CSI | AXN | 06.23.2004

On CSI last night: Dead Ringer

The police Olympics (or something like that) are being held in Las Vegas. An LA cop is found dead in the desert in the middle of a relay race, with signs pointing to foreign substances (read: drugs) as the cause of death. Meanwhile, at a hotel, the apparent murder-suicide of a male and female cop from different areas triggers an investigation into infidelities and mistaken identity.

This is one of the better episodes of CSI for this season; lately however, it seems that the CSI episodes have been a bit dry compared to previous episodes. Could it be an over-saturation of sordid crime on my part? Or has the series really degraded? Apparently, 20 million viewers in the US don't share my opinion on this, because it's still the #1 show in the US.

I don't really relish the thought of Grissom's scruffy look nowadays. He looks tired and unprofessional (IMHO). Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown), meanwhile, seems to be getting less and less screen time along with another favorite of mine, Eric Szmanda (Greg Sanders), which contributes to the lack of spark. The "processing" sequences, where the state-of-the-art crime lab machines are being used, have become tedious of late, seeming to be shot unimaginatively. The color palette, too, is quite gray, contributing to the lack of visual liveliness of the scenes.

Meanwhile, it seems that there are more and more cops being investigated lately. A few episodes back, in Paper or Plastic?, a gritty cop was the main suspect in the crossfire murder of a patron in a grocery holdup. In this episode, cops are suspects in both murder cases. Is this a statement of sorts?