The Closer 7.5 "Forgive us Our Trespasses" Review

Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) tells Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) that Morales (Jonathan Del Arco) has a DB at a funeral home without a death certificate.  All the squad are served with subpoenas.  Including, Buzz (Phillip P Keene) known as Francis B Watson.  Flynn (Tony Denison) asks "why Francis?"  Sanchez comes out and says what Brenda has been thinking all along when he comments, "who cares what happened to Turrell?"  Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) doesn't get served in relation to the wrongful death civil suit and everyone thinks that's strange.  

Flynn thinks Gabriel has already spoken with the attorney: Peter Goldman (Curtis Armstrong) that useless and irritating Herbert from Moonlighting.  Brenda insists they're only interested in her and she doesn't speak to Goldman.  He wants to know the names of the two officers with her and then they can make a deal.  She claims he can't accuse her fellow officers.

Terry (Hal Landon Jr) the funeral director says that Cliff (Peter Breitmayer) was a minister and the family brought him here, in a desperate bid to have him buried before anything inappropriate gets out.  Well that's just obstructing justice, especially since he didn't die of natural causes.  Flynn talks to his son, Chris (Michael Grant Terry) and suggests he can call the MPs to take him. Kendall (Ransford Doherty) takes the liver temperature and deduces Cliff died 2-3 hours ago and has traces of peticui in his eyes, suggesting strangulation.

Gabriel tells Provenza (GW Bailey) he went to church four times a week and should treat his wife, Kate, (Kate Burton) with some respect.  Provenza: "I'm not waiting here until Jesus comes back."

Kate tells Gabriel her husband was depressed and hung himself.   Gabriel gets her written consent to search her home and garage, which was a little too late considering they had already destroyed evidence, like the computers.

Tao (Michael Paul Chan) finds Cliff died at a motel as he traces his credit card and has "not checked out."  Provenza: "depends on your point of view" in relation to the not checking out comment, cos he has checked out, being dead.  A couple are caught cleaning up his motel room and Cliff turns out to be their son-in-law.  Well it appears the entire family is in on the act.

Pope (JK Simmons)  now has exercise equipment in his office, like his own personal gym.  Taylor (Robert Gossett) told him about Goldman and suggests she should get her own personal lawyer as Raydor also told her to do.  See as I said before, Gabriel is always the one who interrupts them both.  Goldman is still hanging around like a bad smell and keeps picking on Gabriel to achieve some dissension in the ranks.  Provenza kind of stands up for him, he's either good or he's a snitch, he hasn't been subpoenaed so he must have done something right, he adds.

Kate says Cliff called her from the motel and she was protecting the members.  Gabriel suggests they let her go and then follow her as she may lead them to the other woman, considering she left behind her undies and shoes.  Sanchez wonders if Brenda said anything to Goldman and his deal.

Morales finds Cliff didn't hang himself, as he flailed about on the floor.  There's red dye on his feet, which Brenda matches to the shoes.  Gabriel: "looks like we found Cinderella."
Brenda: "who turned him into a pumpkin?"

Brenda tells Fritz (Jon Tenney) that Kate thinks she's above the law.  Was that a subtle allusion to herself as well as far as the Turrell case is concerned.  Fritz also thinks she should contact her own attorney as Raydor suggested.  Seems everyone knows about this suggestion but it is for Brenda's own good as she just seems to be in denial over not doing anything wrong.  Brenda says Kate is more worried that people will find out he was a transvestite and is trying to wash the sin away.  That is definately a reference to Brenda and how she wishes this case would go away, but she's in denial as I said.  I was waiting for the Dorothy and Kansas allusion from Brenda as far as the red shoes were concerned.  (Re Wizard of Oz.)

The woman's name was Sindy (Jessalyn Wanlim) and he met her online.  Brenda believes in "thou shalt not kill."  Again that's relevant here not only to the case at hand but also to the Turrell case, she may not have killed him herself but she didn't do anything to prevent it either.  Chris tells her about his father wearing women's clothes and mentions Cliff being into auto-eroticism.  Tao says the "release mechanism" wasn't found, which was to prevent accidental choking.  Taylor tells Gabriel he should call Goldman and talk to him.  Sindy knew Cliff for four years and he wouldn't kill himself.  Kate knew about the dress-up.

Provenza asks what they should say on the depositions and that they should all decide what the truth is.  Tao puts together the family phone records and a lot of calls passed between them.  Sanchez accuses Gabriel of talking to Goldman already.  Which is exactly what Goldman wanted to happen.  Brenda tells them it's all about her.

All the family are brought in and watch the interrogation of Kate.  Brenda asks her why Cliff would kill himself dressed as a woman if he was ashamed.  He called her from the motel and Kate wants her to "leave my family out of it because this is all about me."  That's what Brenda just said to the others.  Kate confesses.  Brenda is going to arrest the rest of the family as accessories to murder after the fact.  Kate called her phone from the motel to give herself an alibi, but it's not Kate who killed him as she already knew what he was doing and even suggested the prostitute herself. She just wanted to keep it all a secret and was in denial over what he was like and what he was doing.

Brenda tells Chris no one called him since Cliff was already dead.  His actions were premeditated. Tao tells him he didn't get a call at the base either.  Chris found his e-mail account on the computer and followed him.  Kate confessed to protect him.  He saved a note from his friend Jeff, when he was at school and his father found the note.  He beat him and sent him into the military.  Then showed the note to Jeff's parents and Jeff killed himself.  Cliff preached at his funeral.  Chris took his belt and killed him.  His mother didn't stand up for him but always for her husband and he thought of killing her too.

Goldman serves Gabriel with a subpoena too and comments now he might know what "it's like to be singled out by your own gang."  Brenda says Gabriel asked to be subpoenaed and eats her usual cakes for comfort and continues this at home, as well as drinking wine.

Brenda says this decision was made by her alone.  Fritz can only say things will get worse whereas she was expecting a word of comfort from him.  He's been subpoenaed too as he volunteered to provide protection for Turrell's mother and sister.  He says Brenda was only doing her job.  She spills wine on the subpoena and asks over, "what have I done?"

Brenda increasingly finds everything coming done on her as if her world is about to come tumbling down over that Turrell case, which it is and The Closer continues to impress with this storyline in its final season.  Lots of religious Ten Commandments references here (as well as the title) which also mirror Brenda's own actions from that past case.  There doesn't seem to be anything she can do about it besides getting her own lawyer which is the only advice anyone and everyone seems to offer.  It wouldn't have helped her knowing that Fritz has become involved in this too as he was going to be her one piece of comfort.

That Pastor was hypocritical and having the nerve to send his son into the military as if that would make him change or his past actions go away.  Though that did give Chris the chance to get away from him.  His mother didn't fare much better just being interested in her husband and outward appearances of normality, morality and religiousness to everyone else.

CSI: Miami - 9.7: "On the Hook" Review

A man fishing attempts to prevent a boy from jumping from the bridge, before he is shot at by a sniper. Horatio investigates and as usual there's more going on beneath the surface.

A man fishing attempts to prevent another from jumping off the bridge and calls for help.   He's then shot at by a sniper.   Delko (Adam Rodriguez) questions Brad (Geoffrey Blake) as if he's in charge all of a sudden.   With Calleigh (Emily Procter) hiding behind the Hummer.   Brad doesn't know the origin of the shots and is taken into protective custody.   Shane (Collins Pennie) insists he wasn't going to jump.   Horatio (David Caruso) points out that the scuff marks on his shoes will match the railings.   Shane had to be involved somehow cos he wasn't shown for nothing.   Horatio doesn't get a very good one liner this time either.  Hey what's going on when he doesn't get to say something witty anymore.   Thinning out in that department then.

Walter (Omar Miller) and Ryan (Jonathan Togo) process the boat and Walter gets one up on Ryan for a change - good to see some of their old banter back from season 8.   Walter doesn't find any grooves on the round, a .223  and their search radius will be at least 100 yards.   Delko goes diving.   Walter tells Ryan to take the swamp and he'll take the rocks cos he's got allergies.   Ryan refuses cos of his shoes so Walter tells him he'll take the rocks and Ryan can take the swamp.   Ryan agrees before he realizes what he just said.

Calleigh has to direct Delko to the rounds under the water and finds the rounds were shot from a larger rifle.   They separated in flight so no grooves were left on the bullet, known as sabots.   These increase the length of the range so they'll have to triple their search area.   She calls Walter with this news and he figures out where the shooter was elevated on a building.   Here he finds the dumped rifle.   Tripp (Rex Linn) and Ryan question Haywood (Lamont Thompson) Brad's former business partner.   He's suing Brad but it's apparent he's not the shooter.   Ryan claims he could do something irrational but as he's clay pigeon shooting, his hands will be covered in GSR.   If it had been Haywood he wouldn't have missed.

Tripp recalls Shane and Tracy (Chelsea Tavares) from when he arrested them for shoplifting.   His probation officer Neil (Jaime Gomez) says Shane's in counselling.   Neil was my suspect straight off.

Calleigh examines the rifle and doesn't believe Haywood is the shooter, as he was inexperienced and didn't know how to use the gun and so he could have left DNA from his eye behind on the glass.   Which matches Dario (Joseph Julian Soria).   Another chase scene with Delko (I won't go into that again after my comments in previous episodes, sufficed to say you know where my loyalties lie when it comes to chase scenes, different show, CSI:NY and characters!)  Horatio just had to be waiting for him around that particular corner again.   Dario isn't into murder.   Brad doesn't know Dario.   Delko says he doesn't have a motive for the shooting which means someone made him do it - considering there aren't that many suspects, that was an obvious statement.

Shane rips apart furniture at home.   A disturbance call from his neighbour is answered by Horatio and Tripp.   Horatio had to say "Shoot Frank."  Shane recalls Brad was on the phone and mentioned Vic, which Horatio immediately differentiates as Vig.   Shane heard that from all the way up on the bridge.   Horatio calls Ryan again (his go-to guy) and gets him to check Brad's phone records.   Leading Walter and Ryan to a building rented by Brad under the company's name.   Brad is a bookie which Ryan knows all about.   See his gambling past never really leaves him.   Ryan knows a lot about this Walter comments, but Ryan says that's "in the past."  Walter doesn't question him further on it.   Such is there relationship, he takes Ryan's word on it.   Walter also finds rice paper in a bucket.   Rice paper is water soluble and it's a way to get rid of evidence, so it's used by bookies for bets.   (Clue for later.)

