Having been a long time CSI watcher (and lurker here) I figured this pivotal moment in the franchise might be the right time for me to join this site.
I thought this episode was amazingly well done. Dr. Langston is definitely on my to watch list. It seems to have worked well all around. I have more than one friend who is coming back to CSI because Grissom is gone along with GSR (not that I minded it that much, the show was still good, not going to nitpick episodes that had GSR moments because 3% was not to my liking when 97% was).
Mr. Fishburne has a very dramatic range, something I didn't expect having only seen him in the Matrix opposite Keanu Reeves (which is a bit like acting opposite a piece of cardboard).
I was a little annoyed that there was so much talk of Grissom when Warrick got practically nothing, but then again, as my friend pointed out, people tend to not talk about recent and hard deaths together.
Thinking of Warrick so soon after his death would only bring the death to light in a characters mind (as happened a episode or two after when Cath saw his name in her cellphone), while thinking of Grissom off being happy in Costa Rica is something else entirely.
I do like this episode for a few particular reasons:
~ It had an experiment, something CSI was doing very rarely for a while.
~Langston is good with people, just bad at reading them. Unlike Grissom he isn't akward and sullen as much as he seems shocked by the world he has stepped into.
~Hodges was perfect this episode, acting just like a jaded viewer thinking "this new guy better measure up"
~Riley telling Langston that they are there to collect evidence, not be social workers. Reminded me of Flack telling Hawkes about that on his case with the boy that burned in the apartment fire playing chess. I know the circumstances are different, but the idea I believe is the same.
~I loved how they didn't have a line at the end of the teaser, it was not the appropraite time for it. the look on Langstons face was enough.
I did not like one thing. Riley playing uni. Now, I am not slighting Lauren Lee Smith at all, she did a fine job and played her role well. However, since when do CSIs get to tell people they are under arrest? That is for a sworn officer to do, and CSIs are not sworn, they are civilians (one of my friends is a Public Service Officer, so he is always telling me the difference).
Overall, a nice new start for CSI, something I felt was needed. Like a laxative, it works. (points for knowing that reference
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