(S02E24) Well, this was a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, it was a finale that suited the mood and pace of this entire season - which was up, down, left, right, and all over the place. CSI: NY (and Vegas to some extent) is still very much individual, packaged episodes. There weren't many ongoing storylines this season (mainly Aiden and DJ Pratt). Miami (which has it's finale this coming Monday) is the only one of the three that's really broken the mold and become heavily serialized. Soap opera-ish many argue and I agree. I hope next season that NY heads in the same direction because I think it makes for better viewer involvement/investment... whatever you want to call it. 

The episode started with Mac and Don responding to a stabbed security guard in an office building. While investigating the floor, Mac found a duffel bag filled with C-4 explosive. Lindsay was outside and she helped clear the street block as Stella arrived. But then the bomb went off. Mac and Don didn't make it outside in time.

CBS released its 2006-07 prime-time schedule this morning. They're returning a lot of shows this year, only introducing seven new shows, four of which will debut in the fall. The changes in brief:

Returning: Survivor, The King of Queens (13 episodes airing at mid-season), The New Adventures of Old Christine, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, The Amazing Race, Without A Trace, Numb3rs, Ghost Whisperer, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI:NY, The Unit, Criminal Minds, Close to Home, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours: Mysteries, Crimetime Saturday (reurns of CBS crime procedurals), NCIS.

Out: Threshold, Out of Practice, Courting Alex, CBS Sunday Movie, Love Monkey, Yes, Dear, Still Standing.

New: The Class, Smith, Jericho, Shark, 3 Lbs., Waterfront, Rules of Engagement.

Moving: How I Met Your Mother (to Mondays at 8), The Amazing Race (to Sundays at 8), Cold Case (to Sundays at 9), Without A Trace (to Sundays at 10).

Detailed descriptions of the new shows are after the jump.

(S02E23) I was looking forward to and dreading this episode all at the same time. After last week's previews, we already knew what was in store for former Detective Aiden Burn, but I didn't want to accept it. She was a great character in the first season and it was too bad that she was written out of the show. Although, I remember reading somewhere that she requested it. So in that sense, I suppose this was a logical storyline and it was nice that it tied up the questions that have been hanging around since the second episode of this season.

After Aiden was fired by Mac at the beginning of the season, supposedly she was going to pursue her private investigator's license. Instead, she set up shop in her apartment (she had a mini crime scene lab it seems) and continued to track down DJ Pratt to bust him for all the rapes he had committed. We knew Pratt was smart though. After all, he's been covering his tracks and alluding arrest for years now. So it only makes sense that he'd catch on if someone was watching him regularly. Aiden had a goal though and she knew what had to be done.

(S02E22) Mermaids and multiple wives. I like it. Plus, for once we had an episode that really focused on Lindsay - something this season has lacked thus far. We got to see what drives her, hear some of her background, and see what it's like when a case really gets under her skin.

Even better, we got to hear someone say what we've been thinking all along. While Sid was examining the dead woman's body (the one in the mermaid costume), Lindsay mentioned that she was from Montana just like her. She goes on to say that she doesn't like it when Danny calls her "Montana." Then Sid drops the gem: "Danny calls you that because he's got a crush on you." It's about time that storyline picked up some steam.

(S02E21) Very powerful episode... well, half of it anyway. The Kid Rock side of the story was just incredibly corny and I really don't see it as anything other than a ratings booster. Which leaves me wondering, why Kid Rock? They couldn't have written in another rock star? There are plenty more out there that I would have chosen to create some buzz. Does Kid Rock even still tour? He had four shows in NYC in this episode... unless you're someone like Madonna or Billy Joel, who ever has four shows all in NYC anymore? I just don't get it because there's no way Kid Rock approached them and said, "Man, I love CSI: NY. Can you write me into an episode?" Anywho, his limo driver was shot and Kid (Is that really his first name?) didn't do it. The other a half of the episode is all that really mattered, because it picked up where last week left off: Stella's boyfriend is crazy.

(S02E20) For the longest time all I did was complain about this show, but it was all out of love. I was just so frustrated about how flat the characters were. Well I suppose you get what you wish for, because Wednesday's episode gave us plenty to digest about Danny and Stella.

The first few minutes gave us something this show rarely depicts: one of the characters actually doing something other than their job. We got a nice look at Stella's new boyfriend's apartment, and yes, they were getting their freak on. In the meantime, Mac and Hawkes were digging up the end-zone at The Meadowlands. I'm sure you can figure out what was buried there.

(S02E19) I thought this episode was kind of corny. But I suppose all the CSI shows are to some extent. The titles are always a cute little play on one of the cases, usually done so to get a laugh. Such was the case here as the bodies of a Superman wannabe and recently drafted NFL player were found.

Did anyone else notice that this episode had a ton of canned lines though? Every episode does, especially Caruso over on CSI: Miami, but for whatever reason this episode had a boatload and they all fell flat. "Let's tackle this!" "Time for us to use our super powers!" Ugh, it was hard to watch at certain points.

