Review of C.S.I.: New York Season 1 Part 2

Introduction

I`m calm this time, I promise. Really I am. I know that last time I went off on a rant because of those dreaded piracy trailers, and despite the fact that they are here again at the start of every disc, unskippable, unavoidable, bloody annoying, I`m going to save my bile for something more deserving. The studios aren`t going to stop accusing consumers of being latent thieves, and we aren`t going to stop buying, even if we have to be handy with the mute button at the start of every disc.

So on with the show. The CSI franchise is an exceedingly popular one, its blending of forensics and gory reconstructions makes for compulsive viewing most nights on Channel Five. CSI: New York is now well into its second series on the channel, and the first volume of the first series was released in the UK late last year. Now the concluding half of Series 1 arrives with eleven more episodes of death and detection. I came away from the first twelve episodes entertained but unimpressed, with the routine of solving murders by piecing together the minutiae of evidence certainly grabbing the attention. However the lack of character development did the series no favours. Perhaps with these final eleven episodes of the series, it will have addressed these concerns.

Detective Mac Taylor leads a dedicated team of Crime Scene Investigators in New York. Their job is to visit the aftermath of violent incidents and sift the place for evidence, using that evidence to build up a picture of how a crime was committed and more importantly, who committed it. In a city like New York, they are liable to see all manner of strange crimes.

There are 11 episodes in this second half of Season 1, and are presented on 3 discs.

Tanglewood
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Til Death Do We Part
Hush
The Fall
The Dove Commission
Crime & Misdemeanour
Supply And Demand
On The Job
The Closer
What You See Is What You See

Video

CSI: New York gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. It`s a recent television programme, so there are few complaints, if any about the image quality. It`s clear and sharp for the most part, and any grain seems to be a stylistic choice. New York certainly plays a big part in the feel of the episodes, despite them being shot on both sides of the US. The cityscape is very much a character in the show, and informs the mood and feel of the stories. The show also benefits from a muted autumnal palette. Colours are subdued and the show has a very cold impersonal feel that matches the metropolis it is set in. It looks as good as, if not better than the Channel Five presentation.

Audio

A splendid DD 5.1 soundtrack makes the best of this television show, with atmospheric use of the surrounds both for ambience and spot effects. There is plenty of use of the LFE too. The Who provide the theme tune, `Baba O`Riley`, and the show`s music is generally of high quality. The dialogue is clear throughout, and there are English subtitles for all of the episodes.

Features

It turns out that the extras that had been advertised with the first set are actually the extras for the whole season. What was missing on that first boxset can be found here, spread across the three discs.

The sixth episode commentary is on Disc 1 for the Tanglewood episode. Creator Anthony E Zuiker provides it, and as before it is a Spartan track full of dead air.

Disc 1 also houses a featurette entitled The World`s Largest Crime Scene. This lasts 9 minutes and looks at the birth of the show, the setting of New York, and how the show was influenced by 9/11.

Disc 2 has a sole featurette on it, The Cast Examine The Characters, which looks at the casting process for the show, with interviews with the relevant members of the production. This lasts 15 minutes.

Disc 3 has two featurettes on it. The Zoo Year lasts 10 minutes and looks at the veritable menagerie that starred on the show in this first season, from rats all the way up to elephants. CSI: NY Set Tour is just that, a look at the various sets created for the show.

Once again the extras lack subtitles.

Conclusion

I finished the first instalment of CSI: New York on a less than positive note, despite having enjoyed the opening twelve episodes, citing the repetitive and routine nature of the episodes, the lack of character development and the abundance of `scientists gazing thoughtfully through microscopes to rock music` montage. The eleven episodes that round off the first season, and which are presented here on three discs address nearly all of my criticisms (I think that the rock-scientist montage is actually the heart of the show). Actually it was the final episode on the last set, Recycling that changed the format somewhat, with a dog show murder injecting some levity into what had thus far been a strictly adhered to recipe of violent death and forensics. But the first episode on this disc proves that it wasn`t just an aberration.

Tanglewood initially appears to follow that same formula, a couple of unrelated deaths for the team to investigate, with plenty of forensic evidence to go under the microscope. This episode looks at what the next generation of mafia is getting up to, looking for all intents and purposes like some New York chavs. What gives the show dimension is the fact that Det. Danny Messer used to be part of this crowd, and chose the police force instead of organised crime. The show ends on an ambiguous note, and the first major part of character development has been accomplished. This establishes the tone for the remaining episodes, as we get to know more about the main characters to varying degrees in the subsequent episodes. We learn more of Stella Bonasera`s past, and also her reputation for flying off the handle. Detective Flack has an episode devoted to him where he has to confront his mentor over a piece of wayward evidence. The highlight of the season has to be when Danny Messer gets involved in an incident where a police officer ends up dead, and he can`t account for all the bullets he fired. The season ends where it began, with Mac Taylor. In The Closer, a prisoner contacts him and exhorts him to reexamine a piece of evidence. Rather than stick to his original testimony, Taylor decides to put his faith in second chances, and becomes obsessed with proving the man`s evidence. The final episode sees Mac caught up in a shootout at his local coffee shop. Only Aiden Burn is short-changed in terms of character development, but that is more than remedied in the second season.

The focus is also widened in these final episodes. Initially concentrating on the main characters, we now get to see additional staff in the forensics department; we meet the District Attorney, as well as the Internal Affairs Bureau. The stories become more varied too, straying from the two random corpses per episode. I`ve already mentioned the episode where Flack has to investigate his mentor, but The Dove Commission sees an assassination of a man investigating the NYPD, and internal politics rears its head more than once in these episodes. Still the basics remains strong, with the varied deaths taking the investigators into diverse levels of New York society, from the docks to college students, from the circus to New York`s S&M community.

This second half of the season puts the first in context, the first twelve episodes prove to be a strong and steady build up to the riskier final episodes. More creative chances are taken and the characters are allowed to develop. The first boxset could be seen as the foundation for this release. I enjoyed these episodes as much as I did the first twelve, but I`ve also grown fond of the characters. The performances are strong throughout, and the production values ensure a movie like feel for each episode.

I`m left with the impression that the release format has let this show down. Splitting the series in two may have been financially motivated, but it hurts the show considerably. I also get the feeling that the boxset was meant to have been released whole. The featurette on disc 1 looked forward to an episode on this boxset, while the featurettes with this release often hark back to the opening episodes. The first season of CSI: NY works best as a whole, and indeed I dismissed the series as mundane and routine on the basis of the first twelve episodes. Had I known how the show would develop, I would have been more positive about that first set. I wonder if anyone else similarly dismissed the show. The image quality and sound is top-notch, but the extras are pretty routine. I feel that the studios missed a trick by not including the CSI: Miami crossover episode that introduced Mac Taylor and the New York department. Instead, if you want the definitive CSI: NY experience, you`ll have to buy a CSI: Miami boxset to boot. Failing that, a glossary explaining all the acronyms, abbreviations and techspeak spouted on the show wouldn`t have gone amiss. I still haven`t seen any of the other CSIs as yet, but CSI: NY is a smart, entertaining, witty and compelling show. It`s glossiness and high production values are merely the sheen over some interesting characters, thoughtful writing and adventurous stories. This boxset is definitely recommended, and it would be better if it were bought in conjunction with the first release. They really shouldn`t be separated.