Horatio prevents Brad from leaving and could charge him with bookmaking now, when he notices a flash from a train.   Seconds later shots rain through the lab.   Never heard a train pass by there before as we do in this episode.

Ryan and Walter check out the station, they're left to do all the grunt work these days, with Delko barely lifting a finger to gather evidence anymore.   Walter again notices the absence of grooves on the bullets.   Ryan thinks they should check the track where Walter finds a piece of wood and Walter comments he's found one sniper today, here goes his second.   Ryan finds pieces from a  hardware store dumped in the trash and Walter gets oil on his gloves.   Ryan finds casings without stria.   Horatio finally in the lab, we know that's him and if you didn't recognize his hands/arms then you'd be surprised to see him there too.   Made a change.  

Horatio puts the pieces together to reveal a gun pipe.   Walter points out the barrel was the wood, door hinge was the hammer, where the spring creates force to activate the primer and the nail was the firing pin.   Ryan says there were no manufacturer's branding explaining the absence of any marks on the bullet.   Horatio posits any mistake will render it dangerous and it's untraceable, until now.   He recalls Shane.   Someone put him up to it.   He has a burn on his arm and he was threatened.   He and Dario were both working for someone.  

Tripp finds they weren't in jail at the same time, but they do have Neil in common.   As I said.   Dario asks for his probation officer, Neil.   Dario was played and threatened he'd find himself back inside accused of drug dealing.   Neil gave him the ammo and the gun but there's nothing concrete to put him away.   As Tripp says it's one felon's word against another.   Shane went to the bridge to prevent the shooting, that was obvious too.  Neil threatened Tracy with jail and Neil provided him with plans to build a gun.   How pathetic was that putting it down on paper and yet he didn't want him to buy a store rifle.   He left the plans in the sink.   It's Mr Wolfe on the retrieval trail again, what's wrong with Delko getting his hands dirty.

Calleigh claims if the pigment is left in the tissue then the forensic light will pick it up and the writing is matched to Neil.  Who  is about to rape Tracy when Horatio arrives just in the nick to save her.   Horatio: "I am loaded with evidence, my friend."  As he points his gun at him.   Then proceeds to throw him out the window to show him what the next 30 years will be like for him inside.   Shane tells Tracy he has to go away for doing something bad.   Horatio puts his shades on in a satisfied pose.

Horatio there to save the day is hardly a surprise anymore, but neither was him throwing Neil out the window.   Hey he could argue Neil resisted arrest.   Point being it's not Horatio's first portrayal of 'crossing the so called thin blue line'.   In an earlier episode in 6.17 To Kill A Predator where a TV show uses a sting operation to expose men who prey on teenage girls, where Horatio catches a man connected with the show about to prey on a girl and approaches the suspect with menace in his face.   He was trying to seduce the teen and here Neil was about to rape her.   In that episode we're not actually shown what Horatio does to him as we fade out.   The episode All In signified Horatio's turning point in his character after he was out for revenge for Marisol in Rio.

CSI:Miami seems to be delving into another era of of action hero episodes and away from the solid forensics.   Delko closely following Horatio's lead in demonstrating such "toughness" too.   Though Horatio's action in calling Ryan to check on Brad's phone records appears to be justified since it's in his interests to find out who the shooter was.   Walter got more to do this episode and it took me to the end to realize Natalia (Eva Larue) was absent!   Viewers may recall Jaime Gomez from Nash Bridges.

Snipers, shootings, chase scenes, seen them all before not only in CSI:Miami but also CSI:NY.   The shooting of the lab was reminiscent of CSI:NY episode 7.21 Life Sentence.  when the lab was shot to smithereens.   Also in CSI:NY 2.6 Youngblood, Flack (Eddie Cahill) and Mac (Gary Sinise) can't work out what sort of a gun the killer used as the blast is unusual.   The GSR pattern doesn't seem to match any conventional weapon until they determine that  a home made gun was used.   Also a sniper in season 7.7 Hide Sight of CSI:NY.

NCIS - 7.24: "Rule Fifty-One" Review

Gibbs is held captive by Paloma from the Reynosa drug cartel and she knows he killed Pedro. Ziva is sworn in as a US citizen, but Gibbs is missing from the ceremony.

Gibbs (Mark Harmon) knows Paloma Reynosa (Jacqueline Obradors) and the quote she uses from Tennesse Williams: about 'all being sentenced to solitary confinement inside our skins for life.'  She asks if he is a 'frank' man.   Referring to "paragons of frankness."  Lots of references to frank here, i.e.  Mike Franks (Muse Watson) .   Gibbs doesn't drink Scotch.   Meanwhile, Tony (Michael Weatherly) is upset Ziva (Cote de Pablo) is becoming a citizen, it can't be happening, "how could they let you in...never been more disappointed in my government."  Ziva passed her exams.   Gibbs isn't at work and she comments it's not "the first time he's run off on his own."  Referring to his 'retirement' at the end of season 3 and early season 4.   Vance (Rocky Carroll) says they need to concentrate on what they're good at.   Tony just loves stirring doesn't he, asking "What would that be?"
Vance replies, "If you don't know, I'm not gonna tell ya."

Tony: "Pretty tasty and cryptic piece of rejection there" from Vance.   Or as some would say, get over it, it's not the first rejection Tony's ever got and it won't be the last.   Ziva noticed it was like the "red headed step child."  She got that saying right, maybe being a newly fledged citizen is rubbing off on her.   Vance says McGee (Sean Murray) was friendly with Alejandro (Marco Sanchez) and wants all the information kept from Allison Hart (Rena Sofer.)  Margaret Allison Hart Esq is employed by Bell.   They found Bell's DB and other DBS were associates of Bell.   San Diego agents will help McGee out.   McGee asks about Gibbs and Mike Franks.   Alejandro doesn't look convincing when he's surprised at Gibbs being in Mexico.   Always said there was something fishy about him.

Cue Gibbs and the mind games being played, when he says it's not the Vic but the method employed for a perfect murder.  He tells Paloma to kill him now cos he's not helping her.   She views him as a valuable federal agent.   Can't force Gibbs to work with her, he asks where her evidence is and for her to prove he's guilty of the crime.   Gibbs: "I know something about convictions.   I get 'em and I got 'em!"  Paloma threatens everyone Gibbs knows, including Mike and Gibbs' ex mother-in-law, his workers and his father, whom she'll deal with in person.   Gibbs posits she's doing him favours now.   She wants him to deliver a package.

Tony and Ziva will go to Mexico.   McGee mentioned Gibbs to Alejandro and he's tracked Gibbs.   Vance questions if Ducky (David McCallum) and Abby (Pauley Perrette) have finished with the Mexican cold case.   Vance touches his eye and winks at Tony.   Who comments Vance and Gibbs have a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge language."  Vance can't green light an op and has to have them pick up the slack.   Alejandro arrives at her villa, he got there easily, so obviously he's definitely involved.   He takes Gibbs away feigning a rescue and then brings him right back to the villa.   He had the task force investigate the cold case.   Gibbs asks if that's a coincidence.   Abby didn't stop the report, Gibbs is "dead certain."  When Alejandro says someone stopped it.  As we know, there are no coincidences as far as Gibbs is concerned.   Alejandro is Paloma's brother.

Ziva renounces her ties to Israel.   Abby hijacks the lift and quotes Rule 44.   Tony asks if someone's out to get her.   Ziva says she told Gibbs to write down his rules (which he actually does.)  The number forties are for emergencies only.   Alejandro doesn't have the report so they have to do things Paloma's way.   Gibbs mentions a riddle about a man in a room, without doors or windows, only a table and a mirror, so how does he get out?  Jason Dean (Dylan Bruno) answers it, by looking in the mirror, you see what you saw.   Take the saw and cut the table in half.   Two halves make a (w)hole.   Gibbs' father taught him that.   Alejandro holds the gun to Gibbs and he tells him to shoot, but he can't.   He's never shot anyone before.   Gibbs never lost sleep over Pedro, their father.

Tony and Ziva find themselves in yet another plane, as they were in the season 6 finale.   Only Ziva didn't come back that time.   Ziva won't get back on the plane without Gibbs, but he's there to meet them.   Tony says they didn't find Mike, but he doesn't want to talk about it.  His family left town the day before.   Tony always questions Gibbs, who replies, it's a "mess I've got to clean up." That's rule 45, paraphrased by Gibbs.   Tony then finds McGee and tells him his new best buddy, Alejandro, threw him out.   Vance tells Gibbs he doesn't need his permission and Tony notices the briefcase on Vance's desk.

Ducky's mind has gone blank and then recalls a golf story, courtesy of Palmer (Brian Dietzen).   Gibbs asks his father (Ralph Waite) to stay with someone else.   Abby finds the bullets match Gibbs' weapon.   Ducky believes this shows Gibbs as a murderer, but he didn't kill the man.   As a scientist Ducky knows he didn't.   Ducky mentions it's not a coincidence that the pattern of the knife matches the one used on Macy, so Dean also killed Bell.   Ziva tells them there's only one way anyone would get Gibbs' gun, over his dead body that is.   As Ducky eloquently puts it, "pry it from his cold, dead hand."  Tony comments tracing stuff on the computer is McGee's work, just like a fish in a shark's mouth picks things out.   Tony: "Dead men don't make phonecalls."  Tony's doing this without him, McGee that is and not Gibbs.

Ziva traces the phone, it's active.   Dean is calling Gibbs.   Gibbs looks at them and Vance looks at Gibbs.   Gibbs throws the phone on the desk and Vance picks it up (so he can plant a bug.) Vance comments he spent lots of time in LA and went on the tour of Warner Bros costumes of Casablanca (1942).   Different philosophies, he thought of Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Louis (Claude Rains) from Casablanca.   Gibbs is Rick and Vance hates being Louis, going behind his back.   He orders Gibbs to tell him what's happening.   Saying his life doesn't revolve around Gibbs.  Vance can make a call, and Gibbs replies, "because my life revolves around" Vance.   Dean is on Bell's plane and Alejandro is on the next flight.   Vance changed Gibbs' phone battery.

Abby says Gibbs is sorry, she hates it when he breaks his rule.   Mike's finger was shot off but he's still alive.   Abby: "Superheroes have super IDs."  Allison thought Bell was a good man, otherwise Ducky tells her, she wouldn't work for him.   He wanted to know more about Gibbs and Ducky tells her, now "You're feeling you backed the wrong man."  Allison knows about Ducky's psychology degree.   Vance wants Dean from the plane.   Tony leads the mission and there's a shoot-out.   Pretty similar to season 4 episode with Jenny's (Lauren Holly) mission to get la grenouille.   Gibbs removes a box from the crates.   As if he'd do anything illegal.  Vance comments on the slugs being from a .45, which Mike uses.

Gibbs meets with Alejandro, who sent Dean here, thinking he was in the clear.   But Dean was the fall guy.   Gibbs didn't open the box and quotes Tennesse Williams from Camino Real, "We have to distrust each other.  It is our only defence against betrayal." Oh talk about coincidences, when I wrote my Alias companion, Inter Alias: An Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Alias, I used this exact quote in my book!  Vance drops by, coincidentally, ha, not.   He's told there's candy in the box.   Abby's report was sent to the task force.   Vance plays back the recording made from Gibbs' phone.   Alejandro didn't say anything to incriminate himself.  Obviously Gibbs couldn't tell him what's happening and thought he could buy some time.   Gibbs trusts Vance and would follow his lead everyday.

Vance: "Worst enemies hide in plain sight." He tells Gibbs about a story with Humphrey Bogart where the director needed him for one more shot on the cafe set of Casablanca.   All he wanted him to do was to look and nod, when Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) wanted to play the Marseillaise, Rick gives him the okay.  "The character makes a commitment, makes a choice."  Vance says the cold case from Mexico isn't his business.   Abby never gave him the report and if something happens with Alejandro Vance doesn't have to say anything.    Vance hums the Marseillaise and they walk off together just like the ending in Casablanca with Louis and Rick, where Louis comments "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

Casablanca, one of my fave movies and I was awaiting for this to come up in the show, as I always said that Gibbs and Vance have that sort of a friendship, like Rick and Louis, it's unspoken.   Vance sends Tony to Mexico to trail Alejandro.   Gibbs is in a suit and Allison asks if he believes in right and wrong?  She gives him Abby's report.   Tony and Gibbs are both absent from Ziva's ceremony.   Even Vance was there, well he kind of had to be.   Gibbs and Allison are "both sworn representatives of the law." Gibbs has his own code.   Gibbs didn't want her to stop the report.    He doesn't apologize, there's a rule against it.   She wanted to know who he is/was as a person.   As an officer of the law she can beat his report.

Mike meets up with Tony in Mexico.   He'll take care of Alejandro, he can still shoot with his thumb and calls Tony 'Probie'.   Allison asks why he's a cop.   Gibbs has his rules and he wrote them down.   Flash to Shannon reading Gibbs' Rules, they were her idea.   Rule 13: never, ever involve a lawyer.    Flash to  season 3 episodes 23 and 24, when Mike and Gibbs spoke about his wanting to be a cop.   If Gibbs wants to be a cop, he must "let the old stuff go and let new stuff take its place."
Gibbs: "I think I'd be a good cop."

Gibbs writes down Rule 51: Sometimes you're wrong.   Paloma visits Gibbs' father at the store, he stayed anyway.   I'm sure I mentioned Casablanca in one on my episodes.   Anyway so that's the Pedro storyline done with, but is continued on with Mike gunning for Alejandro and Paloma going for Gibbs' father.  For her it'll be a case of 'an eye for an eye.'  Abby sent the report and it was intercepted by Allison, who decides that it's Gibbs she wants to help now.   Kind of her last good deed before she's kicked off the show, oh that was harsh.

Tony is usually sent out on these missions alone, to take care of business, just as Jenny sent him undercover in season 4.   Ziva must be wondering where both Gibbs and Tony are.   So a lot of things concluded here, like her becoming a citizen.   Rule 13 was also used in 6.7 Collateral Damage.   Rule 45 is: clean up your mess, here Gibbs paraphrases it to say he has to clean up his mess, which Tony tells Ziva  "that's 45 basically."  Allison finally calls Gibbs, "Special Agent" and not "Mr."  Vance mentions his work at NCIS:Los Angeles and also mentions Hetty.

Tony claims Vance winked at him, meaning he gave him the 'go-ahead' to get Gibbs.   Dean used Gibbs' gun to fire into Bell after he was already DB, to make it appear Gibbs shot him, but TOD would discredit that.   He also severed Bell's head and hands to make it difficult to ID him, which he didn't do to Macy.   Darby Stanchfield who plays Shannon, appears to play lots of wives, she was Castle's wife and also played a wife in a season 9 episode of CSI:Miami.

My NCIS An Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to NCIS - The TV Show which you may or may not find interesting, appealing.
It's available here:  http://www.lulu.com/shop/mila-hasan/my-ncis-an-unofficial-and-unauthorized-guide-to-ncis-the-tv-show/paperback/product-20366043.html and at amazon.

CSI: NY - 7.6: "Do Not Pass Go" Review

Several calls to the parents of a missing teen, lead to the discovery of a decomposing DB on a rooftop. Ultimately leading to a woman out for revenge for the killing of her fiance.

A couple at an abandoned building are given directions on where to find their son.   The wife, Elizabeth Harris (Helen Slater) tells her husband, Charles (Thomas Calabro) to do exactly what the man said to find their son, and to put his hands on the railings.   I knew that was to cover over any prints or evidence that may have been left behind.   They find a decomposing DB in the car on the rooftop, which they believe to be their son, Jeremy (Zachery Spicer).   Sid's (Robert Joy) out of the morgue again, in another difficult retrieval of the DB.   He says the COD could be anything from a few days to a few months.   Shouldn't he have said TOD? Hawkes (Hill Harper) believes due to the weather, the humidity, etc, this will prove difficult.

Jo (Sela Ward) has to cover her nose due to the putrid smell given off by the DB.   Mac (Gary Sinise) comments on it being "a perfect place to commit a murder."  Lindsay (Anna Belknap) is on the scene again with Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) getting to be too much of an occurrence.    She finds partial prints on the door handle.   Danny finds the rooftop is clean and will now have to check the stairwell, he can manage 738 stairs.   Lindsay asks if he can imagine finding his child like that.   What a question to ask from her, imagine asking that to begin with, let alone thinking about it, which is exactly what Danny doesn't want to do.   Especially since it's not the first time they've come across such a scene.  

Flack (Eddie Cahill) tells them the parents made the call, they were looking for their son.   The building is deserted.   The original owner was was a drag racing and boy toys fanatic.   An anonymous voicemail told them where to look.   Mac dreamed of owning an old car too, but adds finding a DB in one, "wasn't an option."  Yeah that's really funny! I say sarcastically.   Elizabeth said Jeremy's been missing 7 days, they offered a reward and got several calls.   Charles tells of the instructions they received and Elizabeth wanted to follow them.   Sid lets Hawkes have the tails of the DB and have to remove it "band aid method."  I.e a short.  sharp pull.

Hawkes comments on the level of decomposition being too much and so Sid suggests they need to examine the bone marrow, for DNA purposes.   He finds a tattoo on the DB.   Mac notices a girl in the lab and follows her when she wanders off.   She's Ellie (Sydney Park) Jo's daughter.   She doesn't like it here and wants to go back to Virginia.   Jo calls themselves the three musketeers, along with her brother, Tyler.  So when do we get to see the fourth musketeer, Jo's ex (David James Elliott) ha!

Adam (AJ Buckley) analyzes the voicemail and Mac hits him on the shoulder to ask him what he's found.   The call was made from a pre-paid phone and the Sim card is no longer active.   They trace the steps of the caller as the Harris's were told to do.   Mac asks why they had to go through so many obstacles.

Sid shows Jo the findings, such as the tattoo which he enhanced to find a leprechaun with a basketball.   Jo thinks it's a version of the Boston Celtics mascot.  Lindsay struts in, with basically nothing again, but looking so pleased about it too, in that the partial prints on the door handle of the car belong to the Harris's.   Jo says there's a second Vic and it's not Jeremy.

Danny identifies the DB as Craig Anderson (Paul James).   Hawkes adds they were studying at NYU.   Mac needs to find the connection between the two.   Hawkes comments on there being no trauma on the DB, no strangulation, no clothes were torn.   So the COD must be poison, but the Tox screen was negative so the poison must be rare and exotic.   Mac believes the crime to be personal and asks why the Harris's found the DB?

It was nice the way they showed Flack walking past the window, when Jo was talking with the Harris's and then had to talk with Craig's mother, Mrs Anderson (Stephanie Venditto).   Flack's been so sympathetic of late - which is great to see lots of character development on his part and though he's dealt with Vic's relatives before, due to his own personal trauma, he knows how to relate to them just that little bit more and exactly what to say.   Plus Eddie gets to show a different side to his character in Flack.  He tells Craig's mother that Children aren't meant to die and there's no right way to act.  

Flack recalls his own first words were "cookie and cake."  His mother said that finding his killer won't bring Craig back, which is true but it will give her some sort of closure and justice at the same time.   Flack advises her against seeing Craig as it's "not how you wanna remember him - don't - not where it counts."  You don't say goodbye where it counts is what he said.   Where it really matters, in your heart.   Ah, don't you just wanna hug Flack/Eddie!

Charles wants to see Flack and tells him they had another voicemail, giving him the address of where Elizabeth went alone.   Mac tells Jo it's the transportation building.   Flack adds it's where "tired old street signs go to die."  Jo sees smoke and tells them they're on the wrong floor.   Lindsay wasn't there with them now, but of course had to arrive later to gather evidence.   SO who's looking after Lucy?  Danny no doubt.

