor that played her husband, too. He was in an episode of Strong Medicine (another one of my favorite shows) about a Deaf man who was frustrated that people (like doctors) who thought that Deafness was a disease that needed to be cured, rather than simply a way of being that had a culture of its own. The skater story had some far-fetched aspects to it. I used to go to a lot of skating competitions at the National and World level, and skaters don't have private practice time like they depicted, nor do they use spotlights in competition. But skating competitions tend to be depicted inaccurately in TV and the movies, so I'm used to seeing that. No, Sasha Cohen's not much of an actress, but I love her skating and I'm sure that they were more interested in finding a talented skater with a recognizable name than someone who could act. As for Lindsay's secret, it's starting to bring some things together, like Mac pulling her out of the field during Manhattan Manhunt during S2 (found it interesting that back then, she resented being stuck in the lab, but now she's trying to avoid those kind of situations), and her aversion to dealing with mothers. I think those who mentioned that maybe one or or more mothers of her friends who were killed blamed her for surviving will turn out to be on target. I definitely think that Stella was justified in switching to "boss mode" after Lindsay shut her down when she first tried being her friend. There might have been an element of hurt feelings on Stella's part that her friendship was being thrown back in her face. So it's a month of repeats before we get to find out where this is going to go from here. Other than letting the actress have some maternity time off, I'm curious to see what the justification is for Lindsay to return to Montana, and what she hopes to accomplish by doing so. And I wonder how Danny will handle her leaving without saying goodbye, just leaving him a note. Anyway, I give the Deaf portion an A+, the skater case a B, and the Lindsay situation an A-, so I think that averages out to an A- overall.
As for Lindsay's different reactions from Mac taking her off the case, and dismissing herself, I'll sort of reiterate what Freckles101 said. Something probably tirggered in her case from back then, and it started bringing everything back. Last season in the case Mac pulled her off, she probably got mad 'cause she thought she was over it and was moving on with her life.