CSI Files
Captain
With the strike delaying any new CSI franchise episodes until late March/early April, <font color=yellow>CSI Files</font> is taking the opportunity to go back to the beginning, offering reviews of episodes from the early seasons of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami, many of which aired before the site's 2003 founding! The retro reviews will run until new episodes of the franchise start to air in the spring, and then pick back up in the summer while the shows are on hiatus.
Synopsis:
Ted Sallenger wins a 40 million dollar jackpot at the Monaco casino, but his glee is short-lived; hours later, he's found dead outside the casino, the victim of a fall. Grissom and Nick take the case, questioning the victim's girlfriend, Jamie, who admits to a spat with him and to cutting him with a champagne bottle after he dumped her. After determining Ted was pushed, Grissom questions the man who played the machine for eleven hours before Ted won. Ted bought the man, Carleton, a few drinks before stumbling back to his room drunk. Carleton went to the roof to commit suicide but couldn't go through with it. Grissom finds roof dust on Carleton's clothes but none on Ted's, backing up Carleton's story. When the coroner reveals Ted was knocked out before being tossed out of the window, Grissom and Nick return to the room, finding blood and a candleholder that matches the wound on Ted's head. They turn back to Jamie, who folds under the weight of the evidence.
Catherine works the Holly Gribbs shooting and Grissom calls Sara Sidle, a friend from San Francisco, in to run the internal investigation into the shooting. Catherine recovers a pager from the scene and is chagrined to discover Holly was shot with her own gun. Sara asks Warrick about his whereabouts, positing that he took off to place a bet. She also shares sad news: Holly died on the operating table. When the owner of the pager pages it, Catherine calls him and, pretending to be a flirt, gets him to give up his location by agreeing to meet him. Catherine, Brass and Sara storm his hotel room and match his DNA to scrapings under Holly's nails. Grissom decides to give Warrick a second chance, not knowing the CSI is entangled with the corrupt Judge Cohen. Warrick paid the judge back for making a bad bet for him, but the judge isn't letting go, claiming he "owns" Warrick.
Analysis:
Picking up where the "Pilot" left off, "Cool Change" can easily be seen as the second half of the show's debut. It fleshes out characters like Catherine and Nick, who didn't have quite as much to do in the first installment, establishes Grissom as the team's official leader and introduces Sara Sidle, who will become an integral member of the team. She's a better outsider than Holly, if just for the reason that she isn't the clichéd newcomer, the fish out of water trying to find her way. There's nothing wrong with that kind of character, but it's refreshing to see someone who's different.
Sara establishes herself immediately by dispelling Catherine's initial hostility. Catherine is naturally protective of her co-workers and doesn't take kindly to an outsider coming in to horn in on the case. "We can argue," Sara offers, "but two sharp women are better than one." With that simple statement, Sara calls out Catherine's behavior and offers a solution all in one. Reminding Catherine that they're on the same side, as women and as criminalists who want to uncover the truth reveals a lot about Sara's character. She's practical, she tells it like it is and she's not interested in petty disputes. Catherine responds to Sara's frankness and shares her work on the case. Sara in turn recognizes that Catherine has things under control and turns her attention to Warrick. It's a promising first meeting between the two women.
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To read the full reviews, please click here.<center></center>
Synopsis:
Ted Sallenger wins a 40 million dollar jackpot at the Monaco casino, but his glee is short-lived; hours later, he's found dead outside the casino, the victim of a fall. Grissom and Nick take the case, questioning the victim's girlfriend, Jamie, who admits to a spat with him and to cutting him with a champagne bottle after he dumped her. After determining Ted was pushed, Grissom questions the man who played the machine for eleven hours before Ted won. Ted bought the man, Carleton, a few drinks before stumbling back to his room drunk. Carleton went to the roof to commit suicide but couldn't go through with it. Grissom finds roof dust on Carleton's clothes but none on Ted's, backing up Carleton's story. When the coroner reveals Ted was knocked out before being tossed out of the window, Grissom and Nick return to the room, finding blood and a candleholder that matches the wound on Ted's head. They turn back to Jamie, who folds under the weight of the evidence.
Catherine works the Holly Gribbs shooting and Grissom calls Sara Sidle, a friend from San Francisco, in to run the internal investigation into the shooting. Catherine recovers a pager from the scene and is chagrined to discover Holly was shot with her own gun. Sara asks Warrick about his whereabouts, positing that he took off to place a bet. She also shares sad news: Holly died on the operating table. When the owner of the pager pages it, Catherine calls him and, pretending to be a flirt, gets him to give up his location by agreeing to meet him. Catherine, Brass and Sara storm his hotel room and match his DNA to scrapings under Holly's nails. Grissom decides to give Warrick a second chance, not knowing the CSI is entangled with the corrupt Judge Cohen. Warrick paid the judge back for making a bad bet for him, but the judge isn't letting go, claiming he "owns" Warrick.
Analysis:
Picking up where the "Pilot" left off, "Cool Change" can easily be seen as the second half of the show's debut. It fleshes out characters like Catherine and Nick, who didn't have quite as much to do in the first installment, establishes Grissom as the team's official leader and introduces Sara Sidle, who will become an integral member of the team. She's a better outsider than Holly, if just for the reason that she isn't the clichéd newcomer, the fish out of water trying to find her way. There's nothing wrong with that kind of character, but it's refreshing to see someone who's different.
Sara establishes herself immediately by dispelling Catherine's initial hostility. Catherine is naturally protective of her co-workers and doesn't take kindly to an outsider coming in to horn in on the case. "We can argue," Sara offers, "but two sharp women are better than one." With that simple statement, Sara calls out Catherine's behavior and offers a solution all in one. Reminding Catherine that they're on the same side, as women and as criminalists who want to uncover the truth reveals a lot about Sara's character. She's practical, she tells it like it is and she's not interested in petty disputes. Catherine responds to Sara's frankness and shares her work on the case. Sara in turn recognizes that Catherine has things under control and turns her attention to Warrick. It's a promising first meeting between the two women.
<HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5">
To read the full reviews, please click here.<center></center>