CSI: Vegas season 1 Finale: The Nose Knows

An excellent all-hands-on-deck to what I hope is just the Season One finale of the revived CSI aka CSI: Vegas series on CBS tonight.

[Spoilers follow ... ]

Everyone working on the same case, just one case, and that's always the most fun.  The case, of course, is David Hodges, who has been kidnapped after a false video confession from him has been extorted.  That's what we the audience know.  The judge is still convinced by the evil Wix.  The goal of Sara, Gil, and Maxine is to get the evidence that will convince the judge.

The lead to that evidence is olfactory -- as in perfume, as in scent.  Sara and Gil identify the scent and therein the hotel that has it.  But when they search it from bottom to top, there's no sign of Hodges.  What did they miss?  Scents change over time.   (We could say, scents are change, just as cents are change.) (Sorry.)  But our top-notch CSIs can figure out what the scent was, and therein where Hodges is now.  And we get a happy, champagne-popping ending.  Sara and Gil celebrate it not with a toast, but a ride on an effervescent roller-coaster.

A strong, concluding episode for the season. And a glimpse of what I hope we'll see next season -- a serial killer.  CSI still has spunk and savvy.  Its devotion to truth and evidence, to science and reason, is refreshing in this cynical, often lying world of ours, where a former President lies about winning the election, and he and his adherents pretend that a deadly pandemic is no big deal.  Right, I sometimes mix politics into my reviews, and I'll be back here for sure with a review of the next season, if there is one, and that's the truth.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress ... CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header ... CSI: Vegas: 1.6: Bald Luminol ... CSI: Vegas 1.7: Monet, Grissom, and Truth ... CSI: Vegas 1.8: Down the Drain ... CSI: Vegas 1.9: The Confession and the Stain

CSI: Vegas 1.9: The Confession and The Stain

An excellent next-to-last episode of what I hope will be the first season of CSI: Vegas on CBS tonight, with both a good standalone story and a sharp ratcheting up of the continuing David story.

The standalone story was a devil and angel story, literally.  Well, not quite literally, but the murder victims are a couple who underwent surgery so the guy looked like a devil with horns and his partner had wings like an angel.  Their bodies, discovered months after the couple was killed, provided an ideal case for Allie and Josh to investigate, replete with metaphysical overtones.

Meanwhile, as Sara and Gil struggle to get the goods on Wix, they also have to talk David out of falsely confessing to get a lighter sentence.  This sets up the story for David confessing via a video, which stops the trial cold and ups the ante for Sara and Gil to nab Wix.

In a classic Gil move, he realizes that the confession was forged.  The search is on for where the confession was recorded -- because that would reveal David's location -- and a stain on a wall provides an essential clue.  Sara realizes exactly what happened in a final montage of scenes which serves a fine entree to next week's finale.

However that ends -- and I hope it's with the exoneration of David, who has suffered enough -- it will be fun to see where CSI: Vegas goes if it has a second season, which, as I said, I hope it does.   The David story provided a powerful continuing thread, and I think the duality of each episode -- the standalone and the continuing story -- worked very well.  If Sara and Gil continue in the series, which I'd say is essential, the two would need a continuing case to investigate.  I wouldn't mind seeing another character from the original CSI, or maybe one of the spinoffs, come back, but that's getting ahead ourselves.

I'll see you back here next week with a review of the season finale.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress ... CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header ... CSI: Vegas: 1.6: Bald Luminol ... CSI: Vegas 1.7: Monet, Grissom, and Truth ... CSI: Vegas 1.8: Down the Drain

CSI: Vegas 1.8: Down the Drain

Best line in CSI: Vegas 1.8 comes from Allie, who can't resist noting that a body in a bathtub with hydrogen peroxide and sulphuric acid was "poured down the drain".  The result -- what was left of the melted body -- is a sickening mess.  But it provides a suitable occasion for Gil to earlier say that their evidence went "down the drain".  And Allie says "down the drain" a third time. And later on, Sara talks about a likely decedent being "down Eric Starr's [or Shaw's] drain"  So that phrase gets four justifiably starring mentions in this episode.  

