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Friday, 18 May 2012

CSI: NY - 8.5: "Air Apparent" Review


The CSIs investigate the murder of the girlfriend of a newly released prisoner, connected to a basketball coach. Meanwhile Flack pays a visit to his sister to check up on her.

A prisoner listens to Riley (Robbie Amell) play basketball on a smuggled radio.   That opening scene looked like he was going to get out something other than a radio.   Riley meets his brother Hank (Justin Bruening) at the prison and he wants to see his girlfriend.   Cue his DB girlfriend.   Flack (Eddie Cahill) ascertains she's been stabbed several times.   Hank moved in three weeks ago.   His name is written on the door in blood.   Mac (Gary Sinise) "Looks like Angela left us a message."

Hank is still on drugs, as Riley says a prayer at the dinner table and Flack arrests Hank.   The CS is processed and Flack questions Hank by showing him photos of the CS, in particular the one with his name.   He loves her.   There was no forced entry.   Flack posits it must be tough on him and how many times did he promise her he'd change.   As we're shown a possible scenario of what could have happened.   Obviously this is a bit personal for Flack since he's thinking about his sister, Samantha (Kathleen Monroe).   Hank admits he was getting high but Flack tells him that won't fly in court.

Sid (Robert Joy) comments death by paper cuts is torture but it isn't any better by knife wounds.   Hawkes (Hill Harper) notices the defensive wounds, except for one at the top of the spine, which Sid points out.   Also there are epithelials under her nails and he found a piece of laminated plastic in a cut.   The other seven wounds left no hilt marks and the deepest wound tracks didn't have any hilt marks.

Flack calls Mac about Riley, who's ashamed and overturns the table on Hank.   Then throws a piece of paper at him.   Haven't had a table turning since season 1's Three Generations Are Enough, when Flack and Stella were on the receiving end.   It was an agreement between them both and Riley wanted to be Hank when he was little.   Hank was injured which led to drugs and rehab.   Flack tells Mac how: "Addiction makes someone a threat to anyone or anything in his way." We know who that's a reference to.  Prompting Mac to enquire after his sister, Samantha.   Flack lives in fear of getting such a call and asks Mac to define what 'regularly' means in terms of keeping in touch with her.

Sid discovers she was paralyzed on her left side which would have made it impossible to have written 'Hank' with her left index finger.   Jo (Sela Ward) says all the defensive wounds were on her right side.   Hawkes tests knife blades and cuts on a pig, which is always done in these shows, using knives similar to the ones that were in Angela's kitchen.   The missing knife which was used on her left hilt marks which match.   Mac comments she wasn't stabbed with force and so it wasn't a crime of passion.

Jo puts the pieces of paper she found at the CS together.   Lindsay (Anna Belknap) finds two different DNA profiles in the blood.  Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) has to help Lindsay with the blood analysis.   Jo thinks there could be a connection to the paper she found and it could have prints.

Flack visits Samantha who tells him he hasn't knocked like that on her door since the academy.   His hair cut looks nice.   Hey I make all the hair and clothes comments here!  She guesses there was a homicide with a sibling Vic and he hasn't spoken to her.   He needed to now she was okay as he couldn't get her on the phone.   Flack sees her go out and follows her.   Adam (AJ Buckley) finds the piece of lamination was from the edge of a hologram, fragments of which can have the whole image, which he's projected.   Jo says he's proud of that.   The logo belongs to a health company in California.

Hawkes discovers the epithelials belong to Nick (Jarold Einsohn) who has priors.   He worked at the same barber's as Angela.   Jo catches Adam in more 'Adam mode'.   The athletics company makes bracelets for athletes, exclusive and expensive.   The serial number belongs to the owner.   Pity Lindsay had to come along with Flack and yet make more trouble, cos it was a slow day and no one else could leave the lab!  Trying to act all macho again.   Nick says Angela massaged his scalp and what she wouldn't have washed her hands.  Lindsay gets a call and tries to looks at him, thus giving the game away.   He makes a run for it and holds a razor to a woman's throat.   Then she comes up with a line of being able to shoot him in the head.   Groan.   Flack: "That's what happens when you bring a knife to a gun fight."

Flack says the knife was found in a dumpster and Nick tries to make a break for it, getting run over by a taxi.   Danny finds the prints on the knife match Nick and he made a copy of the apartment key, thus no forced entry.   Lindsay doesn't find any match to Nick from the blood in the satellite spatter.  So someone else was there.   Jo's torn letter mentions Riley going to Kansas and not Red Town.   So why was the letter torn?

Flack confronts Samantha about the temp agency and lying on her application form.   She's meant to tell the truth.  She shows him her rejected letters.   Flack sees her having the chance to do what she wants, but she disagrees since Flack men had the NYPD in their blood.   She wanted to be a journalist and he just feels guilty for not coming round enough.   Adam finds the company had a merchandising deal with Riley and the bracelets were given to coach Gavin (Scott Lowell) only.   He wanted to go to Kansas cos it was Hank's choice.

Mac believes the coach and Hank were in a tug of war as coaches are paid to deliver the top payers.   Hank attempts to knife the coach but Flack stops him.   Mac tells the coach he's not accusing him since his DNA was found at the CS, probably from his bloody nose.   He hired Nick to plant drugs and Angela caught him, she wasn't meant to be there.   Nick killed her and he fixed things.   This wasn't about Riley's future but his own.

Mac gives Riley his agreement back, he needs to be there for Hank.   Mac will monitor Hank at rehab and Hank believes he'll do it too.   Flack gives Samantha a present, an NYPD baseball cap and a job in the Media Relations Department, who wanted someone with a journalistic background and he called in a favour.   It's what siblings do during the good and bad times. "Sometimes nepotism is a good thing."  Also he's not above doing interviews if she needs any.   He jokes.

An episode where we get to see how Samantha's doing as a bit of an afterthought to the main storyline concerning siblings and addiction.  But at least she got a mention since she's not been seen since season 5's Dead Inside.  So Flack got a part of a personal storyline, even if it may turn out to be the only one he gets this season.   Not a welcome back to Danny from anyone but he's probably been back a few weeks now and gets paired with Lindsay again, at least we didn't have to see that.   No but we had to see her with Flack instead.   In a repeat scene from season 6, she always gives the game away looking at the suspect so suspiciously.   Then that tough act from her.   Again she did the same thing with Flack when he couldn't shoot the woman with the knife and Lindsay went and snitched on him to Mac telling him that Flack froze.

This episode was different in that there was no way to determine the coach was behind it since he wasn't mentioned or shown until later, though Nick was obvious.   Still, instead of coming clean the coach just covered up.   Who wouldn't want to receive a gift from Flack? - me please!

The episode where Lindsay interfered was 6.4 Dead Reckoning, where she thinks the woman in the restaurant will attack Flack with a knife, which wasn't the case.   Thus Flack's comment here about the knife at a gun shoot, going back to that episode.   Hate the way Lindsay is always interfering.   In CSI:NY season 1.10 Night Mother, Mac tests splinter patterns on a pig and in Run Silent, Run Deep, it was Adam who tested different knives on a pig.  

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