CSI:NY
Seth and Apep
Original Air Date: Feb 08, 2013
Maria – Associate Staff Writer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com
Previously, on CSI: Mac went to Las Vegas as a surprise holiday for his girlfriend Christine. However, he wasn’t able to get in touch with her, and tracking her cell led them to the manager of her restaurant, James Boyd. Boyd was in Vegas to pick up some diamonds, but a gang wanted money James owes them and was holding Christine and James’ brother hostage in New York as collateral. Mac headed back to New York, with the head of the Las Vegas crime lab, DB Russell, in tow.
An arrangement is made, so the kidnappers and James meet in New York but then they offer to take James to his brother, which wasn’t the plan. James starts asking too many questions and the kidnappers realize he involved the police so they shoot him. Flack manages to shoot one of the kidnappers in the back and another in the arm. Gang member Zane Kalim (played by Navid Negahban) is injured, but refuses to talk about Christine’s location.
James Boyd is in surgery, but one gang member is in autopsy whilst another is in custody. The dead are less likely to lie, so Sid’s assessment is quite useful. His tattoo provides the title for this episode, Seth, the God of Chaos, beheaded Apep, the God of Evil, to protect Ra. Not entirely sure what the deeper implications of that are, except that the gang is probably Egyptian. The John Doe also had inhaled an irritant recently which Sid sent down to tox. (It’s a shame DB couldn’t bring Hodges down, their tox specialist, I can’t help but think of him at this moment).
Hawkes tracks down the irritant but it turns out to be a basic substance to add fragrance, nothing to go on until Lindsay cleans up a bloody slip from the dead man’s pocket, belonging to Nailah’s Dry Cleaners. Lindsay and Hawkes check out the dry cleaners, and Nailah tells them that she has been paying the gang a “protection fee”.
Meanwhile, back at the precinct, a message was left for Mac. A box with a tongue inside, and a message written: “Answer our call, 3pm”. Mac is distraught and DB can sympathize, since his Granddaughter was kidnapped a few months ago. Of course, that ended happily too, but it’s still tense. However, when three o’clock comes around, Mac isn’t there to answer the call.
Jo takes the call and agrees to follow their instructions for an exchange but Adam has traced the call and so she sends Flack to where the signal came from instead, only to realize it was a burn phone that was dumped. Danny went to the location the kidnappers gave, but it was a decoy location. Mac was given the real location when Christine called his cell. DB realized this, and followed Mac once he left the lab.
The warehouse address is empty apart from Shawn Boyd’s body, his tongue cut out. Since Mac followed the kidnapper’s instructions and worked alone (apart from DB, but they don’t know that) they agree to an exchange, Christine for Zane. The exchange is to be made in an hour, at an airport hanger, or they’ll kill Christine! As if.
DB helps distract the US Marshall’s who have been sent to collect Zane, so Mac can sneak Zane out and exchange him for Christine.
Jo recognizes that she needs to give Mac space so she tells the team to concentrate on what they can do, work the evidence. Adam has been able to find all the businesses that the Egyptian gang was pressing for protection money, but Nialah’s Dry Cleaners are not on the list. Christine was able to write a symbol in blood on Shawn Boyd’s leg. The symbol belongs is the eye of Ra, which is the logo of a restaurant just opposite the dry cleaners, which is what Christine could have seen if she was being held at Nialah’s.
Mac shows up at the meet point with Zane in the trunk of his car, but they didn’t bring Christine so he shoots the two gang members in the arm before playing Russian Roulette with one of them. For not the first time, Mac scares me. I get that he’s emotional about Christine, but violence is never the answer, especially since his team has already solved Christine’s location using the art of deductive reasoning. Although, when the team go to Nialah’s, Christine has been moved.
Mac is still forcing one of the kidnappers to cooperate at gunpoint, so he is taken to the most recent location. Mac takes down the lone man guarding her and handcuffs him, and Mac is able to play Christine’s knight in shining armor.
I’m glad Mac is happy, I’m glad Mac is in love, and I’m glad Christine is alive, but I wish that wasn’t achieved through gun violence and secrecy. Sure, the ending revealed that it wasn’t really Russian roulette since Mac palmed the bullet, but the smug smirk on Mac’s face didn’t make me feel any less scared of him.
I love DB, but I think he was woefully underused in this. He tries to help where he can, but he doesn’t really fit in. The only legal reason for his presence is the bring James Boyd back to Las Vegas after his surgery to stand trial, I’m not sure I liked his role of distracted the Marshalls so Mac could sneak Zane out.
Did you think Christine was in any danger at all, or did you know SuperMac would save her? What do you think about DB’s role in this episode? Did you suspect Nialah was more than just a victim, but in fact the leader of the gang? Please, leave a comment with your TwoCents.
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