I seem to agree with most here that this episode was a bit too convoluted, coincidental, cliched, and far fetched to really get into. Also I agree that Dennis O'Hare was the high point.
I've never watched Without A Trace before, though I usually like Anthony LaPaglia. I'm wondering if his character is usually such a jerk? And not a charming jerk, such as Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock. A cold fish jerk. He definitely didn't tempt me to watching more of his series, which presumably is one of the goals of crossovers. In fact, the others were uncharacteristically jerky here also, such as Grissom and Doc being strangely snarky at each other. It was uncomfortable. Was this the influence of the writers of that other show?
The way Jack (was that his name?) treated Hodges was terrible. Imagine if you are at work and some toady-like, complete stranger asked about a job at your company. You give him an address or number and get out of there. What normal person aggressively just calls him an a-hole? That's psycho behavior. This is what the writers felt was a great first impression for the CSI audience? It's mental.
Nevertheless, there were a few mildly funny moments between Grissom being neuroatypical and Jack being obviously way too typical, which came off a bit demeaning of Grissom. Then it totally paid off with Jack super dramatically climbing thru the train at the end, only to find Grissom already standing there. As he said, only *sometimes* do you have to go slow to go fast. Other times, you just go fast.
I wish Without A Trace was streaming anywhere to watch part two. I feel like if a crossover episode is made with another series, the follow up episode should be included with streaming of the first series or on the dvd. Maybe it is on this particular dvd set. I have no idea. I guess we can assume the bad guy is caught in a very dramatic way and then Jack stoically helicoptered away into the night.
EDITED: while looking for part 2 in streaming, I discovered there's a 1983 movie called Without A Trace based on the kidnapping of a 6 year old boy from NYC. The father was initially a suspect. Coincidence?
I've never watched Without A Trace before, though I usually like Anthony LaPaglia. I'm wondering if his character is usually such a jerk? And not a charming jerk, such as Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock. A cold fish jerk. He definitely didn't tempt me to watching more of his series, which presumably is one of the goals of crossovers. In fact, the others were uncharacteristically jerky here also, such as Grissom and Doc being strangely snarky at each other. It was uncomfortable. Was this the influence of the writers of that other show?
The way Jack (was that his name?) treated Hodges was terrible. Imagine if you are at work and some toady-like, complete stranger asked about a job at your company. You give him an address or number and get out of there. What normal person aggressively just calls him an a-hole? That's psycho behavior. This is what the writers felt was a great first impression for the CSI audience? It's mental.
Nevertheless, there were a few mildly funny moments between Grissom being neuroatypical and Jack being obviously way too typical, which came off a bit demeaning of Grissom. Then it totally paid off with Jack super dramatically climbing thru the train at the end, only to find Grissom already standing there. As he said, only *sometimes* do you have to go slow to go fast. Other times, you just go fast.
I wish Without A Trace was streaming anywhere to watch part two. I feel like if a crossover episode is made with another series, the follow up episode should be included with streaming of the first series or on the dvd. Maybe it is on this particular dvd set. I have no idea. I guess we can assume the bad guy is caught in a very dramatic way and then Jack stoically helicoptered away into the night.
EDITED: while looking for part 2 in streaming, I discovered there's a 1983 movie called Without A Trace based on the kidnapping of a 6 year old boy from NYC. The father was initially a suspect. Coincidence?