Mac Taylor

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CSI: NY character
Gary Sinise, the actor who portrays Mac Taylor
Mac Taylor
Gender	Male
Hair color	Brown
City	New York City
Job	Head of CSI Department.
Rank	Detective 1st Grade
Position	Head Investigator
Current status	Alive
Portrayed by	Gary Sinise
First appearance	MIA/NYC NonStop

Mac Taylor is a fictional character featured in the TV series CSI: NY. He is played by Gary Sinise.

Contents 1 Background 2 Early Life 3 Military Service 4 Relationships 5 In the Line of Duty 6 Family 7 Trivia

[edit] Background

Mac Taylor is the Head Investigator of the New York Police Department's CSI team. Originally from Chicago, he moved to New York after his discharge from the United States Marine Corps. He now considers New York home and once told a colleague that they were working for the finest city in the finest country in the world. Mac will protect three things at any cost: the honor of his country, the safety of his city, and the integrity of his lab.

Mac believes in following the evidence, not trusting to intuition. He looks at a crime scene (and often the world) with Veneziano’s theory of quantum physics in mind - everything is connected. In Mac's mind, if he and his team can just figure out the connections, then they can solve the crime.

[edit] Early Life

Mac's father died of small-cell lung cancer and spent the last eight months of his life in bed on a feeding tube. As a result, Mac has come to believe strongly in a person’s right to a dignified death. However, when his father begged him to pull the plug, Mac couldn’t do it (episode 309, "And Here's to You, Mrs. Azrael").

Mac was married to Claire Conrad. They had no children together, though Claire had a child (which she had given up for adoption) from a previous relationship. Mac once described Claire as athletic, with curly brown hair and big blue eyes. Claire was killed in the 9/11 attacks and her death troubles him to this day, causing chronic insomnia. After her death, Mac got rid of everything that reminded him of her, except pictures and a beach ball she had blown up, saying, "Her breath is still in there" (episode 101, "Blink"). Her remains were never recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center (episode 315, "Some Buried Bones").

[edit] Military Service

Mac once said that he had wanted to serve his country more than anything else in the world. Even as a child, he dressed up in fatigues and pretended to be a soldier rather than a superhero. He served with the 1st Battalion 8th Marines (known today as "The Beirut Battalion") in Beirut, and was injured in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, from which he still bears a scar over his heart. A young Marine died in his arms from shrapnel wounds in the attack (episodes 224, "Charge of this Post;" 301, "People With Money"). The 1/8 also served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. According to episode 224, "Charge of this Post," Mac was discharged in March of 1992, so he probably also served in these operations in some capacity, but so far there hasn't been a mention of them.

Thanks to his Marine training, he is skilled in unarmed defense (episode 223, "Heroes") and he seems to have an intimate knowledge of a wide range of weaponry, from bows (episode 214, "Stuck on You") to East Asian swords (episode 204, "Corporate Warriors") to the more everyday guns and knives. To Mac, the type of weapon used is as revealing as anything else at the scene of the crime.

Mac holds members of the armed forces in high esteem and to an even higher standard. He considers a uniform a "badge of honor," and his disgust with the killer in "Officer Blue" (episode 109) is all the deeper because of the murderer's military background. That a former member of the armed services would use his military training to take lives rather than protect lives obviously wounds this former Marine. As Det. Don Flack once says, "Once a Marine, always a Marine" (episode 223, "Heroes"). Also in "Heroes," when one of the murder victims he investigates turns out to be a Marine, lately returned from Iraq, trying to deliver his dead buddy's watch to the man's fiancee, Mac completes the mission the corporal had started.

