So another crime scene replica turned up and another murder not totally solved. 

BRIEF RECAP:
We know that Penny Garden [sounds like a park, no wonder she was a cocktail waitress, etc.!] was poisoned with liquid nicotine which the murderer plotted to kill her with.  However, Penny reacted differently and ran into the window [dying of trauma and the poison] rather than dying in the chair where the killer thought she would have.  With the change, the killer altered his miniature replica [putting Penny dying on the window, rather than the chair].  No evidence pointed to any particular suspect was found at the scene, and neither skeleton nephew and creepy drug selling neighbour would have profited from her death, so no motive or evidence links with Penny's death so far.

Fortunately for Gil, paranoid neighbour across the street from Penny's house had a security camera which caught a person dropping off the replica at Penny's front door, so now we can at least tell something about the suspect [or accomplice] from the video other than photos of a baby with blood on his/her head.

Here are my profile thoughts on the killer, whom I will nickname, Replica Man...

1. From the brief video we saw [I'm sure they will look at it more carefully next episode], the drop off person appears to be a guy, average build and height, wearing a hoodie like jacket. 

2. The suspect doesn't seem to care where he places the replica as he did in the first case, instead of going into Penny's house [which we know he can get into] he dropped it onto the porch.  The drop off appeared quite casual, as if he is not worried about being caught or seen by the neighbours or Penny's nephew.  Did he know about the security camera across the street? Doesn't seem so.  I'm thinking the drop off guy isn't the creator of the replicas. Just a hunch there.

3. Replica Man is very picky and into detail- he plans ahead and spends time on the replica's to get them exactly like the crime scene.  So he probably knows both the victims, Penny and Izzy the Rocker, because he had to know where everything in the scene is down to the smallest detail.

Replica Man also altered the Penny crime scene after the death to make it correct.  He didn't scrape off the glue though from the original configuration, leading us to believe he might not be as meticulous as once thought...

4. Replica Man is very good at not leaving any extra evidence or make mistakes- so far Gil hasn't found very much trace.  I'm thinking he knows Gil and Gil's determination to solve unsolved puzzles

5. Replica Man is not into it for profit- he knew Penny or someone was hiding the fentanyl [expensive painkillers] outside under a rock, but didn't take it.  Replica Man knew that Grissom would try to move the pieces on the replica and find the mini-syringe, which would lead them to the drugs at the real crime scene.  Was he trying to tell Grissom that Penny or someone hid the drugs there? Replica Man seems to know Penny more intimately than her nephew [who lives in the same house] and the neighbour [who sees her often].  Yet according to the nephew and neighbour, no one ever comes by.

6. Is there a link between Penny [retired cockail waitress] and Izzy? .... leave your thoughts by clicking on the Post a comment below or post in the forum!

US TV is ruled by "sweeps"- producers roll out the big stars and supposedly exciting storylines to prove that viewers like their shows.  The number crunchers then spin the viewership ratings so that the networks can get even more advertising money, which they can use to make the next sweeps time even more exciting.  The time between sweeps? Viewers either get storyline fillers or reruns- wonderful Christmas gifts.

Anyways, with LOST finishing up their fall season this week [they will re-premiere later in the year], Thursdays will regain it's week supremacy in terms of must see tv.  [Thursdays was already the winner, but with LOST out of the way, it's a definite run away winner].

And what are they going to do on CSI:LV?...

This week, Grissom gets another crime scene minature apparently- so we can rest assured Danny Bonnaduce will get some more corpse time as they refresh our memories after a few weeks of not mentioning the shocking left open case.

In other CSI news, Liev Schreiber will be starring as a new character in charge in January as William Petersen takes a break and does a play.  While it's not right to comment on Petersen's reasons for doing a play [perhaps he just wanted to, it was a old favour to the play director,... until CBS or the actor officially says anything, it's not fair to speculate], it looks as if the CSI writers are going to either a) have Gil call into work sick a lot with migraines, b) have Gil have a brain tumour that causes migraines and forces him into either a long rehab or retirement or c) some combo of the above.  Will our favourite Gil Grissom return? Petersen's contract ends this year.  I guess his re-signing will depend on the amount of money the show can extort via sweeps numbers and how the fans react to Gil being away. 



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Just a final funny note- Studio 60 shows on Sunday in Canada, so we got to enjoy the CSI:Miami slag on the Nevada pt 1 episode [airs tonight in US].  60's characters poke fun at TV decency standards on how a show can't make the smallest joke about religion before 10 in the states, while on shows like Miami, skinny actors and actresses can cavort around mostly naked and drunk seemingly at any time of day.  Great standards, huh?

Just a quick post tonight...

