Grade 'You Only Die Once'

[Faylinn]

Surreal_44 said:
I know how much everyone hates on Lindsey and her ability to get in the way of the man-lovin'

Um, no.

but honestly I don't find her all that annoying.

Good for you.

I'm not sure if people don't like her because she's a bad actress

Personally: bad actress, half-ass character.

or if it's because there are too many slashers here.

Um, just no. Over a thousand posts in the "Why Lindsay Must Go" threads and this is still a suggestion?

Biggest Marty-Stu ever! Gah. I'd like him better if he didn't appear to be a genius in everything he did, when it's not possible for him to be like, uber-smart in everything he does. *sulks*

They all do that.

 

[Partly]

Surreal_44 said:
Biggest Marty-Stu ever! Gah. I'd like him better if he didn't appear to be a genius in everything he did, when it's not possible for him to be like, uber-smart in everything he does. *sulks*

This doesn't bother me, as I see Hawkes as a prodigy. I think he's good at everything he does, not only because he is "uber-smart" but because he can't not be. I mean, to me he seems like the type of person who will become obsessed with something until he knews everything about it. I think this "brilliance" is off-set by his obvious inability to deal with deep interpersonal relationships. There's always a reticence in his manner whenever people try to get deep. Or for that matter his inability to do small talk (as evidenced in his exchange with Flack in "Slight out of Hand". My hope would be this obsessiveness could easily be written into a show as a character fault.

Besides, it's always easier to have one of the main characters do the work rather than write in a new lab "expert" into a scene.

Faylinn said:
They all do that.

Flack often will play the "straight man" to the lab techs' knowledge -- he's not afraid to ask the question that needs to be asked. Stella will also admit that she doesn't know all the answers. Danny... well, Danny claims a lot of experience in a lot of things, but with Danny being slightly ADD I can see how he would have flitted from one thing to the other, getting a passable knowledge of each of them. But Danny has also demonstrated complete failure in dealing with some things, as demonstrated by his personal problems.

Mac, on the other hand, seems to know everything. He rarely comes out and claims to, but he always has little facts and ready knowledge of what their cases deal with, from Japanese swords to magic to the security protocols of the UN. This also doesn't bother me, mostly because I adore Mac but also because he doesn't bring any pride or ego into the situation when he does this.

And just to bring the post back to topic: I loved this episode. I like that CSI:NY stretches it's premise -- from the Die Hard-like Snow Day to this lighter-hearted Bond-tribute episode. But then, I've never been all about the procedural.

 

[PerfectAnomaly]

Partly said:

Surreal_44 said:
Biggest Marty-Stu ever! Gah. I'd like him better if he didn't appear to be a genius in everything he did, when it's not possible for him to be like, uber-smart in everything he does. *sulks*

This doesn't bother me, as I see Hawkes as a prodigy. I think he's good at everything he does, not only because he is "uber-smart" but because he can't not be. I mean, to me he seems like the type of person who will become obsessed with something until he knews everything about it. I think this "brilliance" is off-set by his obvious inability to deal with deep interpersonal relationships. There's always a reticence in his manner whenever people try to get deep. Or for that matter his inability to do small talk (as evidenced in his exchange with Flack in "Slight out of Hand". My hope would be this obsessiveness could easily be written into a show as a character fault.

Besides, it's always easier to have one of the main characters do the work rather than write in a new lab "expert" into a scene.

Faylinn said:
They all do that.

Flack often will play the "straight man" to the lab techs' knowledge -- he's not afraid to ask the question that needs to be asked. Stella will also admit that she doesn't know all the answers. Danny... well, Danny claims a lot of experience in a lot of things, but with Danny being slightly ADD I can see how he would have flitted from one thing to the other, getting a passable knowledge of each of them. But Danny has also demonstrated complete failure in dealing with some things, as demonstrated by his personal problems.

Mac, on the other hand, seems to know everything. He rarely comes out and claims to, but he always has little facts and ready knowledge of what their cases deal with, from Japanese swords to magic to the security protocols of the UN. This also doesn't bother me, mostly because I adore Mac but also because he doesn't bring any pride or ego into the situation when he does this.

