Great episode. Now, I'm a Mac-girl, but boy, Danny looked nice with the new glasses and the face hair! Mac's still my fave guy, but Danny's definitely a close second now too. Yum! And the alien woman was funny, it was nice to have some humor in a quite serious episode.
I loved the Mac/Flack thing, and I think Mac was right in everything he said, but I can see Flack's point of view too. I loved how they showed Flack as a a 'cop on his own' here with cop beliefs-i.e. being concerned about scumbags the dirty cop had honestly sent down maybe being released- rather than seeing him as 'the detective who works with the CSIs'-you know, they showed him in HIS world-the police station, the cop world, rather than in the CSI world of the lab.
I don't know why people bashed Mac, I don't think he was trying to go against Flack or hurt him, he was just trying to protect the integrity of the NYPD and of Flack. Mac seemed really quite pained at the end having to arrest he bad cop as though he wished Flack and he hadn't been so conflicted over it.
I loved the Mac/Reed scene at the end too, poor Mac. GS's acting when Mac was describing Claire-the shifting in his seat, the slightly stumbling speech, the throat clearing, and his eyes reallu conveyed his pain over remembering his wife. I was pleased he knew Claire had a kid, that she trusted/loved him enough to tell him about it. And I felt so sorry for Mac at the end when the kid walked out. Reed is the last connection Mac has left to Claire, he obviously wants to keep hold of that. The kid who played Reed was great too.
And I loved the Mac/Stella scenes -the one at the beginning was sweet, and so was the one where Mac asked her to share a cab. And it was nice to know she got him a birthday gift and took it to him at his place, rather than just giving it to him at work.
Great episode!