In keeping with my dedication to watching only smart shows on TV [yes, I'm being sarcastic- I waste A LOT of time watching complete cheese], there was a CSI related trivia question on on 1 vs 100 [the new US edition with Full House dad-potty mouth comic Bob Saget].

One of the $1000 questions was which Who song is not used as a theme for a CSI show:

The choices were:
A Won't get fooled again
B I can't explain
C Who are you?

Obviously we all know that B has yet to be used as a CSI theme song... (calling CSI International Space Station- here's your theme!).  The contestant and the "Mob" were quite sure that CSI Las Vegas uses Who are You [duh it's in all the commercials, even if you don't watch the show, you can't miss it], but some were torn over the CSI Miami song, simply because they don't watch CSI Miami or CSI New York. 

Now why wouldn't they? Are they creeped out with Horatio Caine too? Or do they prefer other TV shows at the same time instead?  Oh well- I'm just glad in Canada the shows tend to be on two channels [with a few exceptions]- so we get shows aired sometimes hours, or days in advance. 

I wonder what would have happened if they gave Baba O'Reilly as the A choice instead? Rich Mob I'm betting...

First, to Stella Bonasera- stop lecturing people on following evidence when you're not looking at it yourself.  I predicted the "wife did it" when she found the brain matter on the bathtub; and this was only to confirm my hypothesis when Mac and Bonasera got to crime scene and the wife claimed she was just getting out of the shower when she heard a noise.  She got dressed up and hair combed out conveniently fast, and managed to get a gun already to fire once at the "man beating up her husband"... yeah right.  I think some CSI brains need to get working faster on the NY show.

Anyways, instead of a Halloween treat on Las Vegas, we get a rerun from last year.  Not a bad episode, but still I can't watch CSI reruns because I already know the ending.  Part of the reason why I love CSI is the mystery that unravels through out the episode(s), and I like solving the cases along with the investigators.  Seeing them "work the evidence" in the lab makes it more realistic in comparison to the law shows.  But once I've seen an episode, I don't need to see it again unfortunately.  Perhaps in a few years I will have forgotten things and I might be able to enjoy reruns again, but until then the saving of new episodes for "Sweeps" drives me nuts... and there's nothing much I can do about it.

So what about you... Can you watch a CSI rerun and still enjoy it? Or does the excitement/entertainment factor dwindle once the mystery is spoiled for you?  Leave your comments by clicking the "Post a Comment" below.

Well that was apparently the Hallowe'en themed episode for Miami, with the amazing disappearing coffin, criminals that are full of themselves and still creepy as ever Horatio Caine.  Now he goes to crime scenes and stands in the dark while Alexx examines victims- you'd think the head of the forensics team would be scoping out potential bits of evidence for his employees to tag and pick up at least...

While I won't comment on the totally weird goat head sacrificing and audio taping at cemetaries, I will say that finally Miami managed to impress me with a good story.  At Last!  I feared for Ryan's life again [first they did his eye, and thankfully not his hands], and then they blew up a centrifuge all over Boa Vista [told you she'd get injured soon].  I've worked with centrifuges before, so that did freak me out a bit!  Always work with scientific equipment on stable steel/steel enforced equipment. Glass looks cool, and is probably useful in some lab work, but don't put the centrifuge on it... they are heavy and expensive!  [not to mention noisy if you don't balance them right].

For a moment, I also actually thought the bait car blew up as Horatio was driving it away.  But alas, our creepy intripid hero managed to get it to the beach [no traffic in Miami oddly enough?] and let it explode in style.  I didn't think a cop would be too pleased with real police equipment, carrying potential evidence in it, blowing up on a beach, but apparently he was pleased enough to cooly walk away while putting on his shades.

Anyways, while I was impressed with the Miami story, Dexter [though it premieres on Sundays in Canada] and Justice had the stories of the night.  Calleigh and co really need to go help the Dexter Miami-PD out, because apparently they aren't very good at noticing valuable evidence with out Dexter telling them where it is.  And someone has to go to LA to help the poor stupid DA on Justice.  Finally Trott and co. lose the case, but the quick to prosecute DA messed up on evidence collection again and the killer is again free.

Just where are the magical coffins when you need them?


PS: This is a plea to the writers to CSI Miami... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE [X infinity squared, etc.] DON'T hook up Boa Vista with Horatio.................. please! He's traumatizing me enough!!!

So the Suicide Girls were on CSI NY last night- apparently they are the "it" thing in New York.  Guess I'm far from that culture craze!