[edit] Relationships

Mac has a close friendship with fellow detective Stella Bonasera. She tries to make sure he gets enough sleep and he runs interference when her life gets too intense - such as when she get a civilian complaint in episode 120 ("Supply and Demand"), and later when she is attacked by her boyfriend Frankie in "All Access" (episode 221) and has to kill him. He once tells her he wouldn't do this job without her (episode 109, "Officer Blue"), and they give each other birthday and Christmas presents. (Stella is leaving Mac's birthday present when Reed Garrett first sees her and thinks she is Claire in episode 308, "Consequences.") Mac is also the first person Stella tells about the possibility that she may be infected with HIV (episode 317, "The Ride In").

In season three, he is revealed to have been dating Dr. Peyton Driscoll, one of the medical examiners. His relationship with Peyton has not been easy; his insistence that they keep their relationship under wraps at the lab conflicts with her desire to be less secretive about them. A particularly tense moment occurs during episode 311 ("Raising Shane") when, during a debate about the state of their relationship, Mac accidentally calls Peyton "Claire," which causes her to walk out on him (somewhat ironic in light of Peyton being played by an actress named "Claire", Claire Forlani). The two reconcile with a hug in the lab in the next episode (312, "Silent Night"). Later, by episode 316 ("Heart of Glass"), Mac and Peyton have evidently openly acknowledged their relationship, and no one at the lab has expressed any reservations about it.

In "Consequences," Mac meets the son that Claire had given birth to and gave up for adoption years before they met. The boy, now a teenager named Reed Garrett, is found to be shadowing Stella, thinking that she is Claire. Mac offers to stay in contact with the teen, seeking a connection to his deceased wife, but is intially turned down. In spite of Reed's reluctance to keep in touch with Mac, Mac still reaches out to him. At Thanksgiving, Mac visits Reed at his adoptive parents' home and gives him photos of Claire. Later, Reed turns to Mac after the young man is brutally beaten because of an article he is writing for the college newspaper (episode 315, "Some Buried Bones").

Mac has been a mentor to Danny Messer, taking him into the lab against others' advice early in Danny's career and helping him become a more mature, respected officer. Their relationship became strained after Danny's actions in "On the Job" (episode 121), but Danny slowly rebuilds Mac's confidence in him over the following months; Mac is there for him without reservations in episode 220 ("Run Silent, Run Deep"), telling him, "I believe you." It is with Mac that Danny breaks down after his brother Louie is beaten so badly he ends up in a coma, a sign that he considers Mac a true friend. Danny, however, is somewhat annoyed to discover he is the last to find out about the romance between Mac and Peyton (episode 316, "Heart of Glass").

While Detective Taylor acts as a sort of mentor also to Sheldon Hawkes in his role as a CSI trainee, he still has a great respect for the former coroner's medical skills and observational capacities. "Usually you have all the answers, Sheldon," he remarks in episode 107, "Rain." Mac is rather surprised when Hawkes submits his application for field duty (episode 123, "What You See Is What You See"). Because Taylor is generally quite somber and serious, he finds it easy to tease Hawkes, such as when Sheldon takes a quick meal break in "Grand Murder at Central Station," episode 202: "Eating is frowned upon," Mac says with a perfectly straight face. When Sheldon neglects to inform Mac of his relationship to the victim in one of their cases, however, Taylor feels betrayed and dresses him down in front of the entire lab, pulling him from the case (episode 307, "Murder Sings the Blues"). Their relationship has mended by "And Here's To You, Mrs. Azrael," two episodes later, when a deeply affected Mac confides to Sheldon about his father's final agonizing months dying from cancer. And when Hawkes is falsely accused in a robbery-homicide, the senior CSI puts his career on the line to help his friend, locking himself in the interrogation room with Sheldon to question him, even though his team had been removed from the case (episode 311, "Raising Shane").

Taylor and NYPD Detective Don Flack share a deep mutual respect and friendship, despite their very different temperaments. This trust becomes strained when Mac discovers that one of Flack's detectives is dirty, having stolen drugs during a raid and later murdering a man. The CSI asks for Flack's memo book to determine which officer was the culprit. Despite the detective's unwillingness to believe that one of his men is corrupt, he eventually capitulates and turns over the notebook (episode 308, "Consequences"). Their relationship remains tense for several episodes until they confront the issue and resolve their feelings (episode 310, "Sweet 16"). When Mac locks himself in the interrogation room to talk freely with wrongly-accused Sheldon Hawkes, Flack defends Taylor to the fellow detective investigating the case, saying that they'd do the same for each other (episode 311, "Raising Shane").