Jo and Mac listen to the second voicemail.   Elizabeth was told to set fire to the place.   Mac says all of their instructions were to destroy evidence, which is what I said at the beginning.   Jo recognizes the service apron as she once worked in a burlesque bar, as she tells Mac when she was an undergrad.   Mac asks as a bartender, she didn't say that.   Wouldn't Mac have recognized the apron anyway, considering the number of bars, pubs etc they've been to, personally and professionally.   So what was the big deal, just to give Jo a chance to be mysterious with Mac.   Well it peaked his curiosity.

Hawkes analyzes the remains of the burned snakes.   Jo lets Mac know she was a weekend accountant for the burlesque club.  Lindsay finds the blood on the apron didn't belong to Craig or Jeremy.   Jo comments the mutation in the DNA is uncommon and the blood belonged to Ryan,a bouncer,  he was shot and killed in an unsolved homicide.

Mac just can't stop being so abrupt towards Adam who finds the Sim card was used once and the voicemail was left from a second phone.   The phones were bought at the same time.   The third phone number is traced to a bar which Lindsay recalls was where Ryan worked..   Mac hopes Flack and Jo "are thirsty."  Surprised Lindsay didn't go there either.   The number of appearances she's been making in the episodes, Danny has just been relegated to the sidelines this season, in particular.  

Jo tells Flack she can think of a less intrusive method of finding who has the phone, by calling it.   Which kind of defeated the purpose, since when they realized it was the bartender, they stood around watching him for ages.   Yeah, always the way so we can have a Flack chase (minus Danny)!  Well at least we got one with Flack!  Great slide under the truck, even if it was a stuntman.   Flack's not done that before.   Jo makes the bartender run into a dumpster.   Then a HI-Five between Flack and Jo.  Something no one else would've done, not Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) or Lindsay or Mac, even.   He ignores Adam when he wanted to 'hi five' mac in a similar way.

The bartender, Reuben (Chad Todhunter) denies killing anyone.   A friend wanted him to make the call.   Mac shows him the evidence bag with the bloodied apron inside and then with his torch in hand, he notices a UV Riker's stamp on the back of his hand.   Jo believes he's telling the truth, he can tell them who did it.   Flack says she "should've put him under the dumpster."
Mac comments he's "just visiting jail."  Hence the title of the episode, Do Not Pass Go from the boardgame Monopoly.

Danny discovers Reuben was visiting with a female inmate, Allison Scott (Maite Schwartz) she was engaged to the Ryan.   Mac believes they've found the motive for the murder.   Two college guys were thrown out by Ryan and he was later shot in the back.   The blood on the apron was from him as Allison couldn't let go of him.   Hawkes comments Jeremy and Craig had weak alibis but they didn't shoot him.   The neurotoxin from the snake venom caused paralysis.   Danny states they were trapped inside their bodies and couldn't move or talk.  

Jo tells Allison she lured them there and poisoned them.   She tells Allison it was a tragedy that Ryan died and if that happened to her family, Jo would hunt them down so they could feel her pain.   She couldn't live with herself if she killed the wrong person.   Allison didn't have enough to ID the shooter.   She couldn't be sure who it was.   Jo asks where Jeremy is so his parents can have closure just like she did with Ryan.   But Allison's closure turned to hate and vengeance.   She didn't show any remorse or even flinch at the possibility of having killed two innocent people.   Such was her grief, she didn't grieve though, all she saw was hate and assumed they had killed Ryan.   Coincidentally she was arrested right about now for drugs.

Jeremy is found still alive and Flack asks Mac how he survived.   Mac coming up with a scientific explanation that he had slow metabolism of the poison.   If he's asking for his personal opinion, then science had nothing to do with it.   In other words, it was God's work and probably a miracle.   In earlier seasons, it was mentioned Mac used to go to church.   Now it's not said as much but the implication was this is what he believed, that it wasn't a science explanation that saved Jeremy, but a religious one.

Flack: "It's too bad they all can't have a happy ending."  No CSI cases hardly ever do, aside from the criminal being caught.

Jo tells Mac she adopted Ellie as it was love at first sight.   her mother was arrested for a double murder and Ellie would have wound up in the system.   Mac doesn't join them as he's "already had heaven on a bun for lunch."  Jo bonds with Ellie and the comparison is that she's as devoted to her family as the Harris's were and especially Elizabeth.   In not giving up but doing everything for her son.

A serious and sad episode, with some funny moments too.   Jo bonding with Ellie and showing what a great mom she is.   Also bonding with Mac, to the point where he reads Jo's file just to see who Ellie is.   Also bags of character stuff for Flack, since in the past, he's mostly shown dealing with suspects, harshly, mockingly.   Though he was one of my faves from season 1 and onwards, it's good to see him evolve and he just gets better and better and more comfortable in his role as seasons pass.   He hasn't been stagnant and used only as an ancillary character to the others, or as a foil for Mac, on past occasions.   Pity Danny isn't given the chance to shine, now that Lindsay's on his case 24/7.

CSI 12.17 'Trends With Benefits' Review

College party with plenty of suspects, you'd think but apparently there turned out to be not that many in the end.  One dives into a pool like the Vic, Pete who dived over the bridge.  The opening was reminiscent of a CSI:Miami episode, as that's where such parties are usually shown.  Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) tells DB (Ted Danson) an anonymous tip gave them the location.  The bridge is a suicide spot for the university and was closed down.  Which was a clue for later.  Finn (Elisabeth Shue) finds shoe prints at the base of the lamppost, a beer bottle smashed on the ground.  Pete (Shane Coffey) didn't jump.  DB: "Maybe someone pushed this kid over the edge."  More like he was pushing people over the edge.

David (David Berman) stumbles down the edge whilst making his way down to the Vic.  Pete was at the Theta Delta party and he doesn't have a phone, which Nick (George Eads) points out is unusual.  He suffered anti-mortum bruising on his face and a crushed skull.  Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) posits he didn't fall off the bridge.  Nick thinks he could have been pushed by the same person who fought with him.  Finn takes candids as DB calls them, shots of the crowd since the killer may have returned to the scene, like Charlie (Brandon W Jones).  He tells DB the photo is trending. It was posted at 3.57 by Voyeur4U, so the person who posted knew about the DB beforehand.  Charlie thinks the killer may have wanted to "post and boast."  Finn: "good theory, must run in the blood."

Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) finds he suffered a beating, lots of it and contusions but no defensive wounds.  Morgan says he was assaulted at 10pm and there's no blood on his clothes.  Nick and Greg (Eric Szmanda)  found his bloody clothes but his room was empty.  DB tells Finn to make herself at home in his office when she pours his coffee and sits on his desk.  Archie (Archie Kao) runs an ISP trace on Voyeur4U and goes though the photos from the party.  Morgan finds Pete was openly gay and kept a Vlog (video blog) like a Perez Hilton on campus version.  Jonesin4 sent him some violent posts and Archie narrows down that Voyeur4U was Pete's own account.  He traces the GPS to WLVU campus and to the third floor.  Here they find Jonesin4, aka Sebastian and he has Pete's phone.  Nick asks if Greg thinks he's the killer. Greg: "think we have a strong connection."

Sebastian (Ivan Germaine De Leon) admits he's also gay and he was at the bridge. He found Pete and took his phone, later he called them anonymously.  Nicky loses his cool in that scene.  Pete had the campus dirt and said as much in his Vlog entry that he would be revealing this.  Photos of Brooke (Chelsea Kane) are found with Pete arguing at the party.  Brooke tells Finn and Morgan Pete could be cruel and Jake, (Beau Mirchoff) her boyfriend tells them Pete wasn't liked and he warned Brooke about him.  Greg finds Pete's things but not his computer.  Pete got an A+ for one of his papers for phone hacking, from Tom Laudner, (Paul Blackthorne) his professor.  Greg says he has a tabloid TV show where he harasses celebs.  Greg would know this, recall he had those gossip mags etc from earlier seasons where he'd know everything about celebs.  Such as in The Accused is Entitled.  Also Greg used to hide porn mags around the lab, just thought I'd remind you of that, ha.

DB visits Laudner and he boasts of a "safe environment for students".  Yeah about as safe as you can get with a letch professor around!  He mentions the "haves and have nots" just as Stella did in CSI:NY episode A Man A Mile.  He calls Pete his student, not his employee so he didn't want him digging the dirt on anyone.  Claiming Pete had his secrets.  Laudner: "hope you return the favour for an exclusive."  See the end.  Nick finds a flashdrive in Pete's clothes and DB wants a knife like Nick's.  He used that last time too didn't he to cut open the football in Brain Doe when DB was there.  I want me one of those touchscreen computers!  Pete was hacking e-mails and photos too and in Jake's file Nick finds a photo of Jake with Sebastian after recognizing his tattoo on his arm.  Jake stole Pete's computer and Pete hacked Jake's phone to steal the photos.  DB promises if he cooperates then the photos will be buried in evidence.  Brass reluctantly agrees.  Jake gives them his DNA.  Sebastian texted him after Pete was dead and he wanted the photos so took his computer.  Didn't Jake think he'd have kept copies of everything!

Greg brings in Pete's remote digital receiver and Archie finds it's still getting a signal and the live feed shows an office, which is apparent it's Laudner's.  Charlie brings DB lunch made by his wife and DB goes for the salt and vinegar crisps, cos clearly his wife doesn't let him eat those as he gets salad.  Finn, meanwhile rifles the fridge for lunch but doesn't find anything good.  Charlie comments on Finn being a drag last time and DB tells hims second time's a charm, and Charlie adds that his mother isn't the only one who worries.

Brooke knew about Jake's "sexual confusion" which made him a perfect boyfriend for her re her purity vow, which is important to her.  She was with Jake all night but it was all innocent.  Their argument was over Laudner and Pete wanted to be like him.  His next Vlog would reveal the truth.  Archie hones in on a  poster via the signal which is "Celebrities Indisposed," Greg positing the office belongs to Laudner, well it wouldn't be anyone else's.  Nick finds the camera on the bookshelf pointing towards the couch.  Greg discovers a bloodspot and the carpet had been cleaned, as well as multiple donors on the couch.

