photo: cbs

Original Air Date: May 11, 2012

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

We open on an extreme close-up of a pill rolling down a table. In slow motion it falls to the floor and hits a pool of blood. Then we fade into a wider shot of the pharmacy. Several people have been shot. One of them is the head of the New York Crime Lab: Mac Taylor.

Anybody who reads my reviews knows I am not the biggest Mac Taylor fan. He’s just written as being too perfect, being a know-it-all and too perfect (I said that already, didn’t I?). I never buy for a second that they would kill off Mac Taylor, they love him too much.

Still, Mac is “Near Death” as the title says and he’s hallucinating about the people closest to him, both past and present. I feel as though I’ve just reviewed this episode with NCIS Season 9, Episode 14 “Life Before His Eyes” although I was more attached to Gibbs and the characters he has known in his lifetime.

I do enjoy seeing Mac interact with those closest to him. At first it’s just Mac’s deceased wife Claire, but he also spends time with his team: Jo, Adam, Sid, Flack, Sheldon, and the Messers Danny, Lindsay and little Lucy. There’s no mention of Stella Bonasera though, or Reed Garrett, Claire’s son. I know Reed isn’t Mac’s son, but I thought someone would think to inform him.

Flack and Jo are the first ones to the hospital, closely followed by Christine, Mac’s girlfriend. Christine comes in handy when Jo has to fill in Mac’s medical admittance form. Jo’s at a loss to what to put as Mac’s full name or his next of kin. Christine tells her that Mac’s middle name is Llewellyn, and from the way that Jo talks about him, she’s probably his next of kin.

I understand why the writers chose this format. It allows Mac, and the show, to tie up several loose ends: we finally get to see Lucy Messer and Mac reveals why he let Flack literally get away with murder after his girlfriend was killed. However, many questions remain unanswered, such as the case Jo Danville vowed to resolve. Or if Danny’s brother ever survived.

Of course there is a case as well as the subconscious of Mac’s mind. 24 hours earlier, Flack and Mac chase down a suspect in several robberies, although the last robbery ended in a murder. The suspect, Luke Sheldon, swears that he’s innocent and that he lost the expensive sunglasses that can be traced back to him and are present in the CCTV footage of the robberies. The suspect’s grandfather, Hank, arrives and lawyers him up.​

Lindsay comes up with a way to place Luke as the robber, by mapping the veins in his hand. However, the robber’s veins don’t match Luke’s. He was telling the truth when he said he was innocent. It turns out that grandfather Hank did the robbery with a couple of his friends in order to avoid to pay for home care, so they wouldn’t have to be sent to an old folk’s home. Hank has a cough and the prescription in the wallet.

The reason Mac got shot is that he was being a Good Samaritan and went to get Hank’s prescription filled. The pharmacy was in the process of being robbed. Mac shot the male robber looking for oxy. A teenage girl walked in. Mac thought she was innocent but as soon as he turned his back, she shot him.

The girl’s DNA comes back to a Tina Milford, although when they search her apartment she has just fled. Flack is in pursuit but she manages to give him the slip briefly. Flack eventually finds her and has the option of shooting her, like he shot the killer of Jessica Angell, but he arrests her instead.

At the end of the episode we flash forward six months and see our team in the field: Lindsay, Danny, Jo, Flack, Sid, Sheldon, even Adam is out in the field, joined by Mac who gives them all hugs.

See. I told you they’d never do it!

I do think it would be a fitting finale if the show isn’t reviewed, however I don’t think it’s a very strong one. I thought the reunion scene at the end was completely unnecessary. The case was interesting but it was simple and didn’t take up much time, allowing for it to be interjected with Mac’s subconscious.

What do you feel about Near Death? Do you think the format allowed for closure or do you think it has been done to death? Did you suspect the grandfather was the robber? Did you expect the girl to shoot Mac? Were you more interested in the case or Mac’s subconscious, or did you feel they got the balance right? Do you think CSI:NY will return? Please, leave a comment your TwoCents on what could possibly the last ever CSI:NY episode.