KayLyne's Place

Welcome, serenity, and destruction - Sanctuary style

2009-11-08T06:09:56Z

It's been quite a while since I've done any artwork, but the latest episode of Sanctuary had some great images that just called for me to do some WPs. So here are the latest:

Sunny day, keeping the clouds away

2009-11-06T21:08:32Z

It’s the 40th birthday of SESAME STREET!! Yay! Those wonderful muppets are featured in the new issue of TV Guide.

We’re keeping the clouds away and having a fun Friday – in preparation for another episode of Sanctuary tonight!

There’s just one question I have: Sesame Street is younger than I am? That means I actually lived the first year of my life WITHOUT Sesame Street?! *gasp* How can that be?! We’ll put that shock aside for a moment & continue on.
Which muppet was your favorite? Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Snuffie, Cooke Monster, Oscar the grouch?

Let’s LOL with Ellen. She’s such a rascal!

A nice little update with Christine Baranski, and how about Katey’s hairstyles?

And the requisite 2-page update on the upcoming CSI crossover episodes. Why am I not excited for this ‘big event’? Uh, I think I know why.

The new issue of In Touch has more rag gossip, featuring Rosie, and what’s up with Sandra & Jesse?!

I love Matthew’s mini-me, and bring me back in time with the GoGos!

And continuing on the subject of music: A nice update with Lenny Kravitz, and Rosanne Cash's new release has a very personal connection:

I always still “awwwww” when I see Charlize & Stuart together

and last, but not least… it’s the debut of Wanda Sykes’ new show this weekend – on a channel that I can actually watch!

as I mentioned at the beginning, there’s a new episode of Sanctuary airing tonight, and that reminds me to tell you about the new charity in which Amanda, Damian and a few others from the show are starting. It’s called “Sanctuary for kids” and it’s a non-profit foundation that serves to provide sanctuary for children who do not live with the right of safety in their lives. You can visit their new website at SanctuaryForkids.org. I love that Amanda, Damian & some of the others are very involved in things like this.

CSI 10x06 Death & the Maiden aka This merry-go-round makes me dizzy

2009-11-06T08:40:08Z

CSI 10x06 Death & the Maiden

After finishing this one, I find myself singing this old Patsy Cline tune -
"oh stop the world and let me off.
I'm tired of going round and round.
I've played the game of love and lost
Oh stop the world and let me off"

- we start out in a dark alley with a kid getting the crap kicked out of him. Morph to Cath & Nick arriving on the scene. The kid is still alive & being taken in the ambulance.
N: I should follow & process this kid. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
C: still be here.

Yay! Catherine will be processing a scene. What a novel concept! This starts things off on a bright spot.

- Brass is interviewing a witness, who seems to be a hooker.
Hooker: I ain’t done nothing wrong.
Brass: then what are you doing in the alley?
Hooker: looking for my kitty. She’s lost.
Brass: what’s your cat’s name?
Hooker: pussy cat.
Brass: yeah, now why didn’t I know that?

Brass starts off as usual. Mr Sarcasm at his best! And didn't they realize that the 'Cat' was standing right there? ;)

- Brass turns to Catherine to give her information:
B: The victim’s name is Tommy Baker, he’s a local kid. Somebody beat the crap out of him.
C: business deal gone wrong? (to the hooker) what’s with all the blood?
Hooker: oh, don’t take that tone with me, blondie. This is the blood on an innocent Samaritan.
B: oh yeah. We’ve got a special on Samaritan’s. We’re arresting them tonight. .. That’s you, your pimp…

Blondie! LOL it must be dark in that alley. Cath’s a redhead these days, dimwit! Cath looked a bit amused at Brass’ verbal sparring with the hooker.

- Nick is in the hospital looking for the victim. He meets Tommy’s brother, Mark, outside the room. Tommy seems a bit riled up. Nick has him go get something to eat from the vending machine. Nick talks to Tommy, who gets upset and breaks Nick’s camera.

- Nick arrives back at the alley where Cath is processing the blood evidence on the wall.
C: this wasn’t a hit & run. This went on for a while. I found some semen here. Hooker Alley, you’d think I would’ve found more.

*gasp* Catherine processing blood evidence? OMG! Did one of the Powers That Be actually discover some continuity? Cath = blood spatter expert? *dingdingding* We have a winner!

- Nick sees a St Christopher medal that Catherine’s marked as evidence.
N: a St Christopher medal with blood on it?
C: could belong to the victim.
N: yeah, didn’t do him much good, did it?
C: that’s because he’s the patron saint of travel. Eddie always used to have one hanging on his rear view. Didn’t help him much either.

Awwwww! Eddie. *sniffle* I still don’t know why they had to kill him off. They could have just had him in prison or something where he could have come back to make Cath’s life miserable a few years down the road. I miss Tim Carhart.

- Greg & Vartann are at a store that’s obviously been burned as the firefighters are just finishing up. Oh, and Ray’s there too. Oh joy.
R: did you happen to notice whether or not this was the fire department’s handiwork here? (motions to a broken window)
G: you mean the evidence eradication crew?
V: they never checked to see if it was unlocked. They said there was SO MUCH smoke that they had to do a hatchet job on it anyway.

Wow! We had an Eddie mention, and now we get to see Vartann!! This just keeps getting better! Not only that, but we get humorous Vartann & humorous Greg at the same time! Wheeeee!!!!

- There’s a dead guy on the floor in the store.
G: victim’s only lightly toasted. … If someone was trying to burn this place down, they didn’t do a very good job. And a seasoned arsonist would have disabled the sprinklers.

LOL That’s the Greggo I’ve really missed the past few seasons.

- They discover that the camera was for surveillance and the tape’s missing from the video recorder.
G: how surprising.

Yeah. That summed up my thoughts exactly, Greggo!

- Super Dave arrives.
D: sorry I’m late. I just drove in from Parump. Sara’s got a quintuple in a motel.
G: She’s gonna be there for days.

Aw, so that’s our peek at Sara for this week? Bummer. Uh, when’s the ‘C’ story coming, writers? That might be a nice part of this episode to have one CSI processing five dead bodies at once – and out of town as well. C’mon! I wanna see it! I wanna see it!! Please? *sigh* make me grumpy, will ya!

- The victim is a 26-year old, Wayne Smith, who is the proprietor of the store. Ray & Greg theorize the possibilities.
G: botched burglary?
Dave: guess it’s more than the economy that’s killing small business owners.

ROFL now THAT’S my Super Dave. Oh, how I’ve missed ye!

- Nick goes to Tommy Baker’s house. He knocks. Just as he’s about to illegally let himself in with a credit card, the door opens to a slightly inebriated woman.
Woman: I help you?
Nick: yes ma’am. LVPD, I’m looking for Tommy Baker.
Woman: (slurs) tha’s my son. I’m his mom. Can I get you a drink?

C’mon Nick! Quit staring at her…assets. LOL She reminds me of Stiffler’s mom.

- Tommy’s brother, Mark, arrives. It seems that Mama isn’t supposed to be there? Mark just came by to check on Tommy, who seems to be conveniently… missing?

- back at the burned store, Greg notices that the cash register is cleaned out except for a .22 pistol.
G: two fired cartridges. The vic had two gunshot wounds, so he probably pulled it out to defend himself and then got overpowered. But why’d the killer put the gun back in the register? … … Langston? … … Ray?
(Ray seems to be pulling a Grissom and investigating on his own in another part of the store. Greg continues.)
G: well, I’ll answer my own question. … you see, Greg, cop pulls you over and finds cash on you, no big deal. Finds a gun, then you’re going to jail. Wanna bet it’s wiped down?

ROFL I love funny Greggo!

- Greg also finds another piece of trace, then sees a serial number on the cash drawer.
G: lots of Mom & Pop’s will record the serial number off a $20 and keep it in the drawer as bait money. That way, in case they get robbed, cops have a way to match it. … Thanks, Greg…. No, thank you.

Ditto my previous comment. LOL

- Ray is at the back door and finds the door locked, but the window unlocked.
R: sometimes when God closes a door, Satan opens a window.
(Greg walks in)
G: I’m glad I’m not the only one who talks to himself.
Greg finds a bag with blood on it. Inside the bag is a bunch of watches & jewelry that look obviously stolen.
G: it looks like Jack Sparrow’s been here

Darn! I almost thought Ray was going to be quoting from the Sound of Music in that door/window line!

- Vartann is talking to the victim’s sister at PD. It seems that their parents died a few years ago and it was just the two of them running the store.

- Wendy is processing blood evidence from the alley.

LOL the little animation of the sample through the microscope looks like mini bullets and mini Christmas lights. Ha!

- Cath & Nick are going over their case.
C: ran a background on Tommy Baker, got his juvie record. He was a runaway with a drunk mother.
N: oh, I met her. Still drunk!

Poor Nick.

- Wendy joins them and gives her DNA results. All the blood was from one unknown male, probably the victim.
C: You said that Tommy got violent when you tried to process him? He refused medical treatment, he went home and showered, and according to his brother, he wouldn’t talk about what happened. If this were a woman, what would you think?
N: I’d think she was raped.

Nice scene. It’s great how Wendy can have so few words in a scene, yet she lights up my tv screen just by having the camera show her expression as the others are talking. I like the way Cath summarized it. Was she thinking back to her abduction at the beginning of season 7? At the time she didn’t know if she was raped or not, but she thought she was. She didn’t call the lab to report the crime (she hung up before she said anything to them), she took a shower, she didn’t seem to talk about it to anyone.

- Cath is at the hospital and talks to the nurse who admitted Tommy Baker. He gives her a sample of blood that the doctors took.

- Nick goes to Victim Services and talks to April Martin about Tommy Baker’s sexual assault. Nick seems a bit flustered by her almost by-the-book recitation.
A: Don’t be surprised if Mr Baker never admits he was raped. Odds are you’ll probably close the case on lack of cooperation and then make fun of him around the office. Have a nice day Mr Stokes.
N: hey, what is your problem? I’m just trying to do my job here.
A: I’ve watched you guys stand over dead bodies and crack jokes. I still see a human being when all you see is evidence. Which might make you a good investigator, but it also makes you cold, hard people.
N: so you can feel compassion for dead people, but you can’t feel it for someone who’s alive, wearing a badge & trying to help? Good luck with that. Enjoy your sandwich.
A: Best way to get Mr Baker to talk is to let him know that you want to help him, that it’s not just a job. Give him my card. He might feel more comfortable talking to a woman. Keep the other one, in case you have any more questions.

Ah, Nicky’s got a new girlfriend. LOL

- Hodges walks into Wendy’s lab. She’s looking a bit depressed.
H: out with it, Simms.
W: what is up with Ecklie?
H: excuse me?
W: he said he’s not going to let anybody else pull a ‘Sanders’. I don’t get to go out into the field.
H: ah
W: and the thing that really pisses me off about this… I have recommendation letters from Grissom, Catherine & Nick in my file. It didn’t make any difference to him. I mean, this is ridiculous. It’s supposed to be a meritocrosy.
H: since when?
W: Et tu, Hodges?
H: it’s a bureaucracy. … just keeping it real. You want me to talk to Conrad for you?
W: Yeah. No. I can talk to him myself.
H: You sure? we’re in book club together. Conrad respects my opinion, at least where Pride & Prejudice and Zombies is concerned.
W: I thought you were against me going from lab rat to field mouse.
H: I just want you to be happy.

