| CSI:NY 420: "Taxi"--SPOILERS |
[May. 15th, 2008|11:04 am] |
I'm likely in the minority, but I was spectacularly unimpressed by "Taxi". When did the show become CSI:NY Anatomy? Jordan Gates' butthurt over the fact that she was "the last to know" Mac's connection to Reed was childish and out of place and more than a little perplexing. Was it TPTB's not-so-skillful way of telling us that Mac is grazing in her hay buffet? If so, I can see why she would be hurt...if I take off my glasses, turn my head, and squint at the screen through a thick bourbon haze. If not, then the remark was inappropriate and inordinately clingy. Maybe she took a page from the D/L courtship handbook.
I liked Quinn in her first appearance. I liked her considerably less here; her role was minimal and gratuitous, and I can't shake the feeling that the original script meant her to do more. Why was she there?
And Reed. Oh, Reed. We knew your zeal and idealism were going to bite you in the ass, and they did, though if it means a return to your previously thoughtful, affable demeanor, I won't begrudge fate its chunk of your ass. Kudos to you for not losing your head, and for being able to feed Mac clues to your whereabouts through your posts. Good boy.
"I'll call her Claire." Oh, Reed.
However, I have a bone to pick with the scene in which Mac deduces Reed is being held in a brewery. Would Mac really know that "Australia" referred to a type of hop or wheat germ, and would he know that corn flaked was really code for flaked corn? Even if he would, would Reed? Did he apprentice as a brewer during high school? That scene would have played better in the hands of the walking Trivial Pursuit known as Hawkes. I could have bought that he knew that. I'd even buy that Sid knew that, but since everything must be all about Mac at all times, Mac made the connection, and lo, it was unbelievable.
The case was secondary to the strawmen drama llamas of Dead Cabbie Cop and Bleeding Reed, and it showed. The capture was anti-climactic at best, with Flack being designated the wielder of the clue-by-four for those who were slow on the uptake.
Mac: "L2729."
Flack: "Leviticus 27:29."
Yes, thank you, Flack. Why do they always saddle you with the exposition for idiots collar when they need to advance the plot? The Biblical connection should have been broached by the team sooner, IMHO, since I think John Doe's medical records mentioned a fascination with the Bible. These people are smart, or should be. Let them act like it. It's embarrassing to watch them lurch around the case like tinfoil-chewing chihuahuas for thirty-nine minutes, only to morph into Whimper from the Clue Club in the last five minutes.
The resolution was made all the cheesier by Mac's Voiceover of We Ran Out of Time and Needed to Wrap This Up. Agh. The writers have given up all pretense of being interested in the cases.
There were a few bright spots, however. Mac and Reed's interaction in the hospital and their subsequent cab ride were elegant and beautifully done.
Angell saving Flack was wonderful, as was their banter about prom night, which gave me delicious daydreams of Teen!Flack awkwardly throwing down his best moves in the back of his Dad's Caddy. I didn't catch what he said about the Pontiac Sunfire, alas.
I'm confused on another point. In S2, Flack mentioned that he worked out of the 35th precinct, but in the opening scene, they were in front of the 73rd. What gives? Do cops rotate precincts according to where they make an arrest, or have the braintrusts bungled continuity again?
All in all, an uninspired episode that was nominally more interesting than the tedious footnotes to Unfinished Tales of Middle-Earth. You know, the notes that are often as pleasant as eating a box of saltines rectally.
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