As CSI Files previously reported, Mac is finally ready to move forward after receiving some closure regarding his late wife Claire in the season premiere, “Indelible”. A woman from Mac’s past will show up next month, and sparks might fly between the pair. “When Mac first moved to New York and decided to join the police department, Mac was in the police academy with Christine’s brother,” Executive Producer Zach Reiter told TV Guide. “So there’s a familiarity and an association from way back when.”

Christine will be played by Megan Dodds (Detroit 1-8-7), and she will appear in five episodes starting with the twelfth episode of the season, which is tentatively scheduled to air February 3. “Leading up to the end of the season—which may or may not be the end of the show—we explore Mac’s romantic life a bit,” Reiter explained. After saying goodbye to Claire in the premiere, Reiter added, “It would be a shame if a guy like him could not find love in his life.”

For more information, visit TV Guide.

CSI: NY narrowly escaped cancellation last year after receiving an eleventh hour reprieve. The series was renewed shortly before CBS announced its 2011-2012 lineup at May’s upfront presentation when the network shared what shows to expect in the fall. With only eighteen episodes this season, producers are deciding yet again how to write a season finale that could also serve as a final episode.

The biggest challenge for the show is finding a way to top last year’s finale, “Exit Strategy.” Producers received positive feedback from both the show’s crew and fans, noting the episode–which found Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) contemplating a huge change in his life–was satisfying as both an end of the season closer and a series finale. Now, with less than a month to go until production on the season–and potentially series–wraps, writers are figuring out what to do–including possibly bringing back past characters.

“It’s hard to commit to those things not knowing the future of the show,” co-showrunner Zachary Reiter tells CSI Files’ Shane Saunders. ”We have to sit down; we have yet to sort of create that last possible last show/possible cliff-hanger/possible last show before next season thing,” Pam Veasey shares. “We’ll see. We’ll consider everything.”

Discussing past storylines, Veasey marveled at the possibility of bringing Jacqueline Pinol back as Rikki Sandoval. “Anybody can come back.”

After concluding a three-episode arc shedding light on Jo Danville’s (Sela Ward) past, CSI: NY will soon begin another multi-episode storyline, this time for Gary Sinise‘s Mac Taylor.

“There’s an arc specifically related to Mac and a new old friend he reconnects with,” Co-Executive Producer Trey Callaway tells CSI Files. But does reconnecting with an old friend mean love is on the horizon for the head of the New York Crime Lab? “Some potential chemistry [is] involved there romantically,” Callaway teases.

Co-Showrunner Zachary Reiter, sitting next to his partner-in-crime Pam Veasey–taking a break from writing her snow-focused Episode 15–is able to share a bit more. ”Having started the season in “Indelible” with him feeling like he put a chapter of his life to bed to some extent and letting go, we were hoping at the back-end of the season we would pay that off with him being open to finding love,” the former state’s attorney reveals. “How quickly and how far that develops, we’ll see, but we certainly want to have that character walk off and feel like ‘I’m a bit of a different person now’ should this series end.”

Though her episode won’t air until February at the earliest, Veasey is able to provide some information on her time-traveling episode with CSI Files. “I’m always fascinated with history and cold cases, like the Black Dahlia case,” the NY vet says. “We create a case in New York City that has that kind of history and notoriety in our story.”

“[The script] is due Thursday, can you help me?” she asks with a laugh.

Well, Pam, that sounds like an offer we can’t turn down.

(For more on the second half of CSI: NY‘s eighth season, keep checking back with CSI Files as we bring you interviews with the show’s stars, producers, and more.)

Hollywood is a business where sometimes you have to start small to go big, and Jeff Hunt can prove it. Tomorrow night’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is Hunt’s fourteenth episode as a director, but his legacy on CSI extends way past his initial credit on “Bite Me.” Serving as a camera operator since “Cool Change,” Hunt continued to follow his dream and was finally given the opportunity to direct shortly before season five ended. Since then his career has exploded with high-profile directing positions on shows such as Nikita, Fringe, Burn Notice, and Chuck. Speaking with CSI Files’ Shane Saunders this past weekend at his home, Hunt looks back at his years on CSI and previews this week’s episode “CSI Down.”

Director Jeff Hunt. (Photo: CSI Files)

CSI Files: Characters from the show have found themselves in grave danger before. As a director, what did you do with “CSI Down” to differentiate it from prior storylines?

Jeff Hunt: Obviously, yes, we have had lots of episodes where—Tarantino’s being the most famous of the CSIs in peril; Nick’s buried underground and we’re all racing to him—and definitely that episode and the way Tarantino handled that inspired me. Tom [Mularz, Writer] and I actually sat down and looked at some footage from that episode and kind of looked at things Tarantino had done to inspire us. I’ve done fourteen CSI episodes and [“CSI Down”] was the first one where I really had this timeline. They know they have to save Morgan [Brody, Elisabeth Harnois] and they have to figure out where that helicopter is going and keeping our people really active. Not the normal we can process DNA, we can sit and think about it; we didn’t have time for that. We had to move on any evidence we had as fast as we could. For me that was new for my CSIs; we’ve had that pace in other shows that I’ve directed, but for CSI that was different for me. You can see in this episode the camera is going to be doing different things, I’m moving from one scene to another in different ways. It’s a very elegantly shot show because you can sit and analyze evidence and as a character the camera can match that. This [episode] is about movement and about being able to save this person; we are in jeopardy here.

CSI Files: So in this episode they’re working more on gut instinct as opposed to concrete evidence?

Hunt: Yes. You’ll see our characters get us a small piece of something and hey, that sends me here. Instead of where we need to analyze or sit around and think about this, they’re moving quickly from what they know as CSIs.

CSI Files: How do you take an episode that’s a departure from CSI and make it feel like an episode of CSI?

Hunt: No matter what episode of CSI you’re looking at it is an evidence, clue-driven story. Like all CSIs, it’s not that different, it’s driven by the evidence. Just because someone’s life is in jeopardy and there’s a clock ticking on that life and a helicopter doesn’t have that much fuel in it, we still have to do what CSIs do: we still have to look at the evidence. We might not have time to process the DNA but we’ve got to take what we learned from all other experiences and use that gut instinct.

CSI Files: How do you create tension in situations like this when Morgan clearly survives her ordeal?

Hunt: What makes you think that? [Laughs.] I think what happens to the characters in that helicopter will surprise you. I think the way you feel about the character of Frank who has taken over this helicopter will surprise you. Who he is, the journey he’s on, what are his motivations; he’s not your typical bad guy. I’m hoping as a viewer you’ll be rooting for Frank in the end.

The surprises are going to come as who Morgan is. We don’t know much about her yet and we don’t know how she handles situations yet, necessarily. The jeopardy is very high for her. We get to learn about how she handles pressure and we’re going to find a lot about what brought her to Vegas; what is going on with her and her father? We’re going to learn about those characters in this episode.

CSI Files: You’ve been with the show since the beginning. How was it working with new cast members Elisabeth Harnois and Ted Danson?

Hunt: It’s interesting… Ted being the new star of the show and I’m directing episode five, so he’s done four episodes and now a part of the show.  I show up and he goes, “Oh the new guy!” and I go “No, you’re the new guy! I’ve been here for twelve years!” [Laughs.] Ted… he’s fantastic. He is a kind man, he is a committed man, and he brings a life to the set that I haven’t seen in a really long time. He brings energy to shooting that hasn’t been there in a while. I think Ted is the rebirth of CSI. Not that it needed a rebirth, it’s always been a fantastic show and always been my greatest pleasure to direct, but he is something special. This is an actor that I’ve followed since my childhood and to be able to direct him was a real pleasure.

CSI Files: You directed Laurence Fishburne’s (Ray Langston) last episode without even knowing it. Does it kind of feel a bit eerie?

Hunt: No, I really enjoyed working with Laurence Fishburne. His approach and process on set was definitely different than Billy’s [Petersen, Gil Grissom] or Ted’s, there’s no doubt. As a director I find it an honor and a pleasure to direct him. I will always look at the episodes I did with him, especially his last episode, which performance wise I think was pretty awesome. It’s a dark horror movie; we made a dark horror movie with that episode. That’s what my goal was; that episode will always stand out as one of my great achievements as a filmmaker.

I remember shooting the last scene of the episode where he’s at the interrogation and we did the take a few times and Laurence is just looking the investigator down. I came in and went, “Hey Laurence, can you give me one where you just crack your mouth?” He said, “Well what am I saying?” and I go “It’s not what you’re saying, it’s that a thought would be forming and that will leave our audience with that great question.” The honest truth is I had asked Carol [Mendelsohn, Executive Producer] what is to come and no one knew.

CSI Files: The promo for “CSI Down” shows Greg (Eric Szmanda) erupting in anger, something that viewers have not really seen from him in a while. Was that in the script or a direction on your behalf?

Hunt: Some scripted and the level of it was a character choice between Eric and me. We discussed it when I was prepping and Greg has an investment in why Morgan is in that helicopter. There’s something going between those two a little bit and I’ll be interested to see people’s reaction [to it].

Eric plays a really strong character; Greg is a strong guy. He’s usually kind of on the sidelines going through the evidence and a very methodical thinker. We don’t necessarily see that raw passion out of him all the time and I think that is something fans will really like out of this episode. Greg is heavily invested in the situation that is going on.

CSI Files: You started out as A-Cam/Steadicam Operator on the show. How did your first directing gig come about?

Hunt: I started episode one of shooting, the pilot had been made the year before and the show was offered to me by Roy Wagner who was coming on as Director of Photography. There were some other shows that came up but working on CSI seemed like the right thing to do. I had worked on many other projects as a camera operator but Danny Cannon I found very inspiring. This young guy came in who had a really clear vision of what an episode was and it inspired me. I wanted to be a part of that. Episode twelve or thirteen Danny was made a producer so he would be full time on the show and I just loved operating for him; that kind of just kept me around. Danny took me under his wing somewhat and was like, “What do you want to do?” We were going through cinematographers and he was wondering if I wanted to be a DP on the show. I said, “What I really want to do is direct.” I made a short film, which Danny recommended, and it was well liked. For a couple years there was talk but when you’re the number one show and Bruckheimer is behind it, you don’t really let the camera operator direct an episode. They really had to push with CBS and Bruckheimer to give me an opportunity. It came down in the end with Carol, Danny Cannon, Louis Milito [Executive Producer], and Billy saying this has got to happen. At the end of season five they let me know. There are no words to describe the gratitude I have for those four people. They handed me my dream.

CSI Files: CSI has been an opportunity for you to branch out to other shows as well. Do you like getting the chance to change projects up every week, or would you prefer a more stable director-producing gig?

Hunt: Good question, one that my agent and I talk often about. It’s a tough life right now because LA is dead as a film town. You can see where I live. This is where family lives, where you’re sitting. I live in those two suitcases out there, and that’s hard. My first and primary focus is my family, my wife and my four children, but I gotta work. That is my passion, and it puts me in an airplane, out of the country or in other states. So yeah, if a director-producer job was offered to me here in LA, I would jump at it because I’d like to stay at home. I would like that job because you become so intermixed with every episode, and you know…I direct Fringe, which is a show I absolutely love, but I don’t have the time to watch every episode, and it’s a very serialized [show]. The five that haven’t aired by the time I go to direct one, in prep I don’t have the time to sit down and read the last five scripts, so it’s tough to know the storyline. But if you’re the director-producer on that show, you totally understand the mythology. You totally understand the storyline, so you don’t have to do all the question asking that I have to do when I show up at Fringe. Like, “Oh, what’s going [on?] This episode was the last one I watched, and I need to know [what's going on] now.”

There is a certain excitement that cannot be reproduced that comes from showing up somewhere new every month, and that’s sort of how this year is looking for me. I’ve got a bunch of repeat episodes. I did a couple of Hawaii Five-Os, three or four CSIs, a couple Nikitas, some new shows, Person of Interest, Vampire Diaries, which I haven’t directed before; some more Fringes. There’s an excitement that every month it’s going to be a different show. I’m doing sci-fi type stuff this week, and I’m doing serious drama over here, and I’ve got vampires there, and I’ve got a magical computer that tells you who’s going to be murdered this week, and every show has a different style, and something you can bring to it. It’s very exciting as an artist to be mixing it up.

CSI Files: Has the opportunity come up at CSI?

Hunt: No, it hasn’t, and financially it will never come there because to retain me to stay on full time would just be a lot of money. I would not have grown as a filmmaker, you wouldn’t have “CSI Down”, you wouldn’t have “In a Dark, Dark House”, those episodes would not be what they are if I hadn’t gone everywhere else. The greatest blessing of my career is that when I hit, there were so many things going on with [Jerry] Bruckheimer that I was able to branch out immediately and build a career. Without that, as an artist, I would not be where I am. You could not replace what I have learned on the other shows, and right now, that’s kind of where I want to continue.

CSI Files: So far, your resume is strictly episodic drama. Have you ever considered doing comedy?

Hunt: You get typecasted. Let’s face it, I’m an action drama director, and that’s the shows I’m being hired to do. If you could call Tina Fey, I’d really like to direct 30 Rock, or I’d really like to direct The Office because those are the two shows that I escape to. When I got home from Canada I had an Office marathon, and I watched the four episodes I hadn’t seen yet. Those are shows I love. I love to laugh, but I think my strengths are in blowing crap up.

I directed an episode of Chuck a while back, which had comedy on it. It’s fun to sit on set and be cracking up at the monitor. I did an episode of CSI that was my comedy episode, which was “Drops’ Out”, and we had moments there where you’re just like, “Hold it in until I say cut. Don’t blow it.” You’re just cracking up because Method Man would be doing something just hysterical. That’s fun. When I go to the movies, I’m usually going to see an action drama. I wanna tell Black Hawk Down. I want to tell Man on Fire. That’s what I’m going to be drawn to, and it’s nice that I’ve landed there. In the end, rather than standing around having everyone laughing, I want to have Nikita blowing something up and kicking some butt. I want to race to find someone, to save someone. In the end, that’s really where my passions are.

CSI Files: You have quite the ongoing bromance with the cast of Nikita.

Hunt: [Laughs.] My wife tweeted and kind of called it that, and started it.

CSI Files: Do you ever use responses that you get on Twitter and kind of change your project in ways that maybe the fans would want to see?

Hunt: No, but I will say, I’m not an internet guy. I don’t have Facebook. I never wanted to catch up to people in high school that I don’t already stay in contact with, but Dustin [Lee Abraham] got me to do Twitter, and immediately I got feedback. It was amazing to me to see fans who knew my episodes. They knew which ones I had directed, and they had comments. They weren’t always positive [Laughs], but I love that. I tweet for the feedback. It’s inspiring. I think any artist wants to feel that what they’re doing is influencing others or bringing joy to others.

I’m not trying to save the world, that’s not what I do for a living. I try to entertain people. I try to give people a great 44 minutes. I’ve always felt a director’s first responsibility was to entertain. You can’t tell any story, you can’t give any point, you can’t make any impression about anything in the world if I can’t hold your attention. I want to entertain people, and people feed back to me that, “Oh my gosh, I love that episode.” Hawaii Five-0 has a big Twitter follow group, and I got so much positive comments back and questions, and I’ll answer some of them. It brings me real joy.

But the bromance, to get back to that [Laughs], if that doesn’t sound weird. I like to go to the gym a lot, that’s kind of my escape from the world and from my job. Devon Sawa, who I worked with on Nikita on my first episode, became a really good friend of mine. He’s really into MMA fighting, which I’m into too, so we started taking classes together on MMA fighting. My wife kind of makes fun of the whole thing. Then Shane West last summer came to the gym almost every day with me when I was in town, so we tweeted a lot about that, and my wife also made fun of that. That’s kind of how that whole thing [got started] on Twitter.

CSI Files: Is the content you tweet out up to your discretion, or do you have to get clearance from networks [or] studios?

Hunt: I just tweet at random and wait for the fallout. [Laughs.] I’m smart enough to know I don’t want to tweet [certain things]. I was directing the episode of CSI: New York where [Peter] Fonda dies at the end, and I wasn’t going to tweet a picture of that. I don’t want anything in my stories that I direct to get out. You talk about the promos for “CSI Down”, and they make my blood boil. I directed the episode of CSI: New York where the house blows up, “Green Piece”, which is one of my favorite episodes I’ve directed, certainly in the top group there, and I remember the writer Zach [Reiter] and I blew the house up, and we were like, “Yeah, that’s gonna be in the promo. Everyone’s gonna know that’s coming.” You don’t want anything getting away, so I don’t want to tweet anything that gives too much away.

We tweeted pictures of the helicopter down because those who are following me on Twitter who are real fans of CSI can read the title of the episode, “CSI Down”, and they’re gonna put two and two together. But I certainly don’t want you to know what happens to anybody in that helicopter.

CSI Files: Do you have any favorite directors besides Tony Scott that influenced you into your television projects?

Hunt: Yeah. You talk about me being trained to be a director, and I worked for Danny Cannon, Ken Fink and Richard Lewis primarily. If there’s any three directors I did the most episodes for, it would be those three guys. I worked with Ken on other shows besides. I learned so much from those guys. All three [have] very different directing styles, but they all inspired me when I was the operator and made me want to be a director. There were other directors who’d come through and frustrate you, and you think, “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” but those guys are artists. They are solid, and they know exactly what they’re doing. Lewis was always very inspiring. I just thought, “I wanna be like Danny. I want to come in the set like Danny and just know what the project is exactly, come in with this clear vision.” There’s no film school, there’s no anything, there’s no price that could ever be put on the training I was given in the years I worked under those guys.

Working with [Quentin] Tarantino [was] the nineteen best days of my career. It was a magical thing. The first minute he was on set, me and him just hit it off really good. Michael Slovis, who was the DP on that episode, he wrote me a thank you note at the end of the season for my hard work, and he was a great guy. He said, “It was really awesome to watch how you and Tarantino worked together.” Tarantino offered me to work with him afterwards, after CSI, which was tough to say no on some of his projects that went on after that because my directing career had already started, and it was time to focus on that and to say goodbye to the camera. But the value of what I learned on that camera, under such great directors, was priceless. Such an amazing time.

CSI Files: What’s your favorite thing about directing CSI?

Hunt: You couldn’t ask for a better cast than the CSI cast to work with. There’s not a complainer, there’s not a spoiler in the whole group. I’ve gotten to watch them all grow as actors. They are just fantastic. And they’re so serious. George Eads comes in so prepared…He just knows the scene and what his character is doing there. As a director, what more could you ask for, to have an actor who’s so prepared and so passionate? Let’s face it, Eads has been doing this role for twelve years, he’s making a ton of cash, he’s a great looking guy naturally. He could phone this in, but he doesn’t. I have never directed an episode [or] had a scene where I thought George wasn’t prepared. You can’t say that everywhere. It is a fantastic cast.

CSI Files: What has been your favorite episode to direct?

Hunt: [Laughs.] It’s either that question, or it’s, “What’s your favorite show to direct?” There is no answer. I’ve learned from every one of them. There’s certain ones that I think I hit it better than others…Television director, you show up, and you’re handed a script, and you’re gonna direct that script. You didn’t choose it, you didn’t have input in it on the board of what it would be the months before. That’s the script. You’re going to direct it. Now, you get to have input, and in places like CSI, Carol Mendelsohn wants to know what you feel about the story, and you can suggest all the changes you want, but let’s face it, you’ve got seven days. You’ve got to prep that sucker, cast it, find all the locations, figure out how you’re going to shoot it, pick the props, pick the wardrobe, and shoot the thing in seven days. That’s a lot, so you’re gonna shoot that script. Some scripts speak to you, and some scripts you direct.

I’ve never directed anything where I didn’t give 100% or feel my whole career hung in the balance of the outcome of this episode anywhere. I’m passionate about every one, but some scripts just speak to you, and the story is just so clear in your mind and what you will do with it. “Bite Me”, so lucky, my fist one, that script just spoke to me. I look back at that and I think, “Gosh, am I doing that now? Am I making choices, am I doing artistic things like I did?” There’s this beautiful moment in “Bite Me”, it’s one of my favorite moments. Billy says “Stairway to Heaven”, and the light comes up, and it blows out. I was reading that script…that shot, that effect came to me, it was just in my mind as I was reading the words. He said that, and I just visually saw it. It doesn’t always happen. I’m very fortunate it happened on that first one.

I went to direct [Terminator: The] Sarah Connor Chronicles, and they had a big feature director lined up for this huge episode they were doing, and he fell out at the last minute, and they were kind of desperate. Prep started Monday, and it was Friday at 5:00. They needed a director, and luckily my name was floating around and I got in. I read that script, which scared the living crap out of me. It was the biggest action thing I’d ever done—visual effects, going in the future, terminator stuff—but the script spoke to me. You read a script and you see in your mind the camera, you see the performance, you see when the actors look to each other. It’s really magical when that happens, and it’s not always.

CSI Files: You’re going back to CSI for a couple more episodes this season. Do you have an idea when those might be?

Hunt: I think I’m doing twelve and twenty-one. [Edit: Hunt will be directing episode sixteen and twenty-one.]

CSI Files: Twelve is Marg Helgenberger’s (Catherine Willows) last episode.

Hunt: That’ll be sad. That’ll be rough on me. I remember my last episode I directed with Billy, “Young Man With a Horn”, we were shooting in the bar scene. It was the last scene of the episode, and I was leaving the next day to go direct another series, and I knew it would be the last time I’d see Billy in production. It was rough on me. Here’s the guy who handed me my dream. I learned so much from [him]. He’d been so generous and kind to the crew, caring about the crew, and I had to say goodbye to him. The rest of the crew did it all together…but I had to do it by myself, just me and him. He said, “Ah Jeff, I just don’t want to do this.” We hugged. He was in tears, and I was in tears. What an amazing man, what a good human being. He is unreplaceable.

I think Ted Danson brings a little bit of that magic back. I just think it’s gonna be a fun show with Ted. I know [on] “CSI Down”, I had a fantastic time with Ted. It was just great, and it made me feel like I was back with Billy. The energy on set and the excitement about the story, the excitement about what we were doing, it felt like episode two of the series…I’m excited for the show, and it deserves it. It’s got some of the hardest working people I’ve ever known in Hollywood. Carol Mendelsohn—I owe her my entire career, when it comes down to it. She’s always been so supportive of me, so kind, and the words she’s said about me in other places that have helped my career is so important to me. She’s such a good person, and is an amazing showrunner to collaborate with. I just enjoy preproduction with her, sitting in her office, going through the script with her, talking about what I want to do, or could we do this, or having her feelings about what it should be. It’s priceless.

Follow Jeff Hunt on Twitter: @Huntvision

Shane Saunders is a freelance writer and reviewer. His work can be seen on EDGE Network and ShaneSSaunders.com. Twitter: @ShaneSSaunders.

