CSI:NY The Saints Aren't Coming

Recap of New Orleans Rising

For those of you just tuning in but who might not want to go back and read all of NOLA Rising, I have this handy little recap of who Gus is and some of her world:

Claire Taylor had a son, so isn't it feasible she has a niece as well? Meet Augusta Broussard, niece of Claire (and ergo Mac). Claire and Mac started dating when Augusta (aka Gus, though Mac calls her by her full name when he is irked or Gussie when being affectionate) was 14. This was not too long after Gus' parents were murdered in New Orleans, where her father was a NOPD detective (more on their murder below).

Claire wanted Gus to join her in Chicago, but she remained in NOLA. A bit of a wild child, she graduates high school early because the nuns of the Sacred Heart wanted rid of her. She settles down in college (all her oats sowed so to speak), and ends up working with trauma victims probably because of her own background. She earns a PsyD in criminal justice and trauma, ending up with her working with both prisoners and cops. Her father's old partner, now Chief of Detectives, keeps trying to get her to join the NOPD but trying to hold true to her father's maxim of "never be a cop, never date a cop", she goes through qualifications and training but never officially joins the force.

Her work with both cops and criminals is a point of contention with her fiancée, Gage, an Uptown trust fund kid turned high-priced attorney. Gage is pretty verbally abusive, but Gus is desperate for the old family roots his family can offer, so she takes it (never having felt like she belonged). That is until a couple of days before Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in NOLA and she refuses to evacuate with Gage, choosing to stay behind at Orleans Parish Prison, resulting in his abuse turning physical and their break-up.

Katrina batters NOLA and anarchy ensues. Out of desperation, when the National Guard tries to forcibly evacuate her to Utah, she calls her Uncle (Mac Taylor) in New York. Her relationship with Mac faded after 9/11 and Claire's death, but Mac still yearns for connection to Claire through Gus. He brings her up to NY, though she quickly leaves to return to New Orleans to do crisis counseling to first responders until a second hurricane threatens NOLA. Realizing she is as broken and battered as her beloved city, she makes the decision to relocate to NYC.

Mac gets her a job doing psych evals for NYPD, but thinks she should listen to her father's old partner and become a detective because of her considerable empathic and profiling skills. She eventually agrees, though she feels that she is betraying her father. She qualifies with help from the entire team, while garnering attention from a certain blue-eyed detective, Don Flack, she is often partnered with. Despite mutual attraction, Gus is still dealing with the fallout from Katrina and Gage, not to mention wanting to adhere to at least part of her father's wishes.

She finally gives into the love Don can offer her, especially after going through so much together (basically seasons 2-4), though this takes forever. Don proposes to her right before the raid on the warehouse in Snow Day and she initially accepts, but when things go sideways, she blames herself for being both a cop and dating one (can you say issues?). Gus runs back "home" to NOLA shipping her badge and gun back to the precinct and breaking Don's heart.