NY is having an interesting relationship with the relativity of time this season. Evidence is collected and subsequently processed before Mac & Don have left the scene with a confession.
ah, well i thought something different about that - i did initially go "blimey that was fast" but then i thought - well, the way mac was at the crime scene right at the start, it wasn't like he was processing, he just seemed to be looking at it - there was no sign of kit or markers or anything else, so i assumed that he'd *returned* to the crime scene after getting all the evidence in/processed, so that he could meet flack with the woman, who had presumably been at the precinct for a while being processed herself, which would've given time for the scene to be processed, assuming that the CSIs were sent as soon as the woman turned herself in and before she was processed. bloody hell, that's a lot of assumption on my part and a lot of processing!:guffaw:
. Was glossing to make a point, m'dear :lol:. Yes, I got that the compacted introduction was done to set up the episode's format and premise of backtracking a confession in the face of forensic evidence that seemed to contradict it.
And yes, I got that Stella had already been to work the scene, and had returned to the labs, and that some time had passed while she was processing, and that Mac was visiting the scene, probably the following day, to ply his marvel eye, whereupon he was presented his confessing murderess by Flack, after she'd turned herself in to the police station.
The longer the duration of time between Mac & Stella's visits to the crime scene, the easier it is to swallow the DNA result, but the longer the duration, the odder that field trip by Flack and the confessing murderess is.
It's odd for me that the (presumed) first time Mac directly hears her confession would be more than a day or two after she'd turned herself in; if it's the same day, well, Stella's an Energizer Bunny; also odd that the confession took place at the crime scene if at some point they were each already at the precinct/labs/NYbatcave/whatev. That 'lil field trip tweaked an eyebrow, even while knowing it was for dramatic Crime Scene Goodness complete to Stella documenting & collecting evidence and then returning to the labs to begin processing to the point of being able to bugaboo the confession with a phonecall to Mac that he answers while staring both at the scene and the killer all by teaser's end.
Any way ya look at it, Stella deserves a coffee and a muffin, or mebbe a Caf-Pow or two. :lol:
Ideal teevee world of course, one can also get DNA profile results back toute de suite, with no back log, and the deadline that matters is the end credits, or in this case, the first commercial break. Weeeeell. I suppose it's also possible that Stella and Mac got those (STR?) machines they were arguing about last season in the face of Adam's pink slip (...and dun dun dunnnnnnh, our bearded friend from the tech republik was nowheres to be seen...
)
What I was mainly doing was poking at the stretching, bending, folding, compacting and general all around Temporal Origami NY's been practicing in conveniently producing lovely and decorative airtime so far this season
. My secondary point was that the teaser set up felt very rushed (and of course it had to be to fit it all in) compared to how muddled the storytelling (as opposed to the just the story) of the investigation was, which then saw an ultimately incredibly rushed resolution.
Forty very deliberately presented minutes passed, picking away at that confession, and then they suddenly needed to lightening solve the case with time to spare in order to have Flack drinking, Haylen kleening, and Danny rocking Lucy. Was an odd, stumbling grinding whiplash eppie for flow, and not engaging to the point I'd be happy to just nod and smile along the way. Not for a polygamous husband and the sudden discovery of a Q-Tip line worker who rates the attire her employment mandates as secondary to her personal aeration.
The other, second knife-wielding triple murderess courier woman was the most interesting killer in the ep, (no matter how good that first "would you do it again?" / "...all seventeen times" bit was), but she also came to feel like a device to shoehorn Flack's Freeze in. The final Swabbie plot twist responsible for calling the confession into question and clearing the other woman of additional crimes should have been more interesing. But it was parachuted in last minute. While we got five more after the fact of non-case related Drek. Yes, intended to come across as moving and/or meaningful moments, character moments, but the ep wasn't stitched together well enough to benefit from that kind of counterpoint.
I know Flack drinks beer and goes to bars. The freeze itself let me know he's still struggling. I know Haylen's a Kleen Up Tech. I know it Rainz in NYC. Whether Danny's waltzing the end of this ep or the start of the next one, who cares - and by that I mean it was a foregone conclusion he soon would. Not least because Hawkes himself is apparently a Rain God. Cos it freakin poured for progress. I guess they need that week between just to explain how Messer's gonna be chasing perps soon. Gad help me if he joins into a dance battle this week to win some info :lol:. I think Haylen's scene was probably the most interesting choice to include, and could have been better, but it at least managed to touch on both the case plot and put the character in an interesting scenario to play. The over-arcing stuff didn't seem to add much while the case resolution really seemed to suffer, to the point of bat-signalling MadMac all over again.
i *really* liked the scene between mac and flack - i'm glad mac has finally come out and said that there's a problem rather than just leaving flack to it, i also think it's interesting that flack's giving mac a good run for his money on the whole "closing up and not saying a word" thing
I'm glad that someone came out directly to call Flack on his state of being. I'm not so keen on how it was set up to do so in this ep. while I don't doubt shooting the suspect in Pay Up affected Don, I'm still not entirely sold on the Freeze.
It's a good comparative point by
CandyCoroner regarding Stella/Frankie and Flack, one that is making me reconsider my take a little bit. It's also a good point that we don't really know how much the others know of Flack's actions in the warehouse raid, and it certainly seems the shooting wasn't questioned. I do rather think that having to shoot your ex in your own home in self defense might leave a slightly different kind of scar than Flack following thru on "God help him" from Pay Up. Haven't finished mulling that yet. I admit I don't think I can ultimately begrudge the depiction of Flack hesitating as aiding in the illustration of his overall struggle, but I can't say I like how it was staged in this ep.
I think the set up was written in such a way it couldn't have been anyone other than Mac talking to Don as a result, something I don't really have any problems with. But I also think how it played out between them will make it more interesting down the road where Mac is concerned, due the choice Don left him with. I'm also not in the least surprised that Flack didn't open up, and don't think he would have, to anyone; the tone and time and place were hardly such that's when he suddenly would.
I also think the writing in the ep where the characters were concerned was overall a little blunt, and that how Mac approached Flack was an example of that. I think the scene with Stella and Sinclair was another. I think the Danny/Hawkes scene was another again. I do think all three were interesting to watch for various reasons, but they all did stand out as Scenes of sorts all the same. NY hasn't found a way to mix it's mallets with it's more typically well-integrated on the go interaction (nor a balance in dealing it's drek).
....as i've said before i think mac being such a contained character will make it hard for him to get to flack, but at least he seems to be trying. i thought it was interesting that he said "people are concerned about you" - it was a fair enough thing to say, but maybe he could've been a bit more personal about it, after all they are meant to be friends of a sort, and maybe then flack would've been able to open up a bit more. that said, i'm a firm believer that mac has very clear work/personal boundaries so saying anything more emotionally invested, even a simple change like "i'm concerned...", would be highly unlikely.
I'm not sure Mac was looking for a deep revelatory weeping conversation to ensue, so much as an acknowledgement that something was amiss, and that Don didn't handle the event in question well. I think the way it was written had Mac coming off a little agressive in his approach (nice mallet), which made me (in playing the game with mallets) read it as first more a query of one professional to another, from one who knows what's going on and took the other at his word he could deal while working thru things, and then a step back from that to both soften that approach a bit and also let Flack know that there's been a wider observation of his state by saying "we're all concerned." It wasn't a very personal approach, and I don't think it was meant to be, not in that time and place. I also think, if I'm playing allowances, that they're continuing to set up Flack's slide and distancing, his rather solo journey thru everything, as further evidenced by his scene at the end.
Lindsay unattached to Danny is a first this season and it feels GOOD. I don't care how much I dislike the character and the actress, the more we see of her, the less I'd fear that Danny is never going to be interesting again. More of solo Lindsay, PLEASE.
I wish I could agree. In principle I'm glad Lindsay's getting writing separate from Danny; I don't really care but for having to sit thru it either way; "unattached" now seems to double her airtime, which I'd rather grown accustomed to and fond of having abbreviated...
:lol:. Lindsay moments were coming fast and furious in this ep, and what with the overload of DL and DLL tacked on regardless, it was all a little much to take for me :lol:. I wish also that I was more invested in what's being written for Danny, but I've gone from groaning frustration to increasing disinterest over the past few seasons, and not just this one alone.
I am very glad to note that Lindsay's not been a Martyr in this at all. The fact that she's suddenly the complete opposite is more than a little jarring to the point I might need to borrow Horatio's shades to deal with her sunniness is something else altogether. Add to that her participation in a Flack scene I find less than palatable, and she's jetpacked to being S6 UberMontana-Messer, lab wizard super mom supportive wife meteorlogist wide right tackle (your kung fu is good). I know there was an extended chat in the Lat/Long review thread about the sudden turnaround for her character. Count me in as one suffering whiplash and blinding oversaturarion.
A little Lindsay goes a long way for me, whether expertly or abjectly portrayed by AB.
If you expect me to buy Flack as a blossoming alcoholic, I'm going to need more than one half-empty beer. Flack drank more than that on social outings with his friends. Show him with five empties, or being cut off by the bartender. One beer to cope with stress, while a bad idea, doesn't not make him a closet boozer.
I agree. I appreciate the depiction of Flack's struggle to cope, but if I'd not read that one casting call that implied Flack was descending into alcoholism, I'd not necessarily have guessed. And yet. I suppose that could be the point, for casual viewers to be really shocked at how far he's crumbled once that aspect of his problems is more pronounced.
And how did Mac know just from looking at a box of swabs to check the factory?
Back to that rushed ending. Had to conclude that the show had determined that the montage stuff tacked onto the end of the episode was somehow more important than having a decent case and resolution, no matter how lateral the final Twizt.
If this is the method they've developed to include more of the personal focus (than they've previously managed) as well as the cases, This does not bode well.
And what about Lindsey. She could have shot her. But instead made the decison to play hero, and tackle her. If the woman was the deadly threat Lindsey made her out to be, wasn't Lindsey being reckless by tackling her; instead of neutralizing the threat with a bullet to the arm or leg?
I think law enforcement are trained to aim for the centre mass of their targets, not arms or legs etc. But in teeveeland they certainly coulda had her do so. I do wonder/get the impression that had the perp not been a rather petite woman, they'd not have had Lindsay tackle her, despite her S2 bodycheck. Most characters beyond Flack and Mac and I guess Danny aren't renowned for tackling people. And Lindsay certainly hasn't been portrayed that way in years. It did come across as another way for the writers to show us how Awesome Lindsay is. Ya know. In case we'd missed that so far this season. I think having the weapon in question be a knife was a factor in Flack hesitating, as was the fact she was doing everything she could to incite a suicide-by-cop barring actually attacking him or someone else. I actually can't really begrudge Lindsay making the choice to tackle the woman, seeing as she was distracted and focused on Flack. Mebbe they ought to carry tasers or something. (Or mebbe they're saving that for some other topical ep). The whole scenario setting Flack up to Freeze is more what I'm having trouble with. If they felt the need to do so, I'd have hoped for something other than this. Additionally, no, I'm not keen on having Lindsay mixed into Flack's drama. Not bloody keen atall.
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I dunno why Flack's arc is so much more compelling to Danny's, beyond my own preference; there does seem a better thruline so far.
You would think that a Wounded storyline would be ideal to contrast Messer, a guy who doesn't like to be constrained, now being challenged in the physicality he took for granted. And we have seen a little of that. Albeit in yelling Lookit Me and then alternately pumping up and giving up and now finding his feet again. I suppose they could have done all that without trying to heighten the stakes by having the injury threaten his ability to walk at all, but the show does tend to favor the extremes. I mean, Flack was saved by a shoelace, if I recall :lol:.
I don't really care if the walk/don't walk story was a change of plans. I don't care if the inclusion of the pregnancy was an improvisation. I don't care if it was originally intended to be a CSI ripped open in the S2 bomb blast instead of Flack. I'd guess that writing is always an evolution, and it then gets lifted off the page by myriad choices by myriad people, and not just the actors. Whatever is being produced, I just want decent airtime to result. Mixed bag of reviews so far this season, and I guess fluidity and consistency are reasons. Flack's line has some, Danny's seems less so. As for Danny being a flatter version of himself, well, that's not new to S6 and particular to this storyline. That's somehow a larger trend that I hope they turn around.