The team investigates the death of a bouncer while Mac and the rest of the CSIs pay tribute to the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Synopsis:

It has been ten years since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, and Mac thinks back to the day he lost his wife Claire. He was shaving in the bathroom that morning when Claire walked and teased him about listening to an NSYNC song on the radio. Mac teased her in return, suggesting that he was going to the opera with a coworker—but really, the tickets for him and Claire were hidden in the cotton swab holder. The pair was very much in love, and they got ready for their day with no inkling that their time together was running out. Later, they listened to a song together on the bus, and Mac got off and waved goodbye to Claire for the last time. Mac heard about the attack in the precinct, where he saw people watching news coverage after American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. He spoke to Claire on the phone and learned that she got out of the building, but she kept thinking about everyone trapped inside. He told her to get as far away as she could, but they were cut off when a shadow overhead indicated United Airlines Flight 175 heading toward the South Tower. Mac yelled Claire’s name into the phone, but they were disconnected. Mac headed toward the World Trade Center, but he watched in horror as the South Tower fell and sent dust and debris billowing toward him on the street.

Danny and Flack met on 9/11, when Flack was a uniformed officer helping an injured woman down the dust-covered street away from the World Trade Center. Danny was running in the opposite direction, trying to help people. Flack grabbed his arm to stop him, telling him there was no use going back. Everyone was gone. Elsewhere in the city, Sid and Hawkes were working together in a makeshift hospital/morgue after the attack, helping the wounded and placing the dead carefully to the side. Mac helped carry a firefighter into the building and knelt beside the body with several other firefighters. Knowing the man was already gone, Mac took his hand and said a prayer over him while the others watched in silence. Jo was in Washington, DC in 2001, working for the FBI when American Airlines Flight 77 flew into the Pentagon. She looked out at the smoke snaking up from the crash site as she called people in to work, and she spoke to her mother on the phone and asked her to take Tyler and Ellie until it was safe.

Meanwhile, the team works to solve a murder as they honor the memory of that fateful day. Sean Petersen was shot after a robbery at the bar where he worked as a bouncer. Two men broke in and stole everyone’s money and cellphones, and Sean was pistol-whipped at the door. He went back to the front after the men left, when they thought it was over, but someone came back to shoot him. Flack speaks to Devon, one of the waitresses who left several minutes before the robbery. She describes seeing the perps outside, but she didn’t go back and warn Sean. She blames herself for his death.

Adam is able to trace one of the phones that was stolen, and they find the robbers in a hotel room with two guns, all of the stolen property and their bloody sweatshirts. Unfortunately, neither one of the guns they find matches the bullet pulled out of Sean’s body. When they interrogate the two suspects, the men deny killing Sean. Blood at the scene proves to be the key. When Sean was pistol-whipped, blood sprayed onto the wall. Some of it was smeared by the men when they left several minutes after it splattered on the wall, but another section was smeared immediately. Whoever dragged their arm through that blood left right after Sean was pistol-whipped. They are looking for a third person, and the only person who could have left was Devon—she lied.

Jo and Flack talk to Devon, who admits that she was involved. The men were supposed to arrive just as Sean opened the door to let her out, but they were late; she put her foot in the door to stop it from closing. Sean knew she was involved, and she got freaked out. She came back after the robbery and shot him. She got drugs from one of the robbers, and she owed him a lot of money. He promised no one would get hurt.

Analysis:

“Indelible” is a poignant episode that offers fans a look back at September 11th through the eyes of the CSIs. Most of the focus is placed on Mac, whose wife Claire was killed at the World Trade Center. All of Mac’s flashbacks are short, and they are evocative rather than graphic in their depiction of the terrorist attack. The first two flashbacks establish the love between Mac and Claire before the tragedy strikes. Mac sees the footage on the television, but Claire is shown surrounded by panicked people and falling paper—the second plane’s approach is merely a shadow overhead, and the focus remains on her face before the scene cuts back to Mac and the others in the precinct. When the tower collapses in Mac’s final flashback, once again it is Mac’s expression that tells the story as the action occurs offscreen, sending dust billowing toward him. These scenes narrow the focus, concentrating on one person as the unimaginable tragedy plays out around him.

Mac’s personal journey has a bittersweet ending when he heads toward the beach on Coney Island as the hour draws to a close. He kept the opera tickets for the past ten years, and he symbolically lets Claire go by releasing the tickets into the waves lapping against the sand. As Executive Producer Zachary Reiter previously indicated, “Indelible” offers Mac some closure so that he can move forward and, perhaps, pursue a new relationship in the coming months. The opera tickets are a meaningful touch, but many fans are sure to be wondering about the beach ball Mac mentioned way back in the show’s very first episode, “Blink”. He came across an old beach ball in the closet of the home he shared with Claire, and he didn’t have the heart to deflate it because his wife’s breath was still inside. The opera tickets tie in to the first flashback in “Indelible”, but it would have been nice to see a more direct reference to the pilot, which ended with Mac at Ground Zero after he revealed that his wife died on September 11th.

