CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Photo of DVD cover taken by Kate Dorsey

    Well, I can see why CSI ended when it did. The episodes from the last two seasons were not as good as the seasons before. There was also a lot of lack of justice. Especially at the end of season fourteen. There were several episodes in a row where justice was either not done, or done by half. We see this far too often in real life. To see it in a work of fiction makes the show very frustrating to watch.

    At the end of season thirteen, CSI Morgan Brody (Elisabeth Harnois) went missing while undercover. The start of season fourteen has Morgan able to escape her captor, barely. Once she does, she is shot be a person she trusted, and shouldn’t have.

    After this event, the only continuing storyline for the entire season is with Detective Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle). His daughter is put away for murder, and he must figure out how he can still be there for her. Something CSI Supervisor D.B. Russell (Ted Danson) is concerned Brass will get hurt doing.

    Other than these two storylines, and the lack of justice, there are not a lot of memorable moments in season fourteen.

    There is a memorable episode, though.

    Through their time working together, Morgan, CSI Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), and CSI Julie “Finn” Finlay (Elisabeth Shue) have gotten close. They decide to go on a spa weekend. A weekend that turns into disaster.

    First their car breaks down. Then Finn is almost raped by a local man named Darryl Walsh (Kristoffer Polaha). Finn manages to hurt Darryl to the point she believes he is dead. When she brings Sara and Morgan out to see the body, he is gone.

    With their CSI training, the three women begin to collect evidence. This does not go over well with the local sheriff, Sheriff Gardner (Patrick St. Esprit). Besides, the sheriff knows Darryl. He would never rape anyone, right? Wrong.

    Being told not to investigate doesn’t mean the women actually stop. Darryl’s body is eventually found, but nowhere near where the attempted rape happened. To make matters worse, Finn is also now missing. There is no way Sara, Morgan, or any of their other CSI and police friends are going to stay out of this investigation.

    Those are the most memorable moments from season fourteen. Now onto season fifteen!

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Artwork by Kate Dorsey

    Season fifteen finds the CSI team trying to track down a serial killer. Two killers, actually, as they are a pair of brothers doing the crimes. It is Russell who becomes most obsessed with this case. He spends a great deal of time staring at the board where all the evidence is posted, trying to put the pieces together. Pretty much he spends every spare moment he has at that board.   

    In the meantime, there are other cases and events going on.

    Morgan goes through a difficult time when she sees a friend of hers die. She, Sara, and Finn are all at a conference. While Finn is off talking to an old friend, Sara and Morgan go to the room where one of the speeches will be held. A shooter enters the room and people lose their lives. One of them is a friend of Morgan’s, who was sitting right next to her.

    There is more than one shooter, though. Despite not being in the room, Finn’s friend, Mark Perlow (Michael Landes) is shot. He and Finn become stuck in an elevator while he struggles to survive.

    Later on, Sara is almost killed while collecting evidence.

    The only truly positive thing to come out of this experience (other than Sara’s life being saved, of course), is Finn decides to try and have an actual relationship with Mark. A man she has been meeting and been attracted to for years.

    The end of season fifteen sees a big departure. Brass was a big one at the start of the season, but we didn’t actually see him leave. He was simply mentioned as caring for his daughter, and that was that.

    No, this big departure comes from CSI Nick Stokes (George Eads). A character who has been part of the series since episode one, Nick is leaving Las Vegas for a job in San Diego. It is a good career-move for him. It will give him a well-deserved promotion, plus a chance to get away from some hard memories. Sadly, it will also take him away from the good memories and friends too.

    The end of season fifteen also finds Finn in a coma.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Photo of back DVD cover taken by Kate Dosey

   The series ends with a TV movie. (Spoilers are going to happen here. If you don’t want to know how the series ends, skip the next few paragraphs). Nick is in San Diego. Finn has died off-camera. Russell is preparing to move to Washington D.C. Sara is applying for Russell’s supervisor position.

    To support Sara’s application, Russell lets her take the lead on their most recent case. A man set off a bomb attached to his body inside a casino. The casino belongs to former CSI Supervisor Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger). She inherited the casino from her father. When Catherine hears about the attack, she flies to Las Vegas, and refuses to be side-lined in the investigation.

    Where the investigation leads makes Sara very uncomfortable. It leads to a woman named Lady Heather (Melinda Clarke). Someone who has a history with Sara’s ex-husband, former CSI Supervisor Gil Grissom (William Petersen). Because of this connection, Sheriff Conrad Ecklie (Marc Vann) calls Grissom in to help.

    Having Grissom around causes a lot of conflict for Sara. She must deal with Grissom and Lady Heather, who loves to needle Sara about her relationship with Grissom. Or lack of one.

    Grissom is a man who rarely, if ever, treated Sara as important. It was always his interests first. His responsibilities first. His desires first. So why Sara gives up everything she’s accomplished to sail off with this man, I have no idea.

    And that’s that. Unfortunately, a lot of characters got lost in these last couple of seasons. In the TV movie especially. Two characters that were seen frequently before, CSI Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) and Trace Specialist David Hodges (Wallace Langham), had very little screen time in the end.

    On a more positive note, I have now accomplished my goal. I have seen every episode of CSI in order. I may have slept through a couple here and there, but I at least saw a part of each episode.

    The funny thing is, I started this journey to find the episodes I hadn’t seen before. I discovered I’d seen them all at some point until season fifteen! Even then, there were only a few new to me. The entire time I had almost the entire story, but because of TV airings, not in the right order.