(5.12) help

[scarletts_awry]

Regarding CSI:NY 5.12 "Help"

I am both wildly happy and absolutely furious.

After two whole days, it’s exhausting.

I would be more specific as to my topic herein, but I can’t find a way to do so without verging into spoiler territory.

Comments

[cghardy]

I got an idea. How about an actual girlfriend?

Point: Danny had a girlfriend before Lindsay.
Point: Don had a girlfriend. (I don't know if they're counting Angell.)
Point: Even Mac has had girlfriends.

Hawkes deserves a girlfriend. Not a ex-girlfriend. An actual girlfriend.

I got it! Hawkes gets called out for a scene.

Don: Hey, didn't know you had a date with you?
Hawkes: Yeah, at the movies.
Don: What were you watching?
Hawkes: Latest horror.
Don: Who suggested it?
Hawkes: She did.

Look, it works. (Another point: Even Adam had Kendall.)

[partly]

I don't see her role in the episode this way.

I mean, she did have role in solving the crime. Her purpose in the plot wasn't merely to give Sheldon a back story (although she did do that), she also provided the link to the stolen jewelry. More than that she puts a face on a victim, a face of someone who is still coping with what happened to her.

At the same time, she wasn't enough of a character. She was never mentioned before, therefore we had no attachment to her. It was something that happened in the past, so we didn't see any immediate ractions, rather we got an eplination of the why of Hawkes.

I mean, if she's a "girl in the refrigerator" so is Mac's wife. So are the four girls who whose murders Lindsey witnessed.

The "tragic death/assault of someone you love" is not just limited to CSI:NY, it's a staple of literature every where and has been for centuries.

[bilyana]

I agree about the girl in the refrigerator (interesting reference, by the way). Just as Kara has never appeared before, in spite of being the woman Hawkes would have married and what they went through, and even though they still seem to have maintained a good relationship after breaking up; I'm afraid she's not going to be of any importance in any of Hawkes' actions or motivations in the future (which speaks against a comparison at least with Claire, I think)

Still, a backstory like this fits with what we heard of Hawkes before about his reasons for leaving his hospital job and switching to the ME's office ("And here's to you, Mrs. Azrael"). That was plausible in itself, but with the things we know now about what happened to Kara and the way Hawkes has obviously been struggling with his inability to protect her and to "change what happended" and his role in the outcome of the rape for their relationship, his decision gets a lot more weight.

[lethendy]

Mac does not immediately start yelling at Hawkes, when he finds out that Kara was a victim and Hawkes had not recused himself. Wow.

This surprised me especially considering it's not the first time Hawkes has been in that situation. I remember an episode (though sadly not its title) where the vic was a girl he met and offered a listening ear to.

I found the whole storyline unsatisfying. I still have no idea why Kara is the woman Hawkes wanted to marry. It's as though we are just supposed to accept the writers assertion that this was the woman for Hawkes and buy into the story they've concocted. It just didn't work for me.