"The Descent Of Man" Discussion *SPOILERS*

[vegaslights]

Also, re-looking at the guest cast list for the episode tonight, I see Joe Ochman is in the series again. Does anybody else remember him as the infamous Bird Watcher from Season 3's "Got Murder?" and also this season's "Art Imitates Life"?

It's great to see that bit of continuity being continued.

[myfuturecsi]

Originally Posted by Wojo

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From CSIFiles:

Charisma Carpenter is under suspicion in this week's episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, "The Descent of Man". As CSI Files previously reported, Carpenter's character is a "fun and memorable" skydiver. "I play a slinky little character named Mink," the actress told TV Guide. She added that Mink "is a suspect in the murder of her boyfriend because there was a love triangle between her and another sexy little thing played by The L Word's Erin Daniels."
Mink claims that she was dating the victim, and the other woman also claims that he was her boyfriend. "Well, he was both of ours," Carpenter clarified. "So there was tension, because we were both vying for his affections and such. You know how competitive that can be. I mean, the three of them were even sharing a trailer!"
Carpenter enjoyed the name her character was given. "Isn't Mink the best name in prime time?! I thought [Veronica Mars'] Kendall Casablancas was good, but Mink... wow," the actress said. She also shared information about a scene from "Descent of Man" in which her character is involved in a "panty party". Carpenter explained, "It involves dancing around half-dressed in our little Winnebago."

So this is the famous panty party Nick will have dealings with..I guess if we are lucky..no I won't finish it..but it would be funny..

[Adzix]

yeah, i recognized the bird guy from Art Imitates Life too.

btw, loved the beginning of the ep, however, the whole George Church interrogation was horrid. i'm starting to get a little worried about CSI.

ETA: the cases were connected! ooh, i certainly did not suspect *that*. lol. i was actually cracking up when Catherine figured it out using the 3D map of the world. this show is becoming a parody of itself. plus the turtle ... *sigh*

[GaelicFreak]

He was killed by...a turtle?

Sorry, tortoise.

[queenlynx]

That episode was very well done in my opinion. I couldn't stop giggling the whole time. I think the only two ways that could have been better is: 1) The whole team should have gone skydiving and 2) This episode should have been the 200th episode. As much as the whole "cases are connected" thing was getting old, I still found this episode intriguing.

[myfuturecsi]

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard through a CSI episode. This was very funny and well done. Much improved from last week.

And my favourite line was Brass "clubbed like a baby seal"..given I'm a Canuck against the seal hunt, that one had me in stitches.

The ending was so unexpected. I never saw that one coming..

Good one CSI..good one.

[kaylyne]

A much better episode than the crap that was aired last week.

I really liked the multiple stories. It brought a nice variety.

My only gripe - way too much recycling of previous episodes:
- the skydivers case reminded me of “high and low” with the hang glider guy dying.
- the dead guy with no eyeballs reminded me of “got murder” , where Cath & Gil were ‘up a tree, quoting Poe’
- the desert site of Ray’s victim sure looked like “Devil’s Smile”, the place where Julie Waters was killed in “After the show”
- the religious story line reminded me of “shooting stars”
- Ray’s case also reminded me of Sara & Nick’s case in “Viva Las Vegas”
- Cath/Greg’s case also reminded me of whatever that episode was back when Greg & Sara had to take that HazMat shower.
- the vultures in the air again reminded me of "shooting stars"

Other points:
- Bummer that they didn't have LLS & Erin together in any meaningful scenes.
- Cute Marg in the Hazmat suit
- Death by turtle? ... uh, tortoise? Do the writers have a fascination with tortoises these days? We just had one a few episodes ago.
- I liked the beginning when we got to see things through the video camera on skyjumper guy.
- I also like how the CSIs are finally starting to call the uniform cops by their first names. It's been great to see some of the same cops pop up more frequently, rather than the usual new faces each episode.
- the Grissom-esque drabble by Ray at the end was a little cute. I liked how they all tried to rush out as quick as possible. Poor Cath who had to actually listen to the drabble.

The full recap can be found here

[Speedystokesgirl]

Now this was a great episode! Brass? You just gotta love him!

Holy Moley, I can't believe tptb actually did a little continuity. First the guy who use to be a bird watcher and OMG, they remembered that Nick paraglided. I'm sorta feeling faint here.

The tortoise killed the religious nut? That was clever, never saw that coming. I had a feeling though, Nick and Catherine's cases were going to intertwined.

The look on Nick's face interviewing the 'girlfriends'?

See now this would have made a better a 200th episode.

[Half]

I thought the last scene with the conversation between Langston and Catherine was actually kind of funny. Her "Whatever" is actually what made me laugh.

Some of the stuff was a little off. Like the extremely convenient street view.

As for next week, I can't wait to see that. Talk about hilarious. *laughs*

[Adzix]

gosh, idk, to me the episode was lame. the jokes weren't funny, but their style seemed recycled from older episodes, like Ending Happy. i even felt embarassed a few times. the forced funny-ness of that priest was a miss. the twist at the end was really bad. i knew the cases are going to be connected the moment i heard Cath (or was it Brass?) say they have a double murder in the middle of the episode. however, i really enjoyed the french accents. a bit too pronounced at times but still.

overall, the beginning was great but the further it went, the worse it got. very average, non-memorable ep i'd rather not watch again. 4.5/10

[happyharper13]

There was something about the pacing that really rubbed me the wrong way. Something about introducing Greg and Cath's case that far into the episode was knid of weird. Overall, good humor though, and I liked the end. It kind of felt like they were trying to rush in a political message with the stuff on Iran, and I can't quite decide whether I liked that, or at least how it was delivered. I'm still undecided.

[Dizzney]

Originally Posted by Tciddaisc

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Some of the stuff was a little off. Like the extremely convenient street view.

I guess you have not played on Google Earth much, because the street view is very convenient often these days.

I agree this episode was a lot better than last week's. I'm still curious why Ray keeps getting to go to scenes solo and he is only a Level 1. Still irks me.

Slightly weird that the Greg/Catherine case started so late in the ep but I guess it was due to the flow of the story and the cases being tied into each other.

I liked the scene towards the end with Ray going on about the story and Nick trying to get out of there by offering to go to Breakfast.

[GregNickRyanFan]

This episode was tons better than last week.

The look through the broken camera was a very cool effect.

Nick: You gonna help us out here? - Yay! Nick got the opening one-liner! And I can so picture Grissom saying this too.

Now Ray's repeating himself like Horatio? :giggle: Why is he working the case solo again? This just goes to show how short-handed they are. Make Wendy a CSI now or hire another!

Holy Steven?

Tattoo says: Spread the word, I am coming.
Hodges: And you is gone.

Now its Church of the Holy George?

this George guy is wacked out. Loved Ray and Jim's expressions in this scene. Transmogrification?

Brass: Here's the gospel according to Jim. I love Brass. It was funny when he said that line about "sky pilot".

I don't get that Pierre joke.

Officer Akers has a first name: Andy.

at Henry saying "try saying that ten times fast".

Archie!!!!

I knew those two cases would be connected as soon as they mentioned a plane.

And there's the panty party.

the guy rigged his own shoot to fail? He sure screamed a lot for someone who knew what was coming.

Greg to Nick: Why are you always thinking about food?

Loved Ray being surprised that the other three never read the book he was talking about.

Holy dude was killed by a bird dropping a turtle shell on his head?

Loved Cath and Ray's talk at the end and her saying "whatever". "Maybe I should start wearing a helmet."

Great team interaction in this episode.

I thought the cases were fairly interesting. And I give them props once again for not making the well known guest star (Charisma Carpenter) the killer. They did that with John Schneider too, but usually its the well known one who is either the vic or the killer.

Final Grade: A- (the minus is because it's really starting to bug me that a Level One suddenly gets to work cases alone)

[Half]

Originally Posted by Dizzney

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I guess you have not played on Google Earth much, because the street view is very convenient often these days.

It's more the fact that last week everything on the computer was extremely fuzzy, and now it's all clear. I was more referring to the convenience of the fact that the street view is right next to the building with the giant sign with the names of the guys from Nick's case.

I thought the episode was funny. Some things were a bit rushed, but in general it was good.

[vegaslights]

Did I like the episode? No.

I loved it.

One of my favorites from the season. I'm loving the new team--the bond and everything. The storylines wove together very nicely and the comedy was very funny. Charisma Carpenter's role wasn't as big as I thought it would be--but the scenes with her in the interrogation room with Nick cracked me the f*ck up.

It was nice seeing the Bird Watcher again in this ep--and getting some continuity. Finding out that he's moved onto landscape photos instead of bird watching due to the fact of, well--dead bodies!

When I first heard about the technology used for the blinking (originally being told that it was going to be used on CSI: NY) I was not so looking forward to it. But watching it, I think it was essential to the episode and a great piece of technology to use.

Great distrubition of everyone in the episode. It seemed like everyone got a good amount of screentime and was all doing their thing.

And as for the turtle, it does seem that the show has a fascination with turtles this season. However, this one being used in a different context, the dropping of the turtle to cause COD reminded me of a Season One episode of CSI: NY where a piece of frozen blue ice fell from the sky and killed a man.

Overall, fantastic episode--Season 9 being my favorite season of the show. I give the episode a A+.