Laudner tells DB 38 women are enrolled in his class and anything that happened was consensual. He doesn't see this as a scandal.  DB: "I hate it when a suspect blows a hole in a perfectly good theory."  Which doesn't make him  a killer.  Nick wonders if DB is letting Laudner get to him, which DB replies is besides the point.  Nick thinks Pete saw something Laudner didn't want him to and DB thinks perhaps he didn't take no for an answer.  Finn and Morgan take DNA swabs from the students on the basis of finding some epithelials under Pete's nails which they didn't disclose to the public and they fell for  it.  One of them says the pretty girls get an 'A' and it's no secret.  Finn tells Ashley (Melissa Farman) she was assaulted and claims she killed Pete.  She was there to jump, see the suicide reference at the start, and he came, but not to help her.  She saw his phone and tried to take it and he fell.  Finn knows it wasn't her fault what Laudner did.  But Ashley refuses to testify.

Brass posits the DA will only file charges with witness testimony, so Laudner is free to do it again.  Greg finds the prints on the lamppost belonged to Ashley, ranging from 5-8'.  DB: "have to take our victims as they come."   So who posted the news about Laudner on the Net, one of the students, it had to have been cos the CSIs wouldn't do something like that.  Charlie shows DB the story is trending and Laudner is suspended.

A case which wasn't really new or different, CSI:Miami has covered quite a few about hacking, paparazzi, trending photos on the Net, gossip etc, and so has CSI:NY.  So Laudner got suspended that's not really punishment for someone who deals with the sordid side of celebrity.  Some would say certain celebs warrant their behaviour plastered everywhere.  The ordinary public may get embarrassed at such behaviour if it was exposed on a social networking site but in the main someone like Laudner who showed absolutely no remorse at sleeping with his students, even if it was consesual will not be affected by it.  All in all, he'll just get a book deal out of it.  Now that's not justice or punishment.


Sara and Hodges were absent this episode.  No need to explain the episode title.  Everything's trending these days be it good, bad or boring!

Without A Trace 3.5 American Goddess Review

American Goddess Lynette Shaw (Elizabeth Berkley) 30.  Bookkeeper at a restaurant.  Weight 152 pounds. Height 5’8” 13 surgeries over 3 months and gym 1200 calories a day diets. 120 hours.  Collagen injection.  Cheek augmentation.  Skin dermabrasion.  Brow lift.  Laser refinishing.  Face lift.  Chemical peels.  Liposuction.  Upper lip implant.  Rhinoplasty.  12 porcelain veneers.  Neck lift.  Chin implant.  Tummy tuck.  Breast augmentation.  Diet and work regimen.  Laser mole and freckle removal.  Liposuction of thighs and knees.  Buttocks augmentation.  Elbow lift.

Lynette was crowned American Goddess; an opportunity of a lifetime and never felt better.  A woman heckles her, she looks like a freak, she’s plastic pieces.  She disappears from her trashed dressing room.

2 Hours Missing
Bruce Kaplan (Evan Handler) was her manager for 6 weeks.  She didn’t have any problems with stalkers.  There are prints on the door knob.  Danny (Enrique Murciano) doesn’t watch such rubbish.  Maria lets Jack's (Anthony LaPaglia) daughters watch.

3 Hours Missing
Martin (Eric Close) watches her tape.  Viv (Marianne Jean Baptiste) says there were no complaints filed with the NYPD concerning stalkers.  Martin thinks it’s about Lynette.  She’s never had a boyfriend.  Guys will hit on her and she’ll think she’s hit bigtime if someone buys her a drink.  The show made her a star.  Angie Bowman (Katharine Powell) brought charges against the show.  Lynette told them Angie was bulimic and gave her the number for Crestview.  Crazy people make for good TV.

4 Hours Missing
Sam (Poppy Montgomery) and Danny check out her apartment.  Danny tells Sam about one of his old girlfriends going on about being fat.  Sam finds a receipt for the cleaners who have her dress for stain treatment.  There was a message on her answer machine from a man who called 3 times.

5 Hours Missing
Jack finds Angie was angry over being disqualified.  But she didn’t have any problems with Lynette.  She dropped the lawsuit and attended Crestview.  They had lunch together and she showed her her engagement ring.  A man asked for her autograph and asks why she couldn’t get her ears done?  Lynette then became obsessed with her ears.
She’s also obsessed with asking out a man and went on the show because of him; for him.

Bruce is Lynette’s mother’s fiancé and say Lynette was hospitalized for depression 5 years ago.  Her mother, Irene (Cristine Rose) didn’t want her on the show.  Lynette wanted a promotion at the restaurant as a hostess but didn't get it as she wasn’t pretty enough.  Her mother got her eyes done.  Danny can’t believe her mother told her she wasn’t pretty.  Sam finds naked photos of Lynette in a magazine stand.

Sam gets the dress from the cleaners and her hotel keycard.  Viv says forensics found the prints on the door belong to Paul Pfeiffer, (JD Walsh) a patient at Crestview and he called her apartment.

6 Hours Missing
Paul tells them they’re not dating.  They’re friends and wanted to talk to her in her dressing room.  He’s always been there for her and she’s moving on.  She was beautiful no matter what.

7 Hours Missing
Lynette had  a crush on Dr Singh (Kris Lyer).  She saw him for a consultation as she wanted her ears done.  She was his best work.  But he told her no surgeon would operate for fear of a lawsuit because of the amount of surgery she’s had already.

9 Hours Missing
She ate at Casadora’s so her guy is probably someone who worked there.

10 Hours Missing
 Shirley tells Danny Lynette had eyes for the manager, Hal (Brennan Elliott). They weren’t dating.  Lynette wanted him to cater for a party and asked him for a drink.  She told him about photos of her Playboy shoot in advance but he didn’t meet her.
The photographer was Bruce.


24 Hours Missing
He took her photos and came onto her.  He was her part time manager.  He could get 20 years to life for kidnapping and 5 years for lying to the FBI.  He only lied because she’d tell her mother.  He’s already told her.  She says Lynette threw herself at him.  She came home 7:30 so she had it out with her.  Lynette tried to tell her it was Bruce so he slapped her for lying.  Danny says she may have been raped and if her mother had bothered to ask she’d know this.
Sam shows photos to the hotel clerk.  Paul was at the Litton Hotel bar.  They were meant to watch a movie so he followed her there.  Paul confessed he loved her and Lynette turned him down.  She wanted to be with someone else all her life.  Danny watches the interrogation.  The hotel clerk identifies the man as Hal.

28 Hours Missing
Hal says he wasn’t interested in her.  There was semen on her dress.  Hal calls being with her a horror story.  The night was okay but the next day she told him she’d change for him.  He was disgusted with her.  Danny says all she wanted was to be loved and everyone in her life rejected her.  He says the surgery didn’t change her life and thinks she trashed the dressing room because she couldn’t take it anymore.  She was trying to escape.  Danny remembers Shirley told her about getting half price liposuction in Queens.

30 Hours Missing
Lynette underwent surgery yesterday and had everything undone.  Dr Varrick (Gregory Wagrowski) was meant to send her to the Recovery center but she didn’t check in.

31 Hours Missing
Viv finds Varrick was arrested 5 years ago in North Carolina after a patient died on the operating table.  He has no licence to practice in Queens.  His credit card was used in Chinatown.

32 Hours Missing
Danny and Martin find her and Varrick.  She asks for Paul.  Danny tells Paul Lynette’s in hospital and  should see her.  He gives a dirty look to Hal.  Lynette suffered an allergic reaction to the anaesthethic and wasn’t taken to hospital because he didn’t have a licence.

Sam tells Danny he won’t be so tough on those girls now.  On her video Lynette says nobody sees her on the inside.

This episode: a commentary on reality shows and how they can go too far.  Seems Lynette was messed up in several ways, falling for the wrong man, needing a man in her life, saying she'd change for them.  No woman should have to do or say things like that ever.

Danny: “I don’t watch that crap.  Do you?”
Jack: “My wife lets my kids watch it sometimes.”
Danny: “Well that’s good if you want your daughters to think plastic surgery’s the answer to everything.”  You’d think Maria would be more responsible as a parent.

Martin: “This girl is so desperate to be loved.  Before American Goddess  she was invisible – now she’s a celebrity.”
Viv: “for 15 minutes.”
Viv: “So we’re looking for a scumbag in New York City.”  That’ll narrow the search down!

Danny: “This girl takes Fit’n’Thin.  Equals high maintenance.  Usually comes with a cat, a fat best friend and a daddy complex.”
Sam: “Your compassion is overwhelming.”
Danny: “Look all I’m saying is life’s too short.  I dated a girl that takes this stuff – she used to spend her days talking about how fat she was and then she’d spend her whole night in front of the refrigerator scoffing down cold pizza.”  Here they don’t give him a very positive attitude or opinion towards these girls and that changes at the end. Thank goodness, Danny can't be that shallow.  He can say life’s too short but he wasted a lot of his when he was younger going off the rails, so to speak.

Danny: “maybe it’s blood.”
Sam: “according to you it’s pizza sauce.”
Isn’t it always the case that women get turned down for jobs because of their looks first and their qualifications second!

Danny: “You told your daughter she was average.”  Even her mother doesn’t think much of her own daughter so who would.

Danny: “I never suggested you had done anything to her.”  Well, not killed her, at least.

Martin can’t keep his hands and eyes off of Sam!
Viv’s desk is still empty of any personal effects.

Wasn’t Paul Pfeiffer, the character name, Kevin’s best friend in The Wonder Years?

Viv has her hair done in the scene she visits with the doctor.
Jack: “They want you to pose for Miss November?”  That’s a sexist comment coming from Jack and so soon after he takes his job back.

Danny: “I mean you’ve gotta admit if I could’ve gone there, I would’ve gone there.  Couple of Scotches, you bang the American Goddess – I mean that’s a story right?”
Danny: “was it a long night?”  Danny doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he would never treat a girl like that but men like Hal are a dime a dozen and would!

Danny: “I was just thinking that in the 12 hours before Lynette went missing she was rejected by her mother, her best friend, the man of her dreams and her plastic surgeon.  I mean, all this girl ever wanted was to be loved.  I mean that’s why she went on that damn show in the first place.”  Paul didn’t reject her.