[edit] In the Line of Duty

Mac Taylor keeps a pile of unsolved cases on the corner of his desk. Rapist/murderer DJ Pratt's file remained there for for some time, until the CSIs close it with the posthumous assistance of former colleague Aiden Burn (episodes 202, "Grand Murder At Central Station;" 223, "Heroes").

When Miami CSI Lieutenant Horatio Caine comes to New York in pursuit of a murder suspect, Mac and his team help him discover the real killer and apprehend him (CSI: Miami episode 223, "MIA/NYC Nonstop"). Mac later flies down to Miami to assist Caine recapture escaped murderer Henry Darius, who eventually heads back to New York. Together, the CSI detectives successfully apprehend Darius and extradite him to Florida (CSI: Miami episode 407, "Felony Flight," CSI: NY episode 207, "Manhattan Manhunt").

Mac and Don Flack are in one episode caught in a bomb blast in a building while trying to evacuate it (episode 224, "Charge of this Post). Though he himself is wounded in the neck, Mac is able to stabilize a critically injured Flack long enough for help to arrive, thanks to his previous traumatic experience in the Beirut barracks bombing. Mac and his team discover the NYC bomber to be a schizophrenic would-be Marine out to prove the vulnerability of the city to terrorist attack. By appealing to the man's sense of military duty, Mac is able to get him to surrendur. The detective privately acknowledges to Stella that, while the bomber's methods may have been flawed, Mac could not argue against protecting his city and country. After the resolution of the crisis, Taylor and the other CSIs stay by Flack's hospital bedside in shifts until he recovers.

Mac and Flack are also instrumental in ending a hostage situation involving a deaf young man holding his baby daughter and his murdered girlfriend's mother at gunpoint in their car. While Mac talks to the young man, Flack sneaks up on the other side of the car and slips the baby out of the vehicle through the driver's side window. As soon as the child is secure, Mac is able to safely disarm the young man without anyone getting injured. The baby is then returned to the custody of her grateful grandparents (episode 312, "Silent Night").

One of Mac's most difficult situations on the job involves the discovery of subordinate Aiden Burn's questionable behavior (episode 202, "Grand Murder At Central Station"). Aiden had been sorely tempted to tamper with evidence in order to to implicate a rape suspect whose victim decided to press charges against him after he raped her a second time (the victim declined to press charges after the first assault). Though Aiden eventually does not follow through, she had broken the seal on the evidence and Mac, insistent on preserving the integrity of the lab, feels that his only option is to fire her. Nevertheless, he promises Aiden that he will bring the rapist to justice, a promise that he makes good on (with Aiden's help in a sad irony) in episode 223, "Heroes."

[edit] Family

• Unnamed Father (deceased)
• Claire Conrad Taylor (wife - deceased)
• Reed Garrett (step-son)

[edit] Trivia

• Mac plays bass guitar at jazz clubs during his off time.
• Did his Marine cold-weather training in Scandinavia.
• His badge number is 8433, though in Cross Jurisdictions he states it as 2433.
• Likes oatmeal.
• Likes cheeseburgers.
• Takes his coffee black with two sugars.
• Has read "The Da Vinci Code."
• Carries a Sig Sauer p229 40SW

CSI: NY
Episodes | Quotes | Official Website
Characters	Mac Taylor | Stella Bonasera | Danny Messer | Sheldon Hawkes | Donald Flack, Jr. | Lindsay Monroe | Aiden Burn
Creator(s)	Anthony E. Zuiker | Carol Mendelsohn | Ann Donahue
Related Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | CSI: Miami