Anyways, by the looks of it, the CSI creators will be using the kodecon site to show previews for upcoming episodes- or at least the ones that have  video confessions by characters or suspects in upcoming cases.  I was hoping that the site would instead give us more information about Shane Casey and where he is... perhaps they will, but at this time, it's too hard to speculate.  They did drop his name in last night's episode, almost it seems to give us the impression they will deal with him again- but no timeline seems to be hinted at there either.

One thing they were hinting at is Lindsay's background story.  Apparently after a few years of being involved in law enforcement and talking to victims, etc., Lindsay has trouble talking to mothers.  We can all tell where this is heading- Lindsay has a troubled relationship with her own mother and hence has trouble talking to others.  Now does this mean her own mother was victimized, or that she lost a sibling? [My father's guess.] Or perhaps she was involved in a horrible case where she got too close to a mother who was traumatized? [Brother's guess.]  At this point, could be either- but good for her for trying to talk to the girl's mother at the end, and for Danny for being understanding for once!

Anyways, I'm pleased with the social commentary issue explored in the second case involving the basketball player who was just trying to turn his life around.  Often we jump to too many conclusions about other people [no thanks sometimes to the stereotypes we see on TV!] and I'm glad that CSI NY tried to point that out ever so passively.

Looking forward to tonight's CSI:LV episode... I didn't know there was a convent anywhere near Las Vegas!

Each year on CSI- well at least the original Las Vegas CSI series- we are introduced to a story arc that spans at least part of the season.  Past arcs usually surrounded cases our supreme mentor Gil Grissom couldn't solve and or bad guys that managed to get away. 

Here are some trends and the probable story arcs that will continue this year on the CSI series...

CSI: Vegas

1. The Izzy Delancy/minature recreations is definitely a recurring case that will pop up during this season.  Why? Well, it hasn't been solved yet, and the writers aren't just going to let Danny Bonnaduce star as a corpse in one episode.  The I Spy feature on the official CSI website also demonstrates they think this case is the big one for at least the first half of the year.  Just like last year's "cliffhanger dinner scene," They have the Izzy minature online to taunt and waste our time.  [link on the left]

2. Injuring and afflicting trauma on characters is a favourite in this series.  After burying Nick alive, allowing Brass to almost kill himself in the line of duty, and shooting Sam Braun infront of Catherine, it was inevitable that they would do something horrible to poor Greg.  The question is, what might they do to Sara or Warrick? If something happen to Gil, there'll probably be a riot.  Now where's Ecklie...

3. Romance- it seems in shows involving police and doctors that romance always has to get in somehow.  While at first there was a lot of flirtatious behaviour between Catherine and Warrick [previous seasons], Catherine seems to be closer to Nick.  Greg is still seemingly chasing any girl he can find, while still ogling Sara.  The biggest surprise of last year's season ender? Gil and Sara finally together.  Perhaps the biggest surprise is that none of the amazing investigators have been able to figure out there's something going on between them!


CSI: Miami

1. Miami is also prone to traumatizing its characters, usually steady as a rock Calleigh and Ryan Wolfe's eye.  Eric's trouble usually surrounded Marisol, who was finally killed off last season causing Horatio's vengence trip to Brazil.  We also can't forget Tim Speedle, who decided he wanted to make films instead.  With Yelena and Ray Junior supposedly moved away for awhile, I expect more trauma to be targeted either on Calleigh [or her boozy dad] or Alexx Woods, who doesn't deserve it.  Of course, if I had MY way...

2. Horatio and his sunglasses will be the target.  Expect our dear Horatio to continue to get drug and weapons traders extremely angry, especially with his head positions and eye wear fiddling.  After all, that is what Det. Caine does best.

3.  The "mole" story line is probably not finished- after all, while Natalia Boa Vista has been revealed for her inadvertant actions, her creepy ex is now in town.  And in Miami world, even if you've said you are sorry a million times, you still have to pay.

CSI: NEW YORK

1. I'm thinking our vengeful brother Shane Casey [Ed Furlong] will be back as the creepy t-shirt making guy probably has more "da vinci code" ripping off that he wants to do.  Hopefully he'll reveal to everyone that the Da Vinci Code is the rip off.

2. Danny and Montana.  While Lindsay seemed to at first be the normal nothings-going-wrong character last season, her backtrack on a relationship with Danny revealed there is something to her backstory after all.  I expect Danny won't be the kind of guy to wait for the girl, but you never know- stranger things have happened, including Mac dating.

3. CSI New York loves injuring its characters too, with Flack, Bonasera and Aidan taking most of the injury in past episodes.  Watch for D.J. Pratt to return eventually as Mac and Danny will have some extreme talking to do to him amongst other things for Aidan's murder.  So far physically unscathed are Hawkes and Lindsay- expect