There wasn’t much media coverage over the missing American Goddess. Again Danny was on a case where it affected him where he criticized Lynnette’s mother for taking the diet supplement then learned what her life was really like – but didn’t feel outrage or disgust towards her since he commented on her mother calling her average to her face.
Sam: “Guess you won’t be so hard on those Fit’n’Thin girls now – huh?”

This episode was directed by Tony Goldwyn; who played the twins Rick and Greg in season 2 and season 3.  Also better known as the murderer in the movie Ghost and more recently seen in ABC's Scandal.

Someone should have pointed out Danny’s watch!  In the space of this episode it went from his left wrist in the apartment with Sam, to his right in the interview room, with his bangle now on his left wrist. At the restaurant it was on his left wrist now.  On the scene with Lynette’s mother his watch is on the left and then with Hal it’s back on the right and then back on the left gain.  When he finds Lynette and the doctor at the end it’s now on his right wrist and when he tells Sam about Lynette at the end it’s on his left wrist.  If anything else, at least you can now tell which scenes were filmed in which order and what days!  Yes I'm very observant like that! ha.

This episode was especially "ripped from the headlines" from the Fox reality show, The Swan.

Supernatural - 1.19: "Provenance" Review

Sam and Dean look into the case of a killer coming alive from a portrait and killing. Sam meets a girl he likes and Dean encourages him to go for it, in Dean fashion.

A family portrait is seen and there's a knife on the table.   In the painting the father faces to his left.   A couple have bought it and the father has moved position in the painting.   The knife is missing from the table also in the painting.   The candle goes out in the bedroom.   The couple have been stabbed.

Dean (Jensen Ackles) gets the number of yet another chick in a bar and Sam (Jared Padalecki) reads the headlines in a newspaper about the couple having their throats slashed.   Dean talks of LA TV scouts, rock stars, army majors and Sam tells him he can get his own dates.   There aren't any prints or murder weapon found.   Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) investigated three murders in 1912, 1945 and 1970 in Upstate New York.   They all had the same MO.

Dean is hung over and is asleep int the car wearing his shades.   Sam beeps the car horn and shocks him.   Sam doesn't find a thing to show it's a haunting, just that it's a violent crime and the house is empty.   They go to an art auctionhouse and outside are parked the cars of the wealthy, 'The Krip' is the number plate on a Rolls Royce.   Then we see Dean's Impala with a rusty number plate.

At the auction, Dean eats yet more food.  "I'd like champagne please."
Sam: "He's not a waiter."  The portrait is back to normal now.   They meet Sarah Blake ( Taylor Cole) and Dean has to get his hands on more mini quiches.   Sam wants to see the provenance of the painting and her father tells them to leave.   Sam is attracted to Sarah.   Sam's done an art history course which is good for meeting girls.   Back at their motel, Sam explains a provenance is a certificate of origin which is used to track the history of the object, in this case the painting.   Sam says Dean can get her to write it down on a cocktail napkin and Sam tells him "Pick ups are your thing."  He'd rather Dean go.   Dean: "It wasn't my butt she was checking out."

Sam needs to take one for the team.   Sam takes Sarah to dinner.   Sam found it difficult to find the words to ask her out.   The waiter gives Sam the wine list, showing just how difficult it is for Sam since he hasn't been with anyone since Jess.     She asks for beer and studied art in school.   She doesn't think he's a loser.   Her mother died a year ago and she went into a shell and she hasn't been on a date for a while.   Sarah: "What about you, you're a reasonably attractive guy, why aren't you out and about."  Like Deano, ha.

Sam tells Dean she gave him the provenances and he left, Dean is surprised he didn't con her.   Sam: "get your mind out of the gutter."  Dean knows he's into her.   It was painted in 1910 and the owners were murdered.   It could be haunted or cursed.   Dean: "either way it's toast." More foody references from Dean, okay not intentionally.   They break in and steal the painting and burn it, Dean calls it doing the art world a favour.   The painting reconstructs itself and goes back into the frame.   Dean can't find his wallet which will have his prints, his fake Ids etc.   Conveniently, he drops it more like, cos he's not clumsy.   Sarah watches them when they return.   Dean finds his wallet and says they're sticking around, leaving Sam alone with her.   Sam notices the painting and it freaks her out.   Sam doesn't want her to sell it again.

Dean suggests they need another way to get rid of it.   Sam mentions in the lore of haunted paintings it's always the subjects that haunt them.   'Father slaughters family' read the paper headlines.   He ruled the family with an iron fist and he was a barber, using a straight razor.   Isiah Merchant (Linden Banks) was his name and he had an adopted daughter, Millie (Jodelle Ferland) and it was rumoured his wife was leaving him.   All the family were cremated.   In the photos of the family, Isiah is facing forward.   Sarah's father is selling the painting and Sam notices the painting has changed, at least the position of the people.  Other things in the painting must have changed too.   Sam: "Like that DA Vinci code deal."
Dean: "I don't know, I'm still waiting for the movie on that that thing."

Dean says they need to see the painting again so Sam can get some "more crush on your girlfriend." Sam tells him to drop it. Dean comments they're both consenting adults and then Sam wouldn't be so cranky.   It's about Jess, Dean doesn't know what it's like to lose someone like that, but he wants to see Sam happy.  "God forbid, have fun once in a while."  And we all know what Dean's definition of 'fun' is.  i.e.  chicks.   Sam says there's no point since they'll leave anyway and it's only partly about Jess.

He calls Sarah but the painting is already sold;  the buyer, Evelyn is also killed.   Sarah turns up at her house and they break in.  Isiah is facing forward in the painting again.   Sarah saw the painting move and Sam is trying to stop what's killing.   He doesn't want to see her hurt, she's scared but won't hide.   Dean: "Sam, marry that girl."  Isiah's head is facing sideways again.   Of course he's not the one doing the killing and it's almost as if Isiah is trying to point to who is.   Sam thinks the killing is done at night.   In the painting the razor is closed, but in the book copy, it's open.   Sam calls it a painting in a painting.   Dean has to go to the family crypt alone and finds the one with the Merchant name.   Sam tells her they don't get paid for what they do.

It's a tradition that when a child dies, their favourite toy is preserved.   Dean only finds four jars but he had three children so Isiah is missing.   Dean searches the death certificates for Isiah.   Sam removes an eyelash from her face and tells her to make a wish, hey we used to do that when younger, didn't know people still did that.   Sarah believes there's something between them but Sam doesn't think it's a good idea, "when people are around me they get hurt."  Physically.   He tells her about Jess and Mom.   Sam: "It's like I'm cursed or something - like death follows me around."  She calls him sweet and archaic.   Sam can't go through that pain again.

Dean finds people were ashamed of Isiah and he was buried somewhere else.   Finding out where, he digs up his bones and Sarah comments, "They're uncomfortably comfortable with this."  Dean salts and burns his bones and will stay here so Sam can make a move on her.   Dean turns on the radio to the song lines, "I'm in love with a girl...I can't do without."  Sam and Sarah go for the painting and the little girl and the razor are missing from the painting.   They get locked in the room.

 It was her all along and Isiah was looking down at her as a warning, which is what I said.   Dean says he needs to repel her with something pure, like a poker and Sam attacks her with it.   Sam says there's nothing left to burn.   Sarah mentions at the auctionhouse they handle antique dolls, dolls were made in the child's image back then and used real hair.   Dean goes back to the crypt and finds it difficult to shatter the glass so shoots it, which would've been quicker.   But who needs quicker when Sam can play hero and save Sarah, or at least attempt to save her.   Then Dean's lighter stalls, as usual.   He finally gets to burn her doll and she returns to the painting.  

Dean found the country archives, Millie was adopted and her real family were killed in their beds.   Sam: "Some people are just born tortured." A personal reference perhaps. "So when they die their spirits are just as dark."  Well this part wasn't.   Sarah wants the painting burned.   Dean: "I'm the one who burned the doll, destroyed the spirit, but don't thank me."  Ahh, well we'll thank him.   Sarah doesn't believe Sam is cursed.   He may come back and see her.   Sam goes back to kiss her.   Dean: "That's my boy."

So they find a haunted painting and Sam finds a girl he thinks he could be happy with and Dean pushes him into it, seeing as it's a long time since Jess.   Sam tells Sarah what they do and that he thinks he's cursed, so much for the whole Dean told a chick what he did back in 1.13 Route 666.   Now Sam's done the same and she wasn't even shocked by any of it.   Guess it's better to experience first hand, what they do as it's more believable, than just talking about hunting.   The question of what they'd do if they found someone and wanted to settle down naturally arise, only it wasn't mentioned here by anyone, as Sam asked back in 1.13 Route 666.   Sam will never go back to see Sarah and don't expect she would have waited for him anyway.

'The Krip' on the licene plate was an allusion to Eric Kripke of course.

Desperate Housewives - 7.11: "Assassins" Review

Paul recovers in hospital as the police investigate who shot him. Susan receives news she needs a kidney and Lynette finds out Tom cheated on her with Renee.

Mary Alice: (Brenda Strong) "Something happened in the suburbs last week, a man was shot outside his home; detectives were called.   The police had many suspects in the shooting of Paul Young (Mark Moses) but his wife had only one."  The police question the neighbours and Bree (Marcia Cross) tells them she's an expert marksman, if she shot him, he'd be dead.   Lynette (Felicity Huffman) would send flowers if he's dead.  Beth (Emily Bergl) questions Felicia (Harriet Sansom Harris) as to whether she shot Paul.   But she wouldn't kill him before she got the chance to prove he killed her sister.     Felicia bribes the guard for a phone and calls Mike (James Denton) whom we 're meant to believe was the one who shot Paul.  

