Grade 'No Good Deed'

[Elsie]

I guess when really disliking a character some people like to pick apart everything that character does, hold a magnifying-glass over it and rant about it. Don't get me wrong, I love to rant every once in a while. Too bad I don't dislike Lindsay that much nowadays so I could to join.

I guess when people are infatuated with a character it's pretty hard to admit they're capable of being insipid....God, I hate sweeping, poorly veiled, insinuations, don't you?

C'mon now...

C'mon now, everyone. Let's leave it there.

eta: What Top said.

 

[Poppet]

Personally, I would have disliked it whoever said. I think it was a badly written line, and IMO was another example of how sloppy the show is becoming - I think TPTB were more meticulous and the writing was alot tighter in previous seasons.

 

[roximonoxide]

Personally, I would have disliked it whoever said. I think it was a badly written line, and IMO was another example of how sloppy the show is becoming - I think TPTB were more meticulous and the writing was alot tighter in previous seasons.

I couldn't agree more about the writing. Those first couple seasons it seems like writers were not only communicating but were mindful of what other writers had laid down as canon. No reconning, and twisted backstories that don't even work anymore...

 

[Top41]

B+

The humor was what saved this one for me, because the crazy technology was a little too convenient in a few too many places in this ep. Laser printers have finger prints and have for 20 years? :wtf: I did find the episode funnier than usual, with a lot of really good lines.

Danny offering Mac the Viagra ointment was pretty funny. :lol: It was pretty inappropriate--but that's Danny, kind of inappropriate. :lol: I like how Danny was making jokes, but they're still not that funny. It really cracks me up how Danny's just not that funny while Flack and Adam are pretty hilarious.

I didn't mind Danny reading to the baby in the lab--he was just waiting for results, and Lindsay was doing her work. If they'd been goofing off and neglecting stuff or doing it around other people it might have been appropriate, but as it was, it was private and not overly distracting.

I missed Lindsay's line about "pulling rank" on Adam. I do agree with PA though that she's been largely, and thankfully, sidelined. That's been going on for a while now--Lindsay hasn't had a major storyline, or even an episode really, since the show's third season. If that isn't a clue that TPTB are aware of Belknap's lack of skills, I don't know what is. The whole long-winded expo stuff from Lindsay is getting kind of old. She's a glorified lab tech/Danny's baby mama, which kind of pleases everyone. Shippers get their couple; the rest of us don't get subjected to too much Lindsay.

Flack totally brought the funny, as he always does. I loved so many of his lines, from the way he reacted to the eyeball in Stella's coffee to his response to the guy with the spikes in his head. "Public ugly." :lol: Oh, Flack. You are so funny!

Adam and his buzzard dance/imitation totally cracked me up. :lol:

Mac's character is going through some kind of abrupt change, and it feels awkward and rushed. I can see a gradual softening over the course of a season, but to suddenly go from being cautious and having boundaries up to reaching out to and kind of encouraging Ella feels off.

 

[Carrieattheprom]

I'm still confused as to why Flack hasn't said anything about Danny being a father, unless I missed something.

I loved the humor in this episode, it was great! Especially Adam. And hey! We found out he has a sister. I wonder if he protected her from their bully of a father?

Yeah, Mac's abrupt change in attitude is kinda jolting. A more gradual approach would've worked better, I agree. Unless they're setting him up for a big fall...

 

[Top41]

I'm still confused as to why Flack hasn't said anything about Danny being a father, unless I missed something.

Flack is clearly pretending it's not happening. In the next episode, Flack will probably lean over and whisper to Stella, "Damn, Lindsay has really gotten fat! Danny's definitely going to dump her now." :lol:

All kidding aside, that is kind of weird. Flack and Danny are close--you'd think he'd say something.

Yeah, Mac's abrupt change in attitude is kinda jolting. A more gradual approach would've worked better, I agree. Unless they're setting him up for a big fall...

That's possible...though I think it's also possible this Ella stuff is going to get swept under the rug and last night's episode was supposed to wrap it up neatly. I hope not, but it's possible.

 

[roximonoxide]

Yeah, Mac's abrupt change in attitude is kinda jolting. A more gradual approach would've worked better, I agree. Unless they're setting him up for a big fall...

That's possible...though I think it's also possible this Ella stuff is going to get swept under the rug and last night's episode was supposed to wrap it up neatly. I hope not, but it's possible.

