CSI (no spoilers)

[neadods]

(expounding from suricattus's comments)

That episode was brilliant. As far as I'm concerned, that was the best written and thematically most interesting episode they've ever done, head and shoulders above blatant ratings grabs like the perversion of the week or "Let's Put Nicky in a Box."

It had everything that makes original CSI great IMO:

- A case that wasn't, however respectfully, based on "look at the wierdos." I don't blame CSI for casting their net far into fringe cultures to keep the plotlines moving, and on the whole I think that the scripts treat the members of that fringe with tact and dignity... but still, it became a crutch over the last few seasons.

- A case that allowed the cast to emote without it Really Being All About Them. In the long run, I profoundly don't care about Sarah's relationship issues or Catherine's problems being a working mother or Warrick's impulse marriage or Ecklie's machinations. If I wanted to watch the internal struggles of characters, I'd be watching some gak on the Lifetime channel. We hit the right balance last night; we knew what the characters felt and hoped for in a moment or two, and then we moved on to the case instead of dwelling on their feelings. Feelings scenes all too often have "For Your Emmy Consideration" written all over them. Feh.

- Moments of humanity at the workplace. Although I stick by what I said above, I also miss scenes where the CSIs acted like real people in a real job. That's the crucial element so baldly missing in the spinoffs, and IMO the reason why the spinoffs can never catch up to the original. In previous seasons we've seen side bets, mild bickering, working meals, teasing... all the things that make the characters break from two heroic dimensions into three realistic ones.

- And finally, dancing to the edge of spoilers without tipping over, I really appreciated who they used for their narrator and how they used that character within the plot. That totally worked for me.

Comments

Can I say Me Too?

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

While you had to remember the "Nicky in the Box" episode to fully understand where some of the emotion was coming from, I fully agree with you. A nice, clean, and crazily straightforward crime scene. It was definitely refreshing not to go that far into the dark.

Re: Can I say Me Too?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

And I was surprised at how I didn't even *notice* that William Peterson didn't have a single scene. As I said to Suri, if they bring that amount of quality in to cover up his lessening presence, I'll miss him... but not that much, y'know?

Re: Can I say Me Too?

[lagilman]

Yeah, if Nick hadn't been boxed, the emotional depth wouldn't have been under the story-surface...but they did an excellent job of reminding us without actually having to re-dredge it. Kudos to the writers and the actors both.

Re: Can I say Me Too?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

if Nick hadn't been boxed, the emotional depth wouldn't have been under the story-surface

I'm not as convinced by that. It wouldn't be the same depth, but I think "small brave child in mortal peril" brings enough to the table - and to tell the truth, I was doing something else while I watched, so when Nick said "Someone saved me" I flashed back to the episode when the stalker shoved him out the window, not Boxing Nicky.

*blink* He does tend to be the designated Damsel in Distress, come to think of it...

Re: Can I say Me Too?

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

Well, he's the cute one. Actually, they're all cute, but he's the demographically cute one. So he's the one they put in dis dress. :wink:

Re: Can I say Me Too?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

He was a heck of a lot cuter when he still had hair! What's up with that shaved head?

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Triggered by your remark about formulae... I finally caught an episode of Bones this week, and enjoyed it greatly. Russ' comment was that they were recreating the X-Files dynamic almost verbatim, which I wouldn't have known because I only ever saw 1 episode of X-Files; that was enough to turn me off the series altogether, not for any gross-out reason but because I couldn't get past the fact that I, an untrained layman, knew more about supernatural phenomena than these supposedly-highly-trained experts. I don't think Bones is going to fall into that trap, though.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Bones unfortunately made a huge mistake with me during the premiere - it had the CSIs load all the data into a computer and then watch it generate a holographic image of the crime for them to study. I can't suspend my disbelief high enough to get over that hurdle.