Farewell to you, then, Jessica Angell.  Mostly on the sidelines, at least when it comes to episodes of CSI: NY, until it became obvious that you had a thing for Flack, or better yet, both of you had this thing together.  It will always be a sad thing, seeing a member of the force die while on duty, much worse while being helpless about it--sure, she did manage to go down fighting, but considering what she was up against, well, it was bound to happen.

Then again, the weird thing is, I wasn't really affected much by her death.  Was it the speculation weeks before last night?  Perhaps, but it would've elicited the same reaction nevertheless.  I guess it was more of a gut feel, that if it would be her, it wouldn't be bear as heavily--well, I mean it'd affect Flack waaay more than anybody else.  Just imagine the way they set everything up--the phone call before everything happened, the way he stared at her dead body, and finally, the way he shot dead the person who gave the fatal injury.  Just when you thought he'd give some compassion, well, he didn't--and it's one of those moments when all you can do is understand.  You can't help but take things personally, sometimes.  Human nature.


That said, I was somehow disappointed when I realized that Angell's death was, for the most part, a tool to further the plot.  Or, maybe, I was disengaged by the team getting down to business--while you sensed the stronger determination in pursuing the murderer, it felt like any other CSI: NY episode, only with more action bits and screaming.  At least it got me on my toes while I was watching it, and it's a good thing considering it was following the finale of mother show CSI.  If this was a competition, the folks at New York won.

Surely, the season finale served to wrap up the Robert Dunbrook storyline and the Terrence Davis storyline.  Then came the very last scene.

That, I absolutely did not expect.

Yes, we all know that there's a second team member whose life will go on the line.  Or, in the words of the previews we've read, it's a life-changing event that will affect everybody in the team when the sixth season comes in.  I thought we'd have an idea of what that will be, but instead, they decide to end with the whole cast inside a bar, celebrating Angell's life, and them getting machine-gunned endlessly, with shattered glass and ducked people all over.  And then, when you're looking for answers, it fades to black, and goes to credits.

That in itself means a lot of questions.  Who exactly would do that to them?  If I got this right, this can't be Robert Dunbrook--they've wrapped up his story already.  The kidnappers that took Connor Dunbrook?  Could be, if their end game is to get to the crime lab by doing whatever just happened last night.  I'm afraid I'm similarly at a loss for answers right now, but I only have two things in mind.

One, that was one hell of a season finale.  When we begin season six in the fall, we'll be dealing with a different kind of an aftermath that shouldn't be resolved as quickly as they did last night's case, or other similar events (and I'm thinking of Warrick again).

Two, is CSI: NY trying to pull off what CSI: Miami will wrap up Monday night?  I have this feeling that the New York team will face a big, common enemy in the upcoming season, and that could power the next episodes the way the Russian mob played with the Miami team.  I'm a little worried that, if that is the case, it'd feel like a direct rip-off except that it'll be in blue rather than in yellow.  But right now, we're all reeling from what just happened, and I know the four months we'll spend waiting wouldn't exactly be comfortable.  Don't worry.  We did this at the end of the fourth season and the start of the fifth.  We can do this again.

Oh, and another one: if that preview is correct, who is that member of the team whose life will hang in the balance?  That, I can leave to you.

Now, anybody explain to me why I'm quoting David Bowie for this article again?




-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of CBS)