Grade 'Silent Night'

Peyton and Mac. Awww that scene was so sweet. I like the whole Peyton and Mac thing, I think Peyton would be good for him. They are both such awesome actors.
For me, that scene and the whole hostage scene in the car were the only things that stood out in the whole episode.
Lindsay and her theatrics were just plain boring. I don't know what it is, there is just no sympathising with this character. She behaved idiotically and has been since she came on the show. I know PTSD is unpredictable but I think it would be a stretch for the directors to use that as a neat excuse for Lindsay's behaviour. She wanted to deal with the Darius murder and from the flashback scene in this episode, that crime scene was probably a lot closer to her actual circumstances. The lack of consistency in her character is disturbing to say the least.
Stella rocks! Enough said. As usual there wasn't enough Flack in this episode to satisfy but what we did get was absolutely lovely.
 
GypsyQueen said:
Peyton and Mac. Awww that scene was so sweet. I like the whole Peyton and Mac thing, I think Peyton would be good for him. They are both such awesome actors.

Yeah, I think that definitely helps. Sinise and Forlani are both screen actors, and in he has stage experience as well (not sure if she does, but I wouldn't be surprised) and it just shows in their performances. They both say so much without speaking a word!

Lindsay and her theatrics were just plain boring. I don't know what it is, there is just no sympathising with this character. She behaved idiotically and has been since she came on the show. I know PTSD is unpredictable but I think it would be a stretch for the directors to use that as a neat excuse for Lindsay's behaviour. She wanted to deal with the Darius murder and from the flashback scene in this episode, that crime scene was probably a lot closer to her actual circumstances. The lack of consistency in her character is disturbing to say the least.

You completely summed up how I feel about her. She's been a poorly written character from day one, and her ups and downs make it impossible to like or sympathize with her. She's horrid--a pathetic excuse for a character, and she distracts from the other very believable things going on with the other characters. I wish they'd ship her back to Montana for good.

Stella rocks! Enough said. As usual there wasn't enough Flack in this episode to satisfy but what we did get was absolutely lovely.

Stella was awesome per usual, and yes, the more Flack the better!
 
Top41 said:
GypsyQueen said:
Peyton and Mac. Awww that scene was so sweet. I like the whole Peyton and Mac thing, I think Peyton would be good for him. They are both such awesome actors.

Yeah, I think that definitely helps. Sinise and Forlani are both screen actors, and in he has stage experience as well (not sure if she does, but I wouldn't be surprised) and it just shows in their performances. They both say so much without speaking a word!

I really don't see that she is a great actor. To be honest, this is the only thing i have ever seen her in so I didn't know she was a "screen actor." And I don't find her to be that great or maybe it is the character. I don't know.
 
The only thing that I wonder about is Peyton's accent - I know its a "true" English accent, but there aren't many people over here that actually speak the Queen's English properly anymore. Is that Claire Forlani's true accent does anyone know?

I think its great to see this otherside to Mac though - before he seemed really straight laced, with no real emotions, but they seem to have come out more this season.
 
I gave it an A-..

It wasn't a bad episode..It was nice..not the best ofthe season though!..The cases were something different from what we have seen on the show! :)...
 
Claire Forlani is British. She's played American characters before in movies and used an American accent, but the accent you're hearing in CSI: NY is her real one.
 
I thought it was a great episode. I loved how Marlee Matlin's character showed Mac a way of communication he hadn't noticed (his eyes). I don't know what's the matter with Lindsay that she had to leave a crime scene. She didn't go into her story about surviving a crime when she told Stella about it. Will this be explored further in a future episode?
 
I loved "Silent Night." I think the effect of removing the sound when the CSIs were around the family of the victim was great. It definitely added a new dimension to the show. The tension between Lindsay and Stella was a bit of added drama as well, and the teaser about Lindsay's dark past has me wanting more. I think that Anna Belknap's pregnancy put a little snag in the storyline the writers had planned, which is why Lindsay's little reveal of a "horrible crime" committed against her in the past seemed a bit rushed and sudden.

