I enjoyed the ep a lot.
I loved the b/w to monochrome to color beginning, the stormy weather to clearer weather transition, the darker, rainier, more gritty feel, the sense of a daily grind, the feel of a toll taken, the contemplation & deep breaths with the repeated lock and load seen thu-out. It really was a City That Never Sleeps type thing, & is the tack I'd hoped the show would take, should it be done as a series.
That repeated lock n load element also helped to lessen the contrived nature of the opening, as it was presented as the risk they all take every time they get a call.
What I was slightly surprised by was that the near death moment wasn't just a hail of bullets/was it my time or not; it was a fleeing criminal having the time to decide whether or not he was gonna kill a cop & determining that yes would be the answer.
The misfire was well done, and still let Mac work his way out of the situation, as opposed to being rescued. Had this happened mid-season, a rescue would have worked fine, but I'd expected/hoped for nothing less than Mac being plagued by doubts
despite the fact he kept his skin intact by chance combined with his own actions after.
It was also in keeping with Mac's character to retreat inwards instead of reaching out as it replayed in his head. That the day cleared & brightened while Mac didn't became a nice premise for the episode.
I liked the meeting scene. Beautifully put together. That he was so internalized that the others registered in his awareness via their physicality as opposed to the work or their words was also great, so too that details remained heightened for him after the fact. Also liked the "alone in a crowded room" type thing, complete to him leaving the group discussion altogether. Was further emphasized for me in that the labs had been cleaned up, glass freshly installed etc., but that things were clearly not back to normal for Mac after the incidents both leading up to and occurring within this ep.
Can I also just mention that I was absurdly happy to see Sid at the meeting, moreover inferred as being a part of the team, participating in proceedings outside the morgue? Sid
. Aw. Yay. :lol:
I also liked that Jo was watching Mac, keeping tabs on him throughout. I enjoyed all their scenes together, I like the dynamic between the two very much. I like that Jo is probably right, that she knows Mac better than he thinks or might admit to, & their dueling "entitlement" was fun
.
I was surprised by how far afield the ep ranged, from mentioning Baltimore, going to Boston, Georgia, NC.
I appreciated that a somewhat anonymous bodega robbery/homicide in Queens was the basis and one case left on Mac's desk. It was perfect in scale for the finale; it wasn't something of extremely heightened social or political importance or inflated consequence, it was a seemingly mundane cold case that became very human in focus, finding a little girl. That too was nice to see NY return to.
I liked the old-school string method vs. "it's amazing what computers can do nowadays," aspect. The show has been on for 7 yrs, Mac has been head of the crime lab for 9; that there would be a curve in tech is not really my point; it's the juxtaposition, his mindset in revisiting an old case with old habits, re-treading the same ground & not progressing until the case met the rest of his present tense & present team.
I like that uber-tech did not overly feature, despite the acknowledgment, & Sheldon's words that the tests which picked up Olivia's transfer did so rather by chance, not by design. It was also fun to hear Hawkes, of all people, say "...machines: sometimes there's no rationale for what they do."
Along with Queens and the bodega homicide for scale, I also liked Flack's mention of compstat. It's like the show became re-grounded, found it's feet again. (I mean, can you imagine if the season/potential series finale had been yet another glitz flash-bang rich-victim neon-laced club-tracked type ep? I was very, very happy with the approach the last few eps took).
I liked the Flack/Mac interaction, that Mac was consulting Flack, asking his take on a case personally important to him. In that sense, it was nice to see Mac starting to reach out, after his talk with Jo, even if he wasn't letting anyone in on what he was motivated by. Flack's "you alright, buddy?" was also nice, & a nod to the interesting relationship those two men have had over the years.
I thought the photo of Lucy in the beginning, along with Don's badge, and Mac's cross, all worked well. It was rather symbolic, reaffirmation, family, duty, faith, yada, which also worked well as part of the premise. It fit each character too, not only of what drives them all, but what happens when those anchors become fractured or threatened. Danny's world was rocked when Shane Casey came calling, now he's thinking of his family's future in a different way. Don's was when Angell was killed and he in turn killed Cade; he seems increasingly driven & duty bound.
