Grade "Hammer Down"

How would you grade Hammer Down?

  • A+

    Votes: 6 12.2%
  • A

    Votes: 10 20.4%
  • A-

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • B+

    Votes: 6 12.2%
  • B

    Votes: 7 14.3%
  • B-

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • C+

    Votes: 2 4.1%
  • C

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • C-

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • D+

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • D

    Votes: 2 4.1%
  • D-

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    49
Hey All!

Too bad that CSI NY was the intermediate of the trilogy it would have been a lot more fun to end in NY... The story altogether was interesting and it reminded me a very good movie (taken) which I saw recetly.
I like that the air time was fair for all.
Flac was nice! (punch that guy for ruining Flac's gorgeus face!!!)
For me Mac's interraction with Langston was better than Horatio's, they shared some personal info which I liked :)
I loved Hawkes in this epi! I love his devotion and his passion, he is excellent!
For once more Stella was just there :(
Dnny & Lindsay were just fine! :)

PS: Danny don't shave!!!! I like him that way!!! :drool:
 
I'll give it a B. Not much to say that hsan't been said. Loved Flack and Hawkes. And I also liked the Professor with Mac better than Horatio (but I detest Horatio...so...).

My biggest beef is Ray has morphed into a crack CSI since the season began. He went from not being able to fingerprint to analyzing maggot trails ala Grissom.

Is it just me or has Jonathan Togo on "Miami" really put on some weight?

Tobin
 
Alright so I finally caught an eppy after missing a few. Though I can't wait for next weeks ahhh.

I am glad I didn't have to watch Miami to know what the hell was going on. I thought it was an okay eppy actually. Loved Hawks getting all amped up that was great for him to show emotion. Flack was like "I'm going to let the man do all the talkin, seems to be doing just fine."

Though I think they could have had that guy get a way a bit better when Hawks and FLack were on him, it was okay cause I got some hurtage from Flack!

I am wondering where the heck the motocycle came from. I assume the driver had it or something, but it's like okay he knows either a. how to hotwire, or b. the stupid driver left his keyes in the ignition. dummy.

Other then that, I liked the chase, and I'll have to watch the conclusion tonight.
 
Hm, Mac vs. Horatio in regards to Ray (I'd compare how the other characters interacted with Ray as well, but except for Flack [and briefly, Stella], they...really didn't). I said earlier that there seemed to be a stronger camaraderie between Ray and the people at the Miami Lab, than the ones at the NY Lab. I still think so, but I also think Mac may have connected with Ray more strongly than Horatio did.

Horatio (and Miami) in general seemed more receptive/welcoming of Ray, and that's what formed the basis of their interaction; Horatio played off of him easily, acknowledged his skills (the "Dr. Ray" and all that), asked after Langston's coworkers and Langston's book, etc. Mac (and NY) was way more reserved with Langston. But in that special Mac-way of his, managed to bond more with Langston than Horatio did even despite that reservation. At least I think so -- I don't remember Langston talking much about missing-Madeline with Horatio.

I'm not exactly Horatio's biggest fan :p but his interactions with Langston were easier to watch, just because they seemed more easygoing. Mac was stiffer, but they connected on a deeper level.
 
I'd be lying if I said I'd spent the day trying to think of a single word to describe last night's episode of CSI:NY. I didn't have to spend that much time or energy on the subject because the appropriate response become readily apparent the second Ray Langston stepped off the chopper(And don't think I didn't wonder how many low-level lab techs' jobs died to give Langston that totally gratuitous chopper ride. Whatever happened to six hours in coach?).

Zzzzzzzzz.

I know I was supposed to be outraged by the idea of human trafficking and all its attendant horrors--horrors that the writers took great pains to pound into my throbbing skull by having multiple characters recite the grisly litany of atrocities ad infinitum--but after seeing 8,357 episodes treating on the same theme on other CBS procedurals, I'm afraid I've grown a tad inured, and really, it's hard to feel much sympathy when the victim had a golden opportunity to escape her captor in Miami. You know, when she was in the magical fiefdom of the mighty HoCaine and rebuffed Calleigh's obvious suspicion and concern with a healthy dose of snot-nose. I understand fear, but there was no indication that the intrepid moron by whom she was trapped had a gun. What was he going to do in a room full of cops? Give her a ninja death wedgie? She could have escaped, but for the convenience and contrivance of the plot, she chose not to. This is a common trope on crime dramas, but this one was so obvious as to be insulting.

