James Shenton asked: Easily the darkest, most hard-bitten member of the CSI family, CSI:NY returns this fall for a third season: a season that opens following the violent murder of a former CSI, with another recovering from a coma.
We left the second season of CSI in turmoil. In the penultimate episode of the season, “Heroes”, the charred remains of former CSI Aiden Burn were discovered in a stolen car. While the identity of the murderer seemed obvious to Detective Mac Taylor and his team, they had to find to establish enough evidence to bring in JD Pratt, the unconvicted ****** whose case cost Aiden her job six months earlier.
Since leaving the department, Aiden had devoted herself to gathering evidence to finally put Pratt behind bars, and her final act did just that. Realising she would be killed, Aiden left enough evidence to pin the murder on Pratt, knowing that the CSIs would be able to use it to finish the job she promised to do.
The final episode finished the season with a bang. While surveying a murder scene in a multi-storey office building with Mac Taylor, Detective Flack finds a duffel bag containing a bomb. During the evacuation of the building the bomb is triggered and Mac, Flack and another man are caught in the blast. While the three survive, Flack is badly injured. After performing life-saving first aid, Mac safely gets Detective Flack out of the collapsed building – but he slips into a coma.
It emerges that the bomber is an unmedicated schizophrenic who believes that he is performing a public service to his country, warning them that they are not prepared for possible terrorist attacks. The bomber’s cellphone is tracked to the library of Chelsea University, where a second device is discovered and disarmed.
With a warning that a third bomb will be detonated within the hour, Mac is struggling against the clock to track down the bomber when he realises that the culprit is OHS Tech Specialist Dean Lessing, a man who appeared on the scene of the first explosion. Mac tracks him to the Goodmanson Theatre, the location of the third bomb, where Lessing takes Bomb Tech Crew leader Agent Fielding hostage. It’s only when Mac, knowing that the mentally ill Lessing wants nothing more than to serve as a US Marine, barks an order for him to secure his weapon that Lessing complies, giving himself up.
The season closes on the image of Flack lying unconscious in his hospital bed, surrounded by his friends and colleagues.
CSI: NY – Third Season
Details of the third season are being kept tightly under wraps by CBS. However, we do know that the CSIs will be joined by one or two famous faces throughout the season. Clare Forlani (Meet Joe Black, Mystery Men) will be joining the team as the new medical examiner, Dr Peyton Driscoll. Driscoll is believed to be playing the part of Mac Taylor’s new love interest in the show. Also appearing will be Emmanuelle Vaugier (Two and a Half Men) as CSI detective Jennifer Angell, and Edward Furlong (Terminator 2, American History X) in his first TV role.
CSI:NY has consistently come third in viewer figures behind CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its spectacularly popular spin-off, CSI: Miami. So what does the future hold for the New York story? Will this third season see the black sheep of the family triumph? Well, we’ll have to wait and see.
Keith
