CSI: New York--'Sleight Out Of Hand'

CSI Files

CSI Files

Captain
Synopsis:

Illusionist Luke Blade has arrived in New York to perform his three night show "Death Becomes Me," but during his first trick--surviving being sawed in half--the body of his assistant Vienna Hyatt turns up in a box, having actually been sawed in half. The CSIs follow up on a man she took out a restraining order against, Rupert Lanigan, the manager of magic store Magic Paradise, but he has an alibi for the time of the murder. Mac turns to Luke Blade, but he tells the CSIs he looks at his employees like family. He soon loses another member of his "family" when his stunt engineer Austin Cannon is found burned to death during Luke's four-hour stunt in which he is lit on fire.

Stella is able to trace skin DNA off a magic wand found at the scene of Austin's death to George Clark, who proves to be Luke's biological father. She's able to dig up the sad tale of Luke's past: he was adopted by a woman named Sylvia Walker but she abandoned him to the foster care system at the age of six when he showed signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, including aggressive, adversarial behavior. Realizing his final trick will be to exact revenge on his adoptive mother, Mac, Stella and Flack chase Luke to the warehouse where he stores his magic devices and stop him from drowning Sylvia just in time.

In Montana, Lindsay testifies at the trial of Daniel Cadence, the man who shot her three friends in a diner ten years earlier. Lindsay breaks down on the stand as she testifies that she was in the bathroom when she heard gunshots, but she breaks down and asks for a recess. The next day, she's back on the stand, trying to finish her testimony, when Danny walks in the door. Encouraged by his presence, she testifies that she opened the door and spotted Cadence with a shotgun in the restaurant. Cadence is convicted and Danny and Lindsay embrace before heading back to New York.

Analysis:

After watching "Sleight Out of Hand," I can't help but feel like it was two separate episodes mashed rather uncomfortably together. One is the dark tale of a man unhinged by the betrayal of those around him who comes up with the perfect alibi for his crimes of revenge. It's edgy, grim and disturbing--and at the same time, utterly gripping. The other is lifted straight out of a daytime soap opera--silly, clichéd, banal and utterly out of place in a crime drama.

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Oh, wonderful review, Kristine! God, you hit the nail right on the head. The stuff with Danny and Lindsay felt like I'd fallen into the twilight zone where fanfic becomes reality--it just didn't seem to jive with the rest of the episode.

Lindsay is still reliant on Danny, and it seems like rather than give her legs to stand on the writers are instead making Danny reliant on Lindsay. You're painfully correct when you say that compelling storylines are being pushed aside to put this in front of Danny, and it's a shame.

I dismissed Criss Angel almost before he'd even opened his mouth, but he did much better than I thought he would. If there have been two bad cases of stunt casting this season, I suppose there's merit to the saying "the third time is the charm."

Flack is such a gift to this show, and Eddie Cahill does so much with every line to make the character memorable. We should send him flowers.

(Oh, and I didn't see any typos, but then again it's almost five in the morning. :lol:)
 
Sensational review, Kristine!

You nailed exactly what I was thinking regarding the Danny/Lindsay plot- it doesn't fit in the show and it was played out very much like a teen romance- with 30 something adults. The one thing that has bugged me this season is the poor attempt for the show to implement a romance into a crime drama. One one hand I have no problem with a little romance- it creates such angst and you want to see certain people find happiness. Yet, the show has failed miserably with this particular showing of these two. I have heard others before speak of the 'midwest' girl (which, sorry, I am a true Midwest girl and we don't consider Montana part of the midwest!)catches the attention of the big bad New York boy. It is a cutesy, fun idea- and I am all for it- if the two involved had actual chemistry and it didn't come across as a 90210 episode. It was extremely poor writing and terrible execution, aside from the actual trial testimony by Lindsay, which was 'better', but as it was so eloquently stated in your review, hinged on Danny's appearance in the courtroom. How disappointing and shameful for the writers to make Lindsay a shell of a person, who can only shine when Danny is in the room.

Also, thank you for showing another look at the Criss Angel plot. I have not been to enthusiastic about the show recently, and your review gave me another look at the plot and more credibility. I will be watching it again (without the DL drivel) and try to be more objective.