Meanwhile, on the David Hodges case, Sara has the good idea of hiring Janice Woo, an expert witness set to testify against David, to help Sara and CSI with the drain murder. Later, Sara has a satisfying confrontation over garbage with the evil Anson Wix.  Fortunately it was not liquified, so Sara was able to haul it off.  A good night for Sara.

Gil, in addition to getting off one of the good "drain" lines, also has a good night.  He clears a petite blonde from the charge of smashing Shaw's head against the wall and then putting him in the bathtub with the peroxide, the acid, and the drain.  And, looking through the nauseating remains in the bathtub, Gil finds Sara's missing ring.  Near the end of the episode, he puts it back on Sara's finger, right where it belongs.  A noble, loving gesture.

And I'll be back here soon -- actually, in a few minutes -- with my review of episode 1.9, which I also just had the pleasure of seeing.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress ... CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header ... CSI: Vegas: 1.6: Bald Luminol ... CSI: Vegas 1.7: Monet, Grissom, and Truth

CSI: Vegas 1.7: Monet, Grissom, and Truth

My favorite line in tonight's CSI: Vegas 1.7 comes from Grissom, who tells Max, working on a complex splatter pattern,  "There's a killer's signature in there somewhere, Monet".  Impressionism has always been my favorite kind of painting, and Monet my favorite Impressionist, but I would've liked that line, anyway, because it captures Grissom's fount of erudition.  And, it doesn't hurt that I also put Monet's name in one of my novelettes.

Much later in the hour, Grissom is in a conversation with Wix's sister, who tells him, "The best story wins."  All too true, and not a commentary on the best novelette or best movie or TV series.  It's rather part of an attack on the truth, that has always played a role in the heroes versus villains in CSI, and now threatens our democracy.   I hate to get all political in a review like this, but that's exactly what happens when a former President says over and over again that he won the election that booted him out of office, when misinformation spreads like wildfire about the COVID pandemic, which is still causing unnecessary deaths in people who deny the value of powerfully effective vaccines, etc.

Grissom has so far not voiced an explicit opinion about Trump or the pandemic, but there's no doubt where he stands on truth and evidence.  A little after Wix's sister's denunciation of truth, Grissom indeed laments the attack that truth is currently enduring in our world.   As not only a scientist, but someone who works to bring criminals to justice, Grissom makes a good spokesman for truth.  I'd certainly vote for him if he ran for office.

Meanwhile, there's a nice bombshell at the end of this excellent episode.  I'll be back here next week, with a review of how all that works out.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress ... CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header ... CSI: Vegas: 1.6: Bald Luminol

 

CSI: Vegas 1.6: Bald Luminol

A top-notch CSI: Vegas 1.6 tonight -- easily the best so far of the rebooted series -- because, in a nutshell, it had two top-notch stories.

First, it turns out that the blood splatter on the wall that so impressed Gil last week was not quite the thing that impressed him: it was the luminol (possibly he said that last week and I wasn't paying sufficient attention).  The luminol came from CSI, and seemed to implicate Chris (an excellent new character) but dandruff and other evidence led to another suspect -- an attorney who had a great motive for discrediting CSI, to wit, the 40% he would net in attorney's fees for as many of the 8000 suits occasioned by Hodges' tainted work that the attorney could handle.  I like stories in which the or an attorney is the villain.

Now this first, primary, continuing case has not been thoroughly put to rest, but the second story proved to be a continuing proposition, too.  It was a little trite -- an arrogant psycho in prison who can manipulate hapless souls on the outside to do his deadly dirty work -- but the part and the killings and the investigation were well played.  And, most important, the psycho is promising that tonight's story was just the beginning, and a flood of his sick atrocities would follow.

So there are two ways that CSI: Vegas could now go.  The Hodges case could hand-off to the psycho in prison case, and it'll be fun to see where that goes.  Or -- is it possible that the two cases are somehow related?  That the bald attorney with dandruff is somehow doing the psycho's bidding?