I like Dr. Langston. On CSI. He fills an import niche as the Zenmaster 2.0 of Vegas. Team him up with Mac Taylor, however, and it's like serving mashed potatoes with...mashed potatoes. Both he and Mac are incredibly bland, self-assured characters, leaving neither with a foil off whom to work. If you weren't invested in the plight of Melinda Bright, then there was little tension in the episode. Watching these two grim their way through the episode was like visual Sominex.

Gee, thanks for that ham-fisted reminder that Mac was in the military and therefore entitled to gratuitous ego-slurping. Guess you had to fit the Veterans' Day reference in somewhere. Does that particular laurel have an expiration date, or is Mac destined to rest on it until it crumbles to dust beneath his wrinkled, kiss-chapped ass?

I did, however like the subtle juxtaposition of Mac, who wanted to be like his father, and Langston, who desperately doesn't.

Dear CBS,

Danny and Lindsay are married. We get it. Now can we please sever the anally-attached umbilical cord? Grissom and Sara worked because they were developed characters able to function independently of each other. Hell, they're currently on different continents, and their marriage hasn't collapsed. Why must Danny share his every scene with a Lindsay who peers avidly over his shoulder and pounces on his every change of expression?

La Guera

Hawkes delivered another bravura performance this week, as did Flack. Hawkes was clearly disgusted by Dr. Fuller's abuse of the Hippocratic oath, and Flack was clearly intrigued and impressed by the more passionate side to the normally reserved doctor. Maybe Hawkes was still reeling from his uncharacteristic lapse of judgment last week and stinging from his inability to save the poisoned couple. Perhaps that failure has heightened his sense of duty as a CSI and a doctor and lent fire to his condemnation.

It's been a long time since a fleeing suspect bested Flack. Was this yet another sign that he's off his game?

I loved his gleeful declaration of, "I got my Mac on," when Mac and Stella arrived at the crime scene. Judging from her momentarily befuddled expression, I think Stella thought the same thing I did: that Flack was boasting of his chick-macking prowess.

For all the hype poured into this trilogy, it's proven vastly disappointing thusfar. C
 
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^ETA: LaGuera, per usual, your post is made of win. :D

And so ditto on the Danny/Lindsay stuff. If they had any real chemistry, the presumed new audience wouldn't have needed to be told they're married. ;)

And agreed about the victim. She couldn't say something when she was literally in police custody? :confused:

B

I can't say I'm really invested in this trilogy--the sex trafficking thing has been done to death, and though NY did it best, it's still same same building blocks over and over again: terrorized tied up/drugged girls, evil churlish men, the CSIs going on about the sex trafficking and then heroically saving the girls at the end. Like I said, "She's Not There" did it much better than that, and this entry at least offers up something new with the organ trafficking, but it's still IMO not worthy of a crossover.

I thought this episode was fine--Langston fit right in without made too prominent, but it very much felt like his story taking place in NY, which kind of marginalized the NY team. Still, I liked Langston's interactions with Mac, and I do like Langston as a character. I like how he and Mac immediately bonded over something real, which made it feel like they weren't just insta-best-buddies just because, but for a real, concrete reason. I liked that.

Michael Massee was good--kudos on the casting, because otherwise Steele would have felt completely like a run-of-the-mill baddie. I'm curious to see how it all concludes in Vegas, but only mildly so.
 
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Hm, Mac vs. Horatio in regards to Ray (I'd compare how the other characters interacted with Ray as well, but except for Flack [and briefly, Stella], they...really didn't). I said earlier that there seemed to be a stronger camaraderie between Ray and the people at the Miami Lab, than the ones at the NY Lab. I still think so, but I also think Mac may have connected with Ray more strongly than Horatio did.

Horatio (and Miami) in general seemed more receptive/welcoming of Ray, and that's what formed the basis of their interaction; Horatio played off of him easily, acknowledged his skills (the "Dr. Ray" and all that), asked after Langston's coworkers and Langston's book, etc. Mac (and NY) was way more reserved with Langston. But in that special Mac-way of his, managed to bond more with Langston than Horatio did even despite that reservation. At least I think so -- I don't remember Langston talking much about missing-Madeline with Horatio.

I'm not exactly Horatio's biggest fan :p but his interactions with Langston were easier to watch, just because they seemed more easygoing. Mac was stiffer, but they connected on a deeper level.