I have a snow day today from work! YAY! :lol: so, sorry for the long post~
 
I've said this before, but, WOW! You're speedy!! Good review. I enjoyed the Flack/Hawkes scene as well, and found it refreshing that a stunt casting storyline didn't lead to abysmal acting. Great job as always.

PS - Did anyone else think the guy at Lindsay's trial looked a bit like Flack? His less hot cousin or something? *shrug*
 
Thank you guys! :) I am speedy, :lol: . Wednesday does seem to be the one night I'm home, and given the way things go with the rest of the week, it's usually easier to get the reviews up right away. :lol:

audrina, I did notice the killer at Lindsay's trial was pretty hot, and yeah, I can kind of see a resemblence to Flack, perhaps in the sharp handsomeness of his features.

ThumpyG, the Criss Angel case does merit another look. If you exorcise the Lindsay trial from the episode, it's actually a decent turn. I liked it, and him, a lot.

I do think I'd be more open to the Danny and Lindsay pairing if there was more chemistry between them and it wasn't such a detriment to both of their characters' outside development. But the romance has superceded everything for both of them, and that really is more suited to a show like 90210 than it is to a CSI show.

Fay, I totally agree about it being the stuff of bad fanfiction--Lindsay actually fits a "Mary Sue" character to the letter: a young wunderkind who comes in to an established team, captures the attention of the team's established babe, then is pursued by him, but she has some reason for pushing him away, and some horrible trial she has to face, etc., etc. She's seriously pulled from bad fanfic (which I've not read a lot of, but enough to recognize the type) and I'm baffled as to how such a character made it onto a show where the other characters are so complex and richly developed.
 
I seem to agree with you on every point each week!! I was really suprised with Criss Angel. I enjoyed the storyline and his performance.
It doesn't seem to matter who the character of Flack is with, he's got good chemistry with them (The writers are always on the ball with what they give him). But I actually feel bad about how much I dislike the Danny/Lindsay storyline. I could barely watch. I didn't think Carmine Giovinazzo's performance was bad at all, I think he does a fabulous job every week (the guy can act!), I just think they are going too deep with the Danny/Lindsay story. I like when they just sort of give us just a teaser of their personal lives (i.e. Mac/Payton or Sara/Grissom). Also, The characters of Danny and Lindsay just don't mesh for me (as I have mentioned before). When they were about to kiss, I actually said "Ahhh...don't do it" out loud. My husband looked at me like I was nuts!! For the last few weeks, I thought the show was so much better without the character of Lindsay on it (or maybe it was just her current storyline I didn't miss?). If this thing with them does not work out, it will be interesting to see how the writers can make this "romance" go away when the time comes.
 
d2400 said:
Also, The characters of Danny and Lindsay just don't mesh for me (as I have mentioned before). When they were about to kiss, I actually said "Ahhh...don't do it" out loud. My husband looked at me like I was nuts!! For the last few weeks, I thought the show was so much better without the character of Lindsay on it (or maybe it was just her current storyline I didn't miss?). If this thing with them does not work out, it will be interesting to see how the writers can make this "romance" go away when the time comes.
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I thought the show was much better without her, too. As for the romance going away...they have a few options. Either have them be on and off again for however many seasons the show has to go and subject us to more of the silly drama, or have them get together and break up. I have no idea which way they'll go. I really never thought they'd go this far down the path given the complete lack of chemistry between the actors.
 
Excellent review and every word true.

I'd like to offer a second applause to Criss Angel for truly grabbing my attention and holding it throughout the episode, you are correct he was amazingly scary. If only the writers had realized that the way to end the episode was with Criss Angel, Super Mac, and his almost drowned mother.

Great job Kristine!
 
Excellent review! You've managed to capture my thoughts exactly!

and yeah, I can kind of see a resemblence to Flack
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Oh thank goodness it wasn't just me! :lol:

Now, I just need to take a moment to reflect on Criss Angel. I've been a fan of his since I discovered him while channel surfing a few years back. I was both looking forward to seeing him in one of my favorie shows, and afraid of what they would do with him. But... he did an excellent job. Amazingly scary is a good way to describe him :)
 
This is probably an unpopular opinion around here, but I've always been a bit of a rebel. Your hate-on for Lindsay is getting SO old. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but come on.

