Background
Mac's father served as a major in the United States Marine Corps. Gail O'Grady guest-starred in one episode as Mac's mother Millie. In "Yahrzeit" it is revealed that Mac's father, Private First Class McKenna Boyd Taylor, served in liberating the concentration camp Buchenwald. A Holocaust survivor recounted how the elder Taylor restored his dignity and even offered the man his candy bar. He used to be a shopkeeper in Miami. Originally from Chicago, he moved to New York after his honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps, where he had achieved the rank of Major (indicated by the gold oak leaves on his collar points in Episode 6.02 "Blacklist"). However, in episode 2.24, "Charge of this Post", Mac was shown having the rank of Sergeant. 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". Throughout the series, Mac has shown that he will protect three things at any cost: The honor of his country (through his military service), the safety of his city (through his work at CSI), and the integrity of his lab (by suspending or firing workers who fail to abide by the rules). Strict but fair with his colleagues, his "follow the book" approach, perhaps due to his military background, has sometimes put him in conflict with those working under him, as shown in instances where he was forced to take disciplinary actions against Flack, Hawkes and Adam for going against protocol.
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.
His badge number is "8433". In the final episode of season 8 Mac was revealed to have Welsh heritage, and has the middle name Llewellyn.
Read more about this topic: Mac Taylor
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