Grade 'Silent Night'

I fell more or less in the middle on this eppi- I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. Probably a B or so.

I LOVED deaf family. I’m a little weird that way (one of my great goals in life has been to learn SL. I’ve wanted this since I was about 6. Currently finger-spelling is all I’ve got… Can’t say why, I don’t know anyone deaf, but it remains a goal now that I’m actually old enough to take classes). But back on topic… Marlee is wonderful and I felt the need to scream “IT’S JOEY LUCAS” for the benefit of my family. It’s neat that the rest of the actors are deaf- I didn’t know that. I don’t know how the dude found out about the baby, but I’ll overlook it for this great case.

I didn’t love Sasha’s acting, but I didn’t think that it was horrible or anything. The case was weak, boring but that’s my only complaint. I’ll join the club who loved Danny’s nerdy obsession with paint.

I like Lindsay. A lot. But even the rabid fan in me can’t really like this episode too much. And it’s not the storyline that I had issues with (sure it’s a little inconsistent, but nothing’s perfect). But the actual writing was painfully clumsy. The autopsy scene would have been much better if she had just cried and kept her mouth shut. I understand her getting testy with Stella, but even that was a bit clumsy. The worst was her chat with Stella at the end though. That was just bad writing (IMO). I hate having to be so critical, but the writing killed the storyline. Concept= intriguing Dialogue= nauseating

Oddly enough, I only started liking Peyton when Mac was so horrible to her. I thought it was really sweet when he came to her in her office, until he opened his mouth (I’m not real big on the conversations, can you tell?). Overall though I really liked their reconciliation. Uh-oh, I think I’m becoming a softie. :p
 
Humph. I would have given this a big fat F if it was based on the B case and Lindsay. :(

I'll admit, I was biased when I started watching this episode because I think the character and quite frankly the actress are horrible, but acting like a third grader when your boss is trying to be nice to you? Crying in autopsy? The clincher for me was leaving the crime scene. I don't care if she's the Queen of England, you shouldn't leave a crime scene because of a bad memory. And I don't understand why these teenage girls should bother her now - they've had plenty of cases like this before, why didn't she go off sulking then? The only reasons I could think reasonable for leaving a crime scene would be something in the present: someone close to you either died, is in critical condition, or there is an *emergency*. Stella should have fired her right there. And BTW, Stella is my Hero for calling Lindsay on her idiocy. :cool:

I didn't really like the skating part. Combination of bad acting, bad story line, and not giving a crap about ice skating or anorexic-looking bathing suit wearers who have extended skating scenes at the end, whose name I shall not mention. Danny's geekiness was adorable. :p

The A case: wonderful. Just plain wonderful. Flack being baby-savior made it A++. :D

As a whole: Okay, but I will definitely be skipping the scenes with Lindsay in it when I watch it again.

The Lindsay Solution IMO:
1). Move to a land far far away.
2). Be fired and never heard from again.
3). Death. In the field, accident, freaky stalker, revenge. Plenty of choices for TPTB.
 
I liked it
I like Marlee Matlin, she is a good actress IMO and I liked the underlying message about being hearing impaired is not a disease as someone else put it, but a condition that deaf people live with
and the fact that the daughters boyfriend wanted to be 'normal' and wanted the baby to be 'normal' too
very interesting I liked that part of the case

Lindsay leaving, yes Stella did the right thing being her boss and telling her to do her job. I thought that was a bit odd myself :rolleyes:

and the Ice skating, well sorry I called it was the guy across the way, and can you see that far across the river into New Jersey from where they were? Granted it is tv.. but.. :rolleyes: again :lol:
Sacha Cohen is a great skater not a good actress

overall about a A to an A-
 
A- for me.

Couldn't care less about the B case but the A case more than made up for it. Can't say enough about Matlin's acting. She was just awesome. I love all her scenes with Gary. They should do something together. I'd probably be fried with all their talent zinging around.

On the M/P thing. I'm sorry, I'm like the biggest Macwhore around but man, I was looking the other way when their scene at the end came up. It was just...too cheesy for me. Sure, the Mac!hauling was swoon-worthy but I dunno. He sounded...forced. Anyway, I hope they leave the angst for awhile. Let's move on, people! :D
 
dutch_treat said:
I did like the sound effects they used in letting us 'experience' what it is like to go through everyday life without hearing.
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That was indeed a nice touch.
 
I enjoyed this episode, in the main. I did have a lot of emotional responses to it, which is not usually the case. Maybe it says more about where I am in my ‘lunar’ cycle :)

The A case hooked me in right from the start. Marlee Matlin was bloody good. I particularly loved her scenes with Gary Sinise, there seemed to be a fantastic chemistry there. The action scene near the end had me on the edge of my seat. My maternal instincts really kicked in with this one … the baby having seen her Mum murdered, and crying in the back seat of the car, distressed me.