Mac and Peyton's scene had me a bit ambivalent, to tell the truth. I mean, while I do have a bit of a soft spot for the newest ME (and her British accent), their relationship is a bit of a hot/cold thing for me. Mac talks about how he wants this relationship to work as much as Peyton does, and how he's willing to do anything to achieve that goal. However, after they have their fluffy bunny scene at the end of the episode, nothing has really changed. Mac still isn't ready to fully commit, and their relationship is still the office secret -- even from their closest friends. That doesn't bode well for something they supposedly treasure so deeply.

And Flack rescuing the baby was so much love. I think Flack should have a child has a permanent prop because it was so darn cute.

All in all, I really liked that episode. Angst, drama, new effects, some fluffy bunnies... Yeah. It was good.
 
I know I'm a bit late so I'm going to keep this short. :D

In a word, it was disappointing. I guess it's because I wanted more details as to Lindsay's dark secret. "Surviving a horrible crime" somehow just doesn't cut it for me, but at least it's kept me intrigued. Details! I want details!

The acting was great, though. I love Marlee Matlin. :)
 
Like the person above me said, I was also kinda disappointed about the Lindsay stuff. I could almost swear there would be one last scene with her, maybe crying her heart out, but no, it was 30 seconds of iceskating. They should've given us more. The cases were good though, especially the deaf woman's one. I liked the little slow-mo when Flack grabbed the baby out of the car.
 
Let me tell you just how much I loved this episode!

Let me tell you just how much I hated this episode!

Let me tell you how this hilighted the fact that people have very different perceptions of things.

Yes, sorry, I'm still bumping old threads as I watch the third season on Netflix. On the other episodes I've reviewed, I read other people's reviews as I might normally if I were reviewing in real time with you all. But I'm going to review this one before I read other people's reviews so I'm not swayed by those opinions first. I just finished watching it this evening.

I loved the whole Marlee Matlin story line. I think it was done amazingly well. The sound editing was excellent -- going back and forth between sound and silence was very powerful in making you feel this story. It was fantastic that they cast all deaf actors for the family. And, if you've had any interaction with the deaf community, you will have recognized that the argument for and against cochlear implants is a huge, huge thing. This story line hilighted the intensity of this argument within the deaf community. There are people who believe that giving someone a cochlear implant is giving them a chance to get back a "lost" sense, but much of the deaf community does not view deafness as an abnormality or feel that they are missing something by being deaf.

Overall, television has dramatically improved the way it deals with people with disabilities or physical differences, but there is still a ways to go. The deaf community is a group that is often ignored on television. This was an excellent story line showing that this was a normal family with normal family issues -- a teen pregnancy that they wanted to hide by moving and raising the baby as the teen mother's sister. This was not a deaf family incumbered by their deafness, just a family that happened to be deaf.

I loved the way they focused on communication and on how important visual cues are to communication. Facial expression is a huge part of communicating with sign language, but it's also a part of communication in the hearing community that we don't always consciously think about. (Lack of visual and tonal inflection in communication, though, can really contribute to misunderstandings in communication with others on Internet sometimes.) The direction and camera work in this respesct was done very well to hilight how expressive sign language can be.


The second story line with Sacha Cohen was very good, though not nearly as fascinating as the "A" story line. I thoght that Sacha did a good acting job for her first acting part, and I enjoy her ice skating, but I liked that they started her segment not with her doing figure skating, but just having fun playing broom hockey.

Now the parts that frustrated me...


If you didn't read my review of "Not What it Looks like", let me briefly state that I didn't go into watching "Not What It Looks Like" wanting Danny and Lindsay to get together. (I didn't have a strong opinion either way.) We all see things based on our own experiences and emotional make-up, and to me the ending of that episode was very believable and touching and I could suddenly see the possibility there and was very willing to see where they would take it. I could see it has potential to be a good thing.

