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CSI:NY 610: The Death House--SPOILERS
This episode was like watching a live-action version of those tedious point-and-click PC mystery games like Myst. There was nothing inherently bad about it; it didn't, for instance, inspire the burning need to hurl rocks at my television, but there was remarkably little tension for what should've been a suspenseful locked-room mystery.
The whodunit, when, and why are solved three minutes in, and since neither the victim(s) nor the killer was explored in any detail, it was hard to be invested in the lame, post-Halloween spooktacular offered by an episode that would be more at home in the annals of Scooby Doo, Where Are You? than in the pantheon of CSI:NY canon. I love Scooby, mind you, am, in fact, a Doo fangirl, but not on my crime dramas.
If they were aiming for the creepy, oppressive, profoundly disturbing ambiance of Saw, then they missed that boat and landed face-first on the Goosebumps ferry. I realize that the nature of network TV and its hand-wringing obsession with PG-13 fare limited the scope of what could be done, but they could have done better in terms of suspense. Even though Hawkes was in danger, I never feared for him because the walls never got that close. Had Mac or Stella been pounding and shouting along with him, I might've worried, but Mac nonchalantly shoves a kit between the walls, and the day, it is saved. Oh, boy. Nor was Hawkes particularly ruffled by nearly becoming a Sexpot smoosh inside the walls of Jigsaw PG's funhouse. And really, if the house is boobytrapped from wall to wall, Mac and the gang should've known better than to move anything. I guess tidy Sheldon couldn't stop himself.
And Flack. The Disappearing Flack. He's with Mac and Stella to witness the Angel Wings of Spiky Death, but has disappeared by the time Stella starts mucking with the blank book and the vases? Presumably, he'd ventured outside to canvass the other tenants, but since no one saw him leave, I spent several anxious, befuddled minutes wondering if he'd pulled a Daphne, stepped on a trapdoor, and been gobbled up by the killer house like a crunchy, NYPD peanut cluster. Despite the fact that they're tramping through a spacious penthouse with death in every wall, no one wonders where he is. Mac and Stella just pat themselves on the backs for solving the puzzle and proceed to the next one with nary a backward glance and without telling anyone where they're going. I guess Mac knew the house had a self-righteous tightass allergy and wouldn't dare touch him.
The Haylen to the FBI subplot was...are you kidding me? She goes from crime-scene cleanup to working with the FBI forensics teams? Based on? Two clues from New York crime scenes? Her ability to annoy everyone with whom she comes in contact? Her l33t grant-writing fu? Did Mac truly believe she was a better candidate for the FBI than the invaluable Adam Ross, or was he merely seizing an opportunity to be rid of a smug pest? I realize that the writers were using the FBI ploy to get rid of Haylen, but a more credible scenario would've been to have her realize she wasn't yet ready for lab work. Sending her to a position with the FBI merely solidifies her status as a teeth-gnashing, eye-gouging, ass-clenching Mary Sue. I'm beginning to wonder if the writers are taking advice from tween fanfiction writers.
Not horrendous, but a bizarre, disjointed addition to the show's catalogue. C.
Horrendous would be the promo for next week, which hints at an hour of treacly, maudlin, feel-good glurge. Oh, joy. If it weren't for the promise of Flack in a Christmas outfit, I'm not sure I'd bother to watch, as I've no desire to see the crew of CSI:NY play It's Christmas, Charlie Brown. Bleagh.
The whodunit, when, and why are solved three minutes in, and since neither the victim(s) nor the killer was explored in any detail, it was hard to be invested in the lame, post-Halloween spooktacular offered by an episode that would be more at home in the annals of Scooby Doo, Where Are You? than in the pantheon of CSI:NY canon. I love Scooby, mind you, am, in fact, a Doo fangirl, but not on my crime dramas.
If they were aiming for the creepy, oppressive, profoundly disturbing ambiance of Saw, then they missed that boat and landed face-first on the Goosebumps ferry. I realize that the nature of network TV and its hand-wringing obsession with PG-13 fare limited the scope of what could be done, but they could have done better in terms of suspense. Even though Hawkes was in danger, I never feared for him because the walls never got that close. Had Mac or Stella been pounding and shouting along with him, I might've worried, but Mac nonchalantly shoves a kit between the walls, and the day, it is saved. Oh, boy. Nor was Hawkes particularly ruffled by nearly becoming a Sexpot smoosh inside the walls of Jigsaw PG's funhouse. And really, if the house is boobytrapped from wall to wall, Mac and the gang should've known better than to move anything. I guess tidy Sheldon couldn't stop himself.
And Flack. The Disappearing Flack. He's with Mac and Stella to witness the Angel Wings of Spiky Death, but has disappeared by the time Stella starts mucking with the blank book and the vases? Presumably, he'd ventured outside to canvass the other tenants, but since no one saw him leave, I spent several anxious, befuddled minutes wondering if he'd pulled a Daphne, stepped on a trapdoor, and been gobbled up by the killer house like a crunchy, NYPD peanut cluster. Despite the fact that they're tramping through a spacious penthouse with death in every wall, no one wonders where he is. Mac and Stella just pat themselves on the backs for solving the puzzle and proceed to the next one with nary a backward glance and without telling anyone where they're going. I guess Mac knew the house had a self-righteous tightass allergy and wouldn't dare touch him.
The Haylen to the FBI subplot was...are you kidding me? She goes from crime-scene cleanup to working with the FBI forensics teams? Based on? Two clues from New York crime scenes? Her ability to annoy everyone with whom she comes in contact? Her l33t grant-writing fu? Did Mac truly believe she was a better candidate for the FBI than the invaluable Adam Ross, or was he merely seizing an opportunity to be rid of a smug pest? I realize that the writers were using the FBI ploy to get rid of Haylen, but a more credible scenario would've been to have her realize she wasn't yet ready for lab work. Sending her to a position with the FBI merely solidifies her status as a teeth-gnashing, eye-gouging, ass-clenching Mary Sue. I'm beginning to wonder if the writers are taking advice from tween fanfiction writers.
Not horrendous, but a bizarre, disjointed addition to the show's catalogue. C.
Horrendous would be the promo for next week, which hints at an hour of treacly, maudlin, feel-good glurge. Oh, joy. If it weren't for the promise of Flack in a Christmas outfit, I'm not sure I'd bother to watch, as I've no desire to see the crew of CSI:NY play It's Christmas, Charlie Brown. Bleagh.