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

Introduction

As inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun, the second half of the second season of CSI New York comes to DVD. Also inevitable is a complaint that they don`t release these series in complete season sets. So prepare for some more sleuthing and scientific analysis of crime scenes throughout the Big Apple, with the youngest of the CSI franchise.

CSI, in case anyone is unaware refers to Crime Scene Investigation. It`s what we enlightened Brits simply refer to as forensics, wisely foregoing the temptation to use a jumble of letters where a word would suffice. It`s those weird suited people who set up tents outside would be bomb-making factories. They suit up as if they were going into Chernobyl; only it is to stop them from contaminating the crime scenes, as they sift through the evidence for clues. They are the people, who are able to deduce from your toenail clippings, that you are a left-handed violinist, partial to pomegranate juice, drive a Lexus and that you killed Professor Plum in the library with a battery powered toothbrush. Of course this is Hollywood, so the only concession our tanned and toned heroes make to the sanctity of evidence is a pair of latex gloves, but the idea is the same.

In CSI New York Detective Mac Taylor leads a dedicated team of Crime Scene Investigators. His second in command is Stella Bonasera, and with them are Danny Messer and Aiden Burn. Joining them in season two is new recruit Lindsay Monroe, and enticed from his mortuary by the glitz of the crime scene is Sheldon Hawkes.

There are twelve episodes with this concluding half of Season 2, and this time around we get extra features to boot.

Risk
Stuck On You
Fare Game
Cool Hunter
Necrophilia Americana
Live Or Let Die
Super Men
Run Silent, Run Deep
All Access
Stealing Home
Heroes
Charge Of This Post

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 throughout, and any grain seems to be a stylistic choice. This does result in the occasional jaggie, and hint of moiré, but the picture looks superior to that broadcast by Channel Five. 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.

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. If there is one reason to buy this set, despite the show`s constant exposure on television, it`s the sweetener of a multi-channel soundtrack. The dialogue is clear throughout, and there are English subtitles for all of the episodes.

Features

There are featurettes spread across all three discs this time. Disc 1 sees an 8-minute CSI-NY Set Tour, which sees creator Anthony E. Zuiker take us on a light-hearted tour of the new sets for season 2. Disc 2 has The Cast & Crew Look At Season 2 featurette, which is pretty self-explanatory and short at 10 minutes. Finally disc 3 has two featurettes, Heroes and Following The Finale, which have a combined running time of 14 minutes. These two featurettes look at the final two episodes of the season, and spoilers lie within. The extras all lack subtitles.

Conclusion

The CSI DVD sets always seemed a little redundant to me, with some form of CSI not far from the schedules on Channel Five. It`s like Friends in that it is practically ubiquitous. And at the time of writing, Five is about to launch a free to view digital channel called Five US, which is solely devoted to its American imports. I`ve looked at the schedules and there is little that isn`t CSI during its broadcast hours. With a PVR, you could potentially have more CSI at your beck and call than you can handle. It really begs the question, why buy these DVDs?

Well there is the innate hunter-gather instinct, which has transmuted into collecting bright shiny objects to polish and buff, and proudly display to our mates (Insert Tim Allen grunt where applicable). Then there is the fact that the audio-visual quality on the DVDs is leagues ahead of what comes piped through our aerials. Added to that is the zero commercials factor, and the DVDs look a more attractive prospect all the time.

Of course at this point, I`m kicking myself. Practically everything I would want to say about this show has been said at length in my reviews of the first three half-seasons, and I don`t really feel inclined to cut and paste at this point. It`s more of the same I`m afraid, strictly formulaic for the most part, with two murders per episode to solve, and plenty of gazing thoughtfully at test tubes to rock montages, until the bad guys get their comeuppance. And once again, it is the various worlds that the victims and killers inhabit that serve as the attraction to the show.

Just as in season 1, it is the second half that proves to be more satisfying, with the final episodes devoted to much needed character development. With a run time of barely 40 minutes per episode (thanks to the US networks` insistence on a abundance of advertising), and with two murders per episode to solve, something has to give, and it`s usually any kind of character development for our main cast. Their personal trials and travails are usually confined to the background until the final episodes, when keeping the audience excited for the next season becomes a priority.

Stella Bonasera`s life takes a turn for the unsavoury in the episodes Run Silent, Run Deep and All Access, Danny Messer`s past is brought up again, also in Run Silent, Run Deep, which resolves Tanglewood, a season 1 episode. Finally Aiden Burn returns in Heroes after an early exit in the season, which also focuses on the rape case that the CSIs have been working on in the background of umpteen episodes. After a monsoon of formulaic television, the sudden sunny spells of continuity are more than welcome. The final episode of a season is usually something special, a gift for the fans so to speak with a major departure from the established formula. Season 2 is no exception, and with Charge Of This Post, the initial corpse is a red herring, with the story one of a mad bomber loose in New York, playing mind games with Mac.

With this selection of CSI NY discs, I felt familiarity begin to breed contempt like a couple of rampant rabbits. I guess there are only so many ways that a person can be killed, and only so many new forensic techniques that can be shown on screen. At some points, I was wondering if I had seen the episode before. When the same camera moves and directorial decisions are applied again and again, then the episodes begin to blur together. Still, there was enough originality to make me stir from my somnolent viewing on occasion. Fare Game took a bite from Oldboy, with its cephalopodan cuisine used as a murder weapon. Cool Hunter had an interesting murder to investigate, with a body in a water tank holding a chilling secret. Live Or Let Die mixed up the format with a hijacking thrown in for good measure, and Run Silent, Run Deep had more Time Team about it than CSI, and I was expecting Tony Robinson to turn up. But more often than not, I felt that I was waiting for the inevitable character episodes towards the end of the season.

I`ve said it before, but CSI New York, despite the high murder rate, gory investigations and grisly reconstructions, is safe, unchallenging and even a little bland. When you sit down to an episode of CSI, you know exactly what to expect, and you are rarely disappointed. I`d be a big fibber if I said I didn`t enjoy the episodes, but the experience begins to fade as soon as the end credits have rolled. CSI is to adult entertainment what the Saturday morning `toon is to children; it`s light, ephemeral fun. If you love this series, then this boxset will be right up your alley. But for the casual fan, all the major CSI food-groups are well represented on our digital schedules. This boxset adds little new to the experience.