I think the interactions says alot of the crime labs' connection to each other.

Miami is able to have stronger connection and easier tone with both Vegas and NY because they've crossed over with both shows. Horatio's interaction with Catherine and Warrick in the pilot, and then once again with Mac and the NY team in both the backdoor NY pilot and Manhanttan Manhunt. So the fact that Miami has a much easier feeling with the Vegas crime lab is a no brainer here.

Mac and NY's interaction so far has only been with Horatio, but Horatio's connection to Vegas is much stronger in the sense that he was able to personally know and ask after members of the Vegas team, and that mention of sending his condolences to Catherine about Warrick was a nice touch and subtle hint that Horatio knows the Vegas team. But Mac and Ray has a bit of a stiffer relationship most likely due to the fact that this is Mac's first outing with the Vegas team and there is no personal connection between the two that Horatio and Ray had.

But I don't think the different interaction tone was bad for each character, I mean, both Horatio and Mac found their each unique connection with Ray, so either way, it worked out.

I'm enjoying this story so far, and it's nice to just be able to sit back and relax and just be entertained and not have to use my brain at all and see all the crime teams interact.

Sure with every story there are mistakes and plotholes and things that people won't like or enjoy, but I decided to stay away from all that this week and just enjoy myself watching the three shows come together! :cool:

There was one thing that did stood out for me, it happened with both Miami and NY, especially in the action scenes and gunfights, it becomes quite clear that the Vegas CSIs are no sharpshooters, I mean sure they can all hold a gun, but none of them look natural using them, it just seem to emphasize more of the fact that the Vegas CSIs are scientists first, while in both NY and Miami, it wouldn't be any shock to see any of their CSIs tackling down suspects, go on raids, or shoot guns like they're born to. If anything it's moments like this that shows the two spin-offs difference with their original sister show, the Miami and NY CSIs are detectives as well as scientists and never seem to miss a beat when it comes to taking down bad guys.

Ray looked a little out of place in the raid at the scrap out, he just doesn't seem to exude the natural instinct that Flack and Mac has.....although that cute little bike was rather convinient, but good bike rider or not, Ray just doesn't seem quite as in touch with the fight as Mac and even Flack was....
 
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A gave this episode a B-. It was mostly a so-so episode to me and I preferred the Miami part. Then again I may be slightly biased because I don't watch NY much anymore. I actually didn't mind the interaction between Mac and Ray though. They did do a good job of trying to keep up the action throughout the episode. I also loved the fact that they gave us the fact that they showed that the girl was being taken to Vegas. This episode had more of a tie in to the Vegas part then Miami did to NY.
 
a few replies and then my own thoughts (which will probably be already covered but hey!)

Overall, I think being the middle of the three shows means NY gets the short end of the stick. They're not kicking this story off, they're not wrapping it up, they're just kind of bridging the gap and so far it hasn't even been in a way that seems necessary to the overall plot. Ultimately that might change when they finish the story, and I had some fun watching it, but by the time this episode ended they didn't feel any closer or father from the resolution to me.

yeah, i agree, all stories need a beginning, middle and end, and although the overall story will have that, i think each episode needed something more within it to make it worthwhile for those only watching one of them. and NY being in the middle had the toughest part, because it didn't get the hook *or* the wrap.

~Mac is more powerful that Spiderman. You heard it here.

that made me chuckle :)

~The length suggests female? Depends, Lindsay, your hair is about the same length as Dr. Spencer Reid's...

yeah, i thought that too, lindsay can be so narrowminded! ;)

we did get some good moments that had the subtlety to appeal to long-time fans. (Lindsay talking about the pregnant girl, Flack looking into the operating room, etc.)

yeah, i liked both those bits, you could practically SEE angell on the operating table, it was nice. well, not nice, but a nice touch.


- I don't understand why they need to put the girl on the floor. Anyone smarter than me?

i assumed it was because (a) if they tipped her out onto a table she might fall off and (b, and probably more importantly) there might be decomp juices in there so they'd have to catch that on the green tarp they laid down, so easier to spread it on a floor than try to confine it to a table.

by the way fay, i love your avatar. that bear scene with walter, jesse and ryan cracked me up. "you're safe now, girls." :lol:

yeah, that bit was great :D

or does the girl who played madeline look like leighton meester? lol.

yeah, i see what you mean actually!