Even when she wasn't on the show, you still managed to get in digs at both the character and the actress in just about every review. It's getting pretty boring, and making it difficult to read what could otherwise be interesting and insightful reviews but instead usually boil down to "Blah blah blah, Lindsay sucks, blah blah blah, something about a murder, blah blah blah, Lindsay still sucks."
 
Whoa, has it been a wicked long time since I've been around here! Crazy.

Anyrot, I just wanted to say thanks for the review, that I've never been a DL fan (*avoids thrown tomatoes*), that I hate feeling patronized by CSI:NY's writers whenever the DL 'ship is forced down my throat and that if they really want to bring fanfic to life that badly, they ought to at least converse with my friend Dream or any of the other amazing ficers out there.

That's my two cents.

And here's my plea: PLEASE BRING BACK MY ANGSTY DANNY! It's all I can do to not fly down there to punch someone in the nose about this. I can't stand that they're mis-using/under-using/sometimes ab-using all the amazing talent they have on that show. I fell in love with Danny's character not only because CG is walking sex but because the man can act.

Okay. I'm done ranting. Thanks for letting me sneak back in! :)
 
FrellingBlonde said:
This is probably an unpopular opinion around here, but I've always been a bit of a rebel. Your hate-on for Lindsay is getting SO old. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but come on.

Even when she wasn't on the show, you still managed to get in digs at both the character and the actress in just about every review. It's getting pretty boring, and making it difficult to read what could otherwise be interesting and insightful reviews but instead usually boil down to "Blah blah blah, Lindsay sucks, blah blah blah, something about a murder, blah blah blah, Lindsay still sucks."
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Thank you for saying this! Kristine is clearly not watching the same show I am watching. Anna Belknap deserves an Emmy for her performance in Silent Night and Sleight out of Hand, much more so than Carmine does for this season. He hasn't been given anything to stretch his acting chops.
 
chemgeek said:
FrellingBlonde said:
This is probably an unpopular opinion around here, but I've always been a bit of a rebel. Your hate-on for Lindsay is getting SO old. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but come on.

Even when she wasn't on the show, you still managed to get in digs at both the character and the actress in just about every review. It's getting pretty boring, and making it difficult to read what could otherwise be interesting and insightful reviews but instead usually boil down to "Blah blah blah, Lindsay sucks, blah blah blah, something about a murder, blah blah blah, Lindsay still sucks."
Click to expand...

Thank you for saying this! Kristine is clearly not watching the same show I am watching. Anna Belknap deserves an Emmy for her performance in Silent Night and Sleight out of Hand, much more so than Carmine does for this season. He hasn't been given anything to stretch his acting chops.
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Is it possible that we are all in fact watching the same show and simply walk away with different opinions about what we just saw? The concept may be shocking, but I think I may be on to something - the art and entitlement to having an opinion and the beauty of it all is that none of us has to agree. All this though is just my opinion, so there is a possibility that I am wrong in the eyes of some, many, or even a few.
 
chemgeek said:
Anna Belknap deserves an Emmy for her performance in Silent Night and Sleight out of Hand
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks for the hearty laugh. What Anna deserves is the opportunity to repeat her acting courses for free, as clearly not all course objectives were met. I feel she may have been robbed of her tuition dollars.

Excellent review, Kristine!!! I wondered if you'd have the balls to say exactly what I knew you were thinking without holding back. :lol: And you went for it. Great job!

kmfx - Long time no see!! Get your butt back to the board more often.
 
chemgeek said:
Anna Belknap deserves an Emmy for her performance in Silent Night and Sleight out of Hand
Click to expand...
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks for the hearty laugh. What Anna deserves is the opportunity to repeat her acting courses for free, as clearly not all course objectives were met. I feel she may have been robbed of her tuition dollars.

Excellent review, Kristine!!! I wondered if you'd have the balls to say exactly what I knew you were thinking without holding back. :lol: And you went for it. Great job!

kmfx - Long time no see!! Get your butt back to the board more often.
 
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