Season 6 Discussion

PraetorCorvinus

PraetorCorvinus

Moderator
Moderator
Alright. Do to popular demand, I present Season 6! Feel free to discuss anything and everything you liked or didn't like about this season.*

Think back to all the events and situations that arose during this season. Here are just a few:

-Introduction of Wendy Simms, Jeff McKeen, Hannah and Marlon West, Tina Brown (on screen appearance) and Drops.
-Nick's mustache
-Warrick's marriage
-Nick's mustache
-Sofia's transfer over to Homicide as a detective
-Nick's mustache
-Brass getting shot
-Nick's mustache
-The big reveal of GSR*
-Nick's mustache

What episodes did you like? Mine: "Gum Drops", "A Bullet Runs Through It", "Still Life", "Werewolves", "Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye", "Spellbound", "Poppin' Tags", and "Rashomama".

What episodes didn't you like? Mine: "Bodies in Motion", "Daddy's Little Girl", "The Unusual Suspect", and "Way To Go".

Episode List:

601: Bodies in Motion
602: Room Service
603: Bite Me
604: Shooting Stars
605: Gum Drops
606: Secrets and Flies
607: A Bullet Runs Through It, Part One
608: A Bullet Runs Through It, Part Two
609: Dog Eat Dog
610: Still Life
611: Werewolves
612: Daddy's Little Girl
613: Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye
614: Killer
615: Pirates Of The Third Reich
616: Up In Smoke
617: I Like To Watch
618: The Unusual Suspect
619: Spellbound
620: Poppin' Tags
621: Rashomama
622: Time Of Your Death
623: Bang Bang
624: Way To Go

Previous discussion: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5

* Please follow all forum rules set by site moderators regarding the discussion of ships.
 
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Well I actually liked season 6 a lot but there were a few episodes that disappointed Daddy's Little Girl being a huge disappoint off the top of my head. Not to mention the mustache was just horrible and everybody knows what I'm talking about I'm sure. :lol: I like Sophia more as a detective over a CSI so I was glad for the change in this season.

Anyway favorite episodes:
Rashomama
Bodies In Motion
Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye
Spellbound
A Bullet Runs Through It Pts. 1&2
Gum Drops

Least Favorite Episodes:
Poppin' Tags
I Like To Watch
Secrets and Flies
Daddy's Little Girl
 
Can't believe no-one's beaten me to this (having checked the conversation over in the s5 thread!).

All right. For me, at least, season six is very much a season of two halves. Half the season is enjoyable, with engrossing storylines, great writing and acting and all the good stuff that I've come to expect out of CSI. The other half, frankly, is so unremitting that while I can't say it exactly sucks, I certainly can't say I enjoy it (in fact, there's one season 6 episode that I refuse to have anything to do with, simply because I *KNOW* it's going to give me nightmares if I watch it).

It doesn't help that a couple of the cast members decided (or appear to have decided) to see which one of them could look the silliest. Memo to George Eads and Eric Szmanda: The moptop was one thing that could have been safely left in the 60s kthx

Not even going to TOUCH the moustache - except to say that very early on in my introduction to CSI, I read an article that described Nick as having grown an "ill advised moustache". I thought "How bad could it be?" Then I saw Dog Eat Dog... :eek:

/shallowness

Moving on.

I think my biggest issue with the season is how they resolved the Grave Danger storyline. Or, rather, how they didn't resolve it. On the one hand, I can fully understand them not wanting to still be harping on about it by the end of the season, because, no matter how realistic that would actually be, at that point it starts to get tedious. So the idea of tying it up neatly, roughly mid-season (and Daddy's Little Girl is ep 12 of a 24 ep season so you can't get much more mid-point than that!) is fine with me. I also REALLY like the fact that they didn't go the route of having Nick angsting away for episode after episode, just little flashes here and there, because I think that would have been hideously out of character for Nick and, again, somewhat (!) tedious. So. Basic premise? Okay. Execution up to and excluding DLG? Fine.

DLG?

[insert loud scream here]

I try not to go around saying that I could do better than the writers because, at the end of the day, they're the ones who get paid for what they write while I'm strictly amateur (at least to this point). That said, though, a deaf-blind Wombat could probably have written a better episode than this!

If I think with my analytical head (rather than as a NickFan), I can understand why the Grave Danger follow up is the 'B' story of the episode, rather than the 'A'. The writers of CSI, after all, had never really wanted to serialise the show (of course, that got turned around on its head a little in s7 and onwards but that's a whole other bag of worms) and they have to assume that MOST people are tuning in for the murder of the week. They also don't want to turn the show into a soap and they might have felt that doing the Grave Danger follow up would push them just that little bit closer to that line.

