CSI NY- Season 2 rewatch- Zoo York
So it's summer time and you all know what that means: No new shows until fall (well except for the summer shows that will start up soon). I thought the perfect way to deal with the no new shows blues is to rewatch some of my favorite shows, season by season - highlighting my favorite episodes. *grin* Today's rewatch is CSI: NY season two episode three: Zoo York. (Mostly the Danny/Lindsay parts) Hope you like the recap/opinion!
This is the first episode with Lindsay Monroe. She took the place of previous CSI Aiden after she showed that she would be willing to tamper with evidence to nail a criminal. She never did mess with the evidence but because she almost did, Mac was unable to keep her on, firing her on the spot. Enter Lindsay! A Bozeman, Montana CSI.
From her first scene at the Zoo (where Danny and Mac are investigation a possible tiger mauling/murder) she is put to the test by her new partner Danny Messer. He whispers in her ear that she should definitely call Mac "sir". Lindsay being already nervous takes this advice gratefully and enters the Tiger's den where Mac needs her to hold the tiger's mouth open so that he can get a tooth impression. Lindsay begins rambling about tiger facts, apologizing at one point because she knows she's babbling. After the second time she calls him sir, Mac lets her know in no uncertain terms, he doesn't want to be called by that. Lindsay looks back at Danny, figuring out that he was messing with her.
The investigation continues at the Zoo, Mac tells them that they will have to wait to see what the tiger passes. Lindsay questions, "passes?" Danny takes this as another opportunity to tease her and smirks that he's sure she's never seen anything like that up in Montana. Lindsay volleys back, "Have you ever seen what a fully grown black bear can do to a man?" Danny smiles at that. She's starting to fight back a little. Mac follows the blood trail up the rocky edge of the tiger habitat. It appears that the victim was dragged to the edge and then thrown in. The tiger was given a free meal, it didn't know any different.
At the lab, Lindsay is searching the cabinets for something. Danny offers to help her, but she coolly tells him that he helped enough that morning. He backs off. She finds the tape she needs to collect trace and starts to head to her station. Danny turns around at the same time, nearly colliding with her. Its awkward for both. She motions him ahead and he does the same for her. Lindsay walks purposefully over to where she's working and begins to collect the trace from the victims clothes. While she does that Danny focuses on the tape around the hand of the vic. Looking for anything under the microscope. Both are very aware of the other, with each looking over to where the other is working and once looking up at the same time, sharing a brief stare before returning to their individual evidence.
Lindsay spills her coffee as she's pouring it in the break room. A paper towel gets waved in front of her face. She grateful takes the offering from Stella. Lindsay mentions that her feet haven't touched the ground since she clocked in. Stella welcomes her to the crime lab. In Montana there were at least breaks taken, Lindsay says. Stella's tip, protein bars, comfortable shoes and at least four hours of sleep a night. Lindsay comments that isn't going to help her today, Mac wants the reports now. No, Stella tells her, he wants them done right. That's all the matters. Lindsay doesn't want to slow things down. Stella reminds her that it was her attention to detail that convicted a guy in Bozeman. Lindsay modestly deflects, what got the guy convicted was his guilt. But, Stella continues, it was her interpretation of the blood splatter that broke the case open. That's why Mac hired her, her attention to detail. Stella hands her a protein bar and Lindsay gratefully takes it. She's got an ally.
Mac is in reconstruction with a bunch of different tools about to get ready to try and narrow down the type of weapon used on their vic. Lindsay comes in and tells him what she found out so far. There was sawdust, flesh and blood on the victims shoe. The fingerprints are definitely a no go. So he's a John Doe for now. Mac tells her to grab a bib and she gets excited, she's seen reconstructions before but has never done one herself. Mac smiles, no better way to start your first day on the job. She comments back, well the tiger was pretty good. They start using the tools as weapons on the pig hanging in front of them. Mac helps Lindsay and shows her the angle which she needs to hit. By the time they reach the meat hook, Lindsay says she's done eating bacon for life. Danny comes in with some information to share: only the vic's DNA was in the tape around his wrist and the flesh and blood Montana (the first time Danny calls Lindsay by the nickname he would call her from then on) found came back bovine, pig and lamb. With the mixture of meat and the identification of the murder weapon (the meat hook) Lindsay says they don't know who the victim was but they know where he came from. Mac finishes the thought, The meat packing district.
The three of them head to the packing plant where they identify the victim. Lindsay and Danny look around seeing different things. Danny finds the tape used on the vic (or at least some like it) while Lindsay seeing the different meats getting shoved to the sawdust covered floor. They enter the cooler and Danny comments that it's a lot of hamburger. Lindsay says that folks back home keep this much meat in their basement. We do what we can, Danny responds. They share a small smile through the hanging bodies of dead animals. Mac finds a blood stain on the wall and takes a sample. It's human. They just found their crime scene. Danny sees a hand print on one of the hanging pieces of meat. It's thaw. Lindsay's confused, it's 0 degrees in there, everything is frozen. Mac comments they need a sample to take back to the lab. Lindsay takes out her knife, she'll do it. Danny is impressed inspite of himself, he looks at Mac and says, "Country girl."
Mac and Lindsay are chasing down a lead when they encounter a mob boss. Their victim wasn't connected but his family was. Lindsay wanted to know what he wanted. Mac replies, to let us know the clock is ticking. While still looking for Ryan Knight, their only suspect at this point, Lindsay sees a sign for an apartment. Mac's surprised she doesn't have a place yet, what's she looking for. Lindsay says her heart is set on Manhattan, until then she's at her uncle's in Terrytown. She goes into the building but Mac doesn't follow, he sees the guy they are looking for. He walks up to Ryan and the suspect tries to hit Mac with a bag, then runs toward where Lindsay is. Lindsay slams into him like a linebacker, knocking him to a car on the street. Mac and Lindsay wrestle the handcuffs onto Ryan and Mac asks what they fed her in Montana. Lindsay just grins.
Danny finds the roll of tape that matches the tape used to bind their victim. He takes a DNA sample from the roll because the murderer used his teeth to tear the tape. After he's done he looks over to where Lindsay is working with the meat sample she took from the cooler. He comes up to her and asks her what made the palm print stay thawed on the meat. She grins salt. The lab tech tells them the compound and Lindsay asks if it's explosives. No it's fertilizer.
The guy that killed their victim was a gardener for the zoo. After he killed him, the gardener took the body to the tiger habitat hoping the tiger would get rid of the evidence. Before Mac can arrest the guy, they find his home empty. Mac knows the mob boss got to him. Mac lets him know that he will get the evidence needed to nail the mob guy to the wall.
Opinion:
What I loved about how they introduced Lindsay and what I hated about how Jo was introduced is that they showed Lindsay nervous and unsure of where things were. The writers showed her trying to impress Mac, while being harassed by Danny. The writers had her interact with Stella, who gave her advice and also gave her an ally in the lab. None of these were done to/for Jo. We were supposed to believe that Jo just knew where everything was and had no insecurities. I call BS. EVERYONE is nervous when they first start a new job. *grr*
I really love watching Danny and Lindsay start out. It's fun to see how far they've come. In this episode, her first, you can already see the flirting that will blanket their entire relationship. The teasing and the banter. It was fun.
I remember wondering if Lindsay would end up with Danny at this point. I desperately wanted them, but I could see the writers holding back. In later episode (which I will discuss in detail...later. LOL) there was an undercurrent to Mac/Lindsay scenes too. It was very possible to see that the set up was there if the writers chose to go in that way. Thank God they didn't. :)
Hope you liked the rewatch recap! :)