Synopsis: With Mac in Chicago hunting the 333 caller, the rest of the team heads to the subway to investigate the death of train operator Kevin Carmichael, whose body was found slumped in the broken window of his train. The CSIs and Flack are in for a surprise when the doors slam shut and the train springs into action, taking them all for a ride save for Danny, who stepped briefly onto the platform to get his kit. Danny runs to a control box only to find an MP3 player strapped to it, controlling the train. Danny hurls a rock at it and disables it just before the train crashes into a sitting car. When the CSIs get off the train, Flack notices they're at 33rd Street--on the 3 train. Stella realizes it's the work of Mac's stalker. In Chicago, Mac searches the Tribune Building and finds a hanging decomposed body in one of the rooms, along with a hangman puzzle, with the letters of the alphabet above it--save for the letters that spell out "coward." He fills in Chicago PD Detective Brennan on the 333 caller and the clues that led him to Chicago, but she reminds him he has no jurisdiction in the Windy City. While the CSIs work the Carmichael case, Chief Sinclair sends Flack to Chicago to keep an eye on Mac. In the lab, Adam shows Danny how the MP3 player worked, and points out a site on the internet where the saboteur picked up the technical know-how to program the MP3 player to do hijack the train. In the morgue in Chicago, Brennan tells Mac the dead man was in his mid-twenties and died thirty years ago of a gunshot wound to the stomach. His body was buried and dug up. Mac calls an old friend, Jimmy and meets up with him. He recalls Bobby O'Toole, the man who beat Jimmy's brother Will to death. Mac accuses Jimmy of being the 333 stalker, but Jimmy denies it and tells Mac to stay away from him. After Jimmy leaves, Mac picks up his discarded cigarette butt and Flack arrives. Mac fills him on what happened thirty years ago: sixteen-year-old Will was making deliveries for a mobster, allowing his fourteen-year-old brother Jimmy and his friend--Mac--to tag along. But a delivery to Bobby O'Toole--who lived in apartment 333--went terribly wrong, and Jimmy and Mac witnessed Bobby beating Will to death. Jimmy pulled a gun out of Bobby's drawer but it got knocked out of his hand; Mac picked it up but was unable to shoot Bobby. Mac gets the DNA report on the cigarette from Stella: the blood is a filial match to the blood on the puzzle pieces and the DNA on the MP3 player. Mac recalls Will and Jimmy had a younger brother: Andy. Back at the lab, Stella studies the puzzles, disturbed. Suddenly, she recalls a puzzle piece she found at Drew Bedford's apartment after she brought the first puzzle to him matched not the first puzzle but the second. She puts it together: Drew is the 333 stalker. She confirms it when partial prints off the gifts he's given her match the prints on the MP3 player. Mac and Flack return to New York and, along with Stella and Danny, prepare to storm Drew's apartment. Sinclair joins them. While Mac scours the wine racks, Drew knocks him unconscious. Mac awakens in a chair surrounded by lasers. Drew tells him if he trips the lasers, a gun will fire at his head, and promises the same will happen to whoever walks through the door to save him. Drew calls him a coward, saying that he could have saved his brother if he'd fired the gun. He shows Mac a newspaper article on his heroics after the drug bust, questioning Mac's status as a "hero." The team works frantically to find Mac, consulting a playlist on the MP3 player, which leads them to a forgotten subway tunnel. Flack pulls an ace out of his sleeve: Jimmy. Jimmy calls Drew and bursts into the room. The shotgun fires into his chest and Drew runs for him. Mac sets off the laser as Drew crosses in front of the gun and it hits Drew. Mac takes him down with a shot to the arm. Jimmy is unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, and Drew's wound isn't fatal. The family has lost enough, Mac tells Flack. Analysis: After ten episodes worth of build up, "The Thing About Heroes" delivers an exciting conclusion to the 333 storyline. Mac journeys to Chicago and finally connects the 333 caller to an incident from his past, Stella puts it together that Drew Bedford is the stalker and Mac finally has his showdown with the guy. We also learn what apparently set Drew off: after Mac took down the Irish mob in "Snow Day", the newspapers picked up on the story and started referring to Mac as a "hero," an assessment Drew clearly doesn't agree with. <HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"> To read the full reviews, please click here.<center></center>
What a great review, and speedy as always. It made even better for me because I agreed w/ all of it. I really enjoyed Gary Sinise here. He showed a lot of subtelty. I was a bit annoyed that it took Mac so long to figure things out, but the end result was worth it. Much hay has been made about the age difference between the actors playing the brothers and Mac, but both Kerr Smith, and Frank Grillo (I think?) were so good, I didn't dwell on it. Smith has come a long way from Jack McPhee (Dawson's Creek). Stella - loved her in this ep. While she did not exhibit the best judgement in seeing Drew alone, she never fully fell for his trap and in the end was the one to put the pieces together ... literally adn figuratively. I also thought she and Lindsay worked well - I like Lindsay best when she is an earnest member of the team. In this, I loved it when Stella was frustrated and she was ready to roll up her sleeves and slog through the evidence again. I loved Flack in this. Many have spoken of the nice rapport between Mac and Danny, but for me, Mac and Flack (they rhyme, how cute) are the best in their interaction. The writers are doing a great job this year in focusing more on the detective, Fugly ties and all. He and Mac just balance well, and the actors do a great job of two men w/ a complicated relationship and a lot of respect for each other. Of anyone on this show, I think Hawkes is the one who gets the most hosed w/ airtime. Wouuld have liked to have seen him more. I thought the same thing with the lasers, Top - he must have read it in the papers. Also loved Mac showing mercy for the family, and in my heart cried for the 14-year-old boy that couldn't save his friend. This was a nice ending, and I hope the writers let it be. I will add that I really like Sinclair. The actor has done a great job of making a complex character in a short time. Loved that he put on a vest and did his part. I hope they keep him complicated, not a cardboard beaurocratic villain. My quibble: Why are NY CSIs always playing SWAT??? It wasn't just this eppy. Also, I wish they had addressed how Drew got the body ... or did I miss it?
Great review Kristine. I'm glad this storyline has concluded, 333 was a long, drawn out affair with, what seemed to me, very little substance. It was vaguely mentioned, too often recalled with the same flashbacks, and never really seemed to get anywhere until last week. Lots of clues, but nothing to direct you to the stalker or the reasons for his behaviour. I'm glad Stella figured it out in the end, after all we do all know she is a smart women, regardless of how often TPTB portray her otherwise. But, whilst I enjoyed the episode, I still can't get over Drew's awesome powers. Yes, the bad guys always get caught or die in the end, but in this case it seemed to be part of his plan. So, Drew can do anything he sets his mind to, he is the luckiest, most talented and obviously a very intelligent stalker, kind of a super-stalker...One against which all others should be measured. And that is what annoys me the most, there were many plot holes, ridiculous conclusions and scenarios which, even though I appreciate and love the CSI franchise for this usually, was a step to far. Anyway, Flack was awesome, Danny saved the day, Adam geeked out and Stella finally saw sense. In some ways this was NY at its best. And a mention of Snow Day! What more could we ask for? Apart from perhaps some recognition that they were all heroes in Snow Day, and actually Mac blew up the building, which wasn't so great. :lol: