The episode wasn’t bad. The storyline was interesting. A police officer who believes he is owed more than what he is given and makes a terrible decision, then continues to compound his horrible situation by bringing himself deeper into destruction. Christopher Silber and Adam Targum wrote an episode that was a bit more complex than the typical bad guy/good guy dynamic and Jeffrey Hunt’s directing was competent and kept the episode moving. Peter Fonda was convincing as the hard-nosed William Hunt, embittered by years of regret while Clifton Collins, Jr., likewise, gave a subtly but unnerving portrayal as Raymond Harris, an equally embittered man. So where’s the problem?
I don’t have all the answers and there is a great deal I don’t know. I can only respond with what I feel and recognize, but when I compare the power of the last 10 seconds of season three’s It’s Not What It Looks Like with the hug between Danny and Lindsay in this week’s episode, it creates a visual answer. In season three, having known each other barely a year and really being in the beginnings of anything truly romantic, as they embraced for the first time I was exposed to more emotion and power between the two characters than I got in a single second of the hug in Life Sentence—and this is after years of marriage and having a family together. Yes, Danny was obviously concerned about Lindsay and his hug was…nice (especially when one slows it down and freezes it…not that I did that…over and over again…) but it was over so quickly that I was left severely disappointed.
But let’s go beyond the Danny and Lindsay moment; this was after all a Mac episode. As with last week’s episode, I felt Mac was back to being more his character than the caricature they created him to be earlier this season. He will always be slightly hypocritical in his manner—chastising and berating those under his command for doing exactly what he winds up doing when he gets pissed or irritated—and he will always have a streak of self-righteousness. Those are his character flaws, and are part of who he is, but it doesn’t mean it’s always fun to watch. I was confused by him though (and I’m not necessarily saying this is a bad thing) and have been left pondering his motivation. He punched Hunt in the face when he found out that Hunt had stolen money, but showed compassion when he found out Hunt had murdered in cold blood and with his bare hands an innocent woman. Similarly, he was very brutal with Harris, even after he found out what Hunt had done. Like I said, I am still confused about that, but haven’t decided if it weakness or a strength to Mac as a character. But what I do know is that despite all that I still felt nothing compared to the intensity I felt in Mac’s character in Snow Day. There was naturalness to Mac’s indignation in that episode that seemed more forced or more contrived in this episode. For example, as the lab was falling to pieces around them, Mac flies to Lindsay’s aid, protecting her while exposing himself and then, nothing. There was no more to that situation; there was no development or growth. Mac saved Lindsay, the scene ends. There was no emotion, no inspiration, no connection, it was all action. *I duck as clichés are thrown at me* Yes I know actions can speak louder than words, but sometimes the words are needed, sometimes they are necessary and it feels like the show has forgotten the words. I’m all for subtly and nuances, but sometimes it gets tiring have to watch the show through a microscope for a glimpse of true emotion. That scene felt more like an exhibition into how selfless Mac is, and when I have to be hit over the head with the flashing sign MAC TAYLOR IS A HERO it kind of loses its impact. The opening sequence was definitely intense, and I’m all for shooting or blowing up the crime lab, let it happen once a week I say as long as it actually means something.
I also understood the bad guys in the two previously mentioned episodes; they were motivated by greed and were willing to do anything necessary to get what they wanted, whether it was diamonds or drugs. The bad guys didn’t give up until the last second of the episodes. Which is why I was left scratching my head when Harris, cornered by Mac, wearily proclaimed, “It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s gone.” Dude spent 17 years plotting his revenge, and 2 episodes creeping the hell out of me, only to decide at the very last moment of his triumph that it doesn’t matter anymore? That is weak writing. There was no believable reason presented for Harris to suddenly just give up. Also, it is a personal pet peeve of mine to have manufactured moments of intensity, especially at the cost of others. This is what I mean, an NYPD detective was suppose to be watching Harris, but because a truck pulled up and blocked his view Harris got away. So a trained detective is so lazy and so poorly trained that he would chose to wait in the car and let a suspect get away? They even went so far as to have the detective tell Flack that Harris was still sitting at the table when it was clearly impossible for him to see that. How insulting, not only to me as part of the audience but to the NYPD. This isn’t the first time the writers have used the incompetency of our men and women in Blue. How many times was Shane Casey able to escape custody? Writers, quit being lazy and actually write something that is believable not just something that is convenient.
Again, an episode that was so close to be great, but just coming up a little short. After a season of episodes that left me completely deflated I am overall pleased with how the last few episodes have begun to regain a bit of what was lost. Reminds me of the lyrics: We’ve made it through the wilderness somehow we’ve made it through...Come on CSI:NY go that extra mile and really touch me! I know you can do it!
Highlight of the episode: Flacks quiet and constant support of Mac. Flack has been a rather neglected character this season, and the last two episodes have just reinforced to me that his character needs to be used a bit more and with a bit more appropriateness (i.e. not as a CSI but as an actual NYPD detective)
Guilty Please: Please the bottom of this post…
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