Aww, I never thought of that but now that you mention it I've been sitting on this feeling that he's been a lot easier going lately. That's too bad, I hope he's not going through another visible change. The last time that happened was when we moved away from season 1 angsty!Mac to season 2 no-tie!Mac, and I'm still not over that one. I liked the big lug angsty and with tie.

I shudder to think they'll mark THIS transition with another subtraction from his wardrobe! What's it gonna be, Mac? The slacks or the wedding band? Choose!

 

[Carrieattheprom]

If that is going to be the end of it, talk about an anti-climatic solution! That note: "I will make him love me," the fabricating evidence, the cutting her wrists to get his attention... Ella's a sick girl, she can't be healed that easily. No real human being can.

 

[Elwood21]

I do welcome the return of a little fun and humour to NY. The show started out with the kind of promise of the quirky-type eps that Vegas often does so well, but NY only wound up getting about halfway there.

Not seamless by any means, but it was overall fun, and a nice change of pace from the past few weeks.

B. Ish. Eppie Lite. I appreciated that it was unapologetically so.

Unimpressed it opened with Ella. Bleh. But I never liked her or the clingy stalker line they wrote up with regards to her fascination with Mac. Was happy once it moved into the Mac/Stella scene.

Man, that bird's got some impressive bombing run skills to hit a coffee cup on the fly from god knows how high at what speed. And NY's got impressive physics for everyone within five feet not to be wearing the coffee instead of staring at it. Not to mention that the cup stayed upright at all... :lol: Suppose if you took it back they'd give ya a fresh cup? Guess the lesson learned is mix it inside or take it black...

Anyhoo.

Things I liked:

• lots of interaction between all members of the team.

• Stella and Mac at the coffee shop. And liked also the interaction between Stella and Flack, with her giving him a hard time, as Mac put it. A week after seeing the preview and "...oh, and it flew with a limp..." still made me smile. Ha, and I knew Flack was a cream kinda guy :lol:

• In that vein, the overall abundance of fun lines. Among the many, those I actually recall, Stella's limping flyer and the Evil Eye Drop. Flack's describe the bird, and Public Ugly. Adam's Behold the Buzzard. Sid's to the Batcave, Robin, Mac's Find me a buzzard that can throw a punch and bury a body and then it's case closed (gotta say, some of those on the roof looked like they just mighta been able to pull that off...). It's like they had a backlog of unused lines and decided to stuff them all in one eppie.

• Hmm. Mac was really quite chipper in this ep, smiled a whole helluva lot. Mellow Mac was interesting. Guess he don't need none of dat Ointment. It was fun to see him so effervescent, but kinda spooky too. Wonder what prescription he was on and when the pod people will return the real Mac Taylor to us.

• Behold, Adam and the turkey buzzard documentary. I also like everytime he shares a tidbit about an ex-girlfriend. Laughed at Adam directing Mac thru the glass to pace in the corridor. BOLO for a horny perp in the area was funny, but another odd moment all the same. Something strange in the watercooler in the Labs this week, or perhaps everyone was having Special koolaid coffee. And wahoo seeing him out of the labs again. And imitating a regurgitating bird... :lol: Low man on the totem pole indeed. Pish. Methinks not.

• Flack and Danny at the club. Luv the resigned exasperation of Flack's face. I think it musta mirrored my own watching the lead into the scene.

• liked Hawkes being brilliant, as always, and Danny's appreciative urge to throttle him for it

Things Meh:

• the unsubtle role reversals of characters in a few situations. Mac being mushy, collecting strays, and Stella straightening him out. Mac indulging Lindsay and Stella being impatient. And in case we hadn't cottoned on, they hadda have Stella outright explain that their roles were reversed. She asked what was going on, and so did I, for the whole thing in general. (Yet one more reason I'm not a fan of Ella's arc on the show now. WTF is Mac on where she's concerned). The reversals seemed curious instead of insightful, because we never knew what the realignement of typical roles stemmed from in the first place. Did like the cute smile on Stella's face when she left Mac's office though. :lol:

• Mac go Boom. No. No boomage. Done. Everyone. Done. F*ckin leave it alone. Mileage wrung from those four wee letters long time gone. No longer amusing, no matter who ya pass em on to.

• Ubertechnology, the ID via the eye implant, and virtual autopsy etc. Okay, and neatly used to expedite plot, ...but always feels rather like simply just a way to expedite the plot. Go go gadgetman.

• speaking of. The whole superhero/comic book thing. Danny reading Green Lantern. Stella, Sid with Robin and the virtual Batcave. Too bad Adam didn't get a chance to get in on that whole thing some. I also think the whole Freeze frame chase sequence mighta been meant to tie into this. All that was missing was the superimposition of *bif* *blam* *pow* *bam* on top of each higlighted freeze. It was all fun, but I thought for all the references included the writers mighta chosen to do so in en ep where it could also be tied it into a crime itself somehow. Had the potential to be made into more instead of simply amusing interpersonal play.

Didn't like:

• DL. Yes, Danny reading the comic was amusing because it reflected a little of the Danny of old. But. Yeah yeah yeah, I know it was all supposed to be cute, but Danny smooching her belly in the middle of the labs weirded me out. What does it mean when DL makes ya wince absolutely more than any of the corpse and gore fx shots?

• Lindsay. Not picking on her. Stems from the eppie directly. A) Pulling rank on Adam. GTF outta here. Adam's far more useful... IMO it did just seem to have an air about it. Probably not meant to but that's how it came across to me. B) her exposition scene. Plz be Patient? Plz see above. I was willing Stella to reach out and bestow a Gibbs-esque Head Slap. To Lindsay and Mac both. I don't seem to be the only one who had that impulse.

• Ella. :wtf: WTF Mac. Get yer head out of that Organic Place. I'm sure the view's better out here. Head Slappage required. Go, Stel.

• Psycho Sexologist Psychiatrist, PhD. The whole scene was just odd, and seemed mainly to consist of close ups of Hawkes, peering, head-tilted, shown to be Listening intently. About the only thing that indicated the scene was interesting or of use at all. After all the other Ubertechie insertions, they really hadda have this instead to explain the motivation behind a fingerprint on a frame she beaned off the guy's head. Uh huh.

• Ending sequence of the rather extended ramble of "you're gonna be okay." Mac, Please. Just back away slowly from the abyss. Can we assume that's it for the arc of Ella's character, seeing as they've been casting things in threes this season? Mebbe this truly is the last we'll see of her, at least for awhile. Somehow doubt it. Of all the continuity things TPTB have backlogged to potentially revisit in the future, I suspect they'd instead be unable to resist more of stalker chiquita having a meltdown again.

• lame-ass !plotTwizt so easily foreshadowed by dint of screentime allotment alone.

For me the ep higlighted the banter as opposed to the crime. Not always great for a procedural show when the crime recedes in favour of all else. Wasn't engaging on any deeper level. I barely felt for the widow, or the victim, for that matter. The only moment where I actually was moved to feel a flicker was at the end where Stella visited the hospital.

The overall ending was redeemed by the fact that super Stella is now an Urban Legend. :lol:

Odd and certainly more than a little out of character as far as NY eppies typically go. Wasn't tight enough to really shine for it. Been a rollercoaster season. Hope that in the remainder they've managed to gain more equilibrium and consistency.

 

[Axelsonfire]

I really enjoyed this episode! Well, as a SMACked fan it was hard not to. I mean, the whole coffee and eyeball scene was just awesome. I love how she started speaking in Greek and the whole conversation in the lab was just amazing.

I also liked the little Dantana scene Cute, but not overpowering the episode. Danny also interacted with the others and I liked that.

I really don't like Ella, and not only because she gets in the way of SMACked, but because she creeps me out. She is stalking Mac. She proved that by mentioning the eyeball thing.

Overall, it was a great episode, aside from the last few minutes. It was a worthy episode for the anniversary of RND.

Axel

 

[fm62]

I liked most of the funny lines, but otherwise was bored, not a good sign when I kept watching the time counter to see how long it had to go. Didn't care about the crime, victim or any other parties involved.

It seems a complete waste of time to have a whole crime scene unit involved, when Lindsay and Hawkes have access to a database that has every bit of information about everything in the world. I'm getting / have gotten really bored with both of them and Anna (always) and Hill (regularly) seem to be reading their lines, rather than acting out the scene.

I agree with whomever said that the writers / producers should stay out of fan sites. I get the impression that all script meetings start off with "so what about our ships". It's gone down hill since Pam Veasey took charge, she's seems only interested in the romance stuff and clearly has the hots for Carmine, making everything good or bad about Danny, though she's doing him no favours.

Mac was in a good mood this week thankfully, it may seem out of character, but he had a near death experience at the start of the season and you're never the same person afterwards. It makes you review how you approach life and what has always seemed important may not be as concrete.

Probably strange, but I was a little weirded out at Carmine kissing Anna's baby bump. I wonder how the real baby's daddy felt about that.

And yes Carmine needs a good feeding, he's getting too skinny, probably why his clothes now hang on him.

 

[jolein]

I liked the episode it was fun and humourfull.
I have nothing much to add,actually:lol:

 

[Poppet]

I
It seems a complete waste of time to have a whole crime scene unit involved, when Lindsay and Hawkes have access to a database that has every bit of information about everything in the world. I'm getting / have gotten really bored with both of them and Anna (always) and Hill (regularly) seem to be reading their lines, rather than acting out the scene.

It seems in NY everything is on a database, manufacturers know who they have sold something as simple as a printer to (who buys a printer direct from the manufacturer?), nothing found at a crime scence is a mass produced product rendering it untracable and any trace leads back to a plant or tree then that tree/plant only grow in one location in the whole city. It's quite some city!

On the Ella subject, I understand that it is connected to Mac as he is only one who fits the 'father figure' criteria. However, in order to progress this story they are having to change Mac's character. couple this with Dannys changed backstory last week and it just screams weak lacklustre writing. The storys should fit in with these already established characters, characters should not be manipulated to fit the storys.

 

[miss_blue]

Top41 said:
All kidding aside, that is kind of weird. Flack and Danny are close--you'd think he'd say something.[\quote]

Everybody in the lab has had something to say about Danny's upcoming "fatherhood" as he himself put it, and Flack is basically the only one that didn't make a comment about it. Frankly, I'd like it to stay like this.

Overall a very good episode. A from me. Could have been an A+ but there were a few things that I just didn't like. Like somebody else already mentioned, I thought that the birds would be more protective of their space, since they were able to eat a man for lunch in a couple of days.

Surprisingly, I liked the scene between Danny and Lindsay from the lab. When Danny kissed Lindsay's belly, I thought it was sweet and proper father to be behavior.

Adam was really funny tonight, but the line he dropped on Mac with the "horny perp" I thought that Mac would have something else to say not just smile and wait for Adam to admit his mistake.

The Ella storyline. Excuse me, but every single episode the girl has been in, I just didn't understand her purpose. Like tonight for example. She was in it just to make Mac look even more righteous than he already is. Like himself, I didn't understand why he told her that story. I don't think that Ella is that crazy as people think she is. She had a tough life and obviously it's hard to cope with it, and she is looking for a refuge in whatever she may think it's her way out of the troubles.

Danny was close to his old self in this episode. Funny again, joking all the time, thank you writers that he didn't say Boom this time. Mac took that away from him.

I thought that the brother dunnit as well, but I didn't really expect that he wasn't the brother. I'm guessing that the guy with the sticks in his head would have been too obvious. I must admit that for a moment he was the killer, when the 911 record came in, I'm glad that I was wrong.

Question: the sister did get the green card from marrying Pollock, but what would happen to the brother. Obviously, the guy just punched Pollock in the stomach and had no intention of killing him, that just happened because he had a severe ulcer, but I doubt that Rico (name?) shot to kill.

This is more like a curiosity for me. Nowadays, marrying for a green card is getting tougher, right? I remember that I read somewhere that before getting married, you have to prove that the love is really there, and there must be more than 3 years for the relationship to count. I might be wrong, but this is just a personal curiosity.

ETA:

Poppet said:
It seems in NY everything is on a database, manufacturers know who they have sold something as simple as a printer to (who buys a printer direct from the manufacturer?), nothing found at a crime scence is a mass produced product rendering it untracable and any trace leads back to a plant or tree then that tree/plant only grow in one location in the whole city. It's quite some city!

Indeed the NYPD crime lab has a pretty interesting database. The printer thing was ridiculous. I do love Sid to bits, but the virtual autopsy thing is just no-no. And the database where Hawkes has pulled the fingerprint from. It seems as well that they have a database for every fingerprint in that city. It would be actually interseting to have an episode arch where they can't find a killer. Just two episodes where there is not enough evidence. Or maybe a storyline where they can't catch a murderer and everybody is frustrated and all that jazz.

 

[fm62]

That's what I used to like about Law and Order, you went through the whole episode knowing who the killer was, then they would be found not guilty in the end. Frustrating but realistic.

On this weeks ep, part of the evidence to be taken to court was a punch shaped bruise on a piece of decomposing flesh found in a birds nest, after being carried across the city by said bird. Not sure I would be that convinced if I was on the jury that this was real uncontaminated evidence.