Okay. I can accept that. What bugs the heck out of me about it is as follows:
-Why did Catherine automatically assume from the moment Kelly Gordon's name came up that she had something to do with Sylvia Mullens' death?
-Kelly Gordon is smart enough to think of adjusting the focus of the security camera and to not get covered in airbag dust AND to not leave prints on the camera but twists the focus ring with the hand her cellmate tattooed?
-Why on earth did the writers set up a potentially wonderful confrontation between Grissom and Nick (by having Grissom not tell Nick about the tape surfacing) and then write that pathetic scene in Grissom's office? It's pod-person Nick and Grissom rather than the real characters.
-The ending. Bluntly, the episode doesn't have one, it merely stops in such a way that you'd think it'd be picked up again in the next episode. Which it isn't.

Then there's the 'A' case which, frankly, was dull - even if it did contribute one of the better lines of the season: "Who brings a gun to a knife fight?"/"The winner".

And that's not even TOUCHING the threads that were left dangling from Grave Danger that just didn't get a follow up at all - like the 911 call (you'd think that would be the obvious thing to compare the tape to when it shows up in Bodies in Motion but there isn't even a reference to it) or the fact that miraculously, DA Michaels still had a job!

All in all, then, DLG is not a favourite with me.

If that was a bad follow up to Grave Danger, though, you have - at the other end of the spectrum - a really great follow up to Grave Danger in the shape of Gum Drops. If Mea Culpa was the episode that convinced me to give CSI a proper shot, Gum Drops was the episode that got me utterly hooked (and may have had something to do with turning me into a rabid NickFan!).

Out of all eight-and-a-half seasons that I've watched (bearing in mind that I've not seen any of season eight and season 10's still only half way through on this side of the Atlantic!), I can't think of a better episode.

Circumstances, of course, did rather dictate this episode in the end, but I can't help thinking that actually benefited the episode. I mean, can anyone on here actually buy the idea of Grissom being the one to believe Cassie was alive? Re-e-e-ally?

(And as I'm now out of time, you'll have to wait for my views on the rest of the season!)
 
The best thing about season 6 - the addition of Liz Vassey as Wendy Simms!

The worst thing about season 6 - uh, I don't think there's enough space in this post to list them all.

Season 6 was, IMO, the beginning of the downfall for this show. The season started out not too bad, but really started rolling towards crapdom midway through.

Let's start with the good this time around:
Secrets and Flies - a little bit of everything in this one - Cath/Sara, Ecklie, the introduction of Wendy...
Werewolves - Leisha Hailey rocked in this episode.
Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye - Scott Wilson, Faye Dunaway, and Anita Gillette. Need I say more?
Pirates Of The Third Reich - Lady Heather gets pissed. Lookout slimeball killers!
Shooting Stars - a story that takes us to the middle of the desert, underground... and Cath gets to draw her gun from the hip! Classic scene.
Up In Smoke - strangely enough, I enjoy this one. Maybe it's the CSI ladies with power tools?!
Rashomama CSI at its comedic best
Dog Eat Dog - killer dogs and hot dogs. What's not to love?

Turning to the better of the so-so episodes:
Bodies in Motion, Room Service, Bite Me, Gum Drops, A Bullet Runs Through It (but great performances from PG & LL), I Like To Watch

The worst of the so-so episodes:
Still life, Killer, Daddy's little girl, Unusual suspect, spellbound, time of your death, bang bang, way to go

and the butt ugly:
Poppin' Tags
 
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Here's me little essay for Season 6. I should first state that this is actually me favorite season. To be clear, I base how well I like seasons on how many episodes I like and how many times I can rewatch them. This one wins. :)

My absolute favorite episode of this season, and possibly the show, is "A Bullet Runs Through It". And I don't know why. I was a late-comer to the show. I started watching Season 1 from my brother's DVDs when the show was airing Season 8. After looking online, I knew about the major events that occurred prior to watching them (Grave Danger, Miniature Killer, Demetrius James, Play With Fire, etc.) Yet this ep barely got mentioned except with small references in Brass's bio. I didn't know who Sofia was so I ignored her. When I watched it, I had no expectations. And it blew me away. Something about how engrossing the case is. How large the scene is. The emotional trauma for Brass and Sofia. If "Formalities" made me intrigued by her and "Mea Culpa" made me like her, then "Bullet" made me love her. She was phenomenal in the ep. Sofia quickly became one of my favorite characters and I was sad to see her leave later on.

