CSI: Crime Scene Investigation--'Say Uncle'

Discussion in 'CSI Files News Items' started by CSI Files, Nov 25, 2008.

  1. CSI Files

    CSI Files Captain

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    <p><b>Synopsis:</b><p>A man and a woman are gunned down at a Koreatown BBQ. The woman is found without an ID, but the man is carrying prison release forms from that very morning identifying him as Sun Bang. In addition to a bullet casing, Grissom finds a pair of kid's sunglasses with blood splatter on them by the bodies. The police round up the people at the BBQ, but no one is talking. Dr. Robbins tells Grissom Sun was shot with a revolver while the woman was shot with a semiautomatic. While the three shots in Sun were fired straight on, the trajectory of the bullets that killed the woman indicate they came from a lower angle. Dr. Robbins points out needle marks on the woman's arms as well as scars on her eyelids that indicate she had plastic surgery to widen her eyes. Based on the procedure, the team is able to find the doctor who performed the surgery. He tells Brass he was forced to do the surgery at gunpoint by members of the Kampai Dragons, a new Korean gang that forces businesses to turn over a percentage of their profits. Catherine gets a lead when she learns Dempsey's, a department store Sun visited just before his death, has a state-of-the-art surveillance and forensics lab to catch shoplifters. Video footage shows Sun with a ten-year-old boy. A Child Protection Services investigator named Bae Chin recognizes the boy on the surveillance camera as Park Bang, Sun's nephew. She identifies the dead woman as Kora Sil, Park's mother. Park's father was a gangster who died three years ago. Sun notified CPS about Kora's drug use, and Chin reveals that both Kora and Park are HIV positive.<p>Archie finds Kora's social networking profile and uses it to trace her IP address to the house of Jin Pan, who tells the CSIs he knew Park's father but that they went in different directions. Jin took Kora and Park in, but he doesn't know where either is now. Nick and Riley trace Park and Sun's route from Dempsey's to the BBQ and Hodges finds a discarded bag from Dempsey's in a trash can, along with a child's bloody shirt. The CSIs discover Park in a house with an older Korean woman, who draws a gun on them when they enter. Riley draws her weapon, but Nick manages to talk to the old woman down. Through a translator at the police station, the old woman tells the CSIs that she heard the shots outside and took Park home. At the hospital, Grissom gets upset with Riley after she tries to question Park without an advocate present. Grissom goes to examine the boy and notices a gastric tube in his body with dried blood around it and a skin condition that he'd told is a side effect of the HIV meds the boy is on. Brass and Chin try to show Park pictures of members of the KD gang to see if he can identify the killer of his mother and uncle, but Park turns away. Grissom gets Park to give him his hand for trace, but Park panics when his doctor, Dr. Eisling, enters the room to give him his meds. Henry comes back with a tox report that shows the boy is being overmedicated. Wendy analyzes the trace under Park's fingernails and matches it to Jin Ming--the real name of Jin Pan, who Kora and Park were staying with. The CSIs go to Jin's house to bring him in for questioning but find it completely cleared out, save for the room Kora and Park were staying in.<p>Greg and Detective Cavaliere go over the room; the CSI finds a card for a lawyer named James Klondike while Cavaliere picks up a picture only to set off a small explosion! The detective isn't badly injured. Greg learns that Kora had Park in a clinical trial for HIV meds and was suing the doctor for more money. Grissom questions Eisling, who claims the drugs are saving Park's life. Grissom tells Eisling if he tries to administer any more treatments, he'll charge him with reckless endangerment, a threat Chin backs up. Park finally tells Grissom that his uncle found him with his mother and, after seeing the gastric tube in his stomach, took him away. Park says his mother and Jin hunted them down, and then Jin shot both Sun and Kora. The story doesn't ring true with Grissom. Brass tells Grissom Sun Bang left prison with a 9-millimeter gun and wonders if Sun perhaps fired back. Grissom says he wouldn't have had the chance. Wondering if Kora and Sun might have shot each other, Grissom, Riley, Chin and Park recreate the scene. Jin's involvement still doesn't track. Grissom realizes Kora shot Sun and, based, on the way Park imitates the firing of the gun, that Park must have shot his own mother after Kora killed Sun. "I'm sorry we solved this," Grissom tells Brass as Park is taken to juvenile detention.<p><b>Analysis:</b><p>It's a rare instance when a CSI regrets solving a case, but in this episode, it's easy to see why Grissom is regretful. One of the two killers turned out not to be a dangerous mobster or even Sun Bang, the uncle who was looking out for his nephew, but the boy himself, no doubt devastated to witness his mother shooting the one person who actually looked out for him. Park has probably never had it easy; his mother was a junkie, his father a gangster and he had HIV, which led his mother to put him in a medically unsound--and painful--clinical trial. And now the boy is going away for years to juvenile detention. Grissom usually tries to stay impartial--the evidence is everything, after all--but in a case like this, it's hard to sit back and watch a little boy who has known nothing but a hard life go away to juvenile detention after losing the one person who looked out for him.<p><HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"><p>To read the full reviews, please click <A HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/reviews/csi/say_uncle.shtml">here</A>.<center></center>
     
  2. Faylinn

    Faylinn Adam Fangirl Super Moderator

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    Excellent review. :)

    The case was really sad (although I figured out Park killed his mother a while before the team did). It's not that I think Kora deserved to die, but I can't believe nothing was done about that situation before it got to that point. :(

    Very interesting note about Nick's growth over the seasons. He's definitely a much more mature man now, with a lot of experience to steady him.

    I'm liking Riley so far, but I hope they don't push too hard with her 'butting heads' with everybody. A difference of opinions, I can see, but to make her look unprofessional or like a complete rookie for the sake of contrast is doing a disservice to the character IMO.
     
  3. myfuturecsi

    myfuturecsi Corpse

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    Thank you so much for highlighting Nick's calm way of handling having a gun pointed at him and comparing it to the "Who Are You?" moment, one of the memorable scenes in CSI history. As at the beginning of the series we saw a very cocky Nick but when the gun came out, his emotions showed so we saw a more vulnerable side of the man.

    Yes he has grown so much over the years.

    And I never thought about Riley and Nick locking horns as a result of his grief over Warrick. I'm sure there are viewers who will try and sexualize the tension, however, I think your analysis of it is more accurate.

    Wonderful review Kristine, as aways.
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2008
  4. Moonman190

    Moonman190 Victim

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    There are two times I remember seeing Grissom touched in the same way as in this episode. I don't remember the season, nor the episode, however Grissom and Brass share a drink in Grissom's office and Grissom explains something about the killers outsmarting him. :confused: Not very useful, I know.
    The other time this happens is after the Strip-Strangler serial killer is caught, Grissom goes back to the artwork he was working on to see the "Goodbye" in the glasses and the demon of the drawing.

    Overall a great review as always, and another emotional episode to add for Grissom before his departure.
     

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