CSI: New York--'The Lying Game'

CSI Files

CSI Files

Captain
Synopsis:

A drag queen is discovered dead in a men's bathroom at a hotel, leaving the CSIs with a plethora of suspects. After Sid Hammerback determines the victim was drowned, the CSIs discover she was part of a drag show that performed at the Taxes and Trades banquet at the hotel. Quentin "Misty" Conrad had a public spat at the dinner with Congressman Eric Garth. Before that, she was drinking with a hotel guest named Frank Clark and some of his friends, and he admits he helped her get into the dinner and was shocked when she went up to the congressman and got into a spat with him. The CSIs discover the connection: Garth was accused of raping Quentin's sister, Sarah, eight years ago in Connecticut. Flack and Stella interrogate the oily statesman, but he offers them only platitudes--and no DNA. They obtain his DNA off a baby rattle belonging to a constituent, and are able to link him to the rape, but not the murder.

Mac and Danny work the case of a man found dead in a salt truck. Hammerback determines blunt force trauma was the cause of his demise. The CSIs are able to get an ID off a business card: Robert Gallagher. They take a trip to his company and meet his partners, Jackson Rudnick and Stephen Cross, both of whom have alibis, as does Dana Haynes, a woman whose golf ball was discovered close to the body. When Danny looks into the alibis, Jackson's and Dana's don't check out, leading them to the Alibi Network, a company that provides alibis for people involved in clandestine goings on. Jackson and Dana were having an affair, and the location they claim they actually were, the Soho Regency, checks out. Danny discovers traces of epson salts on the skateboard he determines was used to kill Robert, and that leads them back to Stephen, who was in the floatation tank at his gym shortly before Robert's murder. Mac interrogates him: Stephen saw Jackson's alibis--receipts indicating he was at advertising seminars--and erroneously thought he was being forced out the company. He killed Robert in a fit of anger when Robert denied knowledge of the "seminars."

With Stella's encouragement, Lindsay tells Mac she's going home to Montana to testify at the trial of the man who killed her friends. She leaves a card for Danny, and watches him come back to the lab before leaving in taxi. Going back to the scene of Quentin's murder, Stella and Hawkes follow a trail of bleach from the toilet Quentin was killed in to the hotel room door of Frank Clark. His print is a match to one on Quentin's earring. When he found out Quentin was a man, his friends made fun of him. Later, he ran into Quentin in the bathroom and was ticked off when Quentin flirtingly rejected him. Flack, disgusted by his lack of remorse, arrests him.

Analysis:

Lying is now officially a commodity. Yes, that's right, The Alibi Agency actually exists. While watching the episode, I wondered if the concept was a clever one invented by the writers, but the CSI shows are fastidious in drawing from real life and building their episodes around things that sound like they couldn't possibly be true, but are.

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Great review. Heaven spare us from a plethora of science geeks trying to write romance and any kind of angst. They really can't do it without being ham-handed in the execution.

I have such mixed feelings about the episode: Flack and Stella did it for me, but the rest of it was... okay. Still better than the boring drivel that was last week's though. And, writers, this isn't 90210 Redux.
 
Good review, as usual. ;) Caught another we typo again: "Mac, Mac, where is has your bite?" Reviewing late at night again, I see. :p (You know I love you. ;))

Flack was definitely the saving grace for this episode. It was much better than some others lately, but right now the most memorable parts for me are Flack's scenes. Maybe when I re-watch I'll enjoy it more, but it was definitely a great Flack episode. ;)

Don't even get me started on the romance stuff, if you can even call it that. Hey Danny--don't just stand there, say something. Hey Lindsay--don't just leave a note, say something. Hey Lindsay again--don't just stare, friggin' say something. :rolleyes: I understand the difficulty of saying goodbye or whatever, but it's like the writers are hammering into our poor mistreated brains that these two are so close, and yet so far! I could do without it. They could have cut Lindsay's cab scene down and left in a good Flack line I remember from the spoilers. The writers don't have their priorities in order.

And even with the stuff they did for Lindsay, if she's going to be gone for 3+ episodes, I should have felt something at her leaving other than 'argh, just say something or go!'
 
Thanks, guys! :D Thanks for catching that typo, too, Fay. I was writing late at night. :eek: :lol:

Flack is the saving grace in a lot of episodes. He really deserves the spotlight more because he's hands down one of the best things about this show.