OMG! That was so sweet. Sad Wendy is so adorable. Hodges is so smitten. And someone let both Hodges & Ecklie into the same book club? Yikes. That’s scary.

- Doc is giving Ray autopsy results on Mr Smith from the store.
R: Thank you doctor.
D: show ain’t over yet. (claps twice & the lights go off) Glasses? I found this under the soot. (it’s a hand imprint) bruise is preimortem. Could have occurred anytime between one minute and a couple hours prior to death.
R: judging from color & shape, I’d say someone slapped him pretty hard. Maybe the killer?
D: (claps the lights back on) or it could be unrelated. Zipper on his pants was down, so I swabbed his penis. Found a vaginal contribution. He had sex shortly before death.
R: so you’re thinking it was a woman, a little slap & tickle?
D: most men don’t slap, they punch. … now, the show’s over.
R: not quite yet. (claps the lights off)

LOL Doc & the Clapper for his lights. He’s such a wacky rascal!

- Greg is running serial numbers of the stolen jewelry with pawn shop detail. A couple of them come up with the name Grrlz Club.

Oy!

- Yep, we’re at a strip club. In particular, it’s Vartann & Greg at a strip club. They talk to Pam who lost her engagement ring, then she calls Angela over, who it seems was dating Wayne – the dead store guy. She claims she lost a necklace last week. She says she’ll tell them where Wayne lives and wants to press charges. Uh, right.

- Wendy, Cath, Nick, Greg & Ray are in the layout room. Wendy seems to be having a bad day.
W: I ran this three times and I kept getting exactly the same results. I think I cross-contaminated your samples.
C: alright, first of all, well what are your results?
W: well, the fluid from the alley came back as a mixture of Tommy Baker’s blood mixed with Wayne Smith’s semen.
G: Wayne Smith, that’s…our victim
W: right. And the blood from the bag that you two found at the store came back as Tommy Baker.
N: That’s our victim from the alley
C: Not a mixture, just a single profile?
W: yeah. That’s why I confirmed it in triplicate.
C: Okay, so if there was cross-contamination, or co-mingling, there’d be a mixture of profiles on the bag, too.
R: unless it’s an additional lab error, and it’s from a third unrelated case?
G: knowing Wendy’s process & lab procedure, with only one case open at a time, I’d say that’s impossible.
C: so if there’s no cross-contamination, then there’s a connection.
R: It means that Wayne Smith sexually assaulted Tommy Baker.
N: which gave Tommy a motive to kill the bastard. If I were Tommy, I’d have killed him too.

Poor Wendy, she’s so down on herself. I love how Greg came to her rescue. I also liked how it all played out. None of them put any blame on her, they all seemed to throw out all possible scenarios before making an assumption. That’s a great team scene, although I think Nick is starting to get a BIT emotional in this.

- Wendy & Ray are going through the burned evidence from the store. Wendy found the missing surveillance tape.
W: hey look, I found a Franken-blob.

:)

- They continue sifting through the stuff. Ray finds a couple of burned match sticks.
R: we didn’t find any evidence of accelerant at the scene, but these could be our ignition source. Maybe you could pull DNA.
W: I knew you were taking a lot of classes, I didn’t realize you knew all about DNA.
R: Well, I don’t know all about it … yet.
W: (laughs)
R: But I did learn that burn materials used to be collected in paint cans & plastic bags which preserves accelerant but destroys DNA, which until recently no one knew could survive fire damage.
W: I take it you passed?
R: you take it right!

Ah, Wendy has that happy, geeky look now. Thanks for cheering up my girl, Ray!

- Greg is in the Trace lab. Hodges finally comes in.
G: where have you been?
H: I was dialoguing with Conrad. What else have you been touching?
G: Have you run the trace from my cash tray?
Hodges gives him the folder
G: Dust bunnies?!
H: comprised of dirt, pollen, metal shavings from copper wiring, and fecal matter. Did you know that most dust contains trace amounts of poop? Even in hospitals.

Ewww! I think I need to clean my house this weekend.

- Hodges has a secret that he just has to dish with Greg.
H: alright, I know you’re dying to know so I’m just gonna tell ya. I was talking to Onrad-Cay about Endy-Way in an ansfer-tray to the eild-fay.
G: I need the trace…Ow-nay. … … Ooser-Lay!

Pig-latin! LOL Jeez, bring me back to the 80s!

- Nick & Ray are looking at the slightly distorted video tape that Wendy found in the debris. They see a person who appears to be Tommy in the store. They show him taking a St Christopher medal from the shop. (you knew that had to come back into the picture, didn’t you?)
R: for some men…violence IS their sex.

That reminds me of that Blue Paint Killer episode where Sara is profiling the comics that the killer was drawing.
“This artist gets off on dominating women. This is his sex.”

- Brass & Catherine are interviewing Wayne’s sister, Jess. She doesn’t recognize Tommy Baker.
B: we think he’s the one that killed your brother
J: no he didn’t.
C: how do you know that?
J: because I killed Wayne.

Uh, okay. There’s the unsuspecting curveball.

- Catherine is processing the Smith house as Jess’ voice is reciting to Brass all the reasons why she hated her brother.
B: is that why you shot him?
J: no, I shot him because he liked to hit me when he got mad.

- Catherine is still processing the house. In a suitcase, she finds a phone with pics on it. Pics of Jess being lovey-dovey with Tommy Baker.

- The cops capture Tommy out on the street.

- Nick is trying to give Tommy the business card from the Victim Services lady. Tommy says nothing happened. Now Tommy is saying that he killed Wayne.

Oy. Can you say ring-around-the-rosie. I’m getting dizzy. Please stop the merry-go-round. I want to get off!

- Tommy’s brother, Mark, is at PD and agitated as he talks to Nick. Nick tells him that Tommy confessed to killing Wayne. Nick gets a call from Catherine and goes to answer it as Mark tells him that he shot Wayne Smith.

*thud* Okay, I’m way past dizzy. I think the nausea is starting. Anyone got Dramamine?

- Brass is questioning Mark at PD. I guess he seems convincing. Says he put two & two together and figured that Tommy was raped.

- Time for a team pow-wow in the layout room – well, Cath, Nick & Greg at least. Greg suggests looking at the stolen cash angle. No cash at Jess’ house. Nick didn’t find any with the Baker boys.

- Nick gets paged over the CSI intercom. He meets Ms Martin (the Victim Services lady) at reception. She doesn’t think Tommy Baker would have confronted his killer unarmed. They flirt subtly again.

- Greg goes to Hodges in Trace. The results of the white fragment found in the cash drawer – acrylic nails. Greg leaves as Hodges has his back turned and still talking. As he turns around, Greg is gone. LOL

- Back to the strip club. They’re talking with Angela, the one who was dating Wayne.
A: Hey officers. Did you find my…necklace?
V: no, but we think we found out who killed your boyfriend, Wayne.
A: really… who was it?
G: you.
They look through her purse and a serial number on her $20 bill matches that of the ‘bait money’ that was in the cash drawer.

- Catherine is still talking to Jess at PD. Now Nick is talking with Tommy at his cell. It seems that Mark is going to be charged with manslaughter as Wayne was still alive when Mark set the fire to the store. Nick gives Tommy the card from the Victim Services lady. Nick gives him encouragement to continue on. Nick walks Tommy out to the hallway at PD to meet up with Jess. After giving her a hug, Tommy walks away from her.

Summary:
- it was great to see Catherine actually processing a scene again. It’s something they seem to have taken away from her since her promotion to supervisor.
- Poor Wendy. Will she ever get out into the field now and be a CSI? Or, as she put it “from lab rat to field mouse” ROFL! Maybe that was a hint from TPTB that the rumors they had been giving us for the past few years was just a bunch of smoke they were blowing up our butt. Whether she gets out into the field or not, please continue to give Wendy more screen time – no matter how you have to do it! Tonight was a great episode for Wendy, even if she was stuck in the lab.

- Two cases turn into one… … …
Lesson for TPTB:
* ‘A’ story + ‘B’ story with 2 endings = entertaining
* ‘A’ story + ‘B’ story with 1 ending = major overuse!

- an Eddie mention! Awwww. Marg & Tim Carhart had great chemistry together. I miss them sparring at each other.
- Vartann! Vartann!! Yay it’s Vartann again! And what is it with Vartann at strip clubs?
- Doc & the clapper lights. LOL
- Hodges & Greg talking in pig-latin! Ool-Cay!!
- Boring ending? Maybe I was just too dizzy with the merry-go-round of the last 10 minutes. Maybe it’s because there was a lot of humor for the first ¾ of the episode and the final ¼ was too serious and dull.
- Not sure about the title of this episode. Was Jess supposed to be the “maiden”?

(edited to add)
- you know, I just realized: Catherine may have processed a scene, but that's about all she did. She went back to being supervisor after that. It was Nick who basically continued with the rest of the case. Cath interviewed Jess & went back to process Jess' house. I love Supervisor Willows, but I miss Investigator Willows just as much.

More This n that

2009-10-30T23:47:01Z

The new issue of People arrived today.

This is the first I've seen of the CSI crossover promo:

What is it with celebrities bringing out their sob stories and tarnishing their reputations themselves? I don't get it.

I saw ET had an interview with Chaz Bono last night about his transition. What are your thoughts on his transition? I heard Cher say that she doesn't really understand it, but will support Chaz.

I thought this was a great inspirational story. (But not enough to get me off my butt & exercise)

Back in the groove with CSI 10x05 Bloodsport

2009-10-30T06:12:51Z

It’s gonna take a bit to get back into the routine of writing CSI reviews again. The last few episodes haven’t been that great, so let’s see how this one turns out.

It's time for the kickoff

- we start out at a football game as they’re playing the final seconds. WLVU is going for the winning score. They get it. Coach is hoisted in the air.

What is it with shows doing the football thing to start episodes now? Three Rivers just did the same thing last week. Yes, I know that it’s football season, but come on!

- We quickly cut to a clock showing 6am & the alarm going off. A bloody hand reaches out & shuts it off. Bloody feet step onto slippers that are on the floor, blood still dripping down from the bed. Then we see the bloodied person brushing his teeth in the bathroom, still more dripping blood. He continues downstairs to pour coffee into a mug while an alarm goes off in the house, and then he goes outside to get the newspaper on the front lawn. He’s basically a walking bloody zombie. A security car comes driving up to his house, the guard is shocked at seeing the bloodied body of the coach standing in front of him. The coach then falls to the ground – dead.

Interesting that the house alarm went off as he came down the stairs. Would that be the killer leaving?

- As the camera holds on the coach, it slowly moves outward to find the CSI gang already on the scene and processing. Super Dave is processing the body as Nick is taking pictures.

- Cut to the interior of the house. Evidence markers are already put down on the floor as we see Catherine (with her little booties over her shoes) walking through the crime scene, and making her way upstairs and carefully sidestepping around the bloody prints. As she gets upstairs, we see that it’s Ray who’s been processing. He alerts her to the various blood spatters on the wall, ceiling, and blood pool on the bed.