Throughout the episode, Mac is shown away from the crime lab. He has been on leave for the past four months, and he has spent his time working at Piper Laboratories, which is trying to identify the remains of 9/11 victims. He knows what it’s like to be left without closure, so he wants to help other people like him who lost loved ones that day. Mac is adamant that he won’t be returning to the crime lab, but he does speak to Jo during the episode when he gives her a set of event passes; she and the rest of the team are invited to a ceremony at the end of the hour, which features the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance. That particular storyline is a mixture of fact and fiction. Gary Sinise helped raise money to build the wall, which honors 417 first responders who died on September 11th. Within the show, Mac has been working on the memorial for several months, and he delivers a speech at the dedication ceremony. The speech was filmed in front of the wall in New York City, and 9/11 first responders and families fill the audience.

Mac shares several scenes with Joe Vincent, a former firefighter who lost his police officer son on September 11th. Joe worked with Mac on the memorial, but he doesn’t want to attend the ceremony. Mac convinces him to go, reminding him that they did this for the families of the fallen—and Joe is one of those families. He comes to the ceremony in his dress uniform, and he and Mac embrace after Mac delivers his speech. These men have both suffered a great loss, and they became good friends during the time they worked together. The friendship has helped each man to heal, and it’s a nice moment between them during an emotional scene.

Most of the characters don’t discuss their memories with other members of the team. Like Mac, their flashbacks are moments of private reflection. Jo, Flack and Sid are triggered by their surroundings into remembering specific segments of that day. Adam and Lindsay are the only ones who share their experiences with each other. Adam slept through it all after a night of partying, and Lindsay is the first person who hears the truth. Even though he wasn’t watching from his rooftop or glued to the television on 9/11, he went down to Ground Zero to help with the clean up efforts the next day. Lindsay reveals that she was on the “bucket brigade” as well, even though she was back home in Montana when the attack happened. She saw it all on television and felt compelled to come help, even though all flights were grounded. A firetruck from Bozeman drove to New York to assist in the efforts, and she hitched a ride. She and Adam may have been working alongside each other the whole time and never even knew it. Lindsay and Adam don’t get many personal scenes with each other, so it’s nice to see a bonding moment between them. Lindsay’s personal moments tend to involve Danny, and Adam is a more minor character who hasn’t had many personal moments at all. It’s an interesting combination, and it helps to emphasize the family connection between everyone on the team.

During Adam and Lindsay’s scene, she helps him with his tie as they prepare to head to the ceremony. Out in the hallway, Jo straightens Flack’s tie, and they share a brief, personal moment as well. Jo points out that she and Flack have been working together for a year now, and she tells him he’s a great detective. Flack thanks her, but his response is teasing. “The jury’s still out on you,” he says, calling her the “interim boss” before breaking into a genuine smile. It’s a great moment, and I love the dynamic and the respect between these two.

Jo is serving as the “interim boss” while Mac is on leave. He’s been gone for four months, and some people don’t think he’s coming back. Jo, however, is convinced that he will return. Early in the episode, Adam refers to her as “boss”, but she corrects him. She doesn’t want anyone to forget that Mac is the real boss. In fact, his things are still in his old office, and she puts his nameplate back on the desk. Even if Mac doesn’t return, she says, she’s just in charge until Chief Sinclair chooses a replacement. It’s nice to get a mention of Sinclair, who was last seen in season six’s “Dead Reckoning”, and I would love it if Mykelti Williamson came back to reprise the role this season.

A little while later, Jo enters the lab with a man who is being eyed as a potential replacement boss. He’s a nerdy-looking guy, and Adam does a rather horrible impression of Jo’s southern accent as he watches them through the glass walls and provides dialogue for their walk through the lab. Lindsay is standing in the doorway for most of his little skit, and he’s embarrassed when he sees her. The scene is hilarious and so very, very Adam. Between this scene and the one at the end of the episode, “Indelible” highlights the brother-sister relationship between Adam and Lindsay, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that dynamic in the coming months.

The case itself has a few twists and turns, but it’s secondary in importance to the 9/11 tribute throughout the hour. The best moment in the case comes when the team arrests their robbery suspects and Flack explains their confusing names to Jo. Mike White is a black man called “Black Mike”, and Mike Black is a white man called “White Mike”. Jo gives him an odd look, and she says she’ll speak to Black Mike. Flack responds that he’ll take Mike Black, and Jo seems confused until he says, “Don’t think about it. Trust me, it’s right.” It’s a great moment, and it really emphasizes how awesome Eddie Cahill and Sela Ward are in their scenes together.

