Mac (Gary Sinise) talks about a sniper loose in the city and proceeds to tear up the paper he was meant to read from. He's only talking to his lab and not as we were lead to believe at a press conference, which comes later. An attempt to fool us into thinking he was defying orders. Mac defy orders, never, well maybe once or twice...As he mentions the sniper we see him in action, taking out another victim. I like the scene where everyone looked like they were suspended in time as the camera pans around them, anyone was a potential target. Mac mentions ballistics reveal that shots were fired about 300 yards from a high powered rifle. The sniper is "precise, determined and leaves no witnesses."
Hawkes (Hill Harper) interrupts Sid (Robert Joy) as he's counting the fragments retrieved from the first Vic. Hawkes "missed the no vacancy sign outside." Meaning there were plenty of DBs today. The second Vic's entry wound was smaller than the first. Hawkes thinks they can run it through IBIS and get a lead on the shooter. Sid attempts to remove the bullet from the second Vic, but her head explodes and he is injured. He'll be fine. Just as well Hawkes was around. Jo (Sela Ward) says he'd be blind if it wasn't for his glasses. The entry wound matches that of the first Vic now and Hawkes found nitroglycerin in the explosive residue. The sniper is using exploding bullets.
Mac is told by Chief Carver (John Larroquette) in no uncertain terms that he's not to mention 'sniper' at all. Mac feels the public have a right to know what they're dealing with. Mac tells the press they don't know if the two cases are related and when broached on the questions of whether they're dealing with a sniper and that's what it appears to the reporter, Mac replies, "Me too." Mac tells Carver to inform the Commissioner and the Mayor that he didn't utter the word 'sniper'. Mac always has to deal with so much red tape and hypocritical superiors all the time. It's amazing they actually let him get on with his job. There's a marked difference in his character this episode and his approach to catching the sniper. Usually he's portrayed in just getting the job done, irrespective of the consequences and who may be hurt in the process. Like episode 4, Sangre Por Sangre. He was very methodical.
Adam (AJ Buckley) strings the trajectory of the bullets and also users laser stringing to indicate where the bullet was fired from. Jo and Lindsay (Anna Belknap) are already on the rooftop. Jo finds a hair from the sniper's arm and Lindsay finds a dead bug on the ground with red blood. They talk about the people down there as if nothing is wrong and Lindsay didn't come across as being very convincing in her concern for them, compared to Jo, who was that much more feeling. That shot on the roof (no pun) with the two of them, was so CGI. Flack (Eddie Cahill) is mentioned but doesn't turn up until 17 minutes into the episode! Ha. There's no connection between the two Vics. No Lindsay, what was scary was thinking Flack wouldn't be in this episode at all!
Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) in no scenes with Lindsay this week, yay! tests the bullets on 'Jelloman'. (Well they call him that in CSI so I thought I'd continue using it too.) He hasn't seen bullets like this since 1981. The bullet explodes just like it did in the first Vic. He half filled the bullets with nitroglycerin. He agitates the bullet and it explodes. Danny was the only one to ask after Sid. He comments that he's "not happy unless he's looking at dead things." Cue Lindsay...checking the bug.
They theorize on whether the Vic's could be related (didn't Flack tell them there wasn't any connection he found between them!) Flack appears to still be canvassing, off screen. Hawkes has to explain people heard several shots being fired, since the sound waves from the bullet would echo off the concrete buildings. Thought she feigned to know everything! The bug she found was a cochineal beetle. Jo finds a hit from the mitochondrial DNA to Michael Reynolds (Austin Michael Coleman) . A boy who had been missing, Mac spent three years searching for him. Arthur Francis kidnapped him and he escaped when he was twelve. This was the first case where Mac questioned whether which of those things was worse, i.e. finding him alive or not. Michael wanted to wear his badge. He has a brother Tom (Mark L Young). Mac believed either one of them would become a cop. He was wrong then.
Jo was so sympathetic and understanding here again as in the past, which was refreshing when Jo tells him "there's only so much this job allows us to do." Kind of a reversal of a few episodes ago, when Mac told her she did everything she could in her old job at the FBI in turning in one of her partner's. Hawkes doesn't find any address for Michael. Mac and Flack begin with his last known address. Flack: "I'm thinking, guilty." His first words in his first scene this episode and they weren't very charitable. Mac speaks with Hayley (Tiffany Dupont) whom be spoke with when she was 9. Michael used to have nightmares but painting helped him. He moved out at 18.
Another Vic is shot, he's a male this time, so it rules out any gender discrimination on the part of the sniper. Mac informs Carver they need to tell the public otherwise there'll be a fourth Vic. Lindsay sits in front of the computer unable to figure out the relevance of 'Michael Francis'. Until Jo talks about Stockholm Syndrome, Michael identified with his kidnapper and abuser and took his last name. Flack and Danny check out the house in the name of Francis and stumble upon a DB, that of Michael. Flack comments maybe he did everyone a favour and killed himself. That's been said before. Danny thinks he died about 48 hours ago so he couldn't have been the sniper. Flack comments on the futility of Micheal's life, to be kidnapped and then murdered.
Jo identifies the sniper as Tom from the Mitochondrial DNA; since he took the beetle to the rooftop under his shoe after he killed Michael. Mac has to explain to Lindsay this time that the DNA comes from the maternal side of the family and can include brothers. Doesn't Lindsay also know her biology now. Mac goes through Michael's belongings and finds a video tape. Jo notices how Tom was standing on one side when Michael greeted his parents. He was neglected and abused. In killers, neglect is a common form of abuse. Tom had a pre-existing condition,a genetic anomaly that renders him susceptible to kill. Hayley calls Mac, Tom's back and thinks he'll come after her, but he doesn't.
Tom on the tape talks of abandonment and his 'life was a hole', whilst Tom looks for another Vic. Jo tells Lindsay to put his image on the Homeland Security's surveillance camera footage, which brings up no matches. She then tells her to try NY Alerts, which will put his image through to every phone in the city. Lindsay's been here a lot longer than Jo and she didn't think of doing that for herself. Jo says he'll go for one last kill because he knows he'll be caught.
The woman who called when she spotted him was staring at him for a long time, talk about making it obvious. Mac corners him on the rooftop and fires at his box of bullets, since he knew he'd never talk him down. He had to rescue his shot officer. On the rooftop, Tom repeats the same thing to Mac which he said on the tape, about his life being a hole.
Jo gives Sid a new pair of glasses, with impact-resistant glass. Mac keeps the painting Michael did with his badge in it, because it meant something to him. Michael was just a victim of circumstance, whereas Tom was a killer.
It was good in this episode that they found out who the sniper was, or thought it was, but he wasn't identified for certain until later, it made us think it was Michael also. That it was his brother who was neglected when Michael was abducted but also when he returned. Another of Mac's cases where he couldn't rescue Michael, showing Mac is vulnerable as a detective back then and now. He does care about people, even if it's not always clear and comes across as such in many episodes. Adam got to go out on his own this episode too, for a little bit.
Season I CSI:Miami episode Kill Zone dealt with a sniper who kills three Vics in the head and then kills two more. The media appear to be in a frenzy to expose the story. In NY, there didn't seem to be the same urgency, even after the press concluded a sniper was on the loose. They must have reported that but everyone was oblivious to his presence, sitting in open air cafes. So much for Son of Sam being mentioned. The sniper in CSI:Miami also didn't have a conscience picking off Vics at random. Same as Tom who was remorseless.
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