Mary Alice: "...something we need to be reminded of when life goes wrong - we need to to pull ourselves together...life will get better, unless it doesn't."  Susan (Teri Hatcher) needs a kidney transplant as her remaining kidney is deformed.   She refuses dialysis.   Gaby (Eva Longoria) tries to bribe Juanita (Madison De La Garza) with a doll for her birthday.   Which appears to work until Gaby looks on her phone and stares at the photo of Grace (Cecilia Balagot).   Juanita asks why she has her photo and then storms out, at least she didn't throw the doll to the floor.   Susan tells Renee (Vanessa Williams) she's not going to be the one to tell Lynette about her and Tom (Doug Savant) Renee is.   Renee relays Susan's sentiments to Tom, that her friendship with Lynette isn't real until she tells her.   Tom panics.   Renee doesn't need to tell her, "sometimes being a friend requires you to lie."  Yeah for their own good; or his here.   Didn't he think that now Renee is in town and in the same neighbourhood that something like this would get out.   It's Wisteria Lane, there are no secrets.

Keith (Brian Austin Green) replants Bree's garden after the riot.   She comments how she's drinking out of a bottle now, just like Keith.   Complete slob, what does she see in him, soon she'll be a slob too.   A classy slob if there is such a thing, ha.   But maybe not so soon, since she throws out Keith's stuff that she doesn't like and won't fit into her decor, like his lava lamp.   Keith: "My stuff is clumsy."  Orson (Kyle MacLachlan) returns to stay with Bree on the pretext Judy kicked him out.   Keith reluctantly agrees to him staying.   Like it's his place and besides he should know Bree wouldn't kick Orson out if he needs help.   But he has to be here for a reason.   Orson remarks on Keith's cologne but he doesn't wear any, no, that's just B.O.  (Body Odour)  Yuk!  Bree isn't in a rebound relationship and Orson can't understand why Keith would want to change her since she's perfect.   Too perfect at times.

Gaby and Carlos (Richardo Antonio Chavira)  take Juanita for therapy.   Carlos only wants to make her better, whilst Gaby secretly pines for Grace.   Well, she's not exactly Gaby's saving grace.   Gaby says she took her doll shopping.   Cos at the first sign of trouble everyone turns to retail therapy!  The therapist advises them to "remove Grace from their life."  The detectives inform Paul that every one of his neighbours have an alibi, and want to question Beth.   Paul refuses as she's not a suspect and she's the only one he trusts.   Well that'll change.   (She's not exactly Mary Alice).

Carlos insists on throwing Grace's photos away but Gaby wants to prolong the agony and talks about putting them in a safety deposit box, that way neither of the girls will find them.   Carlos puts his foot down, accusing Gaby of not protecting Juanita and he doesn't want Grace's name mentioned again.  Lynette and Renee are described as being in sync together by a potential client and Renee bursts into tears when Lynette brings her a plate of oatmeal raisin cookies.   She loved them in college.   Nice timing Lynette.   Rennie admits she and Tom had a one off thing, the weekend Lynette was away with her parents.   That's when they were engaged, but they had broken up.   Lynette asks Renee not to tell Tom she knows.

Gaby doesn't acknowledge Grace at Juanita's birthday party when one of the guests asks if she has anymore children, but she doesn't seem to acknowledge Juanita either, remaining distant from her and not joining in.   Tom claims to have had a rotten day and Lynette gives him some hot chocolate, scolding his mouth.  Then secretly smirks.   Oh she's vicious in that 'butter wouldn't melt in her mouth' way.   Keith thought Bree was making Sloppy Joe's for dinner and he and Orson engage in a food fight when Keith refuses to put on a shirt and doesn't know who Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) is either when Orson comments he didn't know Stanley was coming to dinner!  (From A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).   Thought everyone knew Stanley.   Judy tells Bree Orson dumped her since he's still in love with her.   He insists Bree''s changed and Keith's made her different.

Gaby gets a doll that resembles Grace, oh now we're going down the, substituting love for a daughter to a doll phase, from Gaby, What is she 12.   Susan collapses when she takes MJ (Mason Vale Cotton) for ice cream in the hospital cafeteria and asks the others to help Mike with MJ if anything happens to her.   She agrees to have dialysis.   Mike denies he had anything to do with Paul's shooting, he was only considering Felicia's offer, so who shot him?  Beth, that'd be ironic.

Mary Alice: "Something happened in the suburbs today...detectives were called in and they soon learned this man had enemies - some he was not even aware of..."  The detectives question Paul about his mother-in-law, Felicia.   Paul lies saying they've resolved their issues...  cos now he knows, he'll have plenty to scheme about, especially with Beth.   Hey maybe he already knew about Beth and they both planned the shooting to get Felicia off his back.   Since Paul seems to know an awful lot about everyone, why would he not know who Beth really is.   Or maybe he married Beth as some sort of revenge against Felicia.

CSI: Miami - 9.6: "Reality Kills" Review

A reality show star is murdered and all roads point to one of her co-stars, with Horatio racing against time to save a teen's life, suffering from a coma after taking bad drugs.

CSI:Miami seems to be obsessed with celebrity and reality-based episodes, there's one in almost every season.   Delko (Adam Rodriguez) patrols at a reality show: The Boroughs' party.   He's on crowd control as there are five parades, so it was amazing he was able to call for back-up when Horatio (David Caruso) arrives.  There's Gabe (Michael Carbonaro) from Queens, Tou Shea (Vanessa Lengies) from Brooklyn, advertizing her tanning spray, okay, publicizing it.   Zachary 'Guns' Rittner (Matthew Florida) is from the Bronx.  

Fireworks go off, which Delko mistakes for gunfire.   How long's he been on the job now.   He notices a man in the crowd with a gun and aims at Courtney (Kristen Renton) who appears to be high or drunk and she falls from the balcony.   Delko engages in a chase after the suspect.   The best chase scenes are covered in CSI:NY and no one can beat our Flack (Eddie Cahill) and Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) when it comes to chasing suspects! Horatio drives up and stops the suspect in his tracks.   Which is becoming a regular occurrence now.

The man was protesting against Courtney's hair care line and wanted to send her a message with pellets in the gun representing the blood of animals.   Horatio: "If I find out you're lying, the same won't be said of me."  In response to the man saying he didn't fire a shot.   Shea insists there are no secrets between any of them on the show.   Ryan (Jonathan Togo) thinks the man may have something to do with Courtney's death and Shea gives them their hate mail.   Ryan comments on the Statue of Liberty ice sculpture, which is a clue, as was the tanning spray.   Makes them miss college.   Almost picking up on the jokes and banter from last season between Ryan and Walter (Omar miller).

ME Tom (Christian Clemensen) good to see him back though he didn't do much.   He doesn't pick up any traces of the COD on Courtney.   Calleigh (Emily Procter) notices blood in her ear.   Well she had to find something since she hasn't been doing much lately aside from hiding behind set pieces.   Calleigh tie your hair!  The blood isn't from the fall.   Her tympannic membrane is torn.  The fall didn't kill Courtney but she suffered a stab wound, penetrating her ear and which didn't stop until it reached her brain.   A unique blade with certain measurements was used.   Calleigh tells him she knows where to start and yet she never left the lab.  The others had to search the suspects for such weapons.   Ryan enjoyed searching Shea.   Ryan: "I'm not paw-raping you, I'm just searching you." Horatio is determined to find the murder weapon.

On TV Zachary said he'd shut her up, but that was for the cameras.   Gabe's pocket knife is taken.   Shea insists Courtney was her friend and you know the old saying about having friends like that and not needing enemies.   Ryan tells her it wasn't  a ploy for the cameras since Courtney is dead and takes her nail file.   But it was for the cameras though.   Delko says according to the show, they all had motive, again that's all it was, just a show, as Zachary tells him the show had nothing to do with "actuality."  That sets Delko off on his rant and throwing his weight around and ever since he returned to the show that's all we've seen him do.   Ryan isn't  a fan of the show but he does his homework.   Delko discovers luminol doesn't show any blood on the knives etc.

A man attacks Gabe.   Cue another chase scene, this time with Ryan in tow.   Gabe doesn't know the man.  Wilson (Matt Gerald) is arrested but he claims he didn't kill Courtney.   Gabe tried to kill his brother, Tyler (Jacob Tudela).   He sold him drugs and now he's in a coma.   The doctor tells Horatio the drugs in his system hasn't been identified and the wrong therapy could kill him; he only has hours.   Horatio: "I'll get you an answer." Natalia (Eva Larue) and Walter check out the hotel room.   Walter remarks "our murder weapon just vanished into thin air."  Well at least he was on the right track.  Natalia thinks it's personal so they should look into Courtney's past.   Her real name was Megan Rauche and she was from Connecticut.   Ryan brings in some show footage.   He was researching.   Walter adds he means "avidly catching up on the season."  So he does watch the show, but then that's to be expected of Ryan.

 Courtney and Zachary were arguing over the baby.   Ryan has to point out she was hiding her stomach so she's pregnant.   Giving the expectant mother line to Calleigh.   Why didn't Tom find this out, I mean even if he found COD to be the stabbing in her ear, he didn't carry out a full autopsy on Courtney.   Zachary denies ever being with her.   He's studying to be join a seminary and become a priest.   Now it's Calleigh and Natalia's turn to cast aspirations and accusations on suspects and hold them guilty.   Natalia asks why he's "all with the buff." They too don't understand or seem to grasp TV isn't reality.   Calleigh is shocked he might actually be a virgin (cos she's not, ha.)  She's basing her decision on looks now.   Does it necessarily follow that if you're good looking, you're into every woman and have to be promiscuous.

James Read (Edwin Hodge) is Courtney's husband.   He was in a room across from Courtney and they had to keep their marriage secret under her contract.   They found a broken vase and lamp in his room, which Courtney threw at him, for doubting the baby was his.  Calleigh and Ryan were particularly harsh with someone who has just lost his wife and baby.   Especially when they don't have anything by way of evidence to back up their guilty theories.

Delko, trying to be tough and play boss too.   Gabe thought he sold Tyler ecstasy, like that'd make it better.   He has a supplier, Hannah Beckstrom (Marina Benedict).    Natalia's up on her stats on the murder of pregnant women as the top COD.   She and Walter search for the murder weapon.   Walter gives her the lowdown on 'Lady Liberty'.   He took the tour.   Her crown has 7 spikes and one under her torch.   They could have referred to Walter paying a visit to the NY crime lab, that would've been nice.   Natalia notices someone broke off the the ice spike.