Probably not, but the new CSI is picking up speed and appeal as it moves along, and I'm happy to be here for the ride.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress ... CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header

CSI: Vegas 1.5: Double Header

A strong CSI: Vegas 1.5 earlier this week, with two good stories -- the continuing David Hodges framed narrative, and a standalone story of a plane that lands on automatic with a dead crew.  And, actually, I liked the standalone story even more than the continuing.

The set-up is a good classical whodunnit.  And the FBI guy who comes in to help with the investigation shared some romantic energy with Maxine.  She of course demurs that she's married to her job, but who is she kidding, she'll be getting together with this guy before the season is over, or maybe next season (I hope there is), and that will be all to the benefit of a continuing narrative.

Back to Hodges:  Sara and Gil are now sure he was framed on those 8,000 cases, and Maxine agrees but cautions them to stay under the radar, i.e., don't get in the face of that aggressive DA.  But as Gil would no doubt say, knowing someone did a crime and proving it are too very different things.  So good news on that score: before the evening is over, Gil realizes that man who framed Hodges made some kind of mistake -- revealed, in classic CSI style, by shining a special light on a wall that reveals a pattern of blood splatter -- and he was no doubt working for someone more powerful, more important than him.  Good grist for the continuing story.

Joshua, who with Allie always investigates the non-Hodges story, also had his best episode so far.  He connects with and plays surrogate uncle to a boy whose father was murdered on that plane, and [spoiler ahead ...]

whose aunt actually did the murders.  The CSI's connection to kids is another hallmark of the classic series, and it's gratifying to see it continuing.

See you back here with my review of the next episode next week.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets ... CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress

CSI: Vegas 1.4: Difficult Progress

A fun CSI: Vegas 1.4 last night, as Sara and Gil make progress in their effort to exonerate David Hodges, accused of forging of evidence in some 8,000 cases, which if true would make the continuance of CSI in anything resembling its current form plainly impossible.

Their prime adversary is Nora Cross, a tough, articulate, intelligent Internal Affairs Detective.  She's apparently totally convinced that Hodges forged the evidence, and happy to pressure Gil, Sara, and current CSI head Maxine Roby to get their support.   Which doesn't quite make sense because surely Cross realizes that Hodges being guilty could bury CSI, so why would its prime movers Sara and Gil possibly join her in her quest to get Hodges?  Even Roby, who doesn't know Hodges and wasn't there when Hodges allegedly did his nefarious work, is doing what she can to help in his defense and find the person who framed him.

Gil takes a big step forward identifying that framer.  He does that by lying to Nora, and acceding to her request that she join in the persecution/prosecution of Hodges, which raises another question: why does she believe him?   She clearly knows how much damage it would to the history and future of CSI were Hodges guilty.

The truth is that that kind of logic and reasoning was never CSI's strong suit.  Evidence -- Gil's Holy Grail -- was and continues to be the very basis of CSI.  So the good news, the takeaway of episode 1.4, is that Gil on the basis of the files he gets from Nora by lying to her gives Gil what he need to identify the guy who framed Hodges.

That's real progress.  And even if the logic in getting there is little murky, seeing it unfold is still fun.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain ... CSI: Vegas 3.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets

CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets

Another good episode of CSI: Vegas -- 1.3 -- I'm thinking I'm going to review every episode.

Among my favorite segments tonight:

Sara and Gil:  Gil has some kind of land sickness condition -- happens when you spend so much time on a boat, and then switch back to land.  Sara tells Gil she's going nowhere, "you can lean on me".  A really nice statement of her love and commitment to Gil.  And in the coming attractions, we see Gil concerned about something concerning Sara -- I hope the source of that concern is professional not personal health.