I loved that quiet scene with Catherine walking through the house. She was taking in all of the visual evidence in much the same manner that Grissom used to. I was disheartened, however, that it was Ray processing the scene. I think that would have been nice to have Sara doing the processing and make it kind of a throwback to Season 6 “bite me”, where Cath, Sara & Gil were all processing the blood evidence at the stairwell in that one.

- Cath & Ray discuss more evidence, and Ray mentions that he was teaching at WLVU when coach Miller won his second conference title.
R: everybody loved him and treated him like a god.
C: even gods have enemies

Yeah, I’ve been watching enough Stargate SG-1 episodes to know how true that statement was! (they're all false gods and they're evil. LOL)
It seems that all the CSIs have ties to the school. If I remember correctly, Catherine took night classes at WLVU to become a CSI. It was Warrick's alma mater as well.

- after the break for credits, we return to see a vehicle being pulled out of a lake. (that always reminds me of Lady Heather’s Box) As the vehicle gets pulled to dry ground, we see that Greg is on the scene and Sara is just arriving.
S: did you find Nemo?
G: Not unless Nemo was a Beemo!

LOL I’ve forgotten just how great these two are together.

- the car was reported stolen about six months ago. Victim is seat-belted into the passenger seat. One window was rolled down, one window was broken. The victim’s wallet shows that she’s a 19 year old from North Dakota. Both airbags are deployed, suggesting a second person in the vehicle.
S: She wasn’t alone
G: guess we’re looking for the one that got away

Have I mentioned how much I’ve missed these two together? I like happy Sara and funny Greg. I LOVE happy Sara & funny Greg together even more!

- Now, we’re back in the front yard at coach Miller’s house. Brass is interviewing the security guard who found coach Miller. It seems that coach Miller considered all everyone he knew as his family. Everyone seemed to know the code for the security alarm too.

Big surprise.

- Catherine comes out of the house and surveys all of the lookey-loos. She sees one guy who seems to be ‘in charge’, as he’s passing out armbands in honor of the coach. She goes to talk to him. He’s Pal Arnold, the booster club president. He said everyone knew where coach Miller kept the spare key to the house. He directs Catherine to the rock in the front yard where it’s hidden. She picks up the fake rock, opens the plastic compartment and…voila! There’s the key.

So, it seems that the list of suspects hasn’t been narrowed down any, but Mr Booster Club President would be high on the list.

- Now to the morgue. Doc gives the autopsy results to Nick. They’re talking about the skull fracture.
D: It’s like when you push your finger into a hard-boiled egg. The shell cracks but the pieces stay in place.
N: thanks for ruining another breakfast for me
D: It’s what I do

Oh, finally some good Doc Robbins humor. It’s good to see the writers lightening up all of the characters again and giving them a bit more humor. Things have seemed to be way too tense lately.
D: come on, you’re not going to ask me about the zombie thing?
N: you’re obviously eager to tell me

- Sara & Greg have the car in the CSI garage now and are processing. Greg finds a handgun. Since it’s been in water for a long time, they rush to process it before the bullets get rusted in the gun. Sara calls Mandy in to help.
M: this is the most excitement I’ve had in weeks!

Ha! That statement is quite apropos. It’s MANDY! Yay!!

- We’re back at coach Miller’s house as Catherine is still looking over stuff downstairs. Ray arrives.
C: that’s a lot of computing power for a football coach.
R: It’s a complex game. Two teams, 11 players, each play crafted with multiple levels of redundancy, and yet, most academics and intellectuals prefer baseball. I suppose, for the poetry.
C: I just like to watch the guys hit each other…and I like their butts.
Ray raises his eyebrows.

ROFLMAO okay, that was classic Catherine. That has to go to the top 5 Catherine lines of all time.
Is the baseball comment in reference to Grissom? Gil always liked baseball.

- As Catherine & Ray are looking at a photo that’s on one of the shelves, they notice that some trophies are missing that were in the photo. I think we have our motive and/or weapon? The remaining trophy was moved, so they dust for prints.
C: the cover up always leaves behind more evidence.

- Brass is interrogating the security guy.
Security guy: Captain, do you know how much the University pays campus security?
Brass: well, I know that prison inmates makes 15 cents an hour. Is it less than that?

LOL everyone is getting some nice one-liners.

- Doc is going over autopsy results of water-logged girl with Sara
D: should come as no surprise, she drowned. One of my greatest fears, by the way.

- Nick arrives as Doc & Sara are finishing up their results
N: hey Sara, how’s it going?
S: I’m uh… kinda underwater on this one
N: yeah, it looks like it.

Wow. They just keep coming. LOL

- Sara leaves. Nick shows Doc his hunch of the missing trophy being the murder weapon. It’s cool how they showed the trophy as a hologram.

- Cath & Nick walk through the hallway giving evidence updates.
C: I think coach knew his killer, and given his penchant for treating everyone like family, that narrows our suspect pool down to…
N: the entire University.

- As Nick & Cath walk out of the screen, we hold on Hodges, who is giving Ray info on the shoe imprints.
R: I’m sure this is leading somewhere
H: yeah, to the gross overcommercialization of and corruption of college athletics.

- It seems that the shoe company donated their shoes to each of the players. Five players were given size 12’s. Four of those players have gone on to graduate, leaving star runningback Calvin Crook as a major suspect.
H: is Mr MVP living up to his name?

Oy!

- Ray & Hodges continue into the A/V lab
R: where’s Archie?
H: he’s at a technical conference in Sioux City, Iowa. How can I help you?

Ugh! That means I have to endure more Hodges and no Archie. Bummer.

- Ray & Hodges sort through emails between coach Miller & Calvin Crook. One includes an article of a 22-year old restaurant worker, Andrew Jiminez, found in a lake with a gunshot wound. Coach & Crook never discussed Calvin turning pro after that.

Three words stick out there. Lake & gunshot wound. Let me guess where this is going to end up. Greg & Sara, anyone?

- Nick & Ray are at the football field talking with Calvin. It seems that Mr Booster Club President is lingering in the background too.

- back at the lab, Greg is comparing ballistics on the gun they found in the car.

- He comes to the break room where Cath & Sara are sitting. He gives them his ballistics findings. He got a hit on IBIS. The gun was used in a 6-month old homicide. Sara & Greg outline a theory to Catherine. Catherine wants more proof.
C: Is it even possible for a bullet fired underwater, through glass to actually kill somebody?

Ah, I see an experiment coming on! Catherine in glasses! RAWR!! This was actually a very nice scene. Basically, they’re only voicing their theories, but I like how it plays out. Catherine is saying, you’ve got a great theory but find me real proof.

- At the end of the scene, Catherine notices the name of the victim from that previous homicide: Andrew Jiminez. (Ring a bell?)
C: Andrew Jiminez. That’s just really weird. His name popped up in Coach Miller’s homicide. Prove your theory. We’ve got to find out what the hell’s going on here.

- Sara & Greg are doing the experiment to figure out if a gunshot underwater, through glass, can kill. They use gelatin man for the experiment. The answer is: it penetrates approximately 2-inches.

- Now, we’ve got a pow-wow around the table in the layout room. Pal Arnold’s (Mr Booster President) name comes up. Vegas Legacy Motors seems to be the connection. Coach Miller had a car from him, and the car in the lake was from there. Brass & Nick go to talk to him.
P: You found my Beemer? Good work, boys.
B: when you reported it stolen, did you know there was a dead girl inside?
P: well, it came fully loaded, but a dead girl wasn’t part of the package.
- - -
P: I don’t like to get my boys in trouble
B: well, somebody’s already in trouble. It’s your car, your party.
P: I don’t like your attitude
B: yeah, I get that a lot.

Oh come on. The guy should know you don’t beat Brass at one-liners.

- Pal asks Calvin to tell Brass how he knows the girl. Calvin decides he should have an attorney.

Finally, now we’re getting somewhere.

- Sara & Greg are back at the lake, looking for more evidence. They find a jacket & shoes along the roadside. There was no blood, but lots of pizza sauce. They surmise that he took off his clothes before going into the lake to rescue the woman in the car.

- Nick is trying to get Calvin’s DNA, but Ms attorney is being a stickler.
Calvin: I’ve gotta tell the truth here
Finn: you’ve got to keep your mouth shut

Ah, we’ve got Palmer Davis back as attorney Margaret Finn. She’s my favorite recurring lawyer on the show.

- Calvin says that Coach M caught him in the car with the hooker, and he followed coach’s order to leave, so he did.

At least that means he didn’t kill the girl. What about coach M?

- Ray talks to Nick in the lab.
N: Did you ever play football?
R: yes, um, the REAL football. (does a soccer imitation), with your feet.
N: soccer
R: well, I never called it that. I was born in Seoul, South Korea. My dad was career military man. I grew up on bases all over the world and we just always called it football. What about you?
N: well, I’m from Austin, I grew up playing football. I feel like I understand football players, but I don’t know about this Calvin Crook kid. At first, I thought he was lying to us, but he really came clean with me man, and now I’m not so sure.

It’s nice that we get a peek at Ray’s backstory. We already knew Nick was a Texan and big into football, but it was still nice to have that short personal moment.

- Catherine arrives and continues in with the conversation, asking where they’re at right now. They think that Pal might be the most likely suspect. Ray hurries out the door.
N: wait a minute
R: if we want to catch coach Miller’s killer, we’ve gotta find the murder weapon, right boss?

Eager, are we?

- Ray goes to the breakroom where Wendy & Hodges are having lunch.
R: I need a couple of volunteers.
W: okay, I’m in.
Hodges has his mouth full, but shakes his head no
W: he would love to
R: thanks
H: can I at least hear what I’m volunteering for, considering I’ve just been drafted?
R: campus police always circled coach Miller’s house. They would have noticed a parked car, I’m thinking the killer approached on foot.
W: and since the killer was most likely associated with the University, that means that he would have walked back to his place on campus
H: ditching the murder weapon and blood evidence along the way. It’s all very mission impossible.
W: what are you talking about, it’s a great theory. (to Ray) it’s a great theory.

Wendy. *gasp* ohmygod! It’s WENDY! Wow. Miracles never cease to happen on this show.

- Brass interviews Pal Arnold.
P: sounds like you’re accusing me of something
B: I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m charging you with vehicular manslaughter and negligent homicide.
P: well, why don’t you charge me with the JFK assassination while you’re at it?
B: no, I’m going to let you slide on that one. But I could add in a first degree murder of coach Miller.
P: now that’s not funny
B: I lose my sense of humor when it comes to murder.

They’ll never learn – Brass always wins.

- Pal tells how they crashed into the river, the good Samaratin comes along and gets shot. Pal hauls ass out of there.
B: so this kid dies saving your girlfriend…and you didn’t even call 9-1-1.
- - -
P: It’s better to be a live coward than a dead hero

- Pal arrived back where Coach Miller was waiting. He told coach what happened, and convinced coach not to call the cops.

- Ray, Wendy & Hodges get to sift through trash from a garbage truck. Oh joy! Anyone else have flashbacks to Cath, Sara & Nick at the landfill in Season 3 “Got murder”? or even season 8 “Cockroaches”.