Mac's personal history of service, sacrifice and loss are well-known, but not overtly spoken of often; that's why it was interesting to me that some of Mac's foundations were fractured more recently when he was obliged to unravel that his training officer and first partner not only committed grand larceny & killed a woman but used Mac to get away with it; further that karma came calling & won, with Mac and his labs rather helplessly caught in the middle of it. His faith in duty, professionalism, and in someone he considered (estranged) family was under assault as much as his office was. So, a little cheezy? Yes. But different from how he's typically been portrayed, still in keeping, and it was indeed interesting for me to see Mac have his self-assurance dented of late - to the point where he was, in the finale, asking, "what am I doing? What have I managed? Maybe I have done my part. Maybe
I'm done."
It was also nice to see Mac, Danny and Flack, core from day 1, remain a tight unit.
Moving on. The DL drug mule/Pacino thing was vaguely amusing as a way to broach them considering their future. It was reasonably palatable in terms of performance, & staged the potential future conflict concisely enough I can't have a beef with it, it's just not something I as a viewer was tickled by having to sit thru.
I was happy to hear that the issue would be whether or not Danny would accept a transfer should he accept the promotion to Sgt. A predictable upward hurdle, all told.
Mac with Mrs. Dalton was pretty restrained. Mac's "I'm not here to judge you" seemed to echo thru the ep as some sort of learning curve for him too, or at least the writers. Perhaps they really did have some sort of ritual burning of the soap box in the parking lot :lol:. Letting Mac be human and interact on that level as opposed to Uber-Chief-CSI-Detective come to either save you or kick your ass was very welcome.
It was also welcome that not only was Mac brought down to rainy earth with the misfire (even if it was on a rooftop), but that when Mac tried to deflect and put up the "entitled" Uber-Chief-CSI-Detective shield, that Jo duly poked it and dragged him out from under it. If NY gets a S8, this is a direction for Mac that's been long overdue.
Mac's "it's never too late" (to try/to have hope/to seek resolution etc) to Mrs. Dalton was also an interesting line. For a man struggling with "what am I doing," it may depend on having something to do, rather than whether or not he feels he's capable. Given that the city never sleeps, that wouldn't be an issue, should he find his faith is not completely eroded; perhaps he is not done.
Jo's scene with Jacquie was good. Jo does have a knack for getting under people's skin, & it was satisfying to watch the back n forth there; I liked Jo pushing, I liked Jacquie pushing back. I also liked the turn the scene took when Olivia was mentioned. The "you've got mail" post-card plot-device was a little hard to swallow, but it was fun to see NY go on the road, so to speak. Boston PD will get a fruit basket every xmas from here on for the unseen legwork in finding Kenny. Poor Flack. Always getting sh*t tossed at him :lol:.
Was nice to see Adam get some screen time with the post card, & it was kind of amusing to hear Adam (of all people) complimenting Mac (of all people) on Outside the Box thinking :lol:. Guess Mac put the string away. Or Jo did. No one will ever be able to find it now if it's on her desk
.
I didn't foresee Wes essentially adopting Olivia. (I thought Olivia might run to the house behind Kenny after Wes beaned him with the revolver). Didn't know how to feel about that for a bit. They did have a few nice scenes though.
Also kinda nice to see that the various SWAT/assault teams/cops were given different looks in each stop along the road trip
.
The Wes/Olivia relationship took an interesting small twist after the hint that Olivia should go get their runaway-bag (doughnuts/cops), implying that they've bolted before, & that she's helped them to do so. The scene was done well, Wes being killed despite Mac trying to wave the team off, and the shot of Olivia rising with the gun was great.
I liked that here, again, Mac didn't judge or criminalize Wes to Olivia, and that he was able to try and see things from her perspective, enough to be able to defuse things. I guess Doubt and a Search For Perspective was the common ingredient.