David Hodges:  The planted evidence would invalidate multiple thousands of cases David worked on, and a judge helped raised the ante by saying the fate of all of those cases would be decided in one trial.  So if David's found guilty, we can expect a massive crime wave in Las Vegas, and likely across America.  Given the real increase in crime in our off-screen reality due to the pandemic, the last thing any place in America now needs is yet another spike in crime.  One hopeful development: the neighbor's dog that the bad guy killed had enough blood on its teeth to provide (via the new sophisticated 2021 CSI tech) a general ID of the guy: middle age, Hispanic.  So that's helpful.  But so far, finding helpful evidence in the David Hodges case is like pulling teeth (sorry!).  That's good news, though, for the narrative.

The Case of the Week (Maxine, Joshia, and Allie):  Hey, I'm getting to like the new crew, and tonight's case had some excellent elements.  We've all heard about the magic of three-dimensional printing.  I didn't know, though, that it could print up a convincing face mask, so that the person who wore it could pass as someone else.  Actually, I don't know for sure if that can be done in our reality -- which in turn raises the very interesting (to me) question of what part of the science in the new CSI is science fiction?

Well, we have the rest of the season to find out.  I'm looking forward to it.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain

CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain

Circling back, maybe stepping up, with a review CSI Vegas 1.2, which is actually a continuation of the original CSI, then and now on CBS.  I'm still liking it.

The modus operandi appears to be one ongoing case involving David Hodges, who stands accused of forging evidence in who knows how many earlier CSI cases, and another case which will likely change each week.  For 1.2, I enjoyed seeing both unfold, but I'll confine my review to the profoundly important (for CSI) David Hodges case.

Sarah and husband Gil disagree strongly on Hodges' guilt.  Sara feels in her bones that Hodges is innocent, framed by some nefarious player.  Gil can't go by feelings, not even by Sara's logic.  He has to wait for evidence, to tell him how he feels. 

[Spoilers ahead ....]

Good news for Gil's reliance on evidence and Hodges' innocence at the end of the episode.  Gil finds that someone was silencing Hodges' neighbor's dog.  Since Hodges has no reason to do that, Gil concludes that Sara's instincts and logic are right:  The person who framed Hodges must have been responsible for the neighbor's dog,

The question still remains of who and why?  I'm half jokingly thinking that a good candidate would Nick Stokes, played by George Eads, who was with CSI from the beginning until almost the end, leaving after he had some kind of altercation with a writer for the show.  He'd have a big grievance against CSI, right?

In any case, it's very good to see Sara and Gil back in action, and I'm liking the new characters, too, so I'll likely be back here with another review or more.

See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial

CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial

My wife and I saw and enjoyed most of CSI and a smattering of the myriad spinoffs, so we figured we'd watch the CSI reboot -- now CSI: Las Vegas -- which debuted tonight on CBS.   It was good.  Much like original.

Here's the set-up: someone tries to kill a retired and partially blind Jim Brass.  He's played by Paul Guilfoyle, whom I saw not too long ago as The Guardian of Forever (yes!) on Star Trek: Discovery.  I last saw him in the CSI 2015 series finale in the hospital, recovering from a bomb blast.  Good to see him and his character again.

Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) is also back in Vegas, called in by Brass to help with this case.  Gil Grissom (William Peterson), whom Sara ran off to join on a boat and a lifetime relationship in the original series finale, is also back in town, as we see at the very end of this first new episode, which is part 1 of a two-part or longer story.   Also at work on this case is the current CSI head Maxine Roby (Paula Newsome, last seen by me in Chicago Med) and Joshua Folsom (Matt Lauria from Friday Night Lights).

So the cast looks good (but one suggestion: bring back Nike Stokes/George Eads), as do the lights in Las Vegas and the gleaming new equipment in the lab.  And the plot has promise.  David Hodges (Wallace Langham), a major character in the original CSI, in umpteen episodes from 2003-2015, is being framed to look like he forged the evidence in God knows how many cases in which he played a pivotal role.   Sara and Gil are of course convinced of his innocence.  Maxine and the newbies of course are not so sure.  And what's at stake are countless convictions in those very 2003-2015 span of years -- in other words, the very status of CSI itself.

I'd say that's a pretty significant set-up for the new series, more than enough to keep me watching.