Another not-so-perfect episode, but I thought there was more good than bad, and it was fairly entertaining at times – mainly because of the character interactions. For the most part, the writers did a good job of including all the cast and mixing them together in interesting ways.
The case itself gets mixed reviews. Between the eyeball, ravaged corpse, and creepy birds, they really upped the “yuck” factor with this one… maybe because the case itself wasn’t that intriguing. From the minute he showed up, the “brother” was an obvious suspect, and after the wife was attacked and Stella asked for the elimination sample, I had a pretty good idea of what “twist” might be coming.
On the other hand, I thought the humor was relatively good in this one. Not everything was funny (e.g., Mac’s “Boom”), but there were several lines and scenes that made me laugh (in a good way). Flack, Danny, and Adam in particular had some funny moments.
The “dorky” side of Adam was very prevalent in this episode, but it didn’t strike me as overdone – maybe because we saw a very different side of Adam only last week. I do think Adam is getting more focus this season, and it's probably a good thing overall. The only time I’ve really found his scenes annoying is during that period when the writers seemed to be throwing him together with Stella quite often in an attempt to push the “crush” scenario.
Regarding the Mac/Ella storyline, the best thing about it in this episode was the resulting partnership/ friendship scenes between Mac and Stella, which were relatively scarce in the first part of the season. It’s nice to see that they still seem to know each other well and can even verbalize when they are stepping out of their normal roles. The role reversal stuff doesn’t really bother me here because I think that is part of the give and take of their relationship. But if it happens too often, the characters can start to lose their core identities.
Hmm…I'm one of those who saw closure of sorts in that last scene between Mac and Ella. Mac’s speech about his childhood friend was a little confusing, but ultimately, I think he was saying to Ella (and the audience) that although she might falter initially while trying to get her life back on track, she would be ok in the end.
I didn’t get any romantic vibes from the scene or any indication that Mac was planning to continue an active, ongoing relationship. He stood in the doorway while talking with some distance between them and said that she could call him if she needed anything, which suggests to me that he will be a resource when she needs help but isn’t planning to be a regular fixture in her life. The expresso trip at the end seemed like a way to show the two (especially Ella) behaving normally towards each other and also served as a bookend to the first scene with Mac, Stella and the eyeball .
Maybe I live in a land of denial on this one, but my impression is that the writers may be done with the psycho-stalker arc here. Basically, they have given us two different versions of Ella -- the last one in which she seemed to be on the path to recovery -- and they can just let it end here or perhaps take it in another direction down the road. If and when she shows up again (perhaps next season), she probably will have a new arc and involvement in some other case, similar to what we saw with Reed. Actually, it would be interesting if she and Reed both showed up at the same time next season, and we could see how they relate to each other when both are vying for Mac’s attention.
As for Mac’s odd behavior this season….One explanation is that certain aspects of these cases are making him realize that he’s lonely and wants to start connecting more closely with people again. And that feeling together with his “hero” personality is causing him to try to reach out to people – sometimes in surprising ways, like inviting his new boss on a coffee date and providing his would-be-stalker with attention.
Mac did sound and look a bit wistful when he made that comment to Stella about saving someone’s life being enough to see the beauty behind the beast (or whatever he said), and I think Stella picked up on that feeling, which led to their discussion about Ella. Of course, another possibility is that the changes in Mac are really a result of a little sloppy writing and inconsistent characterization….
Other random thoughts about this episode:
I agree that Lindsay's comment to Adam probably wasn't intended as a dig, but those really aren’t the words you'd typically expect to hear between work colleagues in that type of situation. Lindsay has been doing a lot of lab work lately, so maybe the writers did think this would be a shorthand way of reinforcing that she is a CSI rather than lab technician.
Danny reading comic books to the baby was a cute moment but had me cringing a bit because it seemed really inappropriate to have such a personal moment in the middle of the lab while one or the both of them were supposed to be working.
Overall, a solid, entertaining episode.
Grade = B
