gary sinise

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.

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.