Greetings,
I have noticed that some television shows are divided into different parts based on who is in the cast. In the very late seventies and leading into the eighties, we had two different versions of both The Facts of Life and Mama's Family, Then, as we went from eighties to nineties, of course, there was Designing Women. To Burke or not to Burke. That is all I can say about that. In the case of CSI, we have, what I call, the Grissom Years, and then, we have the rest of the episodes. Now I know many people who gave up on CSI once Grissom was gone, and, though I have continued to watch and enjoy, I can certainly see where they're coming from. Still, they should give the "new" show a chance.
When CSI debuted in 2000, it belonged to William Peterson and his character, Gil Grissom. Of course, we came to dearly love other characters and the actors who portrayed them, but Grissom was kind of the patriarch for all the years he was there. He served as a boss, a mentor, and, when it came to Sara Sidle, he fulfilled other...duties. So, when we heard that, after an eight and some change year run, he would be leaving, many fans were upset. I was among them. I knew I would miss him, and I could not fathom who they could possibly get to replace him.
Who they got was Cowboy Curtis himself, Laurence Fishbourne. I was cool with that, because I am a great admirer if his. Problem was that Fishbourne's character was a college professor who happened to stumble into becoming a CSI. So, through no fault of his own, he could not be the leader that Grissom had been. Thank God that Hot Mama Helgenberger (Yes, I call her that) as Catherine Willows stepped in to do what women do best - cleaning up the messes that men leave behind. Until she abandoned us, too, but that is different story. And, yes, I have forgiven her. Love her!
Once Fishbourne departed after an incredibly intense story line, we were then given Ted Danson. This worried me because I had never really been a super-fan of his. Well, I was never into Cheers and I think they may have just rubbed off on him. I was concerned that, despite my great love for the long running characters on this show, I may be so bothered by his "Sam Malone-y" presence that I would stop watching. Good news, though. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I truly enjoy his character and him, and, thus far, I'm hoping he continues on.
But back to my point here. The CSI manned by Grissom was a different show, so therefore, I can bypass my rule of only doing top ten episode lists of no longer on the air shows. And so I will do my list of episodes regarding The Grissom Years. Sorry, kids, but that means no Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber. Maybe next time. Now bear in mind, these are merely episodes featuring Grissom, not necessarily centered around him, though that might happen. Oh, and there may be some spoilers here, so...warning! And here we go.
#10. "Fur and Loathing" (Season 4) - Let's start off with a bang, shall we? They find the dead body of a man dressed in a full raccoon costume. Do I really have to give any other reasons as to why this is one of my favorites? Okay, I will give one more reason. Grissom was the one who knew about something called a "Plushies and Furries" Convention. Now he usually knows things, and our response is usually "How do you know that?". In this case, it was more like "WHY do you know that?" Or do I not want to know?
#9. "Unfriendly Skies" (Season 1) - This is probably why I don't fly. We start with, no surprise, a dead body, but this dead body is on a plane. And it got dead about 30,000 feet in the air, or however high planes fly. I don't really know. I'm not Grissom. So, there should be no problem here, right? I mean, whatever happened, obviously, we have a lot of witnesses. Well, these people are not being the most cooperative, except for the blind guy played by former Uncle Phil. No worries, though. As usual, they figure out what happened, albeit, not with the result for which one would hope. And they do so after a rousing game of role playing, in the tradition of Crossing Jordan, a show that had yet to begin at the airing of this episode. Funny how that happened.
#8. "Stalker" (Season 2) - It is this episode that features the seasonal crying jag of Nick Stokes. He cries a lot. It's odd, considering that I'm pretty sure he's from Texas. In other words, "Man up, cowboy!" Anyway, Nick is being stalked by a guy who works for the cable company and has decided that he would like to be Nick's best friend, or, ya know, just be Nick. And this guy is a neeeerd! Now if we've learned anything from the first Dirty Harry movie, it is that there is nothing scarier than a scary nerd. I guess that's why Nick cried, and, therefore, led me to bestow upon him the title of Crier Nick. It's cool, though. A lot of ladies like a guy who can cry. Even me, sometimes.
#7. "The Theory of Everything" (Season 8) - When I did my top ten episode list for Law and Order, I included an episode called "Couples", where several crimes were investigated, and one led to another and led to another and so on. This episode of CSI is very similar. There is a boat load of incidents happening, and they end up all being connected and affected by one another. It was very enjoyable to try and follow along. Oh, and a guy spontaneously combusted. Or did he? Superfun!
#6. "Who Shot Sherlock?" (Season 5) - This episode is centered around two of the greatest loves of my life - fine literature and Greg Sanders. That's right. Sweet Greg, played by sweet Eric Szmanda, is my favorite CSI character. And, yes, Sweet Greg is his official title. Here, they are working on a case where he will get his final evaluation before it is decided whether or not he can become a real, big boy CSI as opposed to being a lab worker. And in this case, we find a dead guy dressed like Sherlock Holmes. Yeah. Good times, already. Turns out, he is part of a role playing group, but it's not that kind of role playing group. No, these are people who choose to immerse themselves into the world of Sherlock Holmes, costumes, accents and all. Sounds fun to me. Anyway, they do solve the crime, eventually, and Sweet Greg is rewarded with the promotion. He's confused because he made several mistakes in the process. But Grissom (Hey, I finally mentioned him!) reminds Greg that it's all part of the job.