The romance stuff was ridiculous. I was going to compare it to Dawson's Creek when I recalled that on Dawson's Creek the characters actually communicated with each other, and therefore I'd be insulting that show. Danny and Lindsay are in their 30s, and to have them behaving like teenagers is just shoddy writing. But then, given the lack of chemistry between them, keeping them apart was probably the best decision acting-wise. That doesn't bode well for the pairing though.

I was happy to see Lindsay go. We're spared bad storylines, bad lines and bad acting for several weeks. That can only be a good thing. I watched Criminal Minds for the second time ever last night and noticed that they dispatched one of their female leads. I've only seen her in the one episode, but in that episode, her acting was bad, Anna-level bad. I don't know if it had been that way all along, but if so, kudos to the producers for having her written out. If only CSI: NY would follow their example and do the same with their own dead weight.
 
I really liked the episode. Once again, Flack brought just the right amount of humour. I don't mind a little romance mixed in with the show but the Danny/Lindsay storyline just doesn't do it for me. Their characters don't fit well with each other. From the begining they made her character a little too boring. He needs a someone a little more like Aiden was, ya think?
 
Good review. I especially liked your comment about Mac not pointing out the truth about the marketing seminars .... I was just sitting there, waiting for the stake, as you put it, and then it didn't come! Bah.

Good job as always.
 
d2400 said:
I really liked the episode. Once again, Flack brought just the right amount of humour. I don't mind a little romance mixed in with the show but the Danny/Lindsay storyline just doesn't do it for me. Their characters don't fit well with each other. From the begining they made her character a little too boring. He needs a someone a little more like Aiden was, ya think?
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He definitely needs someone who he has a better dynamic with, that's for sure. I liked Aiden--she was a good match for him. I initially liked the idea of Danny and Stella, but after the first few episodes of season one, that never went anywhere. It's a pity--they would have had fire.

audrina said:
Good review. I especially liked your comment about Mac not pointing out the truth about the marketing seminars .... I was just sitting there, waiting for the stake, as you put it, and then it didn't come! Bah.

Good job as always.
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Thank you! :) I really wanted that final twist too--the CSIs love pointing out the irony in situations like this. Why no barb for Stephen, Mac?

Did anyone else think the episode ended kind of abruptly with Flack cuffing Frank? He cuffed him and then boom, it was over. It felt quick to me.
 
I could see the character of Danny having something with that new policewoman they added this season (I am not sure of the characters name, she has long dark hair). I agree the episode ended kinda abruptly, I like a bit more closure to the stories sometimes.
 
She won't be missed
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Speak for yourself. A lot of people will miss her, like me.
She made CSI: NY spark for me, I hope that she won't be away for too long because I might lose interest when she's not there. She's a wonderful character and Anna Belknap portrays her great.
 
Fabian said:
She won't be missed
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Speak for yourself. A lot of people will miss her, like me.
She made CSI: NY spark for me, I hope that she won't be away for too long because I might lose interest when she's not there. She's a wonderful character and Anna Belknap portrays her great.
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Where do you see the quote "She won't be missed?" :confused:

Great review Kristine! :D
 
Top41 said:
Did anyone else think the episode ended kind of abruptly with Flack cuffing Frank? He cuffed him and then boom, it was over. It felt quick to me.
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The whole case felt rushed and predictable from the beginning.
 
^
^
I feel like I was the only one surprised that it was the tourist that killed her not the Congressman :lol:

When they opened his hotel door, I was like, "Whoa. It was him..?" I dunno, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. :lol:

Ah, vegas. No one's fighting, just stating their opinions ;)
 
^I was a bit surprised by that, too actually. I was expecting it to be the Congressman's aide (the guy next to him when Stella and Flack were questioning him) to be the killer. It was unexpected, but a bit cliched to have the redneck turn out to be the killer.

d2400 said:
I could see the character of Danny having something with that new policewoman they added this season (I am not sure of the characters name, she has long dark hair). I agree the episode ended kinda abruptly, I like a bit more closure to the stories sometimes.
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Ah, if only! She and Danny actually seem to have chemistry.

Fabian said:
She won't be missed
Click to expand...
Speak for yourself. A lot of people will miss her, like me.
She made CSI: NY spark for me, I hope that she won't be away for too long because I might lose interest when she's not there. She's a wonderful character and Anna Belknap portrays her great.
Click to expand...

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but with a few exceptions, I've found Belknap's acting to be pretty subpar. In this episode, she worked up no emotion whatsoever over her departure, which might be a good thing given how poorly she performs in the emotional scenes. She's the sore thumb in an otherwise consistantly stellar cast.
 
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