CSI: NY Episode 4.10: “The Thing About Heroes” Discussion Points

This episode gave us the solution to Mac’s 333 stalker mystery. Mac Taylor went to Chicago to track down the person sending all the puzzles and other clues. When he got there, he went to the Tribune building and found a dead body hanging in an empty room with a gruesome game of “hangman” on the wall in red paint. Mac figured out that the secret word in the hangman game was the word “coward.”

Meanwhile, Stella, Danny, Lindsey & Det. Flack went to investigate a New York subway driver who was found dead. During their investigation, the doors to the cars closed and the train began to speed down the tracks toward a certain crash at the gate that added up to 333. Danny, the only CSI not in the subway car, managed to get the runaway train stopped just in time to save the train from its crash.

Back in Chicago, Mac deduced that the clues were leading him to his childhood when he and two of his friends got into trouble and one of the boys was beaten to death while Mac looked on with a loaded gun and was too afraid to pull the trigger. He confronted the friend who took the gun and shot the killer, but the clues did not lead to him.

After examining more evidence, the team figured out that the 333 stalker was trying to kill members of Mac’s team to pay him back and the person doing it was actually the man who had been pursuing Stella with all the gifts. Just then, the creep kidnapped Mac and the team used the man’s brother (Mac’s childhood friend) to bait him while they captured him.

It was a very intense episode and I loved the way Mac was taken to Chicago and had to track down evidence in a place where he ha no authority. Here are some discussion points to get us started.

1. Jason says that he got the idea that this episode was a lead-in to a possible CSI: Chicago. Do you feel the same way?
2. I personally liked getting more of Mac’s back story. He’s the strong, silent type and we get bits and pieces of his past, but this was definitely revealing of him.
3. When you saw how the childhood tragedy played out, do you think that Mac was a coward?
4. Could it be that Mac went into criminal investigation in some sort of attempt to make up for his fear during that event in his childhood?
5. I was impressed that Stella resisted the advances of the 333 stalker creep. I know I would have been his victim for sure. (I have a first date this Saturday and I’m giving it second thoughts…..)
6. Do you think Mac did the right thing in the end by only wounding the guy? Flack thought he should have shot to kill. What would you do if you had been Mac?
7. Did you like this episode? What about the story arc?

Let’s get a discussion going. Leave a comment to share your thoughts! I want to hear what you think!

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