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The year's half over, and if we're grading the state of cinema in 2009, we have to hand out a mixed rating. Animated films have soared like the balloon-decked house in "Up," but it's about time to drive a stake through the heart of the vampire trend.
The season finale’s first victim was Houston Dobbs, who was shot in the head. Shoe prints led the CSIs to believe there were two men with him. The gun used was a .38 or a .357, but Riley also found the bullet for a .22 in the car’s backseat. It came from a concealed weapon belt buckle (this handy item actually has a working .22 built into the buckle) that belonged to a collector named Wiley Schindler.
Joey Niagra died as a result of 24 stab wounds, not to mention being hit with a metal chain. He’d been in a biker bar with his girlfriend Rita and watched his pals Jackass and Hooper fight over spilled beer on the pool table. He’d greeted everyone in the bar with a hearty hello, especially bartender Rudy. But things were not quite as they seemed, Joey Niagra was actually undercover cop Jack Nettles. But who had dropped the dime on Nettles?
Catherine decided to do Doc Robbins a favor and look in on Darla Kelly, the mother of a victim whose cause of death was undetermined. But Darla attacked her, choking her and biting her on the wrist. Catherine managed to break free and the woman collapsed on the floor and died.
A very grown-up looking Henry Thomas (aka Elliott from “E.T.”) starred as Jeremy Kent, a convicted murder who claimed that he hadn’t committed the crime. He alleged that he’d been railroaded by a sneaky attorney and an opportunistic cell mate, and that the evidence that convicted him would not stand up to 2009 standards. The state supreme court granted Kent a new trial. The case had been Catherine’s first as a solo crime scene investigator.
If tonight’s “CSI” seemed reminiscent of “The Exorcist,” it’s because the director of that famous film, William Friedkin, directed the episode. It was easy to see his touches in the scary opening victim-stalking scene and in the creepy ritual. We may not have gotten a “French Connection”-style car chase, but he kept those wrestling scenes pretty lively. Happy 200th, “CSI”!
In a CSI training session, Ray and Riley both learned that Code 4 meant “situation secure.” They also learned that to alert someone that things were amiss you were to call them by your own name, and they were to respond by calling you by your own name. And, oh yeah, code 482 means “lunch.”
Ray investigated the death of Carsten Pennington, a wealthy art dealer who was found dead in his pool. He wasn’t quite what he seemed. His cat, Gareth, couldn’t stop licking fragments of a priceless broken vase, which turned out to be a fake. It had been smeared with yogurt and then covered with dirt to falsely age it. But you can’t fool a cat. Carsten’s fiancée, Darcy, was the most likely suspect, but perhaps she’d had a little help.
Ray had to give his first testimony in a murder trial. At first, the case seemed straightforward. Victim Amber was a stripper who’d apparently been killed by Congressman Griffin, with whom she’d been having an affair. But just as Ray was giving his testimony, the congressman’s right-hand man, Dominic Humphreys, shot himself outside the courtroom. A bloody note in Humphreys’ pocket contained a murder confession. The gun, which belonged to the congressman, was used in both the murder and the suicide.
Choozy’s Chicken provided the night’s first murder setting. When the store’s giant ceramic chicken was pushed through the window, the police stumbled upon the body of Bob, one of the managers of the franchise.
Not everything was as it seemed on this episode of “CSI.” We thought our murder victim was FBI agent William Ray Hatford, who was pummeled to death by a man that a local stoner described as looking like a “Red Incredible Hulk.” The Red Incredible Hulk turned out to be Vinnie Mingus, a Supreme Force Fighter, who had pumped himself so full of steroids that not only did he rip off Hatford’s arm, he cut off some of his own muscle at the scene. Hunk of flesh: Now that’s a real clue.
Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne, a.k.a. the beloved Gil Grissom's replacement) started his first official shift as a CSI level 1. He had his briefcase full of fingerprint powder and was dressed in a suit and tie. But his day turned out a bit more complicated. On the way to his first case with Nick (a burglary) he saw an explosion marking his second (an arson).
After solving his final case with CSI, Gil Grissom packed up his office and took his last walk down the hall. He noticed all his co-workers on the way out (even spending a moment with the program from Warrick's memorial service) and exchanged a final smile with Catherine, who seemed to give her approval for him to exit. The GPS marking Costa Rica meant only one thing: Grissom was planning to spend his days with his two great loves: bugs and Sara Sidle. In a meeting reminiscent of Carol Hathaway reuniting with Doug Ross when she left “ER,” Grissom found Sara in the jungle and the two shared a long kiss. Even longtime GSR doubters had to give these two their happy ending at last.
Yep, folks, Grissom announced that he is leaving CSI. Reactions varied, but everyone seemed stunned, except Catherine, who told Grissom that she knew he was going to leave before he did. Robbins said, “I think you’re nuts.” Nick puzzled over what Grissom was going to do next: “write a book, go off and study bugs somewhere?” Hodges was hurt and told Grissom to “have a nice life.” Wendy thanked him for his support and encouragement, and Grissom told her, “You earned it.” Grissom told Super Dave he would miss him, which left him proud and unable to speak. And Brass said they would go fishing on his boat. “You have a boat?” Grissom asked. “No,” Brass said. Typical Brass. You know he’ll miss Grissom the most.