I did watch most of the Miami ep. Briefly: Was okay. Walter's funny. Ryan's still good. Ep was visually very nice, though it'd been awhile that I'd forgotten about their propensity for excessive slow motion stuff and odd musical juxtaposition with montage sequences only 90 seconds apart.

i watched it and i thought it was ok - the dr ray thing made me laugh - a lot, and not with, either. i liked walter, i'd not seen him in this before, he's basically playing the same guy he was in eleventh hour but hey! this was my favourite bit of the entire miami ep, just because it was beautiful (apologies for posting a miami cap in the ny thread...):




I liked that Flack got his Mac on (his words, not mine) :lol:.

yeah, that bit was great, i liked that :) i thought mac's reaction to it was quite funny too, he didn't smile much but it was like he was trying to not show he found it funny.

Flack had a helluva choice to make in the face of letting a harvested organ from a victim go into surgery or let a guy die. Included for drama no doubt, but a bit of an odd moment for me. What the hell would you do.

i liked that they put that in, it was nice to see that they wanted the audience to think about it a little bit. ditto hawkes' "chat" with the doctor

The choice of a scrap yard was disturbingly fitting, as the girls were essentially traded and dealt wholesale or for parts and discarded in pieces.

yeah, i liked that too. however i was kind of annoyed that they found what was left of her in the very first trailer they went into. on a scrap yard that big, i mean, really, what were the chances?:rolleyes:

that mention of sending his condolences to Catherine about Warrick was a nice touch and subtle hint that Horatio knows the Vegas team.

i agree, i really liked that bit.

as for what i thought - well, i watched miami and ny, and both were, well, ok. it felt a bit forced, like they were trying too hard to do something flashy, when i'd rather have seen a normal ep. i liked ray and mac's interaction, even though it was a little formal - but then i'd expect nothing less. someone earlier said they thought mac was more reserved with ray than horatio, and i agree, horatio was much more friendly in a more obvious way, but would mac be anything but reserved? i don't think he would. he's not exactly the instant buddy type.

i really liked all the aforementioned lines, and there were aspects i enjoyed, namely the basis of the case, the evil bastard driver and the fact he was a mere pawn, and the war memorial scene (i am obviously in a minority on that one! even thought at one point i did catch myself thinking "mac, you're not in church, stop giving sermons!"). but overall i just thought it was a bit, well, dull i guess. like it was trying too hard and it didn't quite work. in terms of the trafficking stuff they've done, i much preferred she's not there which i thought was very well done. i dunno, i just found i wasn't into it that much, which is a shame because i loved last week's ep and i liked the one before that too, i felt like they were really hitting their stride in this season and then they do this....

so i'm giving it a b-, mainly for effort.

oh and one more thing: i'm so over edna. i realise that in order to prove it was a good exchange rate (one detective written off in exchange for one flashy robot with mood lighting) they have to use it a fair bit but omg, STOP! i'm sick of the damn thing.
 
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Hawkes and Flack seem to be working well together which was a surprise after their interaction last week.

Loved the Flack slide. Poor face.

All three CSIs are different from each other, different tone, different style. When there is a crossover, the outsider just doesn't fit. Langston seemed out of place on Miami and definitely on NY, not just because he's from somewhere else but because his character just doesn't mesh well outside LV.

So Hawkes gets kicked in the face chasing a perp up a fire escape in an episode concerning a liver transplant. Didn't that happen to Flack in season two?

On another note, just noticed Maka (Kelly Hu) as Kai on NCIS Tuesday.
 
I would honestly give it a C.

It wasn't an episode that really just grabbed hold onto my attention like the others. It didn't seem to flow as all the other CSI NY episodes have done, IMO. I guess I will give it an overall grade when I get the chance to watch the final episode online later tonight.
 
Originally Posted by BauerAlmeida:
I think the interactions says alot of the crime labs' connection to each other.

Miami is able to have stronger connection and easier tone with both Vegas and NY because they've crossed over with both shows. Horatio's interaction with Catherine and Warrick in the pilot, and then once again with Mac and the NY team in both the backdoor NY pilot and Manhanttan Manhunt. So the fact that Miami has a much easier feeling with the Vegas crime lab is a no brainer here.