None of them ever have all the answers, but they all do go well beyond the scope of what their individual specialties are. Flack doesn't know the scientific aspect, but his police work goes well beyond the scope of his job as a homicide detective. In S1 Stella was supposed to be the ballistics expert, in S2 Lindsay was supposed to be the blood spatter expert, I don't know if Danny had a specialty stated. Also, Danny's personality causes him to make poor judgements and as such gets in the way of his job; but I don't see that being related to how much knowledge he has about the job. It isn't just Hawkes who seemingly knows everything, although I do buy that his character is one who is highly intelligent and takes the time to learn as much as he can about many different subjects.

 

[Kimmychu]

Partly said:
This doesn't bother me, as I see Hawkes as a prodigy. I think he's good at everything he does, not only because he is "uber-smart" but because he can't not be. I mean, to me he seems like the type of person who will become obsessed with something until he knews everything about it. I think this "brilliance" is off-set by his obvious inability to deal with deep interpersonal relationships. There's always a reticence in his manner whenever people try to get deep. Or for that matter his inability to do small talk (as evidenced in his exchange with Flack in "Slight out of Hand". My hope would be this obsessiveness could easily be written into a show as a character fault.

Okay. I dunno if it's just me, but I swear it's been mentioned in canon on the show at some point that Hawkes is a prodigy. Something about him being extremely young when he attended university? I think it was to explain how he got where he is today for someone his age.

 

[Faylinn]

The description that they used to have on cbs.com (which I think are gone now that they've revamped the NY section of the site--great ) mentioned that he was a prodigy and how young he was when he graduated and became a surgeon, etc--he was unprepared for what he was going to face. That's why it was so hard for him to watch patients die, and it was ultimately the reason that he chose to leave the hospital for the morgue. "Here's to You, Mrs Azrael" may have mentioned him being young, but I'm not sure.

In "Summer in the City", Mac confirmed that Hawkes is "an encyclopedia of tidbit information"--he's proven that with his random facts over time. So he's a prodigy who knows a lot of (generally useless) information, but as for the CSI work itself, I don't think he's any more unrealistic than the rest of them at doing their jobs--and he's not in as many scenes overall, so I can't imagine that he'd stand out more...

ETA: Found the excerpt from another site that copied it:

Raised in Harlem, Dr. Hawkes was a child prodigy who graduated college at eighteen. By twenty-four, he was a board-licensed surgeon.
Because he was young and socially inexperienced, however, his education could not shield him from the pressure of having to save lives. Two years later, Dr. Hawkes left the operating room, retreating to the safety of the medical examiner's office.

 

[Kimmychu]

Raised in Harlem, Dr. Hawkes was a child prodigy who graduated college at eighteen. By twenty-four, he was a board-licensed surgeon.

Because he was young and socially inexperienced, however, his education could not shield him from the pressure of having to save lives. Two years later, Dr. Hawkes left the operating room, retreating to the safety of the medical examiner's office.

There we go! It's canon that Hawkes is a prodigy. :lol: So if anybody wants to throw blame and brand Hawkes a Gary Stu ... well, you're gonna have to take it up with TPTB themselves.

And somewhat OT, damn, Fay, but does Chad Allen look incredibly smashing hot in your banner or what. IwanthimtogueststaronCSI:NY,yesyes.

 

[Faylinn]

And somewhat OT, damn, Fay, but does Chad Allen look incredibly smashing hot in your banner or what. IwanthimtogueststaronCSI:NY,yesyes.

I agree with this comment! (Plus he's a fan of Gary, so he'd probably be on-board. :lol

Man, that would be awesome. We already know he's got the detective role down pat--he could totally be a snarky FBI agent or something.

 

[Lessien_Tinuviel]

I really need to re-watch this episode. The hotness that is Flack is just so irresistable.

I just found the song that was playing in the opening scene, you know, that scene. The song is titled "Sick, Sick, Sick", by Queens of the Stone Age.

As much as I dread watching that scene(you know why), the song is a pretty cool fit, and when I listen to the song, it's like that scene keeps playing out in my head. And I find myself smiling at nothing in particular while the song is playing. :lol: