Well, for a conclusion to a really tight season finale, this was a bit of run-of-the-mill.  Or maybe it's because I haven't watched a new episode in months, so I'm still readjusting to all that these folks do.  Still, CSI: NY's return last night did show something: it's never going to be the same.  More so, because one of them is bound to a wheelchair, and it had to be Danny.

It wasn't exactly the show's best-kept secret.  It seeped out of the cracks, fans started talking about it, and you know we pretty much confirmed it when the first photos came out.  Still, it's a little odd seeing the team's virtual third-in-command shift from the nitty gritty of field work to, well, being stuck on a chair most of the time.  (While he tried at the beginning to get something done, you know he knows he can't, and possibly won't.)

And then there's the question of how he, and Lindsay, will deal with it.  So we're going for the more emotional attack, now?  The "ten percent chance of rain" story that Lindsay had, the ten percent chance of Danny walking again, and both actually happening?  While the injury feels more like a cosmetic change than a deep one, hopefully this means Danny grows up a bit now, mellows down a bit, and finally goes where his priorities lie--if last season's events were a bit shotgun-happy, well, this is the right time to even it out.

And then there's Adam.  It's quite obvious that he's going to have some sort of connection with Hayden Becall (although oddly her name sounds more like "Helen").  You know, brilliant guy clashing with hopefully brilliant (not to mention pretty) girl, "I wanna be there" versus "I have been there".  It's inevitable, but I haven't really warmed to Sarah Carter just yet, so I don't think it's going to be something permanent.  I mean, maybe it's because Hayden was suddenly dropped to the world of the CSIs which explains her slight awkwardness, but it just really rubbed me in the wrong way.  Or was it the way she speaks?  It's a more annoying version of CSI: Miami's Calleigh Duquesne--and that, I got used to it.

But Adam and Stella?  Imagine me screaming at the television at the opening scenes of the episode.  This will surely haunt them in the coming episodes, although why exactly that happened, I cannot even imagine.

After this, CSI: NY will return to what it does best, with Skeet Ulrich's serial killer and the works.  Not as much change as they claim it to be, but as Lindsay said, ten percent is still a chance, so better bring an umbrella.  Who knows?  Repercussions has always been a theme on the show, more so last night.

(By the way, in case you were curious, the song that ended last night's episode was Antony and the Johnstons' "Another World".  They couldn't have chosen a better song.)





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