When Lindsay came on the scene, with those ‘looks’ starting again, I actually felt my insides droop, and thought “oh crap, here we go again“. :( How many times do we have to be slapped in the face with the hints that she’s disturbed by mothers, and the murder of young girls. We GET it already. Now hurry up and get the bigdarksecret out and over and done with. I know it’s on it’s way, but this is just a draaaaaag.

Lindsay was a bitch to Stella. Lets get that out of the way. I just do not know of a work place where it’s okay to talk to your superiors like that. I liked the way Stella put Lindsay back in her place. I’ll give Anna Belknap this … she looked tortured and disturbed. Maybe that’s just pregnancy-exhaustion though :)

I will also give her this. As much as I dislike the character of Lindsay, Anna did a good job with the autopsy scene where she broke down in tears. I actually did feel sorry for Lindsay. As much as the writers handling of this has been crap, in this scene I felt sorry for Lindsay for the first time. And that was due to Anna’s work, not the writing.

I love Stella. Stella is all class. Her telling Lindsay that she had a friend, after being rebutted in such a rude way, was classy. She’s the woman I wanna be :D

I am SO glad that Peyton is staying. I thought the scenes, especially the last one, with Forlani and Sinise were just beauitful, honestly beautiful. However IMO they should have just left the episode there and then. The ice-skating end scene was boring and unnecessary.

The B case was meh. Ice-skater person … stick to ice-skating. Please. Although I loved seeing Danny being such a labgeek once again. And I always enjoy watching Danny and Stella together.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one that had no love for the drawn out skating scene at the end. I would've much rather seen a corny character montage. And I think they were a little rude to not acknowledge Flack, he did after all get the baby to safety while Mac was still trying to figure out what to say.

Otherwise, I thought the A-case was well done and as others have said Marlee Matlin was fabulous. I still remember her from the Lip Reader episode of "Seinfeld" and it just goes to show her versatility as an actress.

As for Lindsay, I think it's time for her to just spill the beans completely and get this story line over with. However, I don't necessarily agree with those who complain about the writers not addressing her pregnancy. Yes, it's painfully obvious to us, but not necessarily to everyone. I think given the situation the writers are trying their best. Although I do realize it would be a lot more popular among most readers if they would just maim her and have her in a coma for several months. But we all know that the CSI's in NY all take Dr. Ubbly's Oblivious Unction and heal like magic, so that option is out. Besides, as Anna herself said in the TV Guide interview, the writers had intended to incorporate her pregnancy in the show, but decided against it because it wouldn't make sense for her to work around hazardous chemicals if she's pregnant. Score 1 for realism.

Bossy Stella was great!!!
 
FlackAttack said:
Besides, as Anna herself said in the TV Guide interview, the writers had intended to incorporate her pregnancy in the show, but decided against it because it wouldn't make sense for her to work around hazardous chemicals if she's pregnant. Score 1 for realism.
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Thank goodness they didn't. (shudder) I hate to think how they would have approached that story line though I think we could all guess how. (bigger shudder).
 
Freckles101 said:
Now I haven’t seen all the episodes with Lindsey, but given her dramatic emotions in this episode I was thinking that maybe her case had recently been reopened or new evidence had been found or something. In Love Run Cold, Lindsey tells Danny that something came up which she thought was over. I’m guessing that she recently got some new info about the crime, causing it to be constantly on her mind and at least affecting her on this specific case.
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I forgot about that! And it seems like we didn't start noticing her behavior changing until that episode, right?

I don't think her experience is being dismissed, we're all just troubled by how its being written.
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With all the hype & spoilers surrounding Lindsay's dark secret I was expecting something big. Now all we're left with until it's all revealed is that Lindsay survived a horrible massacre & honestly, I would have liked to learn more. I wonder what distunguishes these deaths from the others for her...
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Ahh, well I can understand that POV. I was frustrated myself with the lack of details, but I guess they have to leave it hanging so we come back for more ;)

Like, that long drawn-out skating scene at the end, I kept thinking they were going to cut to Lindsay, maybe looking at pictures of her friends or a newspaper clipping or something. Sucks that I have to get rid of my satellite dish for financial reasons, you guys'll have to spoil it for me :p
 
audrina said:
I like Lindsay. Most here know that. But I will say that this has been handled poorly because, while we understand Lindsay's experience was traumatic, we don't understand its resurgence now.

Think about it. Lindsay's been dealing with scary, gory crimescenes for a long time, some of which, as others have noted, that have more in common with her experience than this eppy's cases. And she was fine.

So why now? That's my problem. Inconsistency. I don't think her experience is being dismissed, we're all just troubled by how its being written.
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That's my biggest problem with it, too. None of the cases this season or even at the end of last season have come nearly as close to paralleling Lindsay's situation in the past as "Manhattan Manhunt" did, and yet, she was fine in that episode. No reaction whatsoever to the carnage--rather, the opposite: she sulked about being sent back to the lab and noted that she'd seen bloody crime scenes before.