#5. "For Warrick" (Season 9) - Season 8 ended with a cliffhanger, where Warrick Brown is shot in the neck. and we don't know if he survives. I heard they did this because jobs were on the fence behind the scenes, but I don't know, and it's not important. Season 9 begins with us being reminded of that incident, then we see Grissom running up the alley to find Warrick, pulling him from the car and having him die in his arms. I'm not going to go into huge detail here. I will say that it is a tearjerker from beginning to end, and every actor who has so much as one line, or even one pass by the camera, gives an excellent performance. This one will, no doubt, go down in history.
#4. "A Little Murder" (Season 3) - We begin with a dead, hanging, little person. Oh, here we go. In Vegas, there are apparently conventions for everyone, including ones for little people. Unfortunately, one of them dies. Now, as we investigate the crime, "PC Man of the Year", Crier Nick, refers to him as a midget and disabled, which meant he could have been depressed, which meant he may have hung himself. Nick is subsequently scolded by Grissom for being less than sensitive about the situation. Yes, Grissom, whose pre-theme song one liner for this episode is him uttering this phrase - "I think we've got a little murder". Um, okay? Hypocrisy much! Sigh. I'm going to end on a high note here, though, with a shout out to guest star, Meredith Eaton. She is a little person, but she also happens to be one of the finest actresses and most beautiful women I have ever seen. Look her up.
#3. "Rashomama" (Season 6) - The title here is obviously taken from the idea of the Rashomon Effect dealing with perception. We'll get to that. We begin as Crier Nick, Sweet Greg and Sara (she has no title as of yet) join each other for breakfast after leaving a wedding/crime scene. Because, as we all know, the most responsible thing for them to do is, not go with the evidence directly to the lab to be processed, but stop at a diner for cheap food while leaving the civilian car unattended. I mean, it's not like someone is going to steal the car. So, anyway, someone steals the car. Yep. Somebody's in trouble. Since they no longer have evidence, they must mentally recall every detail of what they observed and collected. This is where perception kicks in, whereas every team member sees this wedding/crime scene in a different and interesting light. It serves best to let us into each of their minds, so that we can get to know them even better.
#2. "Fannysmackin'"/ "Post Mortem"/ "Big Shots" (Season 7) - Yes, it's a three way tie. What about it? Okay, but I have good reason. These three episodes contain a great story arc for Sweet Greg. That's right, they finally gave him something. Well, it had been seven years. It must have been time for him to have a tamer version of his pon farr (Only Trekkies will know what I mean there and get the joke!). It begins with "Fannysmackin'", an episode which is often referred to as the "Federline Episode" due to a bizarre casting decision. I hate this because it completely undermines the fine acting performance of Eric Szmanda. Whatever! Here, a group of thugs is beating up tourists. At one point, Greg comes upon them and their latest victim. While trying to come to the man's aid, he ends up running over one of the perps in mid-attack who eventually dies, and then poor, Sweet Greg ends up a victim himself. Though the thugs are caught and Greg recovers, he must be investigated for using deadly force. That happens in "Post Mortem", where he is subjected to a hearing to determine if using said force was necessary. He is excused, though, because in this world, it's kill or be killed, and the victim's family eventually is compensated for their loss with the money of taxpayers. The arc culminates in "Big Shots", where there is a drive-by shooting and one of the suspects ends up being the brother of the man he ran over. It is an emotionally charged episode, especially when the guy's mother asks Greg for help, stating that he owes her. And I'm so proud of Sweet Greg for standing up to her and saying, "Uh, no, I do not!", or something to that effect. Eventually, though, when they discover that the kid was merely there but took no part in the crime, he does ask the DA to have leniency. And this is merely one reason why I refer to my Sweet Greg as such.
#1. "Grave Danger" (Season 5) - This episode was really big. It was a two parter where Crier Nick, after a fated coin toss with Warrick, is led to a fake crime scene, kidnapped and buried alive. Oh, pickles! Yeah, since I most likely would not wish that on my worst enemy, if Nick decided to justify my title for him here, I would not mind at all. Now this one was big for another reason. It was directed by a huge fan of the show named Quentin Tarentino, and his fingerprints, pardon the pun, are all over this. Between the pointless but amusing exposition, multiple cameos by pop culture icons like Frank Gorshin and Tony Curtis, and the use of old songs that I've never heard before, I wouldn't have needed to be told that he was behind this. All kidding aside, this was an amazing episode, and, all teasing aside, George Eads really stole the show, portraying the emotions one would go through in this situation perfectly. And I commend him for his dedication, since I hear they actually did put him in a box for awhile. Not buried, though, so it's all good. And so is this episode.
There you have it, the best of the time we spent with Grissom. And though I didn't mention him overwhelmingly here, I do have a great respect for the work that William Peterson did on this show as an actor. I just hope that one day he will opt to return for good.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