I know many dislike "Still Life" and "Poppin' Tags" (when I first typed that I spelled it "Poopin' Tags. Then I laughed :lol:) What I like about "Still Life" is the unexpected twist halfway through the episode. IMO, it was a very clever plot twist. I also disliked "Poppin' Tags" at first. But the more I watched it, and the more familiar with Drops I got after seeing S7 and S8, the more I liked it. Now it's one of my favorites.

Athersgeo, you're thoughts on "Daddy's Little Girl" echoes my own. As the conclusion to a (still in my mind) wonderful episode like GD, it fell flat.

"Spellbound" is a definite favorite because A) it is one of the few Greg-centric episodes and B) it has great character interaction between him and Wendy. As a Simmers shipper (Greg/Wendy), I greatly appreciate this episode. :)

On the subject of hair. I didn't mind the look on Greg. He's always done odd things so I honestly didn't care. Nick, however...:wtf: First the mustache - which almost ruins "Bullet" for me - looks ridiculous. Like a porn star from the '70s. And the longer hair toward the end just doesn't fit 'Nick'. I usually explain the hair issues away with the excuse that he's going though a PTSD phase following the whole 'being buried alive' thing.

And three other episodes from my All-Time Favorites list come this season as well. "Gum Drops", Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye", and "Rashomama".

For me, the good far out weighs the bad this season. Thus this is my favorite. :)
 
For me, season 6 is a little better than season 5. Season 6 didn't have GD but it had more interesting episodes.

(in fact, there's one season 6 episode that I refuse to have anything to do with, simply because I *KNOW* it's going to give me nightmares if I watch it).
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What is it? DLG or another episode? I don't like nor hate DLG. But it's disappointing somehow. Grave Danger is great and I wish they just leave it like that.

Episodes I like: Bodies in Motion (Catherine was jealous about Warrick's marriage) Secrets and Flies (Grissom kicks ass), Gum Drops (one of the best in the series), Shooting Stars, The Unusual Suspect, Bang Bang and Way To Go.

Episode I don't care: Poppin Tags. For me it's so confusing. Maybe I just didn't like the plot that's why I had hard time understanding it.
 
I second Geeno's request. Athersgeo, I demand to know what episode could potentially give you nightmares! I'll give you a cookie. A big one! :lol:
 
PraetorCorvinus said:
I usually explain the hair issues away with the excuse that he's going though a PTSD phase following the whole 'being buried alive' thing.
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Oh, totally - I tend to think that something about finding Cassie 'broke' Nick and it took until Rashomama before it really healed, because there is definitely something 'off' about Nick through most of the middle part of the season (beyond the obvious!).

And gosh, is this two things we've agreed on this week? *grin* Be prepared for a shock, cause there's a third one coming up... ;)

Right.

So. Rest of season six.

There aren't actually any episodes I out-and-out hate (having got DLG out of the way, at least!), and plenty of bits of episodes that I really like, but a lot of the mid-season episodes are so extremely depressing that I just can't bring myself to watch them again. A particular culprit would be The Unusual Suspect. Normally, I'd be all over a story in that style like a black cat on clean white laundry because, hey, it's Nick-centric and I like episodes that wander away from the established formula, but Hannah is SUCH an obnoxious child and the ending is SUCH a downer that it actually left me feeling thoroughly unsatisfied.

Or, in the case of Pirates of the Third Reich, can't bring myself to watch, period. One of my really, REALLY big squicks is dis-embodied eyeballs so the start of the episode is total nightmare fuel as far as I'm concerned - and that's before you get to the experimentation and everything ELSE in the episode!

The season does, though, perk up around Spellbound, which I liked and, I admit, I do really rather enjoy Poppin' Tags - Drops is a character that I do wish we could have seen (a lot) more of. I also think the season finale story revolving around Brass is good. I'm less convinced by the actual case in Way To Go [though Nick's sarcastic "Thanks, that'll help me tell it apart from all the other severed heads" did make me giggle and briefly flash back to my days in the Highlander fandom], and I don't like the ending of the episode at all (not for the obvious reasons, either), but the wrap up for Brass' story is nicely done and a neat little coda to A Bullet Runs Through It.

Speaking of which, after Gum Drops, that's probably the next best thing about season 6. Okay, the moustache was a little terrifying (Danny Cannon mentions on his commentary that he got more notes about that moustache than he did about the rest of the episode put together!), but the rest of the episode/story is great. Again, it's another episode that departs from the normal formula (in that it's more about the two detectives than it is the CSIs) and I just find the whole way the story fits together absolutely fascinating.

