Mac Taylor

Main Character: New York
Name	McCanna Llewellyn Taylor
Gender	Male
Birth Date	November 1, 1965
Family	Claire Conrad (wife; deceased) Christine Whitney (fiancée) McCanna Boyd Taylor (father; deceased) Millie Taylor (mother) Reed Garrett (stepson) Lucy Messer (goddaughter)
City	New York
Job	CSI Supervisor
Rank	Detective 1st Grade
Status	Alive
Portrayed By	Gary Sinise
First Appearance	MIA/NYC NonStop (CSI: Miami) Blink (CSI: NY)

McCanna "Mac" Llewellyn Taylor is the Head Supervisor of the New York City Crime Lab.

Personality

Mac is single-minded when it comes to catching the bad guy. Mac is also very intent on the integrity of the lab. He fired Aiden Burn for even considering planting evidence, even though she never did. ^[1] In addition, Mac becomes irritated with his workers, whenever they allow events in their personal lives to affect their job performance. He also wants to know about everything that goes on in the lab, and becomes disturbed when something slips through his fingers. Mac holds all military personnel in high esteem, considering the uniform itself a badge of honor. He often dressed in fatigues as a child, indicating his interest in serving his country at a very early age. ^[2]

Although Mac doesn't have any kids of his own, he's very good with children. ^[3] Mac was a part of the military for many years, and still has proficient skills in fighting. He especially excels in unarmed combat, making it easy for him to take down suspects on the go. From his service, Mac has gained an intimate knowledge of a wide range of weapons, and is proficient in many of them (Corporate Warriors).

Despite his military background and serious personality, Mac does have a lighter side. For instance, Mac is a skilled bass guitar player, and has a standing appointment on Wednesdays to perform with a jazz group. (Stuck On You) In addition, during "down time," after a case has been solved, Mac often lends a kind listening ear to his workers' personal problems.

Background

Mac is originally from Chicago. He joined the Marine Corps, and was a veteran of the Beirut Bombings (where he was severely injured and has a scar quite close to his heart) and the first Gulf War. After serving in the Marines, he was honorably discharged in March of 1992, having achieved the rank of Major. Mac moved to New York after his discharge. His father was a WWII veteran who took part in the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945. He died of small cell cancer while Mac was still in the Corps. In Blacklist, Mac described his father as his hero and his inspiration for joining the Corps.

He was once married to a woman named Claire Conrad who died during the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. ^[4]

Season One

The episode "Blink" opens with Mac praying in a church. As the season progresses, it is clearly shown that Mac still mourns for his deceased wife.

Season Two

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Season Three

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Season Four

Having returned from London, Mac finds himself being stalked by the 333 Stalker. He reveals to Stella that the calls he has been receiving had actually begun while he was in London. Eventually Mac discovers that the Stalker is actually Drew Bedford, a childhood friend of his who was traumatized when his oldest brother Will was fatally beaten in front of him. Mac and his other brother Jimmy were there and didn't know Drew, then known as Andy, was as well. Mac was too scared to shoot the man, O'Toole, so Jimmy took the gun and did it. The two got Will to the hospital, but he died of his injuries. Mac and Jimmy covered up the event, not knowing the shooting would be ruled self-defense since Jimmy had killed O'Toole in defense of Will. Mac being declared a hero angered Drew who began stalking him for revenge. He's later caught and institutionalized.

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Season Five

In the episode "My Name is Mac Taylor," Mac is placed is a frightening situation when a budding serial killer is rampaging New York, looking for revenge after his girlfriend was killed in a hit-and-run accident. All the budding serial killer knows is that the name of the driver who killed his girlfriend is Mac Taylor. This means that the serial killer is murdering everyone who has the name or nickname, Mac Taylor. He was only looking to kill the actual driver, but made a mistake with the first Taylor, not realizing he didn't drive, and accidentally killed the second as they fought over the car keys. Mac himself escaped because Oka looked at his keys while Mac was swimming and realized he wasn't the driver.

Season Six

A week before the season finale in "Point of View," Mac is injured from chasing a murderer and must recover at home for a few days. During his recovery, he sits in a chair positioned at his apartment window, allowing him to spy on his neighbors (in a Rear Window-esque way). In a Rear Window-esque episode, Mac recovers in his apartment following a fall while chasing a murderer. During his recovery, he witnesses some mysterious behavior from a former university professor, in the apartment building across the way, which leads to a murder. With the return and help of Peyton Driscoll, Mac determines the former professor is plotting a chemical weapon attack. Peyton apologizes for leaving him the way she did, saying he deserved better, and they part amicably.

Season Seven

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Season Eight

In the season finale, Mac is shot during a robbery gone wrong, and finds himself in limbo between life and death. As he fights for his life, the team struggles to keep their emotions in check as they process the evidence and bring the shooter to justice. The first and last “limbo” scenes featuring Mac and Claire are great together. As with “Indelible,” the pair has a comfortable, believable chemistry that makes Claire’s death even more poignant. During her first scene this in this episode, Claire explains to Mac that he’s dying. He isn’t ready, but she tells him it will all be okay. He wants to know why she is keeping her distance, so she comes closer and reaches out to touch him for the first time in more than a decade. Their second encounter at the end of the episode is very different. By then, Mac has come to terms with his situation and is ready to move on. Claire, however, tells him that he has to continue living. It isn’t like him to give up.

During the final scene with Mac and Claire, Mac confesses that he has met someone. He and Christine Whitney have embarked on a tentative relationship, and it’s clear that he has been struggling with what this budding love might mean for his past with Claire. Claire gives Mac and Christine her blessing, which symbolizes Mac forgiving himself for falling in love again and allowing himself to move on. What he shared with Claire will always be an important part of him, but he deserves to find new happiness. In fact, Claire’s final words to him are, “Be happy, Mac.”

While Mac deals with his internal struggles, Christine is waiting at the hospital to find out if Mac will live or die. Her brother Stan was Mac’s former partner, who died in the line of duty, and she is once again forced to face the reality of what it can mean to have a police officer in the family. However, she doesn’t run away. Instead, she stays at the hospital and waits, and she’s with Mac when he wakes up at the end of the hour. She has been praying over him, and she sheds tears of joy when he squeezes her hand and opens his eyes. The relationship between Mac and Christine has been a nice addition to season eight, allowing fans to see Mac in a different light as he makes an effort to have a personal life away from the lab.

Season Nine

In Reignited, Mac learns from his doctor that, as a result of his brain being without oxygen for some time after he was shot, he has started suffering from anomic aphasia, which makes it difficult for him to recall names of certain things, including colors, even though he knows the difference between them.

In Unspoken, he is still having trouble remembering the names of colors. Initially, he shuts everyone out, even Christine, until she threatens to walk away if he doesn't start trusting her. In Clue: SI, he tells Christine about it.  Slowly, he does recover, passing all his tests quite well.

In In Vino Veritas, on the original CSI, Mac arrives in Las Vegas, wanting to surprise Christine as she attends a convention there. However, when he and D.B. Russell arrive at her room, it appears she's been kidnapped. They soon learn that the person who came to Las Vegas as Christine was an impostor, and that she's really being held captive back in New York. Mac and D.B. rush back to New York in Seth and Apep, and must race against time to find Christine before her captors can make good on their threat to kill her.

In Blood Actually, Mac has to put off his Valentine's Day dinner with Christine due to the problems with the case he's working, but she makes up for it, getting them a spot at a place where Josh Groban is playing, and they dance.

In Today Is Life, Mac is inspired somewhat by the victim in the case he's working, who was about to propose to his girlfriend before he was caught in the wrong place with a pair of guys who robbed a jewelry store and inadvertently got shot by a cop. Mac realizes that life has to be lived day by day, and is reminded how easily things can be taken. He catches up with Christine after finally settling down the mob that tried to attack the police precinct, and asks her to marry him. She happily accepts. However, it's never known if the couple weds due to the show's cancellation.

Appearances

Notes

• Mac's father died of single cell disease before he joined the crime lab. His father was the one who made him promise to take the job in New York when on his death bed. (Blacklist - Episode 2 series 6)
• Mac is severely allergic to blueberries. (Clean Sweep)
• His address is 446 Foster Road, New York, NY 10129. (Season 6 Episode 2: Blacklist)
• He has the same last name as Forrest Gump character Lt. Dan Taylor, also portrayed by Gary Sinise.
• He used a Glock 17 as his weapon of choice since season 1
• He is a longtime friend of D.B. Russell, the night shift supervisor at the Las Vegas Crime Lab and one of the protagonists of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. (In Vino Veritas)

References

1. ↑ Determined to arrest the man who assaulted her friend, Aiden Burn had broken the seal on an evidence packet of hair, to plant it as fake evidence of the second rape. Although she never did so, her action earned her a severe reprimand from Mac, who was very focused on preserving the integrity of the crime lab. This being his priority, Mac fired Aiden. Aiden understood Mac's decision, and even agreed that she did not trust herself to be more responsible later on.
2. ↑ Episode 109: Officer Blue.
3. ↑ He was able to help a traumatized boy named Sam open up about a murder he witnessed in Necrophilia Americana .
4. ↑ Mac mentions this in the pilot, Blink.