Mac Taylor takes on a powerful gang after their leader is shot and impaled on a hotel awning.

Synopsis:

Mac, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the arm, hunts a man in an abandoned warehouse. The man raises two guns and fires at Mac… and the story flashes back twelve hours, to the discovery of the body of Panthro Torres on a hotel awning. The leader of the powerful East Harlem El Puño gang, Panthro was shot twice before falling to his death and being impaled on a spike on the awning. Danny and Lindsay examine the hotel room; though they find no sign of forced entry, they discover a lipstick print on the mirror and a bottle of alcohol with a dead fish inside. Adam examines the bottle and finds the victim’s DNA and DNA belonging to an unknown person. Mac goes to a restaurant owned by the El Puño gang to speak with Luther Devarro (the man from the teaser), the founder of the gang who Mac put away for assault fifteen years ago. Recently released from prison, Luther vows that there will be no retaliation until Panthro is buried, but is as determined as Mac is to find the killer.

Back at the lab, Danny gets a DNA hit off the lipstick to a young woman named Hazel Ortega, a high-end prostitute who is affiliated with the Mambas, a rival gang. When Flack goes to pick up Hazel, he finds her armed. He arrests her, but on their way to the station, they’re shot at by two men and Hazel is wounded. The bullets at the scene have “P”s on them, which makes Mac think the shooters were members of the El Puño gang. Adam identifies the fish from the alcohol bottle as a snakehead fish, illegal in the U.S. Jo arrives at the hospital to find Hazel holding a cop hostage. Hazel insists she didn’t kill Panthro; she did her job and left him alive when someone knocked at the door. She refuses to tell Jo who came to the door, but she surrenders and lets the cop go. Luther’s brother Rick thinks the Mambas are behind Panthro’s murder. Mac confronts Luther about the shooting of Hazel, and Luther insists he didn’t give the order. He has the men responsible surrender to the police, and has Hazel’s medical bills paid. Hawkes isn’t able to match the bullets from Panthro to Hazel’s gun, but when he discovers a “P” on the fragments, the CSIs realize Panthro’s murder was likely an inside job.

The CSIs go to round up the El Puño leaders and aren’t able to find them—until Mac spots Fernando Flores running out of the El Puño restaurant… just seconds before it explodes. The body of another El Puño leader, Lisa Brigosa, is found inside, but Sid discovers she was shot and killed before the restaurant exploded. Flack learns Lisa ordered everyone out of the restaurant because she had a meeting, while the CSIs discover a bottle with a snakefish in it and a palm print on the wall near the explosion’s origin. Adam tracks down a source who tells him that a recently arrested smuggler imported three snakefish for a Puerto Rican man. Fernando Flores turns himself in, but Lindsay gets a hit on the palm print that clears him—and implicates Luther Devarro. Mac tracks Luther and his brother Rick to an abandoned warehouse and catches Luther just before he murders Rick. Rick shoots at Mac, wounding him in the arm, and runs off. As Mac hunts Luther, Luther explains that Panthro, Lisa and Rick corrupted the gang he started, making it about drugs, guns and money rather than protecting the neighborhood. Killing the leaders was his attempt to make things right. Luther shoots at Rick just before he fires on Mac, but Mac, thinking Luther is firing at him, shoots Luther fatally in the chest.

Analysis:

I like Mac Taylor, I really do. At least most of the time. Sure, he can be insufferably self-righteous at times, but usually the people he’s going up against aren’t very sympathetic. Not so here; Edward James Olmos brings a great deal of gravitas and humanity to his role, and scribe Aaron Thomas crafted a three-dimensional, sympathetic character in Luther Devarro. Devarro is old school: he started the gang before going into prison to take care of the neighborhood, and when he’s released fifteen years later, he finds his brother and his protégés have turned it into a violent money-making operation. Devarro clearly doesn’t trust the police; when Mac goes to him and offers help, it’s clear that Luther respects Mac, but he has a deep-seated mistrust of the police in general that keeps him from accepting Mac’s offer of help. Luther is clearly a man who wants to take care of his problems in his own way, outside the law. And yet, despite this, he’s still a man the audience is able to warm to and even like.

In contrast, Mac comes off as a little stiff and unbending, and morally rigid in a way that isn’t necessarily appealing. Sure, we know Luther just spent fifteen years in prison, but to hear Mac threaten him after Luther has offered Mac his word that El Puño won’t retaliate before Panthro’s funeral makes Mac seem rather rigid and inflexible. This is a problem the leads of both the CSI spin-offs have now and then; Mac and Horatio have a tendency to be overbearing at times. In Horatio, it comes off as posturing, while in Mac it takes the form of a high and mighty attitude that can grate after a while. Unassuming Gil Grissom never had this problem, and his successor Ray Langston doesn’t seem to either. Granted, Horatio is a bigger offender than Mac is, but when Mac climbs on his high horse, I almost always cringe.

It’s hard to fault Mac for firing at Luther in the warehouse after Luther has raised two guns and seemingly taken aim at him, and yet, as a viewer, I knew exactly who Luther was firing at. Granted, Mac was in the middle of the situation and perhaps didn’t have the luxury of careful consideration—his life is on the line after all—but the whole thing played out so predictably, and not to our hero’s benefit. Shooting the guy who just saved his life makes Mac look like a cold jerk. Yes, Luther was a murderer, but he was one with a code of ethics all his own, and he just shot his brother to save Mac’s life. The nobility of this action is certainly mitigated by the fact that Luther was at the warehouse in the first place to kill his brother, but the fact remains that he saved Mac’s life. The ending feels predictably inevitable, and perhaps would have felt more inventive had Mac not shot at Luther or simply shot to wound rather than kill.

