A man talks with a woman at a bar and they speak about music. Does she prefer classical or R'n'B. Does she believe in fate or freewill. He comments classical music is an "inevitable build to an end." Which is what this entire conversation will lead to. R'n'B takes you where you want to go. He excuses himself to shoot three men. Flack (Eddie Cahill) says this was the grand opening of the bar and each man was shot twice. Once in the chest and once in the head, execution style. No silencer was used. No one saw the shooter and was described as an Afro-American man of average height and build. Mac (Gary Sinise) says there's one more detail: "cold-blooded professional killer." Flack says two walked out, the shooter and a woman. The two Vics were George Parker (Chad Randall) and Julian Grace (Erik Stabenau) . Jo (Sela Ward) comments it's like the punchline to a bad joke: "professional killer and ex-con walks into a bar..." Flack finishes: "Guess who walks out."
Jo finds a martini glass and a lo-ball glass as well as the remains of a gun in the pizza oven. Flack: "I've never seen anybody order gun on a pizza." The two Vics were waiting for someone. Flack asks why the female wasn't shot. Mac says he's not finished with her yet. The killer ( Shaffer Smith aka Ne-Yo) (described as Handsome man in credits) handcuffs his captive to the chair. He talks to someone on the phone and she asks who it was. The killer makes another call and says the price is increased for her. Jo finds text messages from the Vic's phones show they were invited to the bar. One of the Vics, Ken, the bartender, (Jeffrey Barnett) was leaving to study. Sid (Robert Joy) finds they were shot by 9mm bullets and he found three hairs on Parker's throat, which aren't his. Sid comments it's ironic that Grace was suffering from liver cancer and only had months to live. Parker had a history of violence.
Lindsay (Anna Belknap) analyzes the gun and gets no hits on IBIS. The stria don't match the gun. The oven was hot so it softened the gun and altered the stria. Mac says the heat also destroyed the DNA and the prints. Adam (AJ Buckley) found DNA on the martini glass, but no hits on the lo-ball. There were traces of acrylic smudges, so he used nail polish on his fingertips to hide his prints. He 's still analyzing the ash from the oven. Hawkes (Hill Harper) says the hairs hit on a William Dowd (Brandon Scott), he did time with Parker and he has his address from his parole officer.
Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Flack check out Dowd's apartment. Flack knocks on his door, the same time someone knocks on the killer's door and we are meant to assume that they're actually knocking on the killer's door. At least there weren't any shots fired through the door this time round and no comments alluding to it either. The building Super knocks on the killer's door and the woman sends him away saying they're busy as she didn't want to see him shot. The killer tells her he wouldn't have killed him as there's no money in it. There wasn't any money in shooting the bartender either and he did it cos he could ID him. He tells her if she doesn't help them more will die. Well they died irrespective of her help.
Flack and Danny question Dowd and Flack says, "I think you like being behind bars." They found his DNA on Parker's throat since he hugged him. He was glad to see him and he's paid his debt to society. Hawkes says Dowd's story checks out as witnesses saw him hug Dowd. Jo gets a hit on the ID of the abducted woman, she used her credit card to pay for the martini. Camille (Lesley-Anne Brandt) rings a bell with Hawkes. He grew up with her. They check out her apartment and find it's been trashed. Hawkes brings down a box with pills from the attic. Surprisingly, he knew just where to look did he. She left him a voicemail on his phone a week ago. Jo asks if she was an old flame. He didn't have the courage to ask her out, they're old friends. Whenever they give Hawkes a storyline it always concerns someone, or a friend, from his past.
Hawkes checked Camille's DNA from her toothbrush and it matched the martini glass. She worked as a nurse at a clinic. Jo says she was fired 3 weeks ago for stealing meds. Mac thinks she was selling. Hawkes refuses to believe she's guilty and she has no criminal record. He posits she called him for help. Flack and Danny check out the clinic and speak with her former employer, Dr Theola Kumi (Adrienne Barbeau). Some of her patients complained about their symptoms, which were getting worse. The pills were fake. There was no proof she was stealing pills until a second patient complained about the same symptoms. Flack asks if she filed a report with the NYPD. That was the clue. The Dr didn't otherwise the clinic would have been shut down because of their ethics. Well she was my suspect, firstly since there weren't any other suspects and also she didn't file a report. Anyone else would have because they'd be thinking of their patients.
If Camille was guilty what would prevent her from doing the same thing again elsewhere. Dr Kumi was just looking out for herself to carry on with her scam. She gives them the list of patients and Camille's work phone. Flack is disgusted patients were given fake meds. "Pun intended - that's pretty sick" Danny says making fake meds isn't easy so she had to be working with someone. Flack thinks it could be the killer.