So, I went into this episode, realizing that if there is a relationship, it's not going to happen until after Anna Belknap's return from maternity leave. But then .... Gah! Suddenly there was a Dreaded Set-up for things to come...

I was really happy, all else aside, with the fact that Stella covered for Lindsay. I didn't expect that, for some reason, and I liked the way she showed concern enough for her that she was willing to cover for her with Mac until she could talk to her and try to help her. It was a sort-of gentleness and being in touch with other's emotions that isn't usually very pronounced, except perhaps in her friendship with Mac.

I know from a previous episode that Lindsay has problems with dealing with mothers when she has to deal with them in the face of a child's death. And, I realize that we don't have back story on Lindsay yet. We don't know what made her go into forensic investigation, we don't know why she left Minnesota, and we really don't know what makes her tick. And on shows like this, back story always involves messy and emotional stuff from character's backgrounds. We've seen Danny's messy past, things from Mac's past, and we know about some of Stella's past emotional baggage. And most recently we learned about what brought Hawkes to this point in life. I probably could have dealt better with Lindsay freezing and leaving the scene of the crime better if it had been explained differently.

To be honest, I'm not positive whether I hated how it was done or if I hated my own projection of what I think this means is coming down the pipeline. I thought the part in the hallway where she rejected Stella's offer of friendship was stilted, but really I think it was more my conscious focus on the fact that they were trying to hide the pregnancy than anything that happened there. I did like the way they showed the flash-backs Lindsay was having that gave us a hint of what might be going on, but I'm not sure I liked the whole post-traumatic-stress vulnerability spin that they put on it or at least the way it came out.

I'm mostly afraid of where they're going to go with this. (Please, if you're reading this review, don't tell me what does happen since I haven't seen beyond this episode.) I see there being a fine line between needing the support of a friend and needing someone to come to your emotional rescue. And, it's not Stella's friendship that I'm talking about here. Obviously something is going to come to a head for Lindsay somewhere down the pipeline after the episodes where Anna B. is on maternity leave. Two things could happen...

There's not much doubt that this is going to be a catalyst between Danny and Lindsay. If they tread the proper side of the fine line, he could be there to be supportive of her without making it feel like he's rushing in to her emotional rescue; the damsel in distress. But right now it just seems that they're setting up a role for the wrong side of that fine line where she's going to fall apart and he's going to rush in and pick up the pieces. I just hate that thought! There's nothing wrong with him being there to support her in emotional and difficult times, but I want to see that she's got her own strength within her that helps her grow and overcome her demons, too.

I know there are those who would say that any show of support from Danny is going to come off making Lindsay's character look weak. But, I don't think that's realistic, either. In real life, people do have bad things happen to them and there is nothing wrong with needing support from friends and loved ones or having moments of weakness. So, I wouldn't mind them showing that. I wouldn't mind it leading to a relationship. I just really fear after this episode how and what they're going to make happen.

I don't mind having some personal story and romance going in a crime show, I think that it can add another enjoyable dimension. I'm in the camp that doesn't think it's out of place in a show of this nature, if done well. If I didn't want any personal stuff, I'd be off watching Law & Order instead.

And, if this isn't long enough already, brief thoughts on Peyton and Mac. I liked his recognition after talking to Marlee Matlin's charcter that he needed to communicate better -- that he needed to let Peyton *see* how he felt. But, I still just don't quite have feelings for them as a couple. Meh.

The odd thing, though, was that when my husband and I were talking about Peyton and Mac's relationship and what we saw, we both started to say the same thing ... that one of the two of them didn't show their emotions for the relationship as well. Except we weren't going to say it about the same one of them! :eek: It just shows how we all perceive things differently.
 
^Very interesting review! I agree with you about how awesome it was that the show took the time to portray a deaf family realistically and accurately, and with such attention to detail. Marlee Matalin is of course a phenomenal actress, and the show definitely didn't waste her. And it was cool to see it all tie into Mac at the end.