Readers! Forgive me. Usually I'm very good about getting a review of the shows I cover out in a timely matter. I'm late with this one, but believe me when I say that there's a very legit reason for the tardiness. Since Wednesday night, I've watched this episode three times. Yes, three. That's how impressed I was with this installment. All season long I've been a CSI: NY naysayer, preaching it's flaws. Well this sets up the rest of the season. CSI: NY is back and it looks like it's finally returned to season one form.

I hate bugs. All I have to do is think about them and I get that creepy-crawly sensation like there's a giant caterpillar doing a dance underneath my armpit. Ughhh... I hate 'em. To make matters worse, this episode was chock full of beetles. Flesh-eating beetles. I didn't even know those things existed. For me, this is a horrible realization.

After Mac and Stella find a body lying in a museum covered in the aforementioned beetles, the case is on to find the killer. The only witness is a little boy and he'd rather read his Samurai comic book instead of talk to the detectives. They should throw some beetles on him. Then he'd talk. Or cry... that's what I'd do.

Last week I said I was starting to get used to the direction this show was moving in: complete devotion to the cases at hand and no backstory whatsoever. I'm thinking I may have spoken too soon.

Don't mistake that last statement as dislike for last night's episode. It was great; interesting, and one of the cases was very topical. But what I'm starting to realize is that it gives me, as a reviewer, less and less to say about each episode when all there is are the two cases. Just look at the difference in length between my CSI: Miami (which is chock-full of ongoing storylines) and my CSI: NY reviews. I always have plenty to say about the former.

I mean I suppose they could give us something. Anything. A conversation between Mac and Stella, where Mac admits that "I made a pot roast last night and boy, did I overcook it!" At least I'd know what they did the night before.

I'm finally starting to accept that the writers of this show have no intention of expanding the backstory of any of the main characters. And I think I'll be okay with that choice as long as they put more effort into making the cases as interesting as they can possibly be.

Last night was a step in that direction because the two cases were very interesting, plus they switched up the teams a little. Doc Hawkes and Danny should be working every case together; they play off each other way better than either of them did with Mac or Stella.

I know I sound like a broken record at this point but the direction of this show is really ticking me off. It has the potential to be so much better. Anthony Zuiker, the creator and producer behind all three CSI: shows, cannot possibly be paying attention when this one is being made. Because if he was, he'd see how it pales in comparison to Vegas and Miami.

My big thing is backstory because I like to know where a character is coming from. After this episode, I finally figured out what the writers are doing. They book-end! They have a bunch of cases and a bunch of small backstory tidbits and rather than take the time to weave them together into a seamless episode, they simply bookend the two cases with the backstory at the beginning and end of the show making the cases and backstory completely independent of each other. There's a phrase for that. It's called being lazy.

You know all of those cool aspects of the CSI shows that got you interested in them in the first place? The teeny bits of cloth left behind by suspects. Tiny drops of blood leftover from a bleach cleanup. Who would've thought that the detail that goes into these shows, and how the fictional murders executed their plans, would actually wind up helping, or even encouraging, real murderers?

One recent case had the suspect cleaning blood from his hands with bleach, lining his car with blankets (to protect it from blood when transferring bodies) and meticulously cleaning up evidence. He was caught, however, when he tried to throw the murder weapon - a crowbar - into a lake. According to the affidavit, "The lake was frozen though and he shouted a profanity when the crowbar remained on the surface." I guess having CSI based in Nevada didn't teach him everything he needed to know.

When I reviewed last week's episode, I made a few remarks that the writers for this show weren't really doing much to expand the backstories for the main characters. They didn't hear me, because this week was the same deal. I want more than just a case. Give me something on Mac's wife who died in the 9/11 attacks. Give me something on Lindsay's background (we found out she likes opera... that's it). Give me anything on Stella or Danny. I'll say this much. I'm not the only one who must feel this way because out of all the shows I cover for TV Squad, this one receives the fewest comments and last week's didn't get any.

Back to the review... there were two cases. Surprise!  A dead college student is found on the subway tracks and a commodities broker hung himself out his window. Let's solve some crime.

It's not that I don't like CSI: NY because I do. I just don't like it as much as I used too. I still think Lindsay was a lousy addition to the cast and I'm getting kind of sick with the same format that the CSI franchise was built on: two cases and they solve them. I guess I just don't understand why the writers for CSI: Miami can have a case and still develop the characters own personal stories so well and yet the NY writers can't pull it off. Maybe they can, but I feel like they're just not trying. C'mon guys, branch out!

So in case you couldn't gather anything from that, last night's ep gave us nothing on Stella's budding romance, Danny's estranged brother, Lindsay's history from Montana (or was it Minnesota), or what I'm really dying for: more back story on Medical Examiner Sid Hammerback. Although he did try to hit on Stella which was hilarious.  All we did get was two cases... and they solved them. Go figure.