I just watched it, and I really enjoyed it.
Mac in casual clothes and really frustrated and pissed off was hot, and the way he reacted to what happened- i.e. he was really hit hard by it, especially by what happened to Danny but being Mac he kept it all inside and threw himself into working the case.
I really liked that Danny called Mac to go with him to meet the informant, and that Stella was mighty pissed at them both for going it alone, but understood why when Mac explained. I loved the two scenes in Mac's office, first the one where she confronted him about going to meet the informant with Danny without any backup, and told him he wasn't in it alone - when she said that, I liked how she seemed to be telling him that a) It wasn't All About Him, but also, b) That he didn't have to deal with it alone, it wasn't just his responsibility to find who did it. The second scene at the end when she went to his office and helped him pack the case files away was really nice too.
There's definitely some tension and distance between members of the team - Danny and Lindsay, Mac and Stella, Flack and the rest of the team, but I think that's a reflection of what happened and the fact they're all dealing with what happened in their own way.
It was interesting to see all their different reactions - Mac getting pissed but just about keeping it under control and throwing himself into the case (though he seemed very on edge and tired and angsty the whole ep), Danny being very pissed off and not doing a good job at all of handling it. Stella and Adam sleeping together, which from their conversation towards the end seems to be something they did as a result of what happened, which as it was OOC for both of them, fit. I did like that they both agreed it should be a one time thing. Flack drinking seems ominous, and his not being able to shoot Jake and being the one to try to talk him down is an interesting reflection on what happened with him in Pay Up. Like Mac, he seemed to be using work to distract himself from all the grief he was feeling, though as with Mac, you could see that beneath the surface, he was very close to losing it. Hawkes doing the Parks Rescue thing at night was very in character, and shows that he is like Mac and Flack, he works to distract himself, in his case from insomnia.
I liked Mac and Flack's conversation in the reception area when Flack turned up to work, wonderful piece of acting from both Eddie and Gary who conveyed lots of emotions without saying very much. I especially liked that bit where Mac was looking at Flack after Flack said he needed to work, he seemed to be struggling between understanding Flack needed to work to distract himself (presumably because he went through the same thing after 9/11) and knowing that it might not be the best idea for Flack to be back at work again so soon, and that was interesting and I like that he eventually decided to not take it any further and let Flack work, though IMO he's still not 100% sure it's the right thing to do.
I liked seeing Lindsay more of her s2 self being feisty with Danny and threatening to kick his ass and telling him she wasn't going anywhere. I hope we see more of that. Danny doesn't need a cheerleading squad, he needs someone to kick him in the butt when he needs it but also be there to support him, and I was surprised that after watching this ep, I think Lindsay might very well be the one who can do that. I'll be interested to see how she handles juggling raising Lucy and caring for Danny, though, especially as Danny is so frustrated and angry and trying to protect her.
Haylen, well, I don't hate her, she seemed okay, and I liked her scenes with Adam.
Adam, his sleeping with Stella was OOC but considering what happened, I think that them all being a little OOC or in some cases very in character is understandable given what happened, and otherwise Adam was very Adam with the jokes with Danny. I noticed that when he, Haylen and Mac are talking about what Haylen found, he and Mac have very similar 'wtf?' expressions, it was so funny! Oh, and a pissy Adam, when he thought Haylen was saying he hadn't done his job properly? That's new. I never thought I'd see a pissy Adam! I liked him in the conversation with Stella at the end too, very in character. He was still nervous and shy, but not so much, I thought. He always gets kinda goofy around Stella, but it was interesting he was the one to bring their night together up. I am wondering whether having slept with Stella, who he had a major crush on, will give Adam the confidence to go after some hottie later in the season, though I hope it's not Haylen. She's too much like that woman from s4, the blonde lab tech, I forget her name.
I actually thought the way the case turned out - it being a gang, and the hit being nothing to do with the team - was a good, interesting solution. I liked seeing the pictures of Elgers and other people on Mac's walls at the beginning, it showed they had been considered, and it would have been interesting had it been any of them. But it being a random thing reflected, IMO, that sometimes violence is random, and people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I always enjoy episodes where the case is personally connected to the team, but it's nice, and realistic, to see that not everything is always a personal thing, and also that they are just as vulnerable to random violence as anyone else.
I was pleased that Albert the Security Guard killed the guy who killed him with the same knife, nice bit of poetic justice there.
Wow, there was a LOT of shooting and bodies in this episode.
Looking forward to future episodes and continuing to see how they all deal with the aftermath of what happened.
All the men were hot! Mac and Hawkes especially.:drool: :drool::drool::drool: They both need to wear casual clothes more.
No reaction from Sid re what happened, it would be nice to see how he's feeling about it all, even if it's only a scene where he talks to Mac or Hawkes about it. I know he's not a 'major' character, but we saw everyone else's reactions. All I can say for Sid is we got no 'morgue humour' or going to his 'creepy place' this episode, so maybe that was meant to be his reaction? He did seem quite serious and formal for Sid.
LOL, also noticed Stella is back in what I call her 'booby tops'.:lol: Like the others, she's acting a bit OOC in some ways, but her scenes with Mac and her top show she's still Stella!
I'd give this eppy an A. It was so nice to see the show and all the characters again, made me realize how much I'd missed seeing new episodes.
Random point - channel 5 are big on the slow motion, slightly surreal promos for the CSI shows that show a lot of breaking glass flying all over this year! First the NY promos, and then the ones for CSI Vegas.:lol:
