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When Det. Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), Det. Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes). Det. Lindsay Monroe (Anna Belknap), Det. Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), and Dr. Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper) investigate a dead man, Kevin Carmichael, on a train, they have double trouble after it suddenly takes off.
Danny manages to stop the runaway. Flack notices the team is riding on Train number 3which stopped at 33rd Street. Mac Taylor's mystery caller has struck again!
Where is Mac? Chicago, of course. He wants to find out who has called at 3:33 a.m. ever since London ("Can You Hear Me Now?") with Peyton Driscoll (Claire Forlani Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King). The trail leads to the Chicago Tribune building, where he starts searching rooms. One has a long dead corpse in it.
Letters painted nearby imply a hangman's game. Those missing spell "coward". Det. Brennan of the Chicago PD takes elimination prints and DNA to make sure Mac is not involved. She listens as Mac shares about his phantom caller. She tells him he will not be part of a joint investigation. When he later mentions 'bad reception' is in the air, Brennan takes the rebuke with grace.
Back at the lab, Chief Detective Sinclair (Mykelti Williamson Forrest Gump) is not happy when Chicago phones, asking why NYPD personnel is on their turf. He wasn't informed, so Flack heads to O'Hare. Mac shares from his past, and it's a doozy!
When he was 14, he and his best friend, Jimmy, were along for the ride as a package was delivered late at night to apartment 333. Inside was a wad of cash, but some was missing. A fight broke out. Mac could have stopped things, but Jimmy had to step in when Mac froze. Two people ended up dead.
Until now, Mac and Jimmy have never told anyone what happened. What neither knew was that Jimmy's younger brother, Andy, secretly watched. Some would call this kid anDrew.
Stella knows him well. Drew Bedford (Kerr Smith Dawson's Creek), Stella's not-so-secret admirer ("The Deep") is the 333 caller! A takedown goes awry when Mac is abducted. Drew wants revenge for his brother's death that night years ago. It's not long before NYPD steps in and rescues Mac. Drew is arrested.
Whew! The caller storyline is over. Drew was not one of my suspects. However, having him as Mac's stalker wraps up the problem of Stella and her boyfriends. There were, however, clever bits.
The reference to the cocaine bust ("Snow Day") was nice. Mac was reminded he has chinks in the armor which cannot be removed, no matter how much polish. Although Drew thinks otherwise, the real coward was Jimmy. He killed someone, and never spoke up. More than likely, he would have gotten off.
Sinclair shone! This relationship is the reverse from Lt. Dan and Bubba Forrest Gump. Gary Sinise as the crime lab head working under Mykelti Williamson as the detective in charge of all other detectives works very well indeed. Both actors give standout performances. Sinclair may not know the while story, but he trusts Mac enough to don a bulletproof vest himself in the effort to catch Drew. he even calls for help once Mac goes missing. Now, can someone persuade him to promote Flack?