Mac and NY's interaction so far has only been with Horatio, but Horatio's connection to Vegas is much stronger in the sense that he was able to personally know and ask after members of the Vegas team, and that mention of sending his condolences to Catherine about Warrick was a nice touch and subtle hint that Horatio knows the Vegas team. But Mac and Ray has a bit of a stiffer relationship most likely due to the fact that this is Mac's first outing with the Vegas team and there is no personal connection between the two that Horatio and Ray had.
See, I did consider this: that it being the first time Vegas had crossed over with NY, things would naturally be stiffer. But there was a first time that Miami crossed with Vegas too ("Cross-Jurisdictions"), and with NY; and in both those episodes, the interactions came more naturally and less awkward. Horatio treated Catherine like she was a member of his team, Catherine even remarked on it, etc, etc. Those were backdoor pilots, so of course they had to come across more naturally, but all the same ... if it was just the "never-done-this-before" factor that made Langston's mesh with NY seem so awkward, they probably should've thought more about that when they were writing the scenes, and done more to make it seem like NY fits into the fold. Mac may know squat about Vegas's lab, but Langston had just come from Miami, and Mac knows about them...just like Horatio mentioned Catherine and Warrick, they could've similarly had Mac ask after Horatio (especially since he usually seems to be such a Horatio-fanboy), and I have to admit I'd've rather seen that then the tiny bit of exposition on the war memorials.

But I don't think the different interaction tone was bad for each character, I mean, both Horatio and Mac found their each unique connection with Ray, so either way, it worked out.
Yeah, I agree -- the specific differences in Mac and Horatio's interactions with Ray was very characterstic for both, which made it work. Mac's interaction, though, is the one I found most interesting because it was really just one more thing to point out how outside-the-loop NY seems to be when it comes to the other labs. There's not as much of a link between them, at least as far as this episode is concerned.

~The length suggests female? Depends, Lindsay, your hair is about the same length as Dr. Spencer Reid's...
yeah, i thought that too, lindsay can be so narrowminded! ;)
I don't know, I think that's why she said "suggests" female (and ended up being right). Hair the length of Dr. Reid's or Dave Benton's on guys, doesn't seem to be the norm anymore; at least not in recent years.
 
i assumed it was because (a) if they tipped her out onto a table she might fall off and (b, and probably more importantly) there might be decomp juices in there so they'd have to catch that on the green tarp they laid down, so easier to spread it on a floor than try to confine it to a table.

Ah-Hah, very good logic there! A smart one you are (okay, bad yoda impression :rommie:)
 
Yeah, I agree -- the specific differences in Mac and Horatio's interactions with Ray was very characterstic for both, which made it work.

yeah, i'd agree with that.

Mac's interaction, though, is the one I found most interesting because it was really just one more thing to point out how outside-the-loop NY seems to be when it comes to the other labs. There's not as much of a link between them, at least as far as this episode is concerned.

how so? i don't disagree, i'm just curious.

~The length suggests female? Depends, Lindsay, your hair is about the same length as Dr. Spencer Reid's...
yeah, i thought that too, lindsay can be so narrowminded! ;)
I don't know, I think that's why she said "suggests" female (and ended up being right). Hair the length of Dr. Reid's or Dave Benton's on guys, doesn't seem to be the norm anymore; at least not in recent years.

yeah, true, she did say "suggests" which at least gave her a way out!

i assumed it was because (a) if they tipped her out onto a table she might fall off and (b, and probably more importantly) there might be decomp juices in there so they'd have to catch that on the green tarp they laid down, so easier to spread it on a floor than try to confine it to a table.

Ah-Hah, very good logic there! A smart one you are (okay, bad yoda impression :rommie:)

haha, i'm a jedi!!:vulcan:
 
There wasn't anything that really grabbed me about this episode. It felt as though it was just filling in the pieces of the trilogy but had something missing in terms of this being the NY corner of the franchise. I didn't expect them to have continuity re. the ongoing character storylines in this episode but I did expect the characters to be themselves. That didn't happen for me. It felt as though they could have mostly delivered each other's lines - with the exception of Hawkes getting all passionate about the hippocratic oath.

The Danny - Lindsay honeymoon exchange was clearly an attempt to appeal to those who don't usually watch but it was clumsy. It would have been much better if they'd gone for some sort of 'gesture' that implied them being more than work colleagues. That way anyone who doesn't usually watch might be interested to find out more (if that's what tptb were hoping with that line), if that appeals to them.

B+
 
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