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CSI:NY
Food for Thought

Original Air Date: Apr 08, 2011

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

The episode starts with Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on a date. His date will appear familiar to avid CSI:NY fans because he’s actually dating Camille who appeared in Smooth Criminal, five episodes ago. Camille certainly has Sheldon wrapped around her finger as he’s called in sick for the day, when he’s actually at a food festival. Camille is trying to get him to try new foods. It looks like her efforts are a success. Suddenly, one of the food vans explodes!

Sheldon and Camille are fine. In fact, only one guy died. Derby Chasen was the sole casualty from what turns out to be a home-made explosive. Other pieces found about the case are: a food carton with something written on the inside; an unusual and fresh contusion on the victim’s body which was remarkably shielded by his rubber apron; and the fact that the propane tank looks as if it had the makeshift bomb glued onto it. How will these pieces fit together?

It’s not all about the case though, as this is a Sheldon-heavy episode so he finally get the screen time he deserves. Despite the fact he’s been in the show for quite a long time, his personality and domestic life remains somewhat of a mystery, but this episode not only focuses on him, but how romance has changed him. He may be dating a Nurse but she seems to be a negative influence. Her recent brushes with death (both from the Smooth Criminal and the exploding food van) have left her wanting to experience things, not just food. She throws a party to celebrate the fact they survived and talks Sheldon to coming when he should probably be working. When he gets there, people are smoking cannabis. Camille has never tried it before and she wants Sheldon to have it with her.

At work the next day, there’s a random drugs test that Sheldon and Danny have to take. What will the results show? Like Sheldon, the audience has to wait to find out because Adam has found trace on the victim’s t-shirt where the bruise formed. The trace is the saliva of a rare bird and it could have transferred from the object used to bruise Chasen, but just what that is remains a mystery for now. There’s also no sign of the “number three special” that Camille heard a guy order just before the van was blown up.

Don Flack and Jo Danville work together to try and find some suspects and a name quickly appears. Odelin Gonzales is a food vendor across the road who filed multiple complaints against Derby Chasen. Don and Jo pay him a visit and his frustration seems legitimate. He sounds like a good guy who has worked hard and honestly. Odelin sounds shocked to hear that Chasen is dead, however, a bottle found on his cart looks like the top of the bottle which was glued to the propane tank and used as a bomb.

Medical Examiner Sid has an interesting and colourful scene where he explains to Mac that he finally recognises what caused the bruise on the victim’s chest: a potato ricer. Combined with the bird spit, the CSIs realise that the weapon used must have been used to make Bird Nest soup, a very rare dish in Manhattan and Adam is able to single out one such restaurant as being the victim’s previous place of employment.

Derby Chasen worked under Broxton Langley for two years, and then started moonlighting. To add insult to injury, he stole several of Langley’s recipes. Langley got mad and confronted him, even hit him with the potato ricer, but he wouldn’t risk killing a guy and losing his job.

Thankfully, the takeout box with writing inside has been deciphered and it opens up a whole new direction. The writing says the name of a hotel and room which is now vacant, but was hired by Gus Stilton who is a part-owner of the truck that was blown up. Detective Don Flack goes to another one of Stilton’s trucks and requests the “number three special” which costs $500. He goes to the place listed on the food carton, and is greeted by a hooker.

The hooker reveals that Derby Chasen started turning customers away as he no longer wanted to sell the “number three special” but it becomes evident that it wasn’t in Gus Stilton’s best interests to blow it up, not even after his disagreement with Chasen. Stilton may be a pimp, but he isn’t Chasen’s killer.

Lindsay manages to get a fingerprint off the blown propane tank, caught in the smudged glue. The print comes back to Odelin Gonzales. Not the Odelin Gonzales we’ve met, he was in church at the time helping to feed the homeless, but it belongs to Odelin Gonzales Jr., his son. For a change to the regular “Don and Danny chase the suspect around this time” bit, Mac, Don and Sheldon go to pick up the suspect. After he’s caught, he confesses.

The episode ends with Sheldon being called into Mac’s office. Sheldon didn’t take the cannabis, but there were trace amounts in his lungs from second-hand exposure. Mac lectures him. There’s no department policy against having a good time, he just needs to be in the right frame of mind for the job and stay legal. At the moment, Sheldon is choosing Camille over his job and he admits “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a relationship worth getting into trouble over.” Mac tells him to go home, get some sleep and come back to work tomorrow. The SECOND Sheldon gets home, Camille turns up at his door. Sheldon tries to explain he needs rest. She takes off her coat to reveal she’s naked underneath. He lets her in.

I have only positive things to say about this episode: Sid got to be wacky and slightly strange (his forte), there was some entertaining banter between married couple Danny and Lindsay, Adam was mostly stuck in the lab but he was very useful, everybody did their jobs and not only did this episode solve the case but it also gave us some more of Sheldon’s story. Yay!

Did anybody else find the corpse especially creepy from this episode? What are your thoughts on Camille? What are your thoughts in this episode? Please share by clicking that reply button and letting us know your TwoCents.