 See Walter found what the weapon was, and it melted.   She thinks the sculpture may help them.   Hannah denies selling drugs.   She has marijuana in her bag and sold them for someone else.   She doesn't know what's in the drug.   Horatio just seems to be threatening everyone with long prison terms this episode.  She names her seller as Arthur Martinez (Randy Vasquez) who owns a bar.   Tripp (Rex Linn) asks for the names of his patrons or credit card receipts.   Horatio notices footprints on the pool table and shoots at the ceiling, causing drugs to fall through.

Tyler crashes just as the drug is being analyzed.   Natalia and Ryan examine the sculpture and Ryan thinks the trace could have slid down to the base of the sculpture.   That's Ryan and Walter solving the case then, whilst Delko was engaging in macho posturing.   Natalia identifies the sparkly substance as DHA used in spray tanner.   Shea in the flash is shown as breaking off the spike and it's clearly her, but after the case has been solved.   CSI:Miami usually used to show suspects in their clothes and used to give their ID away earlier on their flashbacks to the crime in question.

Courtney wanted to leave the show and Shea didn't want the show to end.   She was an MIT graduate and hated her job.   No one noticed her until the show.   Ryan thinks she should have paid off her loans by now.  She was just being greedy and fame got to her head.   But no one's watching her now.   Ryan asks "is this real enough."  Danny in CSI:NY episode, Personal Foul said something similar.   (He said he hopes what the woman did was worth it, same diff, ha.)  Wilson thanks Horatio for saving Tyler.

Horatio had a machine gun to put the fear of God into Arthur as he didn't have any time to lose when a boy's life was at stake.   But we know that's something he would do.   The machine gun would cover more of the ceiling than little normal pistol bullets.   As demonstrated by Harm (David James Elliott) in an episode of JAG, when he shot up the JAG courtroom ceiling to prove his point.

Horatio in this episode at the beginning, was believable he could be there since Delko called it in and the carpark was the only place he'd go to.   Though which carpark was anybody's guess.   It was too obvious he'd be there, just as in the second episode of the season.   That's why chase scenes should not be attempted in this show.   An episode which as I said earlier on shows the obsession with reality shows, no matter how lame or cheesy, this was a send up of Jersey shore; if you're into that kind of thing.

NCIS - 7.23: "Patriot Down" Review

Continuing on with Gibbs' storyline about killing Pedro, Abby finding out and confronting him with it. We get more insight into who is behind wanting to see our Gibbs get his just desserts.

A man on horseback, which I knew was Gibbs (Mark Harmon) finds a DB on the ground.   He's then held at gunpoint.

4 Days Earlier:  Tony (Michael Weatherly) comments on the graduates' "alcohol-induced purple haze." On the Baltimore PD, every graduate threw up, which he calls good times.   Yes Tony if you say so.    McGee (Sean Murray) calls him Hendrix.   Ziva (Cote de Pablo) thinks he graduated too soon.   Ziva is also about to graduate.  McGee asks what she's done her degree in.   Ziva says she's got her naturalization interview, it's "how an alien becomes a citizen."  Tony: "I know what it is ET."  Referring to it as due process.   Tony saying Ziva graduated from "English as a tenth language" was funny.    Gibbs mentions the eighth letter of the alphabet.   Tony tells Gibbs it's 'G'.   No, it's 'H' for homicide.   How could he get that wrong.   Vance (Rocky Carroll) tells them TV is covering the Annapolis graduation so they should keep their investigation low key.

They investigate a burnt DB.   McGee likens the smell to mesquite.   Tony asks him who he thinks he is, Bobby Flay.   He doesn't like smores.   (Well smores were mentioned in Michael's earlier show, Dark Angel)  Tony loves smores.   McGee was in the Webelos.   Was that like those Weeble toys you used to get, they would roll but not fall over.   Okay I know it's not.   Tony to McGee: "Zip up, your inner geek is showing."

Ducky (David McCallum) mentions Christopher and the "sand between toes." And AA Milne.   The DB put up a fight as there are broken nails.   Fire won't generate the necessary temperature to burn.   Tony: "thank you Wee Willie Webelos."  Ducky will rehydrate the digit with saline, to plump up the finger.   McGee uses his scanner to ID the DB as Laura Macy, from NCIS:LA.   Well when last we saw her, she only appeared in the NCIS LA intro episodes.   Cue flashback.   Gibbs: "Marine, agent, daughter."  She was in Marseilles up until 4 days ago.   What's with the 4 days in this episode.

Vance says this happened on his watch and he wants all the files.   Ducky talks to Macy about who do it, whether it was about work or was a result of work.   A serrated knife was used to sever her neck from the spinal cord, as in a professional hit.   Fire was set in NCIS jurisdiction since it all leads back to Gibbs.   Abby (Pauley Perrette) has questions for Gibbs.   The last call on the phone was made to  Kaylen Burroughs.  (Courtney Ford).   Allison (Rena sofer) arrives on the scene, knew she wouldn't be far away.   Gibbs tells her the pass only gives her limited access.   Bell is mentioned and Mexico wants their DB returned.  Gibbs says he was just a drug dealer.   Gibbs refuses her dinner and beer.   She thinks he's avoiding her.

Tony and Ziva on the ship and Tony hones in on the foody smell.  "I'm more than I eat.   I'm Italian."  Ziva: "Jews and Italians are similar that way."  Agh, they gave Ziva a typical American expression here, when she uses "that way," instead of saying something along the lines of "in that way."  Tony pronounces the dish as "flaan," it's flan.   Kaylen denies knowing Macy.   Abby examines her laptop and finds the casefile is incomplete.   Kaylen refused to testify on the rape charge.   Tony says she was on liberty in Marseilles.   Her shipmates, Capetanos (Joseph Williamson)  and Wachter (Ryan Caltagirone) were on liberty too.   Ziva tells Tony that Kaylen was attacked and Tony replies she's a witness in Macy's murder.

Vance approves the return of the DB to Mexico.   Alejandro (Marco Sanchez) was in awe of Abby and she tells Vance she needs more time to check her files.  Making excuses here.   Vance is looking forward to her report.   Allison stands behind Vance, just like she did with Bell in the photo.   McGee met Macy once.   Gibbs calls her a good, outstanding agent, when they visit her mother.  Everything's all about Gibbs and his past here and Allison is there so we think she's connected, but she's just a red herring, darn.  Her mother let a military man check Macy's files.   Some of them are missing and naturally it would be Gibbs' file from the Camp Pendleton investigation, where Macy was the MP who investigated the case.   So Macy was killed for covering up what Gibbs did in Mexico, in shooting Pedro.

Tony's eating!  A US civillian, Tyler Hammond (Nick Niven) was in the bar with Kaylen.   His father, Randall (Richard Burgi) runs a construction company.   Tyler was beaten up by Capetanos and Wachter.   Tyler says Kaylen is lying and he only witnessed the rape by one of her own.   Ziva says she would torture and castrate them.   Tony: "spoken like a true - almost American."  A rape kit was taken from Kaylen but there aren't any results.   Tony checks Capetanos and Wachter's locker and they admit to beating Tyler, but they didn't assault Kaylen or kill Macy.   So that leaves Tyler.   Gibbs talks with Kaylen and tells her not to call him 'sir.'  She admits it was Tyler and Randall.   He doesn't want anyone getting away with it since "it's about truth, about a dead NCIS agent...about someone getting away with murder until now."  That's a reference to Gibbs and his past action in there.

Abby finds the kit is contaminated and Gibbs asks for the results anyway.   She comments he's doing his "Gibbs' thing" to get a confession.   Abby knows about Gibbs' history with Macy and they need to talk about Mexico.   Flashes to Mexico, to Franks.   McGee says Macy was an MP at Pendleton from January '91 to February '92, that's when Gibbs was also there.   Now McGee kind of knows but he doesn't put two and two together.   Gibbs needs to call Franks to leave but he wouldn't really be so gullible to get caught out like that.   He fought off PMCs before.  Gibbs leaves a message for him: Rule 44: first things first, hide the women and children.

Gibbs tells Tyler they have his DNA.   He admits he raped her but didn't kill anyone.   Vance watches Gibbs.   Ducky says the pattern matches an army knife.   He asks who would be hurt most, like from a single bullet in Mexico.   Gibbs knows what he means.  Knows what he's lived with for 20 years.   Someone wanted it to come out and is forcing Gibbs' hand.   Soldiers are at Frank's place.   Allison hasn't spoken with Bell.   Gibbs believes this is about Bell using her to get to him.   She denies everything.   It's not for Gibbs to decide if Bell is a criminal or a murderer.   Allison says he's a patriot and it's her job to defend him.   Gibbs wants her to be honest with him once.  

Jason Paul Dean, (Dylan Bruno) an army ranger, matches the sketch Macy's mother described of him; which matches the footage from the disposable phone store; he stole Macy's notebooks.   Abby puts the lab in lockdown and confronts Gibbs.   There's evidence in her report that Gibbs killed Pedro.  He didn't talk to her about it.   Gibbs didn't have to.   She doesn't believe anyone needs to know the truth, she'd "do anything for you."  Gibbs replies he "only ever needed you to do one thing."  That's her job.   He tells her it doesn't have to be different this time.   She needs to send in her report to the task force and he shouldn't have to tell her.   Vance says Allison represents Bell's firm  and he has a legal right to question her when national security is concerned.   She cares about Gibbs.   Bell has info on Gibbs.

Gibbs doesn't need a welcome to Mexico, he's been here before, and he retired here too in seasons 3/4.  Dean killed Bell, the DB Gibbs came across in the beginning.   Gibbs asks who he's working for? Cue cliffhanger for the season finale.   At least this story is close to being finished.   A shame they killed off Macy, I mean she wasn't in either show, but she was the one with links to Gibbs and she covered for him, much in the same way Allison will help him next episode.   It would have been good to have had Allison behind it,  one way to get rid of her, but she's Gibbs' friend instead.   The title could also be a reference to Gibbs.   Can't help but think Allison was referring to Gibbs when she mentioned the patriot line.  

Kaylen is a petty officer and yet she wears the uniform of a Chief petty officer.   This episode kind of reminded me of the season 8 JAG episode The Killer, where Harm (David James Elliott) and Manetti (Tamlyn Tomita) investigated a serial killer.