Mac's actions--sending her away from that crime scene/trying to protect her--makes sense in retrospect, but none of Lindsay's do. Nor do her current issues--hell, when she turned Danny down she hadn't even dealt with a dead teen case recently. That's weak plotting.

I have to say that I think a stronger actress than Anna could have sold Lindsay's pain better--she came off as a whiny brat as opposed to someone we could feel sorry for. "Leave me alone" has to be the most immature response I've ever heard on this show, and let me remind you all, Danny is on this show. :lol: When you're more immature than Danny, there's a problem. Same with the crying--Carmine was more convincing in RSRD than Anna was crying in that autopsy scene. When a male co-star can cry better than you, it's just sad.

Just to make my position clear: I think surviving a massacre where your friends are killed is a huge deal. I can't even begin to fathom what it's like, and I imagine that would eat at a person in one way or another all of his/her life, even if he/she found a way to move on. It's a great situation, but unfortunately the writing didn't serve it well, and Anna just doesn't appear to have the range to pull it off.
 
It's obvious that Lindsay has PTSD, as would anyone who survived the situation that she did. However, with PTSD, it's hard to predict what will cause the person to react, because it's not always a recreation of the aftermath that will trigger a reaction. In fact, that stressor is usually something small and not even directly related to the incident.

Taking what we know about Lindsay -- or at least everything thing that the writers have given us so far: The bloody murder scene of dead teens doesn't bother her. Grieving mothers do. We know that she was the only survivor in a very messy multiple homicide. She also lived in a small town in Montana.

Taking that information, I would say that after she survived the crime, at least one of the mothers of one of Lindsay's dead friends couldn't cope with what happened. Lindsay could have become the focus of her misplaced anger and grief. In a small town that could have become extremely intense. Once away from that situation, Lindsay thought the problem would just go away, but like all cases of PTSD, it just waited to sneak up on her once she let her guard down. The stressor -- the thing that triggers Lindsey's breakdown -- isn't the dead kids but the grieving mother, because the mother is the symbol for her survivor guilt. It's the trigger for her break down.

I have no idea if they will do it that way. I'm also not sure if Anna could pull it off because I've not been impressed with her dramatic acting so far. But it would be a way to make the storyline fit everything we've seen so far.
 
Partly, I do agree with you on the PTSD. I won't dismiss the fact that surviving a massacre would be a huge deal and coming from a small town probably didn't help it much either. But I wouldn't say that just grieving mothers bother Lindsay. As callous as this may sound, I've never considered Lindsay as one to show empathy to any of the victims or their families unless it's a young female. Was there another grieving mother Linsday had to deal with other than in the Suicide Girls' episode (which for the life of me, I can't remember the title of) in S3? If not, then her behavior has been erratic before that (such as standing Danny up because she 'wasn't in the right place' or however she said it). Even in S2 I'm inclined to say there were moments when dead young women were supposed to bother Lindsay.

Though I also have to agree with Top and Partly in thinking that Anna might not be a strong enough actress to sell the storyline. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she's a very lovely woman in real life, but she was much better suited as a more light-hearted character. I'll let the crying pass in the autopsy, but her lines about "Give Lindsay the bad jobs," "Leave me alone," etc. sell her more as an annoyance than anything else.
 
^Those are tough lines to sell, so the writers are doing her no favors by giving them to her, but a better actress than Anna could pull them off. I have no doubt that Melina could, for instance, or Emily Procter on Miami.

I agree wholeheartedly about Lindsay showing little empathy for victims unless they're young girls/women, which is something that's always bothered me about her character. She seems to get so caught up in being right that she forgets she's dealing with people's lives. Her empathy seems limited to people who remind her of herself or her friends, and that's not really about the victims--it's about her.

I know that there's no set way for PTSD to manifest, but I do find it odd that a scene that pretty much exactly evokes what happened in her past has no effect, while less similar situations do. I hope that will be explained or at least make sense down the road.

The idea of one of the mothers blaming her is interesting, and I think you guys might be right on target with that one. That could explain why she avoids them, though you'd think she'd have a reaction seeing the mother basically take out her grief on Danny in "Oedipus Hex."
 
I finally got around to watching it. I did give it an A-. The cases were not all that interesting, but I thought the actors did a great job. Stella being a friend then a boss then a friend again. Montana having issues as a crime victim. Mac and Peyton and the end was very touching.
 
I thought it pretty good The case with the deaf family was great and both Gary and the guest star (sorry, can't rember her name) were amazing! I also thought of 'Sounds of Silence' when I watched it. I thought it was good case and the kinapping at the end was exciting & interesting to watch and experiance with the muted sounds during the scene. Also glad Peyton's back.


The B case was okay but I've definatley seen better
Altough the color changing paint was kind of interesting.
 
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