I won't spoil a thing about the Lindsay storyline, but it is interesting that you first reaction is to relate it back to Danny. I think that shows how little the character of Lindsay can stand on her own. Danny has been used as a prop for her all the way through, and we really don't know a lot about her...and most of what we do know is tied into Danny somehow.

I have to say, Anna Belknap's abysmal acting in this episode really brought down that storyline for me. Lines like "leave me alone!" to Stella and Lindsay's crying in the lab were so poorly performed that I found them cringe-worthy.

Anyway, yeah, you'll see the rest as it comes along. :) And I for one am really enjoying revisiting the eps as you watch and review them! :)
 
Top41 said:

I won't spoil a thing about the Lindsay storyline, but it is interesting that you first reaction is to relate it back to Danny. I think that shows how little the character of Lindsay can stand on her own. Danny has been used as a prop for her all the way through, and we really don't know a lot about her...and most of what we do know is tied into Danny somehow.

I have to say, Anna Belknap's abysmal acting in this episode really brought down that storyline for me. Lines like "leave me alone!" to Stella and Lindsay's crying in the lab were so poorly performed that I found them cringe-worthy.

Anyway, yeah, you'll see the rest as it comes along. :) And I for one am really enjoying revisiting the eps as you watch and review them! :)

I do have to clarify something here. I don't automatically relate it back to Danny because of the show. Although I have tried to remain spoler free and done a reasonable job of it, the forums here and the DVD comentary for the "Not what it looks like" episode make it quite clear that something is coming down the road between them. That episode is what brought me to the forums, but after I reviewed it, a few days later we did go back and watch the episode with commentary on. Oone of the directors mentions that this is the beginning with Danny and Lindsay and it was going to be the first time they touched.

And, though I have dilligently stayed away from episode reviews beyond what I've watched, fanfics that aren't dated from before the air date of the episode, I've seen, there is no way to be on these forums for two weeks without knowing something happens between Danny and Lindsay. The photos and video clips in people's avatars do that.

Also, I've got a scientific and analytical background. :rolleyes: Logically if they're going to get together and she's got this big ugly thing from her past -- which really is shaping up to be something terribly traumatic that her character went through -- then this is bound to be the method used to bring them together somehow.

I'm honestly not sure it was entirely bad delivery as it was a combination of things. Yes, it could have been delivered better. But it could have been scripted differently. (The "Leave me alone" line was a bad idea no matter how it was acted, in my opinion.) And it was just bad timing between the scripting and Anna's pregnancy. The way they had to shoot the scenes to hide her pregnancy made it difficult to pull off they way they chose to do it -- views of her back with the side of her face, and views of her face over Stella's shoulder just made it not work out visually with the drama that was supposed to be happening. On top of that, at that late in pregnancy she just wouldn't have been feeling at her best, either, which would contribute to the awkwardness of it all.

In the final scene between Lindsay and Stella, without the pregnancy, you could have had nearly the same delivery of lines with the two of them facing each other sort of at angles to the camera like \ / . In that way, Stella could have reached out a hand and touched Lindsay's arm or put her arm around her, and it would have made the whole scene more believable and less stilted.

When an actress gets pregnant, they do what they have to do to hide it, and that just can't be helped. You can't just write someone out of the story for the entire time for many reasons, including from the actress's standpoint the issue of discrimination in the workplace. So, sometimes you just have to "suspend disbelief" a bit when you're watching and it's obvious. But, in this case, they unwisely chose to write and direct this as a scene that screamed for contact between the characters and less aloof front-facing shots of Lindsay. I think for Anna as an actress, it was kind of a no-win situation.
 
That's a really good point about the way they had to shoot the scenes. I'm not a fan of Anna Belknap's acting, but I think you're right. During her pregnancy TPTB really didn't do her or Lindsay's character any favors. You'd think they'd be a little more lax about completely hiding the pregnancy - allowing viewers to "suspend disbelief" a little more- or think of more creative ways to shoot the scenes in an attempt to have interactions at least a little more believable and tolerable.
 
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