photo: cbs

Original Air Date: Oct 22, 2010

Maria – TwoCents Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

The scenario is a criminal, Melvin, asking his defense attorney, Roland Carson, to stash a gun he used to ‘allegedly’ kill a rival drug dealer. Carson declares he can’t take it because it would make him an accomplice… all the while he’s preparing to place it in his safe. Before he can complete the task, his body guard, James Belson, ushers Melvin and Carson into the closet and then he is promptly shot as two thieves expertly raid Carson’s safe. Melvin decides to try and stop the theft, shooting one of the robbers before he is cut down by a machine gun.

The thieves make off with the contents of Carson’s safe: money, stocks, gems and jewelry. As Mac points out, the safe wasn’t so safe after all.

The crime scene is littered with bullet casings and a small pile of sand. There were also security cameras that have been taken down to the lab for analysis. The footage shows the head of the thieves obscured by bright white light. Infrared LEDs were used to gain that effect, technology that is very expensive and not even on the market yet. The thieves are obviously well-connected and well funded.

The body guard has survived, which Detective Messer is grateful about since James Belson used to be Danny Messer’s partner. Belson left the force after he failed to see a gun that was dropped in the back of a police car. The gun was then used to injure two police officers. That’s how Belson ended up working for a ruthless and highly shady defense lawyer.

The helicopter used in the robbery has been located. The thief Melvin clipped with his bullet is dead. There is a bag with the remains of some bloody money. There is also a torn handle, indicating that there’s another bag. Thankfully, inside the bag was a tracking chip, not placed by Carson but by the thieves. The CSIs are able to track down another signal on the same frequency, possibly the other bag. Instead, it leads to another body. However, this body is already inside the morgue.

Using impressive deductive skills, the CSIs are able to determine that the victim was an innocent bystander who was standing by a fountain when a bag of gems and jewelry fell out of the sky, explaining the torn strap found in the helicopter. The man has bruising to his face, a bullet wound in the head and a scratch on his neck which could have occurred as a result of having a knife pressed against his throat.

The John Doe is given a name when his girlfriend, Jenny Harper, goes to the police to report him missing. Heath Kirkfield found the bag and was returning the bag to the police when he was ruthlessly murdered.

Danny Messer is busy tracking down the pollen he found in tire tracks leading away from the helicopter. The pollen actually comes from various plants, helpfully rare and only one place stocks all those types. There, Don and Danny find a car with the thief and the getaway driver, both shot dead execution style. The two bodies, Ted and Paul Hendricks, have been dead for at least twelve hours, whilst Heath Kirkfield was murdered no more than eight. The killer is still out there.

The thieves are revealed to be ex-clients of Roland Carson and the bullets found inside their bodies are traced back to Carson’s gun. Mac questions the lawyer but I don’t think he’s so unintelligent.

Which is why I’m not surprised when it is revealed that James Belson orchestrated the whole ordeal. The sand found at the crime scene was from a sandbag Belson used to help absorb the bullet. Then he killed the Hendricks for the gems, finding they weren’t there he tracked down Kirkfield and took his phone.

Don and Danny track Belson down outside Kirkfield’s home. Belson is prepared to kill Jenny Harper. Danny arrests him. Roland Carson confirms that the bag full of gems is missing one ring, an heirloom worth a million dollars. Mac doesn’t seem overly concerned.

The episode ends with Jenny Harper tossing the ring into a fountain and making a wish.

I found this episode enjoyable, despite the fact I knew it was Belson as soon as we found out that he used to be a police officer. CSI: NY seems to enjoy corrupting those who once worked for the law. There was the storyline with Don’s mentor; the young MD who worked in the morgue before starting to kill druggies to extract drugs from them; Stella’s mentor was a good guy and it was his brother who turned out to be a criminal, but the writers did seem to try to work hard to make him appear as the criminal.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Did you know Belson was the killer? What would you do if a bag of gems dropped from the sky in front of you? Please, leave a reply and let me know, your Two Cents.