I find myself playing catch-up again
. Nearly too far gone to be worth posting, but what the hey.
It was the most even, seamless ep of the season so far, where the others have been far more extreme in their ups and downs. It wasn't particularly flashy or showy, even w/ the dancing, but it didn't overdose on ubertech flashiness either. It didn't have the most driven scintillating plot, but it was a reasonably solid ep.
It was a good Stella episode. I liked that it was personal for her because of an affinity she developed for the girl, and not because it was somehow linked to a part of her past or some personal issue. Was kinda refreshing in that sense.
I thought the guest cast were solid too, and that the sleazoid perp was very well played. It was hugely satisfying to see him go down in the end.
I noticed Lindsay's absence early on, and until about halfway thru expected her to pop out of a corner to spoil things
, I was eventually able to shunt that suspicsion aside to just watch the show. I now kinda wonder if having so much uber-Lindsay crammed into Dead Reckoning was to make up for her absence here. While it was a nice break, I could do without the previous overload, and would just perfer some sort of balance was found with her character, if she's gonna continue to be a main cast member, instead of the pendulum we've been subjected to with how she's been written and portrayed. I guess my main point was Lindsay in Dead Reckoning was just too damned much, and I didn't miss her at all in Battle Scars.
I'm sorry to say more generally that Danny's verve and get-go really has seemed to have got up and gone walkabout. I await it's return. Still. Forever and still. Disappointing how a really massive opportunity for his character has all but dissipated, even if the hype in my case was a little self-induced - I was expecting more and better, for a central character on the show, and a major twizt tossed his way. For what we've got, I'd have rather seen that opportunity given to someone else. In some ways, it does feel like it was all but contrived as way to make Lindsay more palatable, at least in theory, in her support for him while still being a kick-ass CSI and super mom. It has otherwise been a hugely predictable arc, and yet I somehow still expected that more would be given to Carmine to do with it. The contrast between Flack and Messer's arcs is huge and perplexing. I guess I just had hidden, nurtured hopes of a return of a re-charged Messer. Mebbe that too will come this season, but week after week, and the more weeks that go by, the more I hate falling back onto that hollow kind of optimism.
Been more 'n a week, and so details are fast fading.
I liked Don, liked Stella, I'm waiting, oh waiting, for Hawkes to get more to do than what he's been getting, though he's solid and consistent week to week. Didn't mind Mac. The SIM round info was interesting, and Mac's weapon expertise provides a bit of a fun layer to scenarios as well as being in character, and did so while serving the plot and not some soap box or ego kick.
What else. A kind of weak turn of plot from the catalyzing premise, but not a bad ep; Nick wasn't hard to spot, though the motive wasn't as easy to peg. They had a really, really good, believable scumbag. I liked confident and more extroverted Adam, and that his apparent insecurity, with regards his job or with the others, has levelled out. I did miss Sid. Didn't miss Lindsay or Haylen at all. Wouldn't mind if their airtime was divvied up amongst the rest, nor if it were alloted to a tad more pithy plot development. Facebook was a funny moment in passing, of the sort NY does well. The momentum was kinda low key but even, w/o the extremes and short-circuited resolution some of the earlier eps had this season. This is the closest the show's been to finding itself back on a more engaging path. If they could just kick it into gear a a little more.
Didn't have much to say about this one. Was better. Hope it's a sign of things improving.
B-. Highest grade of the season.
