CSI: NY - Season 1, Part 2

The rookies continue to impress.

There are certain elements of the CSI formula that don't fit New York's grittier urban style, such as flashbacks to the crimes, aerial shots of the city as visual chapter breaks and computer-generated mock-ups of internal damage from bullets, or knives. Also, the insistence on covering two stories every episode (except one), as a way of keeping the team busy, can split audience involvement.

The strength of CSI: NY is with the characters. Oddly enough, Danny becomes the most interesting this time, enormously enhanced by a beautifully judged performance by Carmine Giovinazzo. In probably the best episode, On The Job, he kills an undercover cop in a well-orchestrated and cleverly filmed subway shootout. The writing is excellent here, because this is about protocol, Internal Affairs, what you say to whom and when, the politics of the enquiry, all of which Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) understands and Danny, in a desperate desire to prove his innocence, doesn't.

The team is perfect. Mac's authority is tested a couple of times and he has to pull rank, usually with Danny, who is beginning to look damaged and insecure. The unspoken, very real sexual vibe between Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) and him seems more on her side than his. Still grieving his wife, killed on 9/11, he remains wholly professional, with the driest sense of humour. In the final episode, What You See Is What You See, the CSI scriptwriters do something unimaginable; they break their rules and allow a character a private life, in this case Mac - he goes on a date! Stella is not the only one left dumbfounded.

The autopsy doc (Hill Harper), an essential key to these intricate detective mysteries, is played with such elegance and grace he's like a dancer. Flack (Eddie Cahill) is given more to do this time, which is good, because he's out there, like a street cop who knows the territory, not like the white coats who are more concerned with the minutiae of a crime scene, especially in The Fall, which is about an old friend of Flack's who tampers with evidence after a teen gang's brutal murder in a wine store.

Aiden is partially overlooked, or appears to have less to do than in Part 1, which is a disappointment, as Vanessa Ferlito, who plays her, is dangerously attractive. Ask Danny. He keeps saying, "If I didn't work with you..." And she says. "Who are you kidding? I'm out of your league." In the later episodes, she starts appearing in provocative, unexpectedly sexy clothes, as if somebody up there has decided to flaunt her as eye candy.

All in all, CSI: NY rocks. For my money, it's better than Las Vegas and Miami. It feels more real, the characters are tremendous and the plots, although occasionally loopy, like the death of the human statue in Crime & Misdemeanour, are consistently intriguing.