The stories are varied: A man ages backward, a nun suspects a priest of pedophilia, the rise and fall of a Latin American revolutionary, a married couple questions their life choices and a classic confrontation between a journalist and a politician. The sources are plays, popular novels and pure imagination. The directors are A-list: David Fincher, Ron Howard, Steven Soderbergh, Gus Van Sant, John Patrick Shanley and Sam Mendes. And their stars — Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn and Leonardo DiCaprio — are some of Hollywood’s best. But will one of these six films take home the best picture Oscar? We’re betting on it.
Just in time for the holidays: Loads of Nazis. There must be something in the air, because World War II is everywhere in this winter’s period dramas. Plots include: A plan to assassinate Hitler; a Nazi collaborator who starts to feel guilty; a boy who falls for a woman who may have worked in a concentration camp; and three Jewish brothers who decide to fight back. It’s not recommended to watch any of these as a double feature. OK, there is one more period drama, in which Beyonce Knowles plays Etta James — and she won’t be fighting any Nazis.
After finding out that the miniature killer, Natalie Davis, was going to have a hearing to determine whether she was mentally healthy enough to leave the hospital for prison, Grissom headed up to see her. Natalie told him, “Psychopathic personalities are often skilled at mimicking human emotions... but I am truly sorry.” After Grissom testified, the judge ruled that she be transferred to prison.
Sung Bang and his sister-in-law, Kora Sil, were shot in Vegas' tiny Koreatown, while Kora’s son, Park Bang, looked on. Sung had just been released from prison for DUIs. Kora was a drug addict who had farmed out her son — the 8-year-old, HIV-positive Park — for a dangerous drug trial. It gets worse: Kora and Park had been living in a Korean gangster’s basement. When Grissom finally got the boy to talk, Park tried to lay blame on the gangster, but after creating a reenactment of the scene, Grissom was horrified to realize that after Kora has shot Sung, Park had then shot his own mother. “I’m sorry we solved this,” Grissom told Brass. “I really am.”
Victim Ian Wallace was strangled, and his body strapped to the bottom of an SUV. The killer stupidly used nylon rope, which melted, dropping the corpse into the road. The CSIs found needle-play marks around Wallace’s nipples and his tongue had been burned during bondage. His girlfriend, Justine, was also found murdered; she’d been kidnapped, taken to the desert, and hit with her own SUV.
Murder victim Angela Carlos was the daughter of Colombian drug lord Juan Roman Carlos. Nick and Riley found her dead in a garbage dumpster. A fish tattoo on her thigh led Catherine and Riley to the Dark Waters nightclub. Seedy club owner Craig Hess (yep, that was “Sex and the City’s” Jason Lewis) told them that she’d only been there briefly before he got her to leave, but it turned out he sent him to see Goya, who trafficked cocaine out of a fish and aquarium warehouse. Angela wanted drugs, snorted Atropine (used to cut cocaine) by mistake, fell and cut her head open, and Goya and his pal decided to give her a transfusion — using their own, differently typed blood.
Four victims were all posed like statues: A nurse clutching a cell phone, a runner resting on a park bench, a businessman hailing a cab and an elderly couple bird watching. The CSIs discovered that the victims had been posed and asphyxiated in a chamber filled with carbon monoxide. The man behind the crime was frustrated artist Arthur Blisterman, who had entered a municipal contest to create bronze statues for the city, but had decided to use real bodies instead. When the CSIs realized there was still one potential victim out there — a boy who was to be posed on his bicycle — Grissom interrogated Blisterman trying to find out the truth. When Grissom told him he’d be facing the death penalty, he simply said, “I’m not scared of dying. I just don’t want to be forgotten.”
Sprig Grenigier calmly let her pot roast cook, turned on the news, changed into a bathing suit, and dove off her high-rise balcony onto a city bus. The case took Nick and Catherine to a hypnotist, who’d been helping Sprig lose weight — and hynotized the girl into robbing the bank where she worked. They surmised (but weren’t able to prove) that the hypnotist had gotten the girl to leap to her death by hypnotically suggesting that she was on her honeymoon diving into the ocean.
Undersheriff McKeen caught up to Warrick in his car and told him that he could keep his badge. Then to be sure that Warrick wouldn't continue his Gedda investigation, McKeen shot him twice in the chest. Though Warrick seemed doomed, viewers still hoped he would pull through.
“CSI’s” Gil Grissom is one of TV’s rare creations. He’s Joe Friday meets Bill Nye the Science Guy. He’s Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rolled into one person. Unlike the leads on other "CSI" shows — Horatio Caine in Miami, and Mac Taylor in New York — Grissom is a scientist, not a cop.
Blockbuster season isn’t over yet. In fact, Batman is poised to challenge Indiana Jones for that coveted spot as the highest grossing film of the summer. And the Caped Crusader is not alone. Hellboy, Agent Mulder, and even Yoda return to theaters for the hot months of July and August. But the real star to look out for this summer is Will Smith, who’s back on the big screen, this time playing the most unorthodox superhero around.
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