Maybe it’s just that Olmos is so good in the role that I would have liked him to survive to pop up again at some point. Olmos most recently starred in Battlestar Galactica, a reimagining of the 70s show that focused on the struggle between man and machine in the wake of an attack that wiped most of humanity out. Olmos’s role was a meaty one, and he brings the same weight to the role of Luther Devarro. Devarro is a worthy adversary for Mac precisely because he doesn’t rise to Mac’s barbs and accusations, and even respects the man despite the fact that they’re on opposite sides of the fence in most regards. Devarro probably wouldn’t see it that way, though; in his mind he and Mac both want the same thing: justice. They just have very different methods of going about it.

There’s a big hole in the case early on that sticks out rather glaringly: when Adam first runs the bottle of alcohol from Panthro’s room for DNA, he gets a hit to DNA from the victim, but the other sample is unknown. Given what we know later on, this doesn’t make sense: Luther’s DNA would probably be in the database from his stint in jail. We know his prints are: Lindsay is able to match the palm print on the wall in the restaurant to Luther. Of course, it’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Luther is the killer, and not only because Edward James Olmos is the biggest guest star in the episode. The murder of Panthro takes place a mere week after Luther was released from prison. Wouldn’t the CSIs—especially Mac, who put him away—pick up on this coincidence right away? Young wannabe Fernando Flores isn’t much of a red herring.

Adam gets a chance to be delightfully flustered when Hawkes gets curious about how he knows so much about the illegal snakefish. Adam starts to babble, saying he knows a guy who knows a guy… and so on. Hill Harper and AJ Buckley play off each other beautifully in the scene; as Adam gets more and more uncomfortable, Hawkes simply stands and watches him, a skeptical look on his face. Adam certainly seems to have the connections when it comes to underground knowledge; it might come off as a little convenient if Adam’s bashfulness about his knowhow wasn’t so endearing.

November sweeps is here, and the big news in the CSI franchise is next week’s three show crossover, which brings Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) to Miami and then New York. In an exclusive interview with CSI Files, CSI: New York Executive Producer Peter Lenkov talks about the New York installment of the trilogy, as well as the big serial killer storyline and Detective Don Flack’s (Eddie Cahill) continued battle with depression.

CSI Files: The big CSI crossover is next week! What can you tell us about the CSI: NY entry?

Peter Lenkov: Well, obviously we’re the bridge between the beginning in Miami and the end in Vegas. And what we wanted to do in our installment was brand it in a certain way. Give it a true identity so you knew you were watching a NY episode. For that, we shot a lot of scenes in New York. We also ramped up the stakes and gave Ray a bit of an arc. It was also important for us to add a new dimension to the story, so we just didn’t continue what happened in Miami, but added something significant to the storyline. Another piece to the puzzle. But what makes me most proud of this ep is the action component. It’s CSI: NY on steroids. Lots of hero moments. Hope the fans enjoy it as much as we did making it.

CSI Files: What can we expect when CSI: NY lead Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) teams up with Ray Langston?

Lenkov: Besides the immediate bonding, there’s lots of action from this dynamic duo.

CSI Files: Sweeps will also see the return of the Compass Killer. What can you tease about his reappearance and the team’s pursuit of him?

Lenkov: All I can say is you won’t see the twist coming. This is a story where you might think you know the villain — but you don’t.

CSI Files: Last season ended with a bang, literally, when shots were fired into the bar where the team was toasting Angell’s (Emmanuelle Vaugier) life. When and how was it decided that Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) would be the one who got shot?

Lenkov: About midway through last season, we discussed the idea of Danny getting shot, and perhaps learning to walk (again) at the same time as his daughter is taking her first steps. It just morphed from there.

CSI Files: Was there ever any talk of killing the character?

Lenkov: Danny? Never.

CSI Files: Danny went from a wheelchair to walking in four episodes, after being given a ten percent chance of walking again. Why did his recovery take place in such a short amount of time?

Lenkov: Four episodes don’t necessarily translate into four weeks, in the same way four episodes of 24 don’t translate into four weeks, but four hours. I think we did enough research on the injury and recovery to justify our storytelling.

CSI Files: Will there be any other ramifications of the shooting for Danny?

Lenkov: Absolutely. It’s something we’re addressing.

CSI Files: Lindsay (Anna Belknap) was back in action in “Dead Reckoning” in a way we haven’t seen her since season two. Can we expect more of that?

Lenkov: We love it when Lindsay gets to mix it up in the field… so yes, it’s something we want to continue with.

CSI Files: One of the most compelling stories this season has been Flack’s struggle with Angell’s death and his execution of her killer. It’s very clear he’s not okay–will his struggle continue to play out?

Lenkov: Absolutely. Eddie’s got a great arc this season with regard to his grief. You’ll see this come to a head in 608, a really powerful episode written by Zach Reiter and newcomer Aaron Thomas.

CSI Files: Up until this season, Flack has arguably been the show’s most grounded character. What factored into the decision to send him over the edge?

Lenkov: Exactly that… he was the most grounded and dealing with the situation this way felt very real. We all knew that seeing Flack in this condition would be a shock, but all that stems from the fact that Eddie has given so much to that character.

CSI Files: What was the reasoning behind the introduction of crime scene cleaner turned lab tech Haylen Becall (Sarah Carter)?

Lenkov: We have always looked to start new seasons with something fresh. That could be a new lab, new arc, or new recurring character.

CSI Files: We’ve heard Hawkes (Hill Harper) has a big storyline coming up–can you tease that a bit?

Lenkov: This is also the year of Hill Harper. He’s got multiple big stories ahead. I’d rather let the press department unveil those as they see fit… but we are very proud of his character development this season.