The killer gives Camille food and a new dress to wear. Someone told him the NYPD checked her apartment. Camille wants him to answer her questions. She asks if he believes in fate or free will. Well he answered that at the end. He vows to find Janice Scott. She agrees to tell him where she is. Lindsay finds magnesium stearate in the pills. Adam works on the trace from the CS, the wire, and he worked on the ash in the oven and discovered, "mostly ash." As well as galvanized steel. Jo says Sterling, reminds her of an old friend of hers. Jason Sterling, who collected decorative pins. There were low levels of uranium in the Vic's bloodstream. Adam asks what a mushroom cloud was doing in their blood. Jo "Boom." Using Danny's phrase. Adam asks how someone gets uranium in their blood.
Danny compared Camille's work phone with her personal phone bill and a Janice Scott stands out. Janice's apartment has been trashed and she hasn't been seen for two days. One of her businesses also includes a nightclub. (A CSI:NY episode wouldn't be complete without an obligatory nightclub.) Hawkes asks Mac's permission to stay on the case. Cue Flack and Hawkes (this time) to check it out. Flack walks right past the killer. Who just happened to turn around and look back at him. Flack loses him in the crowd. One chase where Flack didn't get his man. Cos that would've been too easy and no interrogations in this episode either, except for the one with Mac and Jo at the end. Janice is dead. Hawkes doesn't find signs of a struggle as Janice was already dead. She was suffering from a brain tumour and was also on fake meds. So if Camille had all those fake pills in her apartment and she knew Dr Kumi was running a scam, why did she let Janice stay on them.
The killer tells Camille, that the people he kills choose death, when they choose how they live. Camille maintains Janice was innocent and not a criminal. So if Camille was really guilty she wouldn't have said that. Jo and Lindsay analyze the pills. Haven't seen Jo in the lab in a long time. Sid found uranium in Janice's blood. Mac believes the answer lies in the uranium. Adam has a trilby and the steel fragment from the oven, belonged to the hat. It was 22" in circumference, the average size of a man's head. Jo surmises he changed his appearance after the shootings and threw the hat in the oven. Adam didn't find a name for him, but he pays cash and was referred to the shop by a Theola Kumi. Jo looked good in the trilby.
Dr Kumi wants Camille dead. She has a back-up if he can't kill her. Mac says there never were any real meds and Hawkes thinks Camille stole the meds as proof. Lindsay found an old factory in Queens which used uranium. Mac and Jo encounter a shoot out when they go to the factory and Jo arrests Kumi whilst she's destroying evidence. As if that'll get her off the hook. Jo tells her the machines at the factory had traces of magnesium stearate and Mac says she's going away. Danny checks out the phone history and finds calls were made to the killer. Adam tells him to triangulate. Pings on a location. Danny: "Boom." He hasn't said that in a while either.
The killer gets ready to kill Camille. He calls Dr Kumi and Adam picks up (like episode 2) and hears shots fired. He killed Kumi's plan b, i.e. her back up. Saving Camille and letting her go. That was his choice when she asked about free will or fate. Her fate was to be killed by him, but he chose to exercise free will and let her go. Jo sees him go into an alley, where Mac arrests him. Jo's done plenty of people watching in her job and asks Mac if he's done the same as a detective. She wonders what Hawkes is saying to Camille and talks about her body language. Jo: "Evaluate the evidence." Mac thinks they could be rekindling their friendship, or as Jo believes, talking about "hot, steamy sex." That, Mac tells her, is none of their business.
Meant to be a bit of a smooth episode, with a suave, sophisticated killer, well versed in just about everything, yet he chose killing as his path. His fate or his free will? Ne-Yo puts in a fine performance as a nameless killer, who develops a conscience at the end and lets one of his intended kills live; or did he develop a soft spot for her.
As for Hawkes, well he always ends up dealing with people from his past. In 3.7 Murder Sings the Blues, he meets a girl at a party and is reprimanded by Mac for not revealing his connection to her earlier. Here he asks his consent to help in the case and to question Janice, just so he wouldn't have to apologize this time round. He learned his lesson from before. In 5.4 Sex, Lies and Silicone, Hawkes meets up with his college friend, who asks him to remove files from the investigation when they turn up as they involved his father, who paid for Hawkes' last year at med school through a scholarship. In 5.12 Help, his ex Kara, was a victim of rape and he was removed from the case. In, 6.6 It Happened To Me, he didn't tell Mac he treated the Vic earlier on in the episode much sooner.
Just to get in my rant at the way CBS is treating CSI:NY, not making a decision as to its future. As of yet there's no decision on whether they will be renewing the show for a season 8. Which is terrible, it's not a case of last on, first off. The show has proved itself with fans, viewers and after 7 seasons, deserves better treatment than this. What was the point of bringing in Jo, if they weren't going to last it out. Any show which undergoes a change to its scheduled air day is going to have some teething problems and it gets some faltering ratings, doesn't mean it should not come back for another year. If that's the case, then CSI and CSI:Miami are in the same boat too, as far as falling ratings go. At the end of season 5, there was the obligatory excuse of funding and money and so Angell (Emmanuelle Vaugier) was fired. CBS needs to listen to the fans and CSI: NY's dedicated viewership. As you may notice this ep was written a good while back! Then again we had to go through the same when the show was on the bubble re season 9 renewal!
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