The Mac/Jo/Mrs. Dalton/Olivia scene was nicely low key. I also liked that while Jo was still mostly keeping an eye on Mac, that there was something in SW's performance that made me see Jo as also thinking about her own daughter as well, while Mrs. Dalton tried to will herself thru the door to see Olivia.
The final Mac/Jo scene was also very good, and their interaction continued past the dialogue as well. It's also not the first time that Jo has learned something by reading a report by Mac and reading between the lines. The Carver case was another, with her commenting on Mac likely being a good poker player. Kinda fun to see that revisited here, and while Jo has become more adept at reading Mac's tells, she still hadn't quite seen all the way thru; which was also nice in that it enabled Mac to choose to confide in her after being prodded, instead of her just pulling some insightful reveal.
The last montage of each team member as Mac filed the now closed-case in his newly renovated office, with Jo yet still keeping an eye out, was good. Had it stopped with DL, I would have been enraged :lol:. Their last scene was thankfully less cheezy than their first one. Flack is apparently just as much a workaholic, driven, and duty bound as Mac. Sheldon and Camille are apparently still getting in trouble together; I loved that Sheldon and Sid had that small scene, because they've always been fun as colleagues on a level that the others as non-med professionals don't broach.
I also liked the TOD Friday between 7-11pm, :lol:, although it hurt to smile at it, I admit; Sid's "go ahead, ...he's not going anywhere" shortly after was also fun
. Same again for "A. Burn" being noted on the bodega file report. (Given these nods, I'd not have been averse to something like
Dreamboat's suggestion of a photo of Stella somewhere, but Stella did get a mention recently, and I'm glad the focus was really on the present team).
I so adored Adam's montage moment, lol'd, perfectly timed & edited in, and Mac smiling at that. It made his walk thru seem more about family & his ties to the labs than just about each character getting a moment as a possible fade out. Ditto for Jo's moment, and subsequently turning to watch Mac. A nice shot to see him walking in the hall with her on the balcony behind, before heading out to actually be a part of the city-not-sleeping, instead of just responding to it.
The music worked well too. Wasn't intrusive thru the ep, heartstrings successfully tugged at the end.
The ep was not overly melodramatic, and not so depressing should that be how the series ends. Should NY return, it's also at an interesting plateau to start from, a place of it's own choosing, instead of being obliged to work from juggling a cliff hanger needing to be addressed, and a series of changes, in slot, casting, pace of production, etc.
Call this one an A-, coming after a few eps I'd have in the high B range. I'd be happy to see the show come back. NY did the ep proud, be it season or series finale.
-
Um, Danny? ....Not being with your spouse 24/7 would just make you a normal married couple.
:lol:
It's a crying shame that they've proved they really can produce quality eps again NOW when the show could be over.
It is. But. I'm glad that they did produce quality eps. I'd be upset if I cared less, if that makes sense. S7 made me care again. The bastards
.
i'm gonna be the lone dissenting voice here (i suspect) and say i hope they DON'T renew it.
No pocky, dim sum nor pizza between us on this one
. I disagree. But I do understand.
i've felt for months that the scripts have been appalling...
I've felt for
years :lol: that the majority of scripts had hit a disappointing standard of what was acceptable, reliant on formula, coasting, certain production habits.
Aside from a few eps that read like they were personal pet scripts some writers had secretly been grooming, NY's recent seasons felt like they just churned out generic content.
I think SW & Jo have had the kind of impact I hoped for, and more than I was expecting. I hoped that the opportunities inherent in a character transition would bring good things. Was a bit rocky at first, but good things did come. The intangibles though, have been the warmth & heart Jo has added, the humanity she enables, the humor that compliments that of other characters so well. I would have to guess that SW as a personality and new presence also helped the show recharge.
Parachuting in a new character likely knocked over a few coffee cups in the writer's room, made a bit of a mess. It's only fitting that was Jo :lol:. NY was certainly better for her addition this season, and the changes prompted.
PLEASE listen to this. there are better things out there for you and they're called plays
. Perhaps he might be amenable to adapting/directing a play for a film. You could start a campaign for which one...
As for what's "better..." :lol:. I still won't kick popular entertainment in the teeth. It's a living, and not without some merits.
"Film makes you rich, tv makes you famous, theater feeds your soul" may have (some) truth, but being able to feed your family and being known enough to get calls, or support for your own projects (including theater) is also a good thing
. Someday someone clever will find a way to work games and new media into that as well.
I just hope they all had a good time this season. Despite the wobbly consistency and some old-habits-die-hard resurgences, there were some fun eps. There was also less stunt casting and far better guests making appearances.
I was entertained more than I felt my time was wasted this season, and that's not something I could say of the preceding three years.
You know what why no Stella?
Perchance because she's no longer on the show?
I don't think anyone has forgotten her. She was mentioned in an ep just recently.
a whole lot of massively disappointed people who have supported the show for the last 7 years and have been treated appalingly.
Rly. Rly? Appallingly? Rly.
I (who am not Legion, for I am not many) speaking only for myself, disagree with that assertion. I am however, slightly boggled. Plural.
I always though GS was a genuinely nice guy...there is no excuse for his actions.... instead of using this power to give us the happy Smacked ending we have been waiting for all this time he chose to ignore that loyalty,in short he dishonoured himself,the show and his audience who care so much about Mac and Stella. If your reading this Mr Sinise then I hope your hanging your head in shame because we all deserved so much better than that.
...Oh. My.
Jus-
I-
Wh-
Um.
What?
* Gonna take a small and discreet step back for a sec the then return and be as tactful as possible. *
...Right. This kind of comment is why I find Castle so freakin funny at times. Eps with an actor shadowing a cop, let alone a writer observing an actor shadowing a cop, let alone a writer responsible for the situation enabling an actor to shadow a cop he's shadowing, let alone a tv show crimedy-dramz about said stuff, cases about late nite wars, cases about soap-set murders and tv ships as possible motives
.
Bullet points. Dear Legion,
I will not re-hash the same points over again. I've said my piece quite clearly in previous posts. On a few variants brought around this time:
- Producer credits may not always mean what you think they mean.
- Viewers aren't owed anything. Viewers don't owe a show anything. "Let us entertain you (while other people try to sell you sh*t)" is the weekly offer.
- I think we differ on what "support" means.
- I think we differ greatly on what constitutes dishonor, and what kind of behavior might be worthy of shame
- I think we differ on what the heart and soul of the show are
- on citing ratings in support of certain arguments by some Smack fans: I understand your preferences; I'm dubious of your math.
- The show was mindful of its fans, by producing a season finale that could serve as a series finale, or as a new plateau should it get renewed. It was further very appropriately focused for a crime procedural.
...I'm gonna take the poor zombie horse back to a nice quiet spot for a bit of respite.
ok, I'm not even going to go into why it's entirely ridiculous that Gary Sinise isn't a nice guy just because he doesn't/didn't ship SMacklikeOMG!!!!
:rommie:
However, I do want to address the whole idea that somehow the SMacked fan element makes up the VAST and overwhelming majority of fans and that anyone else who doesn't see it is blind and now the show sucks. .... In fact to be a fan, one isn't required to ship anybody!
*...urge to
Slow Clap is building...*
And no, I will not "trust you" that "most of us" would take cancellation...
*...cannae resist much longer keptin...*
I fully understand and can appreciate that there are those of you who really wanted certain things in the show to happen that ultimately didn't, and if you want to state your personalopinion that's fine. But don't start presuming to speak for "most of us", and say that other cast members had a responsibility to make things turn out the way you wanted otherwise they're not nice and should be ashamed.
* :beer: *
--
I also don't disagree that Gary's most moving or challenging work has not been on this show, despite a few nice glimmers, ...but a 43 minute crime procedural is not going to be the platform that frequently offers pithy opportunities for any actor or writer of the sort that some viewers might like
. Nature of the tasking. Different kind of challenges.
And yeah, I think Gary/CSI were after a different kind of symbiosis as part of the trade off :lol:. 7 yrs points to a reasonable success :lol: