Grade 'Pay Up'

[ladyhunter]

For the second time in two weeks CSI NY has made me cry.

This was one of the better finales between CSI an NY.
Yes it was very similar to Snow Day with the cops-vs-criminal aspects of it, but to watch Don Flack cry was heartbreaking.

I have always liked the friendship between Danny and Flack.
Flack has always been the 'stand up' guy. He seems to be Danny's better half when it comes to his emotions and when to play by the rules. When Danny seems to fly off the handle, Flack just sits back and plays the good guy. The idea that Flack pulled the trigger and killed Angells killer made him all the more interesting. It gave him more depth of character and to face the realization that even cops have emotions and they do act on those emotions. And the fact that Danny was right there, well that says a lot about their friendship.

As for Mac, I said in another thread, lately he's been ignoring things going on around him, but to have a cop killed really shook him. The fact that he told people to 'look under every rock' to pull up favors said tons about what he thought about protocol when it comes to a fallen cop.
I do love it when Mac's emotions get the best of him though.

Dunsbrook's character was superb. Craig T. Nelson played him to a T! I loved to watch him with Mac. You weren't sure if you wanted to root for him or not. Those are the best kinds of characters, you're not quite sure what side they are on. I'm sure we'll see more of him next season. At least in the few opening episodes.

The cliffhanger wasn't all that predictable. I mean a cop gets shot, then a drive-by shooting at the bar where the CSI's are hanging out. Who would predict that??? I guess I didn't read the spoilers then.

Overall A

 

[OldGuise]

Gave the episode an A+. Almost everything I have to say has already been said, but I will hit on a few points.

1. Everyone was emoting like crazy. Even Anna, whose acting I'm not always fond of, did very well.

2. I always laugh in the back of my mind when Dunbrook and Mac are at each other's throats, because Craig and Gary get along so well in real life.

3. I thought Danny's reaction, and his interaction with Flack, was perfect.

I loved when Danny showed up in the hospital. he arrived with an immediacy that only someone close would. The way he punched the wall seemed like a really subdued reaction to me—I'm used to seeing Danny rage when someone he cares for is injured, as with Aiden, Louie, and Ruben—and I feel like he suppressed that rage for Flack.

I mean, they're best friends, Angell is dead, and Flack's emotions are running wild. So even though Danny's emotions were close to the surface, too, I think he knew instinctively that freaking out would probably cause Flack to freak out. So he didn't.

As for the length of his visit to Flack... I don't know. Part of me, that's controlled by my imagination, thinks he stayed around for a while, and they had a talk, or a shared silence, and then they argued over what to do. Like, Flack said they'd go back, and help the investigation, but Danny disagreed. Maybe he said he'd get back to work and help catch the bastard who did it, and told Flack to go home, but expected him to show up anyway. Or maybe he said he'd go help, but told Flack to stay at the hospital, because he knew Flack would want to stay with Angell's body for as long as he could.

There are countless possibilities, and that's something I really liked about this episode; it was filled with a lot of emotion, and a lot of ambiguity.

4. I approved of Flack's decision at the end, which I can only assume was to shoot the guy, as well as Danny's response to it.

I won't lie; if someone I loved was shot point blank in the stomach, and I had to watch them dying... I might just kill the person who did it, too. Morals and laws be damned. So it was really easy sympathize with Flack when he shot down.

I feel like Danny may have a similar outlook. In one short exchange, he pretty much agreed to keep his silence, and didn't seem at all judgmental. He just looked like he understood, and like he would lie out the wazoo about the circumstances of the man's death if it came to an investigation.

So, yeah, I definitely feel like this episode had a lot of great stuff in regard to Flack and Danny's relationship, amongst other things.


...wow, those last two points were pretty long.

 

[Ballettmaus]

What was the point of the Mac / Stella shipper hug at the end, it didn't add anything to the storyline. It just seemed to be there to let us know that they are thev leads, not Flack.

The point was that the writers had forgotten something...
Seriously, I get your point but for me the problem was the following: Mac and Stella just had been in Greece... they had shared kind of a lot of emotions and he followed her there... and Stella lost someone who she had considered her guardian angel.
So, in the next episode, Angell, who appeared to get along quite well with Stella given that she was the chosen one to help her with the Greek stuff and all, gets killed and Mac who is supposed to be her best friend and Stella don't share a scene until that hug in the very end?
She wasn't even there with him when he gave that little speech after the learnt of her death, there was aboslutely no emotional scene for Stella which given the circumstances is a pretty big mistake of the so called professional writers.
I know the focus was just on her but Mac did have quite a few focus episodes as well and to show a little bit more of Stella with Flack or Mac, in any case, emotional, would have made a lot more sense than an emotional Mac. I mean, how many episodes were there that showed he was actually more than just colleagues with her? Out of the top of my head I can't think of any.

Sorry, but I have been quite annoyed with those kind of mistakes this season.
Don't get me wrong but I still love the show though which is actually why I am whining I get too involved.

And I did like the overall episode.

In any case, like someone mentioned, it would have been cool if the son had orchestrated the kidnapping, I thought so too.

And what the end is concerned... I thought about it, rewatched it and wondered if maybe one of the guys we don't see gets hurt. Because the ones we do, which if I remember correctly are Stella, Lindsay and Danny and Mac, don't seem to be thrown back by the force of a bullet.
Danny is ducking Lindsay under, Mac seems to duck as well and so does Stella - even though she seems to be standing in the middle and being the first one... "hit".
But like someone else mentioned there was no sign of blood and we didn't get to see Adam, Hawkes or Sid or Flack ducking. I doubt they'll shoot Flack, though it would be poetic but I don't think they'll go for that.

 

[Half]

Wait. I thought Angell's four brothers were cops. Isn't that what she told Flack during their not-so-l33t surveillance of the rich woman in S4?

The episode was Commuted Sentences. Flack's exact line was "Four older brothers and a detective sergeant for a father". It was never said that any of her brothers were cops, only that her father was. Therefore, from what I can remember, they've never referred to her brothers as cops. And if they did mention it, I didn't see the episode because I remember a lot of stuff regarding Angell. *laughs*

Yeah, I didn't like her hair either.

 

[CSI808]

Was it me, or was the drive-by death car the same car Flack was driving when he was talking to Terence Davis in the beginning? If it was, was it just an unfortunate instance of thrift, or is it significant?

Not the same cars... someone posted a picture of each car I think on page 2 or 3. The bad guy car is a BMW and Flack's car is... I can't remember.

Kudos to the writers for the best episode in two years. It was a gift after the rank, wet fart of "Grounds for Deception".

That's an image that'll stay with me for a long time :lol:

 

[PerfectAnomaly]

I love Eddie, but his crying face in the hospital corridor was...unfortunate. I know men cry differently than women and fight the outpouring of emotion, but he looked like he was trying to pass a gallstone, and I was relieved when they faded to black.

He and Carmine must've taken "ugly cry" lessons together. Although I don't think Eddie's is nearly as horrific as Carmine's was in RSRD. It's definitely a guy thing because Gareth David-Lloyd from "Torchwood" has the "ugly cry" going against him too.

 

[Carolyn318]

I had 2 completely opposite reactions to this episode. I wanted to kiss the writers and I wanted to kill them at the same time. I wanted to kiss the writers cause this season finale was way better than season 4's lame-o season finale. I don't even watch "Hostage"-season 4's season finale-on DVD. <---That's why I wanted to kiss the writers.
Here's why I wanted to kill the writers: They killed Angell and CLIFF-HANGER!!! I HATE cliff-hangers!!!
My bet is Sid will be the one that is shot in that last scene. The writers seem to enjoy putting Sid in the hospital whenever possible. In the season 3 episode "Ride-In" Sid had an allergic reaction to something he ate and went in to anaphalactic shock...hospital. The 2nd episode of season 5 "Page Turner" Sid was exposed to Thalium and ended up with a bad case of radiation poison...hospital. I'll just bet it'll be Sid who gets seriously injured.
Hmmm...I just gave myself an ideal for a new thread...if someone hasn't beat me to it. I'm gonna check soon as I post this.
Anyway, I give this episode a big, fat, juicy, plump, season 4's season finale only wishes it had got one...A+. It earned it. It got 2 completely opposite but equally strong reactions out of me. It also beat season 4's lame-o season finale by miles. Not millimeters, centimeters, inches, feet or yards but miles.

If anyone needs me, I'll be searching for any threads like the one I have an ideal for.

 

[churchmouse]

So, there was already a funeral? Her dad was a little dressed down for a funeral. I would have expected Don to be in his dress blues, and to have the rest of the crew there.

Also if Don killed that guy I think Danny or Mac would have said something to him about it.

 

[~Sarah~]

So, there was already a funeral? Her dad was a little dressed down for a funeral. I would have expected Don to be in his dress blues, and to have the rest of the crew there.

Also if Don killed that guy I think Danny or Mac would have said something to him about it.

I don't think so, funerals usually aren't the day the person dies... I've had people in my family die of natural causes and even then it's two or three days before the funeral.

 

[ErinElizabeth]

I love Eddie, but his crying face in the hospital corridor was...unfortunate. I know men cry differently than women and fight the outpouring of emotion, but he looked like he was trying to pass a gallstone, and I was relieved when they faded to black.

He and Carmine must've taken "ugly cry" lessons together. Although I don't think Eddie's is nearly as horrific as Carmine's was in RSRD. It's definitely a guy thing because Gareth David-Lloyd from "Torchwood" has the "ugly cry" going against him too.

:lol: I'm so glad someone said it! I honestly thought Eddie's was worse than Carmine's.

I will say though that Jensen Ackles from Supernatural pulls off crying quite beautifully. So does Justin Chambers from Grey's Anatomy.

 

[JellyBelly]

I love Eddie, but his crying face in the hospital corridor was...unfortunate. I know men cry differently than women and fight the outpouring of emotion, but he looked like he was trying to pass a gallstone, and I was relieved when they faded to black.

He and Carmine must've taken "ugly cry" lessons together. Although I don't think Eddie's is nearly as horrific as Carmine's was in RSRD. It's definitely a guy thing because Gareth David-Lloyd from "Torchwood" has the "ugly cry" going against him too.

Good for them! I love ugly crying. Pretty crying is for sissy's.

 

[Poppet]

I love Eddie, but his crying face in the hospital corridor was...unfortunate. I know men cry differently than women and fight the outpouring of emotion, but he looked like he was trying to pass a gallstone, and I was relieved when they faded to black.

He and Carmine must've taken "ugly cry" lessons together. Although I don't think Eddie's is nearly as horrific as Carmine's was in RSRD. It's definitely a guy thing because Gareth David-Lloyd from "Torchwood" has the "ugly cry" going against him too.

I like actors who do ugly crys, because most people do look particularly ugly when they cry. I get annoyed by 'beautiful' actors who to try to look all pretty when they cry, it just smacks of vanity.

 

[CSI Cupcake]

I love Eddie, but his crying face in the hospital corridor was...unfortunate. I know men cry differently than women and fight the outpouring of emotion, but he looked like he was trying to pass a gallstone, and I was relieved when they faded to black.

He and Carmine must've taken "ugly cry" lessons together. Although I don't think Eddie's is nearly as horrific as Carmine's was in RSRD. It's definitely a guy thing because Gareth David-Lloyd from "Torchwood" has the "ugly cry" going against him too.

I like actors who do ugly crys, because most people do look particularly ugly when they cry. I get annoyed by 'beautiful' actors who to try to look all pretty when they cry, it just smacks of vanity.

Or bad acting skills! I look horrible when I cry so "ugly crying" is just fine with me.

 

[Faylinn]

It's definitely a guy thing because Gareth David-Lloyd from "Torchwood" has the "ugly cry" going against him too.

Oh man, Gareth should win an award for Best Ugly Cry. :lol:

 

[CdfSjaI]

Just got a chance to watch Grounds for Deceptions and Pay up. Very good episode but I just couldn't get over Angell's death so I gave it and F. Sorry, couldn't do it. They really did a good job in this finale though, at leat compared to last season's.......except that they made me cry my heart and eyes out. Jeez, i used a whole damn thing of tissues. And then that stupid stupid cliffhanger, i hate those. They never live up to expectations. Didn't really analyze the rest of the episode, i feel blue Jess was my fave...