Overall, “Indelible” is a special episode which focuses on character over forensics. It’s a departure from the usual case-based episodes, and the slow pace would be more ideally suited to the third or fourth episode of the season rather than the premiere. “Indelible” isn’t an indication of the general tone and pace of the series, but there was no other time to tell this story. The show is set in New York City, and Mac’s connection to 9/11 has been established since the pilot episode. The actual tenth anniversary took place two weeks ago, and it wouldn’t really make sense to wait another few weeks to feature such an important plot. I’m glad the show paid tribute to such a defining moment in New York’s (and America’s) recent history while honoring those who gave their lives on that day. It’s great to see the team back on TV, especially after the show was barely renewed earlier this year, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season as the show returns to business as usual next week.

See also: “Indelible” episode guide.

Thanks to TheChaoticBox from TalkCSI for the heads up.

Tonight’s season premiere, “Indelible”, honors the 10th anniversary of September 11th by showing flashbacks to that fateful day. Mac Taylor’s (Gary Sinise) late wife Claire (Jaime Ray Newman) will appear in the flashbacks, and the episode will offer Mac a chance to move on. “You’ll feel and you’ll know at the end of the episode that he derives a certain amount of closure from the [anniversary]—and from the specific act that he makes at the end of the day,” Reiter told TV Line. Toward the end of the season, Mac might find that “he’s able to open up and have a relationship that is more meaningful than maybe some of the past ones he had, because these walls were up.”

Season eight will also delve into Jo Danville’s (Sela Ward) past, specifically the rape case she mentioned back in season seven’s “Vigilante” and why she decided to come to New York. “There is the history of that case, the DC rapist, where she felt compelled by her legal obligation to disclose certain information, and in doing so it resulted in the acquittal of a rapist,” Reiter explained. “She went through a lot of grief and condemnation, and that caused her to maybe make the move, and some of that history comes back.” Hopefully, Jo will find closure so she can put the past behind her.

Meanwhile, Danny’s promotion to Sergeant will explore the bond between NYPD officers working together. “[S]ome of the stuff that happens with Danny is about how he left one family, and when you become a sergeant and supervise a certain number of uniformed officers they become your new family,” Reiter said. “What we explore is what he learns about his new family, how that differs from his [CSI] family, and how that weighs on his mind.”

You can find the whole interview, with more information about the premiere and Danny’s promotion, on TV Line.

Executive Producer Zachary Reiter and Supervising Producer John Dove co-wrote “Indelible”, and they discuss 9/11 as well as the way the show will treat the 10th anniversary. You can also see a clip from the episode featuring the moment when Don Flack (Eddie Cahill) and Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) first met:

New York was in danger of being cancelled after season seven, but Veasey and Reiter aren’t looking at season eight as the final year. “Not planning this as a final season – we never make that plan, we just plan to keep the audience riveted,” they explained on Twitter. “Excited by Friday night and our new lead in [A Gifted Man]. We never plan that way. Even if we find ourselves in same situation.”

At the end of season seven, Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) got a promotion, and that will spell changes for him and wife Lindsay (Anna Belknap). “Danny will be a sergeant when we return and it will mean things the audience will be surprised by,” the producers said. “Danny runs into a few conflicts in his promotion… after that, their relationship is working, Lucy is healthy, but job is a conflict. After that we’ll plan something else really juicy!”

Lindsay will also play “a big role in a 3 episode arc” regarding Jo Danville’s (Sela Ward) past in Washington, DC. In last season’s “Vigilante”, Jo mentioned the final case she worked in DC before she came to the Big Apple. A rapist got off due to mishandled evidence, and the case will resurface in New York.

Jo’s ex-husband Russ Josephson (David James Elliott) appeared in several episodes last season (most recently “Identity Crisis”), but Elliott’s casting on the new ABC series Good Christian Belles will prevent fans from seeing him on New York for the time being. “If that should fail, we’d welcome him back!” the producers explained. However, despite the fact that Jo’s ex-husband won’t be back to woo her, “many of our single cast members may get love interests.”

Don Flack’s (Eddie Cahill) sister Samantha (Kathleen Munroe, “Dead Inside”) will return this season. “We’re hoping to start something that will have Flack making an [important] decision [with] respect to his job by end of season,” they shared. Meanwhile, resident coroner Sid Hammerback (Robert Joy) has a ‘good moment’ coming up, Veasey and Reiter revealed: “[H]e becomes an inventor of a very interesting object!”

You can find all of Veasey and Reiter’s Tweets about New York’s season eight premiere, along with commentary on the season seven finale, “Exit Strategy”, on Twitter.