"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"

Title: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (Series:Las Vegas - Season 1 - Episode 1 - "Pilot")
Director: Danny Cannon
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Editing: Alec Smight
Composer: John M. Keane
Starring:
- William Petersen as Gil Grissom
- Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows
- Paul Guilfoyle as Cpt. Jim Brass
- Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown
- George Eads as Nick Stokes

Plot and Critical Review: No, "CSI" is not a film. But the legacy this television series has left on the world of cinematic entertainment makes it more than worthy of a review. While other television shows and movies implemented forensics as a way to move the plot forward, "CSI" was the first show to use it as drama. It's no wonder they've declared this series to be the "Most Watched" show (series) in television history. And it all began with the show I review tonight which aired on October 6, 2000.

At the crime lab of the Las Vegas Police Department, young Holly Gribbs introduces herself to Gil Grissom, the supervisor of the graveyard shift. Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown both realize that they only need to solve one more crime to reach the level of CSI 3.

Captain Brass and Grissom investigate what appears to be the suicide of Royce Harmon. They realize that Harmon was murdered. Grissom finds a fingerprint with latex particles in it on the tape-recorder Harmon used to record his “suicide” note. The print belongs to Paul Millander, a man who sells fake Halloween hands made from a mold of his own hand. Grissom realizes that the suspect used one of these hands.

Nick Stokes arrives at his crime scene and meets a man who was drugged by a woman and had his possessions stolen while he was passed out. Nick notices a discoloration around the man’s mouth. He then learns about Kristy Hopkins, who crashed her car because she passed out and may be connected to his case. He notices discoloration around her nipples and realizes that she put scopolamine on her nipples to knock out her victims and steal their possessions.

Catherine and Warrick arrive at a house where a man lies dead. They learn that the dead man had been staying at the house until the owners kicked him out. When he tried to kick in the door the husband shot him. Catherine notices that the husband's left toenail is broken and that the laces of the dead man’s shoes are tied differently from each other. Warrick processes the shoes and finds a broken toenail. He tries to obtain a warrant for the husband’s toenails but Brass refuses to call the judge, so Warrick visits Judge Cohen. In exchange for giving him a blank warrant, the judge gets Warrick to place a bet for him on a football game.

Grissom takes Holly to her first crime scene, a store robbery, and leaves her there. Later, as Holly wonders if she is cut out for this job, Catherine convinces her to stay until she solves her first case.

Brass discovers that Warrick went behind his back to obtain a warrant and pulls him from his case. He forces Warrick to shadow Holly. However, Warrick still has to place the bet for Judge Cohen and leaves Holly at the scene alone with a police officer. Unbeknownst to the CSI team, the officer leaves Holly’s scene, leaving her to process the scene alone. The suspect returns to the scene and attacks her. Meanwhile, Grissom takes over Warrick's case and finds the husband's toenail clippings. He matches the broken nail in the shoe to the husband's clippings and concludes that the husband shot the victim and then kicked the door in to make the murder look like self-defense.

Nick, having solved his 100th case, is now a Level 3 CSI. As the CSI team begins to celebrate, Brass tells them the news that Holly has been shot and is in hospital. The episode ends with the team in shock and Warrick realizing at once that the fault is his own.

If you'd care to learn how the rest of the story unfolds I recommend you begin buying the seasons at once. You will not be disappointed.

At the top of the credits at the end of every "CSI" show (in every series) you will see the same name appear before all the rest; Jerry Bruckheimer. You know him, don't you? Bruckheimer has become one of the most successful television and cinematic producers of them all. His televison productions are obvious and his movie productions include "Top Gun", "The Rock", "Pearl Harbor", and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. Whenever he decided to produce a television series Bruckheimer brought the same energy and commitment applied to his motion pictures. For that reason "CSI" has always been a series at the leading edge of computer graphics, filming, and casting.

My Rating: 9/10 (Based on this particular episode and with regard to the series as a whole.)

The "Reel Revelation": "Be There"

Have you ever been in a difficult situation and knew that no one was going to come to your rescue? Think carefully; don't default to an easy answer. Has there ever been in a moment in your life full of such pain that you knew you wouldn't survive it if left alone and, when you cried out, no one heard your plea? In one way or another, we've all been there. We've all felt the loneliness that comes when we lose someone special, or the deep grief that seems to fill up every part of our lives when the unexpected and altogether unbelievable occurs. We look up for help, and there is no one to comfort us, no one to hold us and wipe away the bitter tears.

In the world of criminalistics it was not "customary" for a CSI to remain at a crime scene with his/her partner. Nor was it "recommended" that an elder team member watch out for the "new kid." It was part of their code that they pledged to follow to the letter. When Warrick left Holly, he violated a code of conduct that he swore to follow. There was no way, of course, for him to know she'd been attacked, but he should never have left that crime scene. Maybe you've felt that way as well when the one person you should be able to count is gone.

One of the most bitter truths we must come to accept is that our friends will fail us. There's no escaping that. While we may promise each other unceasing companionship, affection, and trust, we will fail one another. When our moment of need comes we will eventually be disappointed when we find ourselves alone. We too will disappoint our friends when we are unable (by choice or otherwise) to come to their rescue.

Some of you may not have liked that last paragraph very much, but there is always hope. Jesus is our rescue, our constant companion, and the One who will never violate his word to us, his promise of unconditional love. I don't mean to suggest you should throw off all of your relationships just because they might possibly fail you; to do such a thing would require us to abandon all that we know. Rather, hope in God! God will not only come to us in the person of Jesus; he will send others to be his hands to hold us, to be his feet to show us the way. Indeed, we may find ourselves much like Simon the Cyrene who was compelled to assist Our Lord as he struggled under the weight of that heavy and terrible cross. We may find ourselves coming to the aide of those we've loved all our lives and those whose names are not yet known to us.

This Lent may you open your heart to God and ask him to fill your life with peace, that you may know the great security and comfort that comes in following after Jesus, our constant companion. God will "be there" for us, that we may "be there" for others, that the whole world may know the love of the King of Kings.

See you tomorrow - E.T.