Set in the city that never sleeps, CSI: New York is the latest spin-off from the hugely popular CSI series. Following on from Vegas and Miami, this CSI has a distinct New York City flavour and style. Dealing with a city with a three hundred year history and eight million residents is a whole different ball game...

During the first half of Season Four the audience will be sent for a joy ride when they watch Detective Mac Taylor cope with a dangerous stalker with a fixation on the number 333, bloody t-shirts, calls in the middle of the night and a puzzle of the New York Skyline spotted with blood... What does it mean and how does it connect with Mac? Will he figure out the dubious message before it’s too late?

Season Four - Part One of CSI: New York contains some great episodes. Highlights include:

Can You Hear Me Now?: A murder on the Statue of Liberty rattles New York as the CSI team tries to catch the killer before he strikes again. This episode sees Season Four start in style. With a strange serial killer on the lose - who insists on giving clues to his next victim - the race is on to track the murderer before they stop their killing spree. This episode also sees the start of an ongoing story arc that centres around the numbers 333. Similar to the miniature killer, who tried to grab the attention of Grissom in CSI: Las Vegas, this individual is taunting Taylor for reasons unknown.

You Only Die Once: The CSI team investigates a murder tied into a string of “spy” robberies targeting the elite while Mac continues to receive mysterious phone calls. An obvious Bond homage, this episode is interesting because in the opening scenes it appears that we are dealing with something futuristic - when a mysterious car gets dented, but the damage fixes itself in seconds thanks to a prototype memory polymer. There are plenty of Bond references packed into this episode - some obvious, some very subtle. Also, Taylor's 333 caller may also be a killer, as Taylor receives a bloody T-shirt from the mysterious individual.

Time’s Up: The CSI team investigates the bizarre murder of a scientist, as well as the unusual death of a college girl. This is arguably the most enjoyable episode in this collection. A scientist stumbles into Taylor's office, covered in blood, with knowledge of the future. He dies, at Taylor's feet and, oddly enough, all of his predictions come true. We soon discover that this man was a scientific genius who may just have discovered time travel. "Science fiction!" I hear you cry... Well, maybe not. What's great about this episode is that the ending leaves quite a lot of issues unresolved. While some may claim this is laziness on the writers part, I thought it was refreshing to not have everything neatly tied up at the episode's conclusion.

Down The Rabbit Hole: The CSI team investigates a string of murders, that revolve around an online world, apparently performed by a hit man. Interesting as it neatly blurs the line between fantasy and reality and illustrates how people can get sucked into virtual reality world games.

Boo: The CSI team investigates two eerie murders on Halloween; one an apparent zombie attack, the other a faked murder/suicide in a house with a spooky past. This is an interesting episode as the writers have fun with the horror genre. It's pretty much tongue in cheek and very atmospheric.

One Wedding and a Funeral: The CSI team investigates the murder of a groom on his wedding day and the appearance of a mysterious box on the hood of Stella’s car. This episode seems the start of the end for the 333 mystery.

The Thing About Heroes...: Mac travels to Chicago in order to solve the mystery of the 333 caller while the rest of the CSI team works on a murder in a subway car. This episode concludes the 333 mystery, which is a shame. There was potential for this to run a lot longer, and to be honest the conclusion is a little cliched.

Child’s Play: The CSI team investigates the death of a wealthy man in a hip nightclub and the inadvertent shooting of a young boy during a robbery. For those that were ever ripped off by those joke adds in the back of comics (this is more an American thing though than UK) then this episode will make you smile. Who hasn't bought a pair of X-ray glasses only to be disappointed that they don't really work as advertised? This episode also sees Carmine Giovinazzo given the chance to flex his acting talent further as he witnesses the death of a young boy who is in his care for the morning. The emotional scenes Giovinazzo has to deal with are incredibly well handled, and very moving.

What's really criminal about this release is that there are no extras at all worth mentioning (sure you get the text based synopsis for the episodes and music credit for the main theme, but that's it). In this day and age, at this high a retail price, there is really no excuse for the lack of extras.

While this is a great box set, the price is a little high for half a season. Personally, I'd wait until Momentum do another round of buy one get one free promotions. But, price complaints aside, this is still a great collection of episodes.

7

Amber Leigh