CSI: New York--'Can You Hear Me Now?'

Synopsis:

Mac returns home from his vacation in London and is greeted with a shocking sight: blood coming from the crown of the Statue of Liberty, dripping down her face. The body of a security officer, Georgia Morse, is found with her throat slashed, and Charles Price, a fellow security guard is missing. Danny scales the Statue to get blood samples and determines that there is too much blood on the Statue's face for it to have come from their victim. Mac notices two blood drops that seem inconsistent with the arterial splatter from the fatal wound, and Hawkes recovers glass and a sticky substance from the victim's body. While they investigate the grounds, Mac tells Stella about mysterious hang up calls he received in London at 3:33am every night. The CSIs discover blood on a viewing station and wire tied around it to keep it in place. Looking through the viewer, the CSIs discover another body across the water. Damion Brock is sitting straight up in a chair, with wounds on either side of his neck. The words "two more will die" are written on his undershirt. When Dr. Hammerback examines Damion, he discovers that the man was embalmed with cleaning fluid, and he finds a small metal object in his mouth.

Lindsay determines the sticky substance on Georgia's arms was from a liquid comdom spray, while Adam and new lab tech Kendall try to one-up each other with the other evidence. Kendall finds the wire from the viewing station was from a piano--the A key to be exact, while Adam learns that the metal piece found in Damion's mouth was a component of a music box that played a Mozart tune. The box belonged to a woman named Nova Kent. She insists she lost the box, but Danny is skeptical. Mac determines the blood drops were from Georgia's blood bouncing off Charles Price's security badge, eliminating him as a suspect. Hammerback has the answer to Price's whereabouts when he shows Mac a severed arm a group of boaters found. Stella and Flack examine Damion's apartment. The landlord, Morton Brite, lets them in, and Stella recognizes him as a man suspected of killing his girlfriend, Marie Cousmira, a young woman whose death she investigated a year ago, and whose murder she never solved. In Damion's bathroom, Flack finds evidence that Damion was drained of his blood and embalmed while still alive. A call comes in to Damion's number, revealing a chilling outgoing answering machine message recorded as Damion died, with the terrified man talking about a license plate.

A viewfinder in Damion's apartment and a 911 call lead the CSIs to the killer's next victim: Lee Nakashima, who is found inside a drum at a famous music hall, his tongue cut out of his mouth. Video found with the victim shows him describing a man, and Mac puts it together that the victims, who both lived at the same apartment building a year ago, may have witnessed a crime: Marie Cousmira's murder. A piece of paper found in Lee's mouth is revealed to be a ticket to Nova Kent's concert and the CSIs rush there to discover a sinister man holding flowers for her. They arrest the man, Anthony Colton, and though he confesses to murdering Marie and threatening Nova, who witnessed the crime, he denies killing the other men. Stella puts it together when she finds the A string missing from Morton Brite's piano. Morton, enraged that witnesses to Marie's death chose not to come forward killed them and poured Damion's blood all over the Statue of Liberty to get the police's attention and lead them to Marie's killer. Morton tries to run, but Stella shoots him in the leg, preventing his escape. Back at the office, Mac receives a silent phone call at 3:33am.

Analysis:

Blood running down the Statue of Liberty's face--well, that's definitely a hell of a way to open a new season. New York is a city of stunning visual landmarks, and none is more iconic than the Statue of Liberty. I can't begin to imagine the red tape the show had to cut through to get permission to not only film on the Statue but to actually spill red dye on her. Whatever it took, it was worth it--it was a strong opening for a strong episode.

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Close-ups of the red dye may have been on a replica. There was a film back in 1985 called Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins that used such effects.

From IMDB.com: Although the Statue of Liberty was undergoing renovation in preparation for its centennial when the film was made, the filmmakers shot on and around the actual statue and its scaffolding as well as on a full-sized replica (from just below Liberty's book to the top of her torch) which was constructed in Mexico City.

And for the original Planet of the Apes in 1968: The torch of the Statue of Liberty in the end scene was actually a large miniature of a devastated version of the actual torch.

 

I think Gary Sinise said in an interview yesterday that they didn't film at the Statue of Liberty. You can see The Early Show interview here on YouTube (which also contains some mild spoilers, and shots of them filming in NY). It's great that they can make it appear like they do film in NY though.

Anyway, I haven't seen the episode yet but the review is interesting. Thanks Kristine!

 

I'm ticked off about them removing the line "I don't need to fight/to prove I'm right/I don't need to be forgiven" because that seemed to be the theme for Mac, Stella and Danny especially. I liked the new video montage, but messing with Baba O'Reilly--especially that particular line--has me ticked. I've actually called CBS and wrote them a bona fide letter to complain about their deleting that particular line, and from what I've read in the forums, I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

Hankster, wouldn't it be better to write Alliance or Bruckheimer Productions than CBS? They are the ones that would have changed it. I don't think CBS would have much say in that part it.

 

I hate to say, but I disagree with your ideas about the theme song, the way that it's quiet and only percussion in the beginning can symbolize Mac's personality very well, as can the little music played for Stella's part.

Either way I like the new credit song, it meshes with the new credit videos better, I think. Just think how out of sync it would be with the old version.

 

I've given the remix a few days to grow on me, and I'm not a fan of it at all. I like the original way that the song and credits were laid out together. Now I must go mourn for it and the 3 million viewers that went along with it.

 

Thanks to Lorlai over at the offical talkback in the CSI:NY forum, you can tell me how out of sync you think it is. The new visuals with the old version of the theme. Personally, I think it works perfectly fine. I also feel that the only reason they changed it was to make it more "cool" and "hip."