C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation
The Complete Second Season
(Paramount Home Video)
(2001)
review by Head Cheeze

C.S.I. has revitalised the television "cop" drama since it's debut three years ago. The show's winning formula of solid mystery, fascinating detective work, and hip visual style has led to ratings dominance, a spin-off (C.S.I. Miami), and more than a few imitatations. The series is also buoyed by a very strong cast, led by two genre favourites, Manhunter's William Peterson, and Species' Marg Helgenberger (who get's hotter with age. Grrrrrrr....). Oh, and some guy named Jerry Bruckheimer came up with the whole idea. Go figure.

C.S.I. follows the exploits of the Las Vegas Crime Scene Investigation division, as they solve the unsolvable through the wonders of modern forensic technology and a smattering of ol' fashioned detective's instinct. The show is somewhat of a rarity in the new order of episodic television in that while it does feature plot threads that run over the course of a season, for the most part, each show is a standalone episode. This makes it one of the few new series one can tune into at any time and not get lost in a sea of continuity (ala 24, Six Feet Under, Stargate, et al). The sovereignty of each episode also helps to make C.S.I. an inherently re-watchable series, which makes dropping the eighty beans for a 23 episode boxed set all the more palatable.

The 23 episodes featured are:

Burked
Chaos Theory
Overload
Bully For You
Scuba Doobie Doo
Alter Boys
Caged
Slaves Of Las Vegas
And Then There Were None
Ellie
Organ Grinder
You've Got Male
Identity Crisis
The Finger
Burden Of Proof
Primum Non Nocere
Felonius Monk
Chasing The Bus
Stalker
Cats In The Cradle...
Anatomy Of A Lye
Cross-Jurisdictions
The Hunger Artist

There really isn't a dog in the bunch, and, for the most part, they adhere to the show's "two mysteries for the price of one" formula, in which the teams work feverishly to solve two separate crimes. Occasionally (as in the episode And Then There Were None) the two storylines converge into one, or cross over to another episode down the line. My favourite episodes of the lot were Chaos Theory, in which the team investigates a dissappearance at a local college, and the grisly Stalker, about a paranoid woman's death in her impenetrable home. Sure, Chasing the Bus suffers from a case of the "impropables" and Slaves of Las Vegas has a rushed quality to it's denoument, but there isn't a single episode in the set that doesn't entertain, and the show's adherence to science and real world forensics is simply fascinating stuff. C.S.I. is also downright gruesome at times, making me wonder how they get some of this stuff past the censors. Autopsies, crime scene sweeps, and the crime's resolution are accented by gorey flashbacks, close-ups, and re-enactments that are positively R-rated stuff, yet, somehow, it still finds it's way onto the notoriously staid network television.

The Season 2 boxed set features the aformentioned 23 episodes, all presented in widescreen anamorphic transfers, along with three commentary tracks for the episodes Burked, Alter Boys, and Ellie, and 5 short featurettes that feature cast and crew interviews and some behind-the-scenes footage. It's not exactly loaded with extra material, but if you figure that you're getting over 26 hours worth of entertainment for the price of three or four films, it's certainly not a rip-off.

C.S.I. is a very rare and solid example of television done well.