I do have one nitpick, though. They have a CSI (Nick) who speaks Spanish fluently enough to be trading barbs with the crowd while he's picking bullets out of the car. So why isn't he the one going into people's houses collecting bullets, rather than Sara (who either doesn't speak Spanish or doesn't speak it well enough to communicate under the circumstances)?

I think this is also one of the episodes where Vartann comes off spectacularly badly - I can't remember what it is he says in the teaser for part 2, but I know it makes me cringe each time I hear it.

The other episode that I really liked in this season is Shooting Stars - great story, good writing...the only issue I have with it is quite why Nick was so surprised to find the vet had his drugs alphabetised - and even MORE surprised to find the staff list was alphabetised. That bit just made no sense. It's also the episode that keeps reminding me that I have GOT to try and find my Cocteau Twins CDs...

Of the rest of the episodes, I find Rashomama, Bodies In Motion and Room Service entertaining, Up In Smoke is okay (but not one I seek out regularly) and the rest, I really don't have an opinion on!

Overall, then, it's not a favourite season for me, but it DID give me plenty of food for thought...
 
season 6 is again my 2nd or 3rd fave along with s5

the opening scene in bodies in motion the team altogether *jumps for joy* :):):):) but i wish they could have shown the team mixing it up more cause greg and sara worked with sofia, and then cath/warrick it was just like in s5

instead cath could have worked with greg or sara but then again she found out warrick is married :( (i'm a yo! bling shipper) and i so knew tina/warrick wouldn't last, i was so happy when he said they were divorcing in a la cart

room service, shooting stars, bite me, killer they could have been better, one of the things i like about room service is the use of the song mad world b/c it was also used on general hospital as franco's theme music

shooting stars all the puking.. yea that got to me the first time i wached it

bite me its easy to see the daughter did it, but one of the hightlights is gsr

sofia i don't know i think i like her better as a detective than a csi

gum drops good nicky ep, although i always have been curious to see what it would have been like if it had been grissoms episode like originally planned

secrets and files i loved seeing grissom in that episode getting the bad entimologist

daddy's little girl (haven't seen it lately) and a bullet runs through it i soooo need to see those episodes, i've only seen bullet once, and i won't comment on nick's mustache :eek: yuck

dog eat dog i didn't like seeing the guy eat so much plus all the other eating (i'm not so hungry after that episode usually) but i did like the ending with the vic's sister and catherine

werewolves i thought was pretty interesting, a little creepy maybe, and sad

pirates of the third reich- GO lady heather, i'd so let her off the hook if i was the judge, although i am a fan of hers, her sleeping with the man that killed her daughter i don't see how she could do that, i kinda sorta get what griss said to wendy but still :wtf:

up in smoke and i like to watch were ok episodes

the unusual suspect grissom wasn't in the episode but the case made up for it with hannah and marlon and trying to figure out who did it, i could never decide

spellbound i'm not totally crazy about psychics or the case but whatever there was lots and lots of greggo :):):)

poppin' tags i don't like rap music, but grissom's mouth to mouth comment to sara :thumbsup: and when they find dollar and he says look at what i'm wearing and there's press and popperazi let me know when we get to the hospital let me know when we get to the hospital :lol::lol: hilarious, and it's the first appearance of drops (he's ok)

rashomama was a good and funny episode but poor nick in that one :lol::lol:

time of your death is a favorite of mine

bang bang/way to go- brass lives :) and gsr is official :)
 
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Holy crap, Athers! I want you to be sitting down for this shocker. Are you ready? There's something else we agree on! :eek:

I dislike "The Unusual Suspect" for the same reasons. I despise the character of Hannah West. And the entire episode makes me completely depressed.

"Pirates of the Third Reich" I don't mind. I wouldn't say I'm used to the gore shown and implied. More like I expected it. Again, I knew about the episode before watching it so I was prepared. And with a Dr. Mengele type neo-Nazi, I wasn't really surprised.

"Bodies in Motion" is the worst season opener and "Way To Go" is possibly the second worst closer (season 9 holds that dubious honor). Neither had cases that were in any way memorable.

"Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye" has a sort of mystique that I love. An aura of old-timey Vegas that I absolutely love.

Finally, My favorite gag of the season is the character POV's in "Rashomama". When everyone walks through the flower arbor at the chapel, it really tells you a lot of about the characters. Sara sees nothing but fake flowers. Nick believes they are real and beautiful. Grissom looks beyond the flowers at the bugs on them. Greg doesn't even see 'em, just the babes up ahead. Brilliant! :lol:
 
I might be the only person on this board who doesn't have a strong opinion about the 'stache' or the hair. It definitely was a change, though I guess I never gave much thought to it (and since my husband was beginning to lose his at the time, the topic of hair wasn't brought up in my house :) ). I wasn't on internet sites then to realize the backlash (to that or the GSR reveal, so maybe it's a good thing). But, I agree, it can probably be explained on screen as Nick's reaction to his trauma, and off screen as George maybe trying something new.

Season 6 is a success for me based on a few episodes, and scenes. It has two of my all time favorite episodes,
Gum Drops and Rashomama, and the beginning of the obviously-something-is-going-on GSR scenes.

Both GD and Rashomama are Sarah Goldfinger episodes (I really miss her writing for CSI); both are extremely well written and entertaining for very different reasons; and both involve the lesser major characters of the ensemble in a very major way.
Rashomama is my all time favorite episode. It's still funny and has a favorite funny scene of mine: the cake guy ranting to Grissom. :guffaw:Even when I see that actor on other shows, I laugh thinking about it. Also, the beginning scene at the diner is an all time favorite.

A Bullet Runs Through It was very memorable because of the whole scope of the crime scene; and the focus on Brass and Sofia was a nice touch.

I liked Way To Go for several reasons, admittedly mostly for the GSR scenes; but I also liked Nick's 'severed head' comment, Greg asking Grissom about 'hanging out' with Brass, and the Grissom/Brass interaction (which was also nice in A Bullet Runs Through It).

Other favorites: Up In Smoke (Sara on the roof and Sara using a masonry drill! and the end scene with Catherine and the father of the victim), Still Life (very weird twist), Secrets and Flies, The Unusual Suspect, Time of Your Death.

I don't think I disliked any episodes; some less favorites I've rewatched and have found something good about them all, even Poppin Tags which I didn't like at first at all.
 
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I thought I'd put in a good word for Killer, which is an episode that gives the entire team adequate screen time. And for once, a "two cases turning out to be one" had a convincing plot.
 
Elayne said:
I thought I'd put in a good word for Killer, which is an episode that gives the entire team adequate screen time. And for once, a "two cases turning out to be one" had a convincing plot.
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yeah, i won't agrue with you on that

it was something different but just didn't care for it

one thing they could have done to make it better was they could have still shown his pov but never shown his face(above the shoulders) and say his name until the team does, and we would still have to figure out 'who dunnit'
 
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AHH, S/6 another great one:bolian: some of my favorites~

SHOOTING STARS
The whole cult thing and Grissom and Cath and the rest wandering about in the desert, trying to make sense of the suicide pact~

Both BULLET RUNS THROUGH IT were incredible, intruguing and suspensful~

KISS-KISS BYE BYE with icon actress Faye Dunnaway as Lois from "old" Vegas days gone by. Greg so enamored by her, and her signing her book, and the last scene with Grissom reading THE BEST IS YET TO COME:bolian:

RASHOMAMA The 'who killed the dreaded grooms godzilla mom' and the whole team going through the flowered pergula and all thinking things~

TIME OF YOUR DEATH So GSR oriented and the love we saw between them~

WAY TO GO Once again for hard-core GSR fans a wonderful episode~
 
Okay Season 6 faves.
PraetorCorvinus said:
Finally, My favorite gag of the season is the character POV's in "Rashomama". When everyone walks through the flower arbor at the chapel, it really tells you a lot of about the characters. Sara sees nothing but fake flowers. Nick believes they are real and beautiful. Grissom looks beyond the flowers at the bugs on them. Greg doesn't even see 'em, just the babes up ahead. Brilliant! :lol:
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Yes, this is one of the reasons I love that episode plus it was just very entertaining. That episode along with "Kiss, kiss, bye, bye", "Gum Drops", "Spellbound" (Greggo ep), "A Bullet runs through it", "Bodies in Motion" and "Time of your Death" are my faves.

Ones I really disliked, "Poppin' Tags" because I do not like rap music (although there were amusing parts with the guy in the bikini.) "The Unusual Suspect" bored me with Hannah. I am not a fan of her and her eps overall. I think I've only watched that ep one time. I usually turn it off if it is on. "Up in smoke" and "Bite Me" I did not care for either.

The others were all decent episodes that I don't mind.

Nick's mustache was scary and so was his hair. Greg's shaggy hair did not bother me as much, probably because I love the curls. :lol:

The Revelation of GSR I could have done without too.
 
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