- Hodges finds the missing trophy.
H: haha! Touchdown!!
W: nicely done.
H: you know I’m not a CSI. By choice.
Wendy keeps searching.
W: hey Hodges.
H: yep?
Wendy pulls out a bloody sneaker.
W: it’s probably for the best.

LMAO Those two… I swear I could watch an hour comedy with just those two together, as Hodges & Wendy. The characters are just so… great together (not in the romantic sense, please. That thought kind of squicks me out!)

- So, Calvin & Ms attorney are trying to weasel their way out of this one. Ray is doing the interrogating. It seems that he did it because he lost his shot at the pros
R: why did you kill him?
C: because he didn’t live up to his end of the bargain. He stopped playing me when it mattered, when I had a chance to shine. He was punishing me for letting him down

Oh boo hoo.

Ray: did you stop to think that maybe it wasn’t about you, Calvin? Paige Hammer & Andrew Jiminez died. Pal was responsible, coach knew about that.
Calvin: that had nothing to do with me
Ray: didn’t it? Carrying a secret around like that couldn’t have been easy for a man like coach Miller, and I think that every time he looked at you, he was reminded of his own hypocrisy.
Calvin: I was looking out for myself, doing what was best for me and I’m not going to apologize for that. But if coach M were here, he’d say “Calvin, you need to take responsibility for your actions”, so that’s what I’m doing. I owe him that much.
Ray: then you did learn something.

Hmmm. A bit preachy at the end, but I guess that’s what it’s come down to.

- - - - -
Summary:

- Wow. We get Mandy, Wendy & Hodges all in one episode. That’s quite a feat for season 10 so far!
- Wendy & Hodges with the garbage dump. ROFL Those two just crack me up.
- The two-cases turning into one is getting a bit stale these days. What happened to the good old days of two separate cases?
- loved, loved, LOVED Greg & Sara working together.
- This was a great Catherine-as-supervisor episode again. I still would like to see her do more processing at a crime scene. That’s something that I’ve really missed in the past season or two.
- The return of Attorney Margaret Finn. Yay! I like her, even though she’s usually on the ‘other’ side.
- I didn’t recognize Christopher Rich as being coach Miller at the beginning. I loved him as Reba’s ex-husband on her sitcom.
- everyone seemed to get in a good one-liner or two. It’s about time we get a little more humor and camraderie and less team dissention.
- nice little Ray backstory with him being a military brat.
- the car in water case reminded me a bit of “living legend” in season 7, and the bloody house at the beginning reminded me of season 6 “bite me”, and even “spark of life” from season 5 (thanks for the reminder, Shane! LOL). There were quite a few similarities.

Something to brighten a rainy, gloomy day

2009-10-29T19:50:19Z

What is with the persistent crappy weather for this entire year? Cold, rain... rain, cold... sucks!
Yes, it's another gloomy, rainy day in the Upper Midwest. So I needed to find something to brighten things up a bit. I found a little bright spot in my mailbox with the new issue of TV Guide, featuring Mark Harmon & Cote De Pablo on the cover. It was great to see Mark & Cote together this time instead of Cote & Michael (which is also a great combination, but a bit overused lately). And love the face in the cake! Mark is such a rascal! (and a very CUTE rascal!) LOL

also there were updates on some of the current shows – like wheelchair dancing on Glee, a ‘conjugal’ on The Good Wife (which I’m hoping to try & start watching this weekend), and what has got to be the most boring matchup I can think of for CSI – David Caruso & Laurence Fishburne.

More on Wanda Sykes & her new show:

and finally, Jorja is featured in the Horoscope section:

oh, and I noticed in today’s USA Today, there was a note that Michael Learned (best known as mom, Olivia, on The Waltons) will be on this Sunday’s episode of Cold Case. I’ll have to remember to check that out.

This n That chatter to begin the week

2009-10-26T20:23:18Z

What better way to start off my week than a spotlight on Jane Lynch in the new issue of EW!

A little more This N That chatter featuring Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Reeve’s family, Wanda Sykes, and The A Team.
A nice write up on Laurence Fishburne in the new issue of EW

And this was a nice update on Christopher Reeve’s family

I’m looking forward to Wanda Sykes’ new show

And how about the new “A Team”? My brother faithfully watched the original tv show, so if I wanted to watch tv at that time, that’s what I had to watch. LOVED ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock!

Mid-week This n That

2009-10-21T23:45:33Z

A little mid-week This n That to take a break from work (that’s piled a mile high!).

Another soundtrack for NCIS (it includes Sheryl!!), plus a peek into Gibb’s house; SGU looks like it’s become popular; the latest issue of Stargate magazine arrives; Reese headlines In Style, CSI has the best cases?!

the new issue of TV Guide has a small update on the new NCIS soundtrack that’s out in a couple weeks. It’ll be great to hear Michael sing, and I can’t wait to hear Sheryl Crow’s song on the album. I sure wish they would have had more of Cote & Pauley. I loved their songs on the first soundtrack – especially Pauley’s song “fear”. Now, one can only hope that we get Mark & Sean on volume 3 next time.

The NCIS stars participation in these albums is ANOTHER thing to add to my list of “Why doesn’t CSI do these types of things?” (that list gets longer every day!) Yes, I know CSI has put out soundtracks, but they don’t have Marg, Jorja, Eric, RDH, Wally, George, or any of the others involved. Heck, CSI very rarely even promotes its show anymore. I never see ads for CSI, except for the few promo clips on CBS when there’s a new episode on the way. There’s rarely any promotion in magazines these days. A star or two will occasionally be on one of the late night talk shows (usually, it’s Marg – not that I’m ever complaining about that!!) Well, enough rant on that for now. Let’s continue on.

CSI has the best cases?! That’s…interesting?

Continuing on the subject of NCIS, the last issue of TVG included a small look into Gibbs’ house, not just his basement.

also in the TVG issue, there was a small update on the new Stargate Universe series. I still haven’t decided whether I care for the show or not. I have to sit down one day and really “watch” it. It’s always on just before “Sanctuary” on Friday nights, so I usually end up watching Sanctuary and forget to go back & watch SGU.

Reese Witherspoon is featured in the newest issue of In Style. It includes a nice little article/pictoral.

In the “miscellaneous” department – RollingStone had a nice update on Bonnie Raitt; There’s Angie Harmon & kids; Run Sheryl, Run; the ever lovable Linda Hunt; and Kate would give a pancreas?! LOL.

Last, but not least – the new issue of Stargate magazine has arrived. The main theme this time is the Stargate villians. Isn’t it interesting how some of the greatest villians are so cute? Cliff Simon: Yummy. Peter Williams: cute even with all the make-up effects!

I’m glad they’re also able to promote Amanda’s “Sanctuary”. And speaking of that show – season two is even MUCH better than season 1. The show ROCKS!!

Doo Doo... Doo Doo Doo... Doodle!!!

2009-10-12T22:26:06Z

Hey! Today is National Doodlebug day!! One of my favorite 'toys' when I was growing up!

This, that & the other thing...

2009-10-08T01:55:42Z

Got the new issue of TV Guide today. Nice to see Chris & Mariska hamming it up again for the camera - however, aren't those pics from the last photoshoot? Guess I'll have to go back & look

In the new issue of EW
This was kind of a sweet, but funny pic with Sheryl, Kid & Randy

I always love seeing pics of Charlize & Stuart together. And Tea & David still seem to have things patched up

Some stars & their kids - Angie & Emery. Reese & Ava (totally a mini-Reese! WOW)

Meryl, Steve, & Alec being funny on-set.

RollingStone had a nice little tribute for Mary Travers

and this CSI preview made me laugh. "Nerd-cop procedural"? LOL

CSI 10x2 Ghost town

2009-10-02T06:31:40Z

We revisit the past in the latest episode of CSI. And are burdened with lots of predictability.

CSI 10x2 Ghost Town

- the opening scene in the shower was a bit creepy. Did CSI really need to stoop to the naked- woman- in- the- shower- scene cliché? I totally figured that it would be the guy that was dead in the shower, and not the woman.

- Nick & Sara entering the crime scene, avoiding bloody footprints along the way. It looks to me like a recycling of Butterflied.

- Doc & Ray doing an autopsy of a guy with his guts twisted into a bow. Catherine arrives with details on the guy, Joseph Bigelow, a name that seems familiar to Catherine.
“Okay, not so typical dead bum case”
“I’d have a heart attack too if someone did that to me”
“So he died, then someone cut into him and… gift-wrapped his guts?”

One thing I like with scenes involving Doc & Cath in the last couple seasons is that there always seems to be some interesting banter between them.

- as the opening credits air, I notice that they seem to go much faster these days. I wish they could extend it a bit longer to give us a chance to see more than a quick glimpse of each character.

- back at the neighborhood, Brass is interviewing the woman from the shower, then the neighborhood watch captain. Nick is checking out the electrical breaker box. He dusts the one breaker that’s been tripped. He turns the lights back on.

- Sara is processing the bathroom. She follows bloody footprints that go outside. Cut to Nick in one of the other rooms. David arrives. Nick directs him to where the dead body is. On the way, he stops at one of the other rooms and finds a webcam setup.
N: I wonder if the bedroom across the hall has a webcam too?
D: uh…I’m pretty sure it does.
N: how would you know something like that?
D: Nick, could I tell you something personal?
N: maybe
D: Mrs Phillips & I occasionally enjoy a little…live stimulation to get us in the mood. What I’m saying is uh, I am intimately familiar with this particular bedroom. I subscribe to the website.

Oooookay. That’s uh, not a side of Super Dave that I really needed to know. TMI anyone?

- Nick & Dave go to the bathroom where Sara is still processing.

- Doc & Ray in the morgue:
D: you’re in a room, no doors, no windows, how do you get out?
R: the same way you got in. (Doc laughs) I heard it this way, you’re in a room, no doors no windows, there’s a chainsaw & a table, how do you get out?
D: I give up
R: you cut the table in half with the chainsaw. Two halves make a…
D: hole.
R: out you go.
D: oh brother

Hmmm. I think I prefer Doc’s humor to Ray’s.

- Nick is at PD interviewing the neighborhood watch guy. The guy tells Nick that there’s been reports of a peeper in the neighborhood.

- Sara is in another room at PD getting evidence from the woman who was in the shower. Her fingerprints match those from the electric breaker switch. She says that the lights go off all the time and she’s always going out to switch the breaker back on. She also tells Sara about a peeper in the neighborhood. Sara asks her what the peeper looked like. “Have you ever seen Marilyn Manson?”

okay, now I know Greg is going to be getting involved here. You can’t have a Manson reference without Greg getting into the picture.

- OH, speak of the devil – uh, I mean Greg – he finally appears. He’s been scanning through the webcam footage. Now, this episode is getting WAY too predictable already. As he & Nick look at part of the footage, they notice something in the background moving the curtains. They get a close-up of it and see someone’s eyes. Guess there is a peeper after all.

- Cath & Ray are in the layout room going over info on Joseph Bigelow.
C: I remember how I know this Bigelow guy. Years ago, I used to catch this lounge act at the Riv. Joey – Joe Joe – Bigelow was always there, sitting in the back, his dirty tux on, playing air piano at every tune. The rumor is that he really did play piano for Dean Martin, all the old-timers knew him, every day Joe Joe would walk from the Nugget to the Mandalay & back again…just looking for some ivories to tickle, just chasing the dream.
R: I guess he hadn’t heard that live piano players went the way of the dollar martini.
C: well my point is that he was on the streets, sleeping in different alleys, but always within spitting distance of the strip. Here’s Las Vegas Boulevard (shows him on the map), here’s where the body was found.
R: So?
C: Joe Joe was a ‘strip snob’. He wouldn’t be caught dead west of the 15.
R: but he was caught dead there.
C: which suggests that that is where his ‘surgeon’ works or lives.
R: It also suggests that he didn’t know Joey, and that he selected him at random.

A nice scene, but I’m a bit bummed. I would have thought this would have been a great time to get in either a mention of Sam Braun, where either Joey was a friend of Sam or frequented on of his casinos - or have the story bring back Cath’s former profession and having Joey a frequent admirer of hers.

- Greg & Nick are processing the peep hole. Nick finds some white residue around the hole. Greg says that people have said the peeper looks like Marilyn Manson and that Manson wears a lot of makeup. Now, didn’t I say earlier that since there’s been a Manson reference, that we’d have Greg involved and talking about him? I saw that one coming a mile away. Nick finds a wire coat hanger that seemed to be used to push the curtain away.

- Officer Akers, Nick & Sara arrive at the Mason house, which they’ve concluded has used the dry cleaning service from the place listed on the wire hanger. Faith Mason opens the door. Does the name ring a bell? Nick & Sara walk through the house to find Craig. They hear loud music coming from a room. They wake Craig up. His face has lots of makeup. He’s escorted out the door while Sara & Nick search the room. Sara finds a paper bag with dead crow guts
S: The satanists have been known to collect dead crows to keep the smell of death around them
N: how do you know that, Grissom?
S: Ozzy Osbourne. I loved Black Sabbath…for a summer.

- They finds a fake rubber arm under the bed & Sara finally makes the connection.
S: “Scary masks, rubber hands, arts & crafts, what’s this kid’s name again?”
N: Craig… Mason
S: as in Judge Mason? aka Paul Millander?

Yes, I like the return of Millander’s family, but yet it doesn’t seem right to have it brought up without Grissom or Catherine in the scene when their connection is revealed.

- Sara talks with Mrs Mason in the hallway at PD:
FM: My son didn’t do anything wrong
S: Ms Mason, I am only here to collect evidence.
FM: I married a judge. Craig’s father was a judge, not a serial killer.
S: this is not about Craig’s father.
FM: you know damn well it is. Craig shouldn’t be punished for Paul Millander’s sins.
S: I can assure you, he will only be punished if he’s broken the law.

- Sara goes in to collect evidence from Craig. He’s sitting with his head on the desk, motionless. I’m guessing they’re trying to give you an impression where you might think the kid was dead. Her rambling finally gets him to lift his head and tell her to shut up & take his DNA.

- The scent dogs are out. Greg is following them, and Nick joins in as the dog goes to the Mason house. The dog finds a dead guy outside the Mason house. Officer Mitchell clears the house, then tells Nick & Greg that they’re gonna want to see this.
N: The plot thickens
G: porn house, drug house, Millander house in between. They must throw one hell of a block party.

Hey, Greg finally gets a one-liner zinger!!

- Doc is giving Nick autopsy results and comparing the two dead guys.

- Mrs Mason is watching the news report of a second body found. Sara tells her that they’re holding Craig under a ‘peeping’ charge. Craig admits to his mother that he did the peeping, but didn’t kill anyone. She refuses to bail him out.

- Ray is trying to do his own tying of the guts. Catherine comes in:
C: I’m learning when I can’t find you I should look down here.
R: this is very difficult. It’s like attempting to tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue.
C: I can do that… after a few drinks.
R: Our Dr Jekyll has some remarkable surgical skills.
C: Dr Jekyll?
R: whoever mutilated Mr Bigelow.
C: What remarkable skills

Love Cath’s comment on how she can do that after a few drinks. Does the surgeon with ‘remarkable surgical skills’ bring to mind anyone in particular for you? How about Butterflied?

- Cath & Ray continue their conversation
C: you did get permission from the family to use this body for research?
R: not necessary, take a look (Cath lifts the sheet to find that it’s a pig!) I’m hosting a luau later
C: (laughs) well don’t invite Sara… and, before you put on your grass skirt and put pinkie on a spit, I need you in layout. Nick & Sara need some fresh eyes on the Mason case.

These two are finally starting to look comfortable together now. At the beginning we saw them only as very professional towards each other. Now they’re finally starting to loosen up and joke more. I like this evolution.

- They’re all having a pow-wow in the layout room, going over evidence from Craig Mason.
R: If Craig wasn’t a ghoul, and if his father hadn’t come after Grissom, would you be considering him at all?

I hate that he had to point that out to the rest of the team. They seemed to be so careful not to accuse Craig of anything just because he’s connected to Millander. Guess they still couldn’t avoid it.

- They had all assumed that the rubber hand was one of Paul Millander’s old ones. Ray points out that the rubber hand had a congenital defect in the thumb, which Paul didn’t have. Craig does.

This kind of bugs me because it’s the same mistake that Grissom made in the first Millander episodes – he didn’t check the fingerprints of the rubber hand. He had taken Millander’s word that it was his hand used for the mold. Here, the CSIs are doing the same thing. They just assumed it was one of Paul’s hands, and not a new one made by Craig.

- Ray brings in a ballistics gel bust of a person to Craig’s cell and asks Craig to show him how he would slice a guy’s throat. “Show me how much you’re NOT like your father”

- Ray sees Ecklie in the hallway in a tux. Ecklie is on his way to see the mayor, but had to make a pit-stop at the lab. Ray takes Ecklie’s bow tie off and leaves.
E: Do you know how hard these things are to tie?

Is it really bad for me to be thinking that Catherine should be standing next to him and saying sweetly, “don’t worry, Conrad, I’m an expert at bow ties. I’ll help you.” I think it’s also bad that every time I see something with tying bow ties, I’m reminded of Marg & Billy’s outtake from that scene, where Billy immediately starts laughing and Marg says “shut up”. One of the greatest outtakes ever!

- Catherine arrives in the layout room as Ray’s going through Bigelow’s clothes.
C: got your text, what’s up?
R: what do you see? (shows Bigelow’s mug shot)
C: a guy who likes having his picture taken?
R: he’s wearing a bow tie
C: oh, right. When we found the body he wasn’t wearing a tie.
R: there’s no bow tie on the body…not anywhere on the body, not even in the pockets. A man who wears a tuxedo every day doesn’t forget his bow tie.
C: so, what…someone took it?
R: his bow tie’s missing. His intestines are tied into a bow. That can’t be a coincidence. I think Dr Jekyll took it as a souvenir.
C: a souvenir? That’s what serial killers do. Joe Joe died of natural causes.
R: I’ve a bad feeling that this is not the last time we’re going to see Dr Jekyll. And I think next time he's not going to be content starting with a dead body.

- Sara & Nick are going over the clothing from the shower woman and neighborhood watch guy. Blood spatter patterns suggest it’s neighborhood watch guy who was the main culprit. Shower woman just had transfer on hers.

Another scenario I could see coming a mile away. And I basically haven’t read any spoilers yet this season. That’s not a good sign. The writing’s becoming way too predictable.

- Brass & the officers, along with Nick & Sara go to the home of Mr Wincroft (neighborhood watch guy). He comes to the front with his daughter and a gun in his hand. There’s a bit of a standoff. Nick gets Wincroft to talk to him, as Wincroft won’t listen to Brass. He gets him to let his daughter go, then after a bit of a hesitation, allows his wife to go to the safety of the officers. Finally Wincroft drops his gun and he’s arrested.

- Sara visits Craig in his cell.
C: Do you know, I never even met Mr Millander? Yet, I’m more like a Millander than a Mason.
You probably wonder how that happened.
S: it’s crossed my mind.
C: My father, Doug Mason, took me to the Holloweird warehouse once a month. He told me that the owner, Mr Millander was his friend. And there, my father would play with me just like any father would play with his son, only those costumes were toys to me. I told my father every time we went to tell this Mr Millander that he was a genius. Then one day it all stopped. I lost both my father & my idol. Making masks & rubber hands is a way of keeping my connection alive. Is my mom here to pick me up?
S: I can give you a lift. Let’s go.

This was a great scene. However, I keep thinking that this is a scene TPTB usually would have had Grissom doing. I hate that they’re just replacing Grissom with Sara in many of these types of scenes in the first two episodes so far. On the flip side, I really like this ‘new’ Sara. She’s not as grumpy, depressing, and annoying as she was in the past few seasons.

- Nick is putting Craig’s evidence in a box. He finds a dvd marked “police”, so he starts watching it. It’s Ray’s conversation with Craig about his father being in the war and then getting into fights later. As the conversation is replaying, we intercut with Ray processing his father’s purple heart. Interesting.

Summary:
I liked the return of the Millander family, but in a way, it felt wrong. Grissom & Catherine were the two main ones who worked on those cases. It feels sacrilegious to have this brought up without either of those two present. I also didn’t really like the fact that they showed the team (except Ray) as being a bit biased towards them. And what’s with them not checking the fingerprints on the fake hand – again?! Grissom made that mistake the first time, wouldn’t that be a main item of interest to follow up on right away here?

I liked the way that they had Craig as just a confused kid and not continuing in his father’s footsteps as a killler. But, as his conversation with Sara pointed out, Judge Mason was his father and he never knew Paul Millander. Thank goodness! At least TPTB stayed away from that overused cliché.

I didn’t like that they didn’t have Catherine involved very much here on a case where she was very much involved in previously – the Millander case. Plus, the similarities to Butterflied, with the gut-tying knot guy seemingly being a skilled surgeon, I think she should be a bit more involved. As Ray mentioned, we could be looking at more to come.

Why does it not surprise me that we get a Marilyn Manson reference & a character that resembles him in an episode written by Dustin Lee Abraham? I didn’t even have to look at the credits to know that DLA had a hand in writing this.

No Wendy, No Henry, No Hodges, No Mandy, limited Ecklie. This is not conducive to a good episode, IMO. However, the one scene with Super Dave was a lot of TMI. LOL

I liked Sara’s short talk with Mrs Mason in the hallway at PD. Incidentally, Sara’s red shirt reminds me of her guest appearance on Drop Dead Diva when she was in jail. LOL

So, they’ve brought back the Millander subject line again, now are they going to bring back the evil doctor from Butterflied as the ‘surgeon with remarkable skills’? That would be way too predictable, so I’m guessing it’s quite possible that’s what TPTB will come up with.

I feel that, considering the subject matter and connection to the past, Catherine should have been used more in this episode. You know that if Grissom was still with the team, he’d have been front & center in the entire Mason/Millander case. That’s the part that still bugs me. They don’t really give Catherine’s character, as supervisor of the shift, the same involvement that they gave Grissom all those years.

Overall, I’d give the episode a rating of 7 out of 10. Still a bit too much predictability in the writing, but the overall premise was good.

Hey, it only took just under 2 1/2 hours for the review this week. I think I'm making progress. Maybe it's because it was a Cath-lite episode.

Looking ahead to 2010

2009-09-30T00:30:21Z

Let's start off with a brief This n That session:
Mariska & her man, Wyatt doesn't like Sheryl's singing? LOL: and a CSI season 10 opener review from USA Today. Guess they kind of had the same reaction that I did.

Got the 2010 CSI calendar. They have some nice pics this time around. Interesting that they still have Grissom & Riley featured. My scanner was too small to get the full pages, so I did them into a few different views.

Ray gets January

February for Catherine

An appearance by Gil for March

Nick takes April

May features Sara

June brings us Greggo

Brass patrols the hot July summer

It's August for Wendy. Incidentally, it's also Liz Vassey's birthday during this month.

Doc Robbins will be featured in September

For October, we have an appearance from Riley

Can't forget Hodges (wish we could), so he's on November

December offers us the team

and some others

CSI 10x1 Family Affair

2009-09-25T07:27:36Z

It’s the beginning of the 10th season for CSI. It’ll be great to see Catherine in charge again. And yes, I know Jorja is returning for a few episodes, so I’m really looking forward to her interaction with Catherine.

10x1 Family Affair

- We start off with the very weird, but slightly cool, slow-mo/freeze frame shootout sequence.

I love seeing Doc Robbins frozen in time, kicking some butt with his cane. Reminds me of the Living Legend episode where the paparazzo snuck into the morgue & Doc effectively caught him and tripped him up.

It looks like another blow-up in the lab. Please tell me it’s not Catherine’s fault this time! LOL I’m guessing it won’t be because she’s holding on to a guy who looks like he’s just been shot. LOVE her frozen facial expression!

OMG! Is that Hodges holding Wendy in mid-air? Yikes. That’s an image that kind of freaks me out. And it looks like a bullet just whizzed by and missed them. Thank goodness.

The freeze-frame sequence moves from the lab to outside where it seems that Nick & Sara are shooting & dodging bullets. It’s interesting to note that Sara’s also firing a gun. Hmmm. Wonder how she got clearance again so fast. I’m sure she’d need to have to re-test to gain her firearm clearance.

- Freeze-frame sequence is done, and we flash to a close up of a tarantula on a desk. “48 hours ago” flashes on the screen. (Damn! I hate those shows that do the time flashbacks. They always confuse me.) Nick is gathering up the courage to touch the tarantula. He has it crawl on his arm.

Sheesh. Why are they trying to make him a Grissom clone? He’ll never be the ‘bugman’. That title can never be transferred.

- Greg is walking through the lab carrying some evidence. Cath comes walking by.
C: Mr & Mrs Decomp?
G: Til death do they centrifuge.

At least they’ve still got a bit of their humor left.

- The camera continues on Catherine, now talking on the phone
C: yeah, I do know how to read a calendar. I know when you’re due in court. I just have a backlog of my own here. Well, when Riley left, it just kind of took us all by surprise. (Cath continues into her office) She just left us with a hundred open cases and we’re short handed, but I’ll get to yours as soon as I can.

Hmmm. Wonder who that was? Any chance it could be someone from *gasp* Swing or Day shifts? Doubtful.

- Ray’s in the lab stabbing knives into blocks of ballistics gel. Ecklie comes walking in.
E: do you know how much ballistics gel costs? (gee, where have I heard that line before? LOL)
R: don’t worry, I’m going to melt it down & re-use it.
E: You’ve had quite the busy summer. ( they start walking through the lab) Advanced non-invasive tissue imaging, raman microspectroscopy, you’re already two courses over your training allotment for the whole year.
R: yes, which is why I paid for them myself, and took my vacation time to do them.
E: I know. I like the attitude. … you’re now officially a CSI-2. Congratulations.
Ray’s phone beeps. It seems they have a ‘red flag’ warning for a traffic fatality.

Oh please don’t tell me Ray’s going to be an Ecklie suck-up. LOL Okay, one thing that bugs me here is that Catherine just said they’re totally backlogged, yet we see Nick quietly sitting and playing with the tarantula. Ray is doing experiments for his own experience. If they’re so backlogged, why wouldn’t they all be working on some cases instead of doing their own personal stuff in the lab?

- It seems that the whole team responds to the traffic accident call. Brass is filling Catherine in on the initial details. There’s a lot of press around. It seems that the victim is an actress – Olivia Hamilton. Some guy comes barging through the crime tape and screaming Olivia’s name. It seems that the driver of the other vehicle is still alive and they’re taking him to the hospital.
Ray: It doesn’t matter what he has to say. Everything we need to know is right here in front of us.

Jeez, is EVERYONE channeling Grissom these days? Everyone but Catherine, it seems.

- We flash to the opening credits. YAY! Liz & David Berman have been added to the main credits! I hope that means a little extra screentime for Liz! She is totally underused so far.

- We return to the crash site and it’s now daylight. They’re just moving the vehicles apart. Catherine, Greg & Super Dave are assessing the damage to the vehicle. Then Super Dave wedges the car door open. Ray & Nick are off to the side, surveying the tire marks on the pavement. Catherine gets another case called in. Possible 420 at a weekly on Boulder Highway. She gives the case to Greg.
G: are you serious?! You’re sending me on a trash run to a fleabag motel?
C: what’s the problem?
G: I mean, why me? I mean, there are people here with less seniority.
R: present and accounted for.
C: Ray, it’s alright.
R: I’m happy to do it.
N: No, no. That’s not the point Ray. When your supervisor assigns you a case, you don’t whine about it, you take it. He knows that.
G: who asked you?
C: Nick, I need you over here.
N: (to Greg) you know better than that.
C: Ray, why don’t you go on the other side of the vehicle.
G: fine
Greg leaves.

Okay. What the hell was that? That’s NOT Greg. It wasn’t too long ago that Greg would have been jumping for joy at getting to do a case solo. Yes, the accident case is obviously high-profile since it involves a celebrity. I’m sure that’s why Greg was griping. But still, that’s not Greg. These writers are taking way too many leaps with new character traits for our favorite CSIs to start this season.

Secondly, they’re making too much fuss about this second case, so I know it’ll be somehow tied in to the main case. Ya wanna take bets on that? Didn’t think so.

- Now in Brass’ office. Tom O’Neill is there. He’s a security guy for Denny, who seems to be the guy who ran in at the crime scene shouting Olivia’s name. Brass convinces the weasel to leave, giving him a chance to talk alone with Denny. It seems that Denny has a bit of a hangover – according to Brass. Olivia was on her way to a movie set. She & Denny had been together for a year.
B: If there’s something we can do…
D: you can put a bullet in the head of the guy who killed her.
B: Mr Ocampo, let me give you some advice, okay? Your father owns a casino. He probably has a lot of enemies. So do yourself a favor. Don’t make statements like that in public. It’ll only come back to hurt you.

Ah, I just had an image of Sam Braun during that last statement by Brass. I miss him.

- Cut to a tv report of Olivia Hamilton’s death. We pull back to see that the tv is in the bedroom where Greg is processing the dead guy on the bed. Officer Akers is there with him
A: this sucks, doesn’t it?
G: yeah. (they continue to listen/watch the tv report as Greg processes) No wallet, no ID. He was probably robbed after the murder. He’s been dead two days minimum. (the tv report is showing a live feed of Cath & Ray processing the other scene)
A: half the department gets to work a dead hot movie star in front of national media. But we end up on the wrong side of town in a scumbag incubator that’s good for at least a couple of these every week. Wasting our time on a…
G: what? Old man who gets tossed around this dump fighting for his life ‘til he gets his skull smashed in? Whoever would do this is worth getting off the street. Don’tcha think?
A: yeah. Definitely. Sorry.

Good grief! Enough with the ‘poor me’ crap! As much as I loved the fact that Akers got another decent speaking part here, lose the ‘woe is me’ attitudes! At least Greg gets a little of his own medicine in return here. Akers basically said the same thing to Greg that he said to Catherine when she gave him the case.

- We’re back at the morgue. The camera is panning between rooms, eventually ending up with Cath arriving and commenting to Doc, who’s holding a pic of Olivia – obviously for his scrapbook of dead famous people that he’s worked on.
C: it’s quite the ghoulish hobby you’ve got there, Doc.
D: I’m quite the ghoul.

Okay, that was cute. And hey, how about a point for continuity with Doc’s photo scrapbook!

- as Doc gives his preliminary report, he notes that Olivia was pregnant – 8 weeks.
C: that’s long enough for her to know.

Okay, I’m going to take a guess and say that little tidbit of information means something coming up. It also reminds me of one of the early season episodes – the one with the coffee shop murders, I think (can never remember the name) , where Catherine said “she knew”

- Ray is in the hospital talking to the doctor in charge of the other guy in the accident. Seems the guy had lots of booze in his system. The guy has a crushed C2 vertebrae. Ray notes that it’s a “Hangman’s fracture”.

Love the appearance of familiar face of the doctor. He’s been back a few times. I think he first appeared back in season 5. He also was in charge of caring for Brass when he was shot.

- Cath & Ecklie talking in the hallways of the lab
E: heard from some uniforms that you guys had a little dust-up at the scene.
C: it was just a spirited debate among colleagues. My team’s very passionate about their work
E: yeah, they’re also understaffed and have been for a while, which is why I’m adding another CSI to the shift.
C: oh, Conrad. I don’t have time to train in anybody new.
E: don’t worry, this one’s been around the block. You’re going to get along just fine.

Hehe. I know who THAT is. And if history repeats, the “getting along just fine” part might be a bit of an overstatement. (but they do work great together, even when they butt heads!). Anyway, I like the increased screen time for Conrad so far.

- Henry, Ray & Nick are going over the drunk guy’s stuff. Nick finds a small bottle of white liquid in the guy’s duffle bag and has Henry run the tox screen on it. Then Ray & Nick get the diagnostic info from the guy’s vehicle. He drove 3.2 miles from his last engine stop.
R: how do you drive that far, that wasted and still stay on the road
N: individual tolerances vary. Just ask Keith Richards.

LOL That was a cute reference. And brings a question to mind – is Keith Richards EVER sober? Doubtful.

- They continue searching through the guy’s stuff, and come across a creepy scrapbook/journal. Apparently the guy has an obsession with Olivia. There’s also a knife, rope, and duct tape in the guy’s stuff. So, the guy was a stalker.

- Cath & Nick are discussing the call-sheet that Olivia had in her vehicle. It included a map from the hotel to the movie set location. The drunk guy also had it on his computer. Ecklie & Ray are also in on the discussion.
E: he knew where she was going to be and when she was going to be there. In other words, he ambushed her.
R: maybe. There are some inconsistencies.
E: like what?
R: the duct tape, the rope, the knife we found. All these things suggest that Wilkes was thinking to kidnap Olivia, that he wanted to possess her. His crashing his car into hers without wearing his seatbelt makes it seem like he was suicidal.
N: the man was intoxicated.
R: celebrity stalkers who kill are driven by an overwhelming desire to achieve fame by murdering someone who’s famous. If he killed himself at the same time as Olivia, he would have missed his chance to bask in the limelight.
E: alright, look guys. I’ve got a press conference in an hour, and I’d rather not say something I’ll have to backtrack on later on. Did Wilkes intentionally kill Olivia Hamilton?
Ray: I doubt it Nick: I’d say so
C: Maybe you should cancel the press conference.
E: (gets a text message) well, it looks like we’ve got someone who can clear things up.

Ray & Nick with opposite answers at the same time was funny. Cath with the glasses was HOT! (as usual)
Everytime the celebrity stalker subject is brought up, I always think back to the senseless murder of up-and-coming actress Rebecca Schaefer – shot & killed by a stalker as she opened the door to her house. That’s one I’ll always remember. She was great in the sitcom, “My sister Sam” with Pam Dawber. Makes me wish I had some of those old episodes on tape.

- It seems that Wilkes is awake, kind of. Brass is talking to him.
B: do you know why you’re here?
W: I killed Olivia.
B: yeah you did. How’d that happen?

LOL at least Brass got one good one-liner.

- Nick & Ray are watching traffic cameras from around the crash area – with the crash site conveniently obscured. As they watch the video, a receptionist hands Ray an envelope. It’s from the Department Use of Force Board. Obviously bringing mention to his actions at the end of last season. It’s about time that they address that issue.
R: They cleared me
N: good. Kill or be killed, Ray. It’s a terrible situation, man. Don’t let it bother you.
R: it hasn’t been bothering me. And that’s what’s been bothering me.

- Hodges introduces himself to Tom O’Neill “Guardian of the Stars” in the lobby of the lab. O’Neill asks Hodges where they are in the Wilkes case. Hodges says that Wilkes confessed, but that they’re still not sold on it. Denny comes by, still looking dazed. Catherine arrives and says that they’re ready downstairs. So now, we’re in the hallway of the morgue. Catherine leads Tom & Denny to see Olivia’s body. Denny looks for a moment, then they leave.

- Ray & Nick continue discussing the traffic lights. The white over-riding light had been tripped, triggering the traffic light where Olivia was driving to change to red, so she would be stopped. Ray gets a ‘light bulb’ look.
N: what are you thinking, Ray?
R: I’ll tell you if I can prove it.

- Ray is taking UV photos of Wilkes and his injury. Wilkes is mumbling about how there are lots of reporters outside waiting to talk to him and that they all want to talk about Olivia and they’re not concerned about him. Ray quiets his rambling by putting an oxygen mask over his face.
R: Your O2 sat is very low, Mr Wilkes, now you’re in perfectly good hands. I am a doctor. I mean, I was a doctor until I was forced out of my profession. It was one of those Angel of Death things. You see, no one really understood the real me.

LOL that was funny. A great way to shut the guy up!!

- back at the lab, Ray, Cath & Nick look over the UV photos. It seems that the bruises on Wilkes’ chest indicate that he was wearing a seatbelt, but was sitting in the passenger seat, not the driver’s seat while the crash happened. Someone must have pulled him over and snapped his neck.
C: Can Wilkes corroborate this?
R: oh, he won’t. He’s too happy being the next Mark David Chapman.

Yeah. That’s exactly what I was thinking.

- Ecklie comes into the room a bit irate. He shows them a tabloid magazine with the headline of “stalker confessed”, and thinks there’s a leak among the CSI’s.
C: Where’d they get this from?
E: I don’t know, you tell me.
C: I don’t know.
E: It’s your job to know, Catherine. Nobody in this lab should be talking to anybody in the media about an open investigation. Let alone, one of this profile.
N: Hey take it easy. I’m sure she’s not the leak.
C: I can defend myself
E: this is a discipline problem, Catherine. Just get a grip on your people. I’m beginning to think Riley was right about you.
C: what is that supposed to mean?
E: You didn’t read her exit interview. I put it on your desk.
C: What.
E: just read it.
(Ecklie leaves. Sara appears.)
S: Hi… guys. Is this a bad time?

Okay, I know I mentioned that I liked the increase in Ecklie’s screen time, but why are they turning him into an ass again? I was really starting to like him last season as it seemed he had finally mellowed out and wasn’t the power-hungry person anymore. Loved Sara’s smirk as they cut to commercial.

- Greg is walking down the hall as we see the rest of the guys leaving the breakroom after talking with Sara. Greg & Sara have a nice little hug.
S: So, how’s the world treating you?
G: oh, you know. Still being treated like the lab tech with the crazy hair.

Uh, yeah. I wish we’d be able to see some of the characteristics from that fun-loving lab tech with the crazy hair. The Greg I’ve seen so far doesn’t resemble anything of the old character. I miss fun-loving, geeky Greg.

- Cath walks to her office, searches through the stack of files on her desks and pulls out Riley’s file. She reads some of the comments that Riley made – “ineffective leadership”, “no team unity”, “poor communication”… As she’s reading, an apple comes into her point of view. It’s Hodges, giving her a peace offering, I’m guessing?
H: It has ten percent of the FDA’s daily requirement for vitamin C. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.
C: Hodges, who did you blab to?
H: nobody in the media… but, I did mention something to Tom O’Neill, but only in passing and implicitly in confidence. I would point out that I had not been explicitly forbidden from discussing the case with law enforcement community. Uh, memo from my supervisor to that affect would have been helpful – not that I’m blaming you.
Cath throws the apple back at him
C: don’t ever do anything like that ever again.
H: thank you.
He leaves and Cath reads the tabloid article that Ecklie had thrown at her. She finds something of interest.

Again, let me say that Catherine with the glasses is totally HOT! Hodges bringing her an apple as a peace offering? Sheesh. I guess that’s typical Hodges if you think about it. The part I hated here is that they’ve made Riley into a bitch with her comments from the exit interview. There was never any hint of tension with her last season. It seems so out of character. Then again, the writers really didn’t give her ANY character traits to work with once Ray came into the picture last season. They just basically pushed Riley aside as almost an ‘extra’. I’m glad to hear that LLS has a new project in the works now. She’s signed on to do a movie about the Hindenburg.

- Now we’re at a casino. Nick & Ray are trying to track down leads on Wilkes being there. They see video of Wilkes talking with Tom O’Neill a few hours before she died. Now Nick & Brass find O’Neill with Denny at a casino table. Brass & Nick take O’Neill aside to talk while Catherine talks with Denny at the table. Denny usually rides to the set with Olivia every morning, but not that morning. “I wish I had. I was going to give her this”. He pulls a ring out of his pocket and gives it to Catherine.

- Brass is at PD talking to O’Neill. After Tom gives his story, Ray brings in the bag that was shown in the casino video when he was talking with Wilkes. In the bag is a helmet, which has a white powdery substance on it. Airbag dust. After a bit more discussion, O’Neill comes back with the comment “too bad for you Wilkes already confessed”

- Ray & Catherine discuss the trace results as being positive as airbag talc.
R: he’s guilty, Catherine.
C: okay, how are we going to prove it?
R: I don’t know yet, but we will.
Ray leaves, Sara arrives
S: I like his attitude.
C: reminds you of you?

Oh, how I’ve missed Catherine & Sara’s little banters.

- Sara & Cath continue their conversation and they reach the locker room.
C: Sara, I know that you walked into some fireworks in the breakroom.
S: What? Ecklie? Please
C: No, I just read Riley’s exit interview. She had some…harsh things to say about my leadership. That the team’s fractured. That it lacks cohesion because of me, because of…my managerial style. … I don’t know. I admit it. I admit that things are different, since Grissom left.
S: well, it’s like when a great baseball team loses its cleanup hitter. Suddenly, everybody’s swinging for the fences and nobody’s playing small ball.
C: you’re using a baseball analogy.
S: apparently a part of being married is attempting to share in your spouse’s interests.
C: okay. That’s a weird side of you.
S: I know. … Look, you still have a lot of great players, and some new talent…maybe, you just need to reshuffle your lineup.
C: English, please?
S: You’re a great CSI, Catherine, and you know how to manage your team. The only thing Grissom had that you don’t…is you.

Have I mentioned how MUCH I’ve missed these two together? These are the types of scenes between these two that I had wanted to see for over 9 seasons. I got a strange image during the “share in your spouse’s interests” line. Like Catherine sharing in Eddie’s interests – like drugs. And the last part of that – “the only thing Grissom had that you don’t…is you” – makes me remember how great of a co-supervisor Catherine has always been, right from the start. That’s a quality of her that’s always been there. We never had to see it be implemented. As she said back a few seasons ago, she was his ‘right hand, and his left’.

- Super Dave comes into the morgue, to find water spraying out everywhere. Four guys are coming through the morgue carrying out a body. Dave tries to stop them. I guess this is where the freeze-frame sequence at the beginning of the episode comes in to play. Doc tries to help. He knocks one guy down, and calls for security. Chaos ensues throughout the lab as they try to get out. Shots ring out. A couple of the guys eventually make it out as Nick & Sara try shooting them , but miss. The van drives off.

Okay, the only thing that really puzzles me here – how does Sara have a gun already? I’m guessing that with her research occupation for the past year or so, she hasn’t been an official member of the law enforcement. So how does she have permission to carry a gun at PD? She obviously hasn’t had time to reapply for a firearms permit in one day.

- After the initial chaos, we see Sara & Nick processing one of the dead guys. He has russian mob tattoos on his fingers. Yikes. Didn’t see that one coming. Cath & Ray are on their way to the morgue, discussing how the men seemed to be posing as morticians. So why try to take Olivia Hamilton’s body? Doc says “they didn’t take Olivia Hamilton”. Interesting.

- Seems the ‘bum’ from Greg’s case – the case that he didn’t want to take – is Olivia Hamilton’s father. He’s the one that the guys came to take. Wendy gives Greg & Ray that info. Hey – FINALLY a Wendy appearance. And the 'father' relationship didn't surprise me. After all, The episode is called "family affair". I knew that just wasn't talking about the CSI team. The writers aren't THAT creative.

- Now we see Sara & Nick out in a rural area. The getaway van seems to have been abandoned on the road, and there’s a woodchipper
N: So much for Olivia Hamilton’s father.
S: it might not be him
(Nick picks up part of a finger)
N: you, uh, care to rethink that?

- Greg, Cath & Ray are discussing the story of Olivia & her father. It seems that it was not public knowledge that they were related. They come up with a scenario that O’Neill killed Mr Hamilton in a fight, then plotted for the ‘delusional stalker’ to kill Olivia. But, it’s only speculation. How can they prove it? Ray gets an idea as he looks through the Xray photos.

- Sara & Nick are sorting through the body chips. Seems the smell is getting to them. (welcome back, Sara! LOL) Cath, Greg & Ray come running in. Ray says they’re looking for a cuff link, which is what is showing up on an Xray. Now, they’re all digging through the bloody body chips. (Ewww! That’s a nice ‘team sport’, huh? LOL) They find it. It’s got the lightning bolt symbol, which was on Tom O’Neill’s business cards that he was handing out earlier.

- we’re back to where we started – Nick’s tarantula. Nick & Greg are in the office.
N: that’s not my spider, dude.
G: seriously?
N: seriously.
G: Is that…little Stevie? Wow, he’s been missing for years!

Hmmm. Seems that Grissom’s little pet has been running free & easy for a long time. I'm guessing that's the same one where Cath told Grissom to "just keep a lid on it".

- Cath calls Nick to her office.
C: hey, Nicky
N: yeah
C: got a sec?
N: yeah … what’s up
C: Uh, something that’s long overdue. I don’t tell you enough, Nicky, but I couldn’t do this job without you.
N: Okay…. Love you too, Catherine.
C: I am promoting you…. You are now assistant supervisor on Grave.
N: alright. Thanks.
(she hands him a stack of files)
C: please have these FI reviews on my desk by tomorrow night.

LOL he’ll learn. Promotions come with a price. Ha!

- back in the morgue, Ray arrives as Doc is just opening up a corpse. The guy has been in the cooler for a couple days. Joseph Bigelow. No known address. As Doc opens him up, he says, “Whoah”
D: Whoah
R: what the hell is that?
D: I was hoping you’d tell me

Aw C’mon! They can’t leave it like that! I hope we at least get to continue with it next week. Actually, I wish they would have ended with the gang having lunch together or something.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUMMARY:
Let me reiterate how MUCH I loved seeing Cath & Sara together on screen again.

This episode bugged me with the team bickering. I think the writers tried too hard to make it seem like there was dissention with the team. They were all way too out of character. Since when does Greg not respect Catherine? Why did they make Riley to sound like a bitch with her ‘exit interview’ comments? She always seemed so agreeable last season. Why did they turn Ecklie into a grumpy hardass again? I was just getting to like him at the end of last season.

What’s with the lack of leadership theme? Since Grissom left last season, I saw the team turn into more of a unified family, with the lunches at the diners, the joking banter, the sweet, poignant moments. They wouldn’t have all changed that drastically. Even when Catherine ran Swing back in season 5, there was only a time or two when she had a problem with Nick or Warrick.

Anyone find it kind of funny that “stalker guy” had the name Wilkes? Does the name John Wilkes Booth come to mind?

Oh, and have I mentioned recently how MUCH I’ve missed the Cath & Sara interaction on screen?

Overall, I guess the story of the dead famous actress was okay. The big left turn with the men stealing the body was…different. I didn’t really care for the dissention amongst the team, but I hope it’s been resolved and the characters are back to normal.

And you know, the ‘marriage’ references didn’t have much effect on me. I think it’s because the two weren’t there together with the stupid raised eyebrow looks and sly glances. It didn’t detract from the story.

Okay, so that review only took about four hours. Sheesh. It seems to get worse every time. I've really gotta stop doing this.

Girl power ROCKS!

2009-09-24T19:39:05Z

Two of my favorite ladies grace the cover of TV Guide together.

Don’t forget the Season 10 premiere of CSI is tonight. Time for me to initiate the ‘Catherine Willows philosophy’. I’ll expect the worst, for now. LOL

Starting with the new issue of TV Guide

Some CSI promos in today’s edition of USA Today. The one was too big for my scanner, so I did it two different ways.

and I just couldn’t resist posting this:

and what’s up with Kurt? Not sure if I’m laughing at the visual he presents or peeved at him dissing CSI, but I understand what he’s saying – SoA would suck if it had CSI-type stories.

Patrick Swayze tributes -- From People:

From US Weekly:

A nice article on Sela Ward in the latest issue of More:

The evolution of Neil Patrick Harris

and Craig Ferguson – promoting the new book

upcoming series premieres to keep in mind:

I’ll be checking out Three Rivers to see Kate Moennig in a role other than Shane McCutcheon (TLW). I heard the premiere of SGU will include an appearance by Amanda Tapping as her popular Stargate character, Samantha Carter. And Wanda Sykes should finally liven things up a bit on network tv.

and Kathy Bates in a new sci-fi series? Interesting.

This is one of the strangest combinations I’ve seen – Jesse, Whoopi & Phil? That’s what I call ‘diverse’

And I found this tidbit quite interesting. A list of famous celebs who have had their first child after age 40

That’s it for now.

Remembering the debut of two classics

2009-09-15T00:04:46Z

Today marks the debuts of two classic tv shows - The Waltons and Golden Girls.
The Waltons premiered on this date back in 1972. It followed the story of a family living in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner, Jr., and was based on his book Spencer's Mountain - of which a 1963 film of the same name was made, starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. (one of my favorites!!)

Do you remember all the kids?
John-Boy, Jason, Mary Ellen, Ben, Erin, Jim-Bob, and Elizabeth. Parents John & Olivia, as well as John's parents Zeb & Esther. Of course, there were the 'town-folk', like Ike, Corabeth & Aimee Godsey. And how could you not love the Baldwin sisters - who kept "the recipe" in plentiful supply.

Also on this date, back in 1985, The Golden Girls made its debut.

The show was a bit groundbreaking - even for the mid-80s, as it focused on four older women sharing a Miami home. There was Rose, the naive, old-school Minnesotan (sorry, but there really is NO St Olaf, MN. St Olaf College yes, but not town). Blanche was the high-falutin Southern Belle, who was a bit stuck on herself. Dorothy, the divorcee with a slime-ball ex. And Sophia, Dorothy's mother, who was a Sicilian spitfire, and IMO, the one who made the show the great comedy that it was.

and you can't forget the catchy theme song - "Thank you for being a friend".

As I look back on this date a bit more - it's also the 27th anniversary of Princess Grace of Monaco's death.

So, let's end this post in true Walton fashion:

Goodnight readers!

more of the same

2009-09-14T21:27:05Z

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly featured the Fall TV Preview. It's basically the same stuff I've seen in all of the other magazines, just written by other people.

So, here's more of the same blah-blah on the same shows as before - CSI, NCIS, NCIS:LA, Sons of Anarchy, Glee, SVU, and Modern Family. Also, Trauma looks a bit interesting. I might also have to check that one out.

Don'tcha just love Jane Lynch's character, Sue, on Glee?! Ha! She's the only reason I watch the show.

and wrapping up this issue of This n That with some random celebrity sightings

Promos...Promos...Promos

2009-09-12T21:45:22Z

The new issue of People featured a bunch of show promos for the new season.
CSI, NCIS, NCIS:LA (stupid name!), and Three Rivers are a few that I'll be watching.

Happy Friday!

2009-09-11T20:25:58Z

Well this day has started out quite well. Got the new issues of TV Guide and Paste in the mail today. TV Guide included features on the returning shows.

I always love seeing Mariska & Chris being funny.

and you can find more pics from this photoshoot here: at the TV Guide Magazine website

I'm looking forward to seeing the NCIS premiere. It looks like Tony's got himself into a bit of a situation - kind of like Ziva was to end last season.

Then there's the CSI franchise. Starting with the original (and the only one I can stand to watch)

"I think the audience is hungry for Langston to kind of take the Sherlock Holmes mantle and be the guy who solves these crimes"
Uh, how about "NO"! That comment just goes to show that TPTB have NO CLUE as to what the faithful CSI fans want from this show - Mainly the TEAM working to 'take the mantle and be the ones to solve these crimes' DUH!!

And the other replicas

Here are some other shows that might be of interest to some, but I don't watch them.

That's the interesting stuff I found in TV Guide

Now, the new issue of Paste brightened my day by having this nice little article on Brandi Carlile

and I thought this was an interesting interview with Patton Oswalt. I don't really know much about him, but I've seen him on tv a few times

and, if you haven't seen it yet - ET will be having Premiere Week next week, featuring stars from many of your favorite tv shows - like CSI, NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, How I Met Your Mother and more.
Here's the promo ET ran:

download link here

the new tv season is upon us

2009-09-08T20:33:32Z

The new fall tv season is underway. Now I just need to make sure I have the schedule down so I don’t miss any of those that I was hoping to check out. It seems that my Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays & Sundays should be full for a while.

Today begins a new season of Ellen’s show. I'm kind of watching it as I'm major multi-tasking. I loved David Beckham's "Ellen" undies that he just showed!

BTW – how did Ellen lose out to The View for Talk Show Host award? Bummer!

Also tonight is the season two premiere of Sons of Anarchy on FX. I can’t wait to see Katey Sagal & Company back and revving up the bikes.

The new issue of RollingStone had a nice mix – from the ’50 Best Reasons To Watch TV’, to Pink and Willie.
I’ve highlighted a few of the ‘reasons to watch’:

A nice update with Pink

And Willie showing some leg? Yikes! Guess all that mary jane keeps him looking young?

More show updates in an issue of USA Today last week, and the latest issue of People:

It was lovely to see a mention of Liam in the new issue of EW.

And let’s finish this edition of This n That with some drool:

A roundup of some new shows

2009-09-02T22:39:00Z

The new issue of TV Guide previewed many of the new tv shows for this fall's new season.
There are actually some that I'm interested in checking out.

First of all, the magazine had a small look at some of the summer show finales - including Nurse Jackie and In Plain Sight

Now to the new:

Three Rivers
I'm hoping Kate Moennig has a fairly decent sized role in this, otherwise I probably won't be watching.

NCIS: Los Angeles
I will at least watch this for an episode or two, just to see how they get things started, and to see what they do with Linda Hunt's character. This might be more tolerable to watch if the rumors are true that Louise Lombard is returning to her CSI role. We'll see.

Glee
They gave us the preview of this show earlier in the year, and it wasn't too bad. Anything with Jane Lynch is worth taking a look at.

Ed O'Neill returns to sitcom tv. Can anyone watch him and not think of Al Bundy?

Here are some of the midseason shows that they have planned. I'm excited to see the cast listing for Parenthood - Bonnie Bedelia & Craig T Nelson. SWEET!! Although, I was hoping they'd somehow make a series featuring Bonnie's character on CSI, DDA Madeleine Klein.

Here's the full week schedule

And I swear that I haven't watched a soap opera in almost a decade (unless you count seasons 7 & 8 of CSI!), but trying to split up Bo & Hope? That's a storyline that's been ongoing for about 20 years, isn't it? They always seem to hold on to each other. How can you have Bo without Hope? It's inconcievable. Really! Even though I only watch once per decade, you can't split these two or the world will spiral into oblivion.

Has it really been 12 years?! Wow!

2009-09-01T06:17:47Z

Kiss My Grits!!!

2009-08-31T20:14:38Z

On this day back in 1976, The TV show "Alice" premiered on CBS. The series was based on the 1975 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". I loved this series. It starred Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, Philip McKeon, Beth Howland, and of course, Polly Holliday, who was my favorite as Flo, the sarcastic waitress working at Mel's Diner whose line, "kiss my grits" turned into a classic tv slogan. The character later got her own spin-off series, "Flo".

Musings

2009-08-30T17:32:49Z

I was browsing through the latest issue of People yesterday. It's nice to see that Tea & David seem to be together again.

The magazine also had previews for some new shows. I didn't realize that Ed O'Neill was going to be back on another show. I might have to check that one out. Here are a couple others that I'm interested in seeing.

Please don't start putting her in the middle of this!

2009-08-28T23:46:42Z

I was a bit curious by this little tidbit in the latest issue of US Weekly.

Yes, I know Sheryl is friends with both Brad & Jen, but why are they bringing this all up now? I sure hope the gossip mongers don't start putting Sheryl into the middle of all of this Angelina/Brad/Jen crap now.

Happy Amanda Day!

2009-08-28T05:53:05Z

It's Amanda Tapping's birthday today, and I figured this was the time to post some of the AT/SG-1 art that I've completed recently.

Wallpapers:

and icons: