User Reviews

Typical good show from the writers and producers of CSI. They need to pay closer attention to the details in the show they have written (of course, you can find these type of inconsistencies or impossibilities in most every show). The opening scene shows a man crawling under a house looking for a water leak. He finds fingers sticking out from a concrete footing under the house. Interesting that the fingers would stick out because concrete footings are typically created using a form that keeps the poured concrete in the intended shape (except the very top where the concrete is poured into the form), with the form remaining in place until the concrete is solid.

3 cases this time :)

A list of the CSIs' various breaches of department policy through all the seasons would make good reading. A sizable number of these rule- flauntings can be traced to Catherine Willows. Here she is at it again. Her ex-husband is accused of rape. She is instructed to hand the case over to Warrick because of conflicts of interest, but decides not to.

Warrick is on form (is it me or does he tend to repeatedly inflame relations with the Police Department?) Here the CSIs decide they are going to accuse a police officer of murder. There's the predictable tension between Brass and the others. All good stuff

There's also a bit of decent acting from George Eads, Terri Millar appears for the first time and plays with Grissom's pet spider. She tries to re-create a face from a desiccated body for the third case, they reveal a very sad, and murderous tale. Storming episode

So you have that animosity between Brass and Warrick surfacing yet again, except this time it is over a cop's testimony regarding a suicide he was witness to, with the CSI needing to investigate to make sure. The cop is offended that his word is questioned while Brass sees this as an opportunity to serve as a "Union rep" which allows him to antagonize Warrick and, in turn, Sara (assigned to assist Warrick on the case). The tumultuous nature of CSI "scientists" and the "cops who face real danger on the streets" becomes a volatile situation Brass seems willing to allow to heat up while Grissom wants the flames fanned into nothing but smoke. So proving what happened at that scene will determine where the cop's bullet actually is (it was missing from his clip; he explains that it reduces the chance for his gun to jam, while CSI must make sure it wasn't fired in a criminal act) and if this was suicide as proclaimed. A questionable car jockey and a bullet found in a tire might just incite or diffuse a "war" no one wants on either side of the investigation. Grissom and Nick are working the case of a discovered skeletal corpse found inside a wall underneath a house as a plumber was searching for a leak. Grissom meets facial reconstructionist, Terri Miller (the stunning Pamela Gidley), who adds a face to the skull and through her work (she allows Grissom to assist, placing his face in clay and smoothing out the skull) Fay Green is named as the victim. Her former boyfriend might be the viable suspect, but his wife looks awful nervous as Grissom and Nick request investigating their home. A type of sand (not from a beach) found on the skeletal remains and specific puncture wounds from a tool with "crocodile teeth" will help assist the CSI in their investigation. The dissolved marriage of Catherine and her husband Eddie (character actor Timothy Carhart) had been mentioned in dialogue the first episodes of the season, and this is introduced thoroughly as a case of rape, regarding a stripper saying she was treated too roughly, brings their relationship to the forefront. Treading delicately as not to conflict the case of rape against Eddie, Catherine will try to investigate without touching the evidence, and perhaps she is able to conclude that this was less of a crime and more of expectations not met. Eddie is shown here to be a master manipulator and con as not only does he try to influence a little trip down memory lane with Catherine but his lying regarding "big contracts with musicians in the industry" to girls to get laid certainly doesn't help his cause. A great piece of acting from George Eads as a gun is pointed directly at him and he is interlocked in a standoff where his life could be hanging by a thread as the killer trembles in fear at everything crashing down around her. Nick is quite rattled by this experience as Grissom must halt what could be a dangerous situation. The skull fingers sticking out of concrete under the house is quite a grabber. Catherine's life as a stripper is mentioned here, and her scene with DNA analyst, Greg (Eric Szmanda, longtime series regular who stole scenes in early seasons) about "remembering her performance" was great! Brass once again carries himself like an asshole just trying to provoke hostility. The potential of a relationship between Grissom and Terri (the chemistry is truly palpable) never quite materializes unfortunately.

The tensions between the cops and the CSIs come to a head in this episode. It's easy to forget now, but early in its run, CSI had the burden of distinguishing itself from the numerous cop shows that came before it. This episode underscores how different what the CSIs do is from what cops do; if this was a cop show, the valet's eyewitness testimony might have been enough to convict Tynar. But the CSIs don't deal with he said/he said; it's all about the evidence. Though he's clearly on the cop side, Brass knows enough to realize that the CSIs need to find that bullet before drawing any definitive conclusions. Neither Tynar nor the valet is a perfect witness: Tynar has a laundry list of complaints against him and was investigated by IA twice, while the valet was joyriding and may have been drinking. The theme "people lie, the evidence doesn't" is one that's emphasized many times during the show's first season.

Like he was in the "Pilot", Brass is argumentative and aggressive, very much a typical cop to the CSI team's somewhat more diverse and quirky roster of scientists. Though he's clearly old guard to the CSIs' more progressive point of view, Brass isn't simply a cliched arrogant cop by any means, and he's got a point about how the bullet needs to be found before any conclusions can be reached about Tynar's guilt. Paul Guilfoyle proves he was the perfect choice to play Brass with every performance. He's grizzled and tough but there's a depth to his performance: even if our sympathies are naturally with the CSIs, Guilfoyle always allows us to see where Brass is coming from.

Brass's clash with Warrick is just beneath the surface of their interactions, and he brings it up here when asking about the evidence. Brass asks Warrick if the investigation is "payback," referring to Brass denying Warrick a warrant and putting him on suspension after Holly Gribbs was shot in the pilot. It's understandable that the tension would be the greatest between these two: Warrick has a fiery, intense personality that makes him more likely to clash with Brass than say, Grissom. Grissom sticks up for himself and his team, but despite the CSI supervisor not being a politician, he is good at calming people down and he effectively diffuses the conflict between Warrick and Brass.

Given how the episode ends, Brass makes an ironic comment to Grissom when he asks the CSI when the last time he drew his weapon was. The end of the episode sees Grissom pulling that weapon to save Nick, who is being held at gunpoint by the clearly unhinged Amy Hindler. Though Grissom is very much a scientist, this is the first time we really get to see him in action, so to speak, and he rises to the occasion. There's no hesitancy in his action; he's as calm and collected holding a gun and talking Amy down as he is in his lab running an experiment.

If Nick isn't quite as cool in the situation as Grissom is, it's easily explained by the fact that he's the one Amy is brandishing her weapon at and also that he's simply not as experienced as Grissom. Someone having a gun aimed at them on television or in the movies is such a routine circumstance that it doesn't usually make much of an impression with the audience, but because of the way George Eads chooses to play the moment, it's a memorable one. Nick's tears and the fear in his voice make the circumstances feel very real, and force the audience to actually worry about Nick's fate. After all, it was just five episodes ago that Holly Gribbs was shot, and she didn't survive that. Eads' performance makes a situation we've become desensitized to on television feel very real and frightening. It's a risky choice--seeing a man cry on television is uncommon as seeing a gun aimed at someone is common--but it's one that definitely pays off.

We finally get to meet Eddie Willows, Catherine's ex-husband, a manipulative charmer who feels no remorse about playing on his ex-wife's lingering feelings for him. He has no hesitation about using their daughter, Lindsey, to get Catherine to help him: he asks her whether she wants their daughter to see her father in the park...or in jail. Whether it's for Lindsey's sake, Eddie's or her own, Catherine is swayed by his argument and pursues the case, even going so far as to call on her strip club connections to get into the strippers' locker room. The case opens up a glimpse into Catherine's past, and rather than being ashamed of her previous employment as an exotic dancer, Catherine claims it and embraces it. When Greg suggests he might have seen Catherine dance at some point, she brazenly tells him that if he had, he would remember.

And yet, as tough and proud as she is, Catherine is still clearly susceptible to Eddie's charms. He tells her he married up when he married her and reminds her in the park where she's taken Lindsey that they were good together sexually. If Lindsey hadn't interrupted, would Catherine have kissed her ex? It's definitely possible. As much as she's not quite yet able to chuck Eddie, she has no problem defying Grissom. Grissom tells her repeatedly to remove herself from the case, but Catherine is determined to see it through. As clueless as he can be about people sometimes, Grissom does see through to her real motivation: she's still in love with Eddie.

Grissom himself might be feeling a few tugs on the heartstrings himself: there are definitely sparks flying between him and pretty facial reconstructionist Teri Miller. Grissom takes an interest in Teri's work, and Teri takes an interest in him, boldly leaving her number on his cold case bulletin board. "The ones that got away," Grissom muses. Teri clearly hopes not. Also making a first appearance is Robert David Hall as Dr. Robbins. There was nothing wrong with Jenna Wells, but Hall brings a gravitas and presence to the morgue. Like Eric Szmanda, he makes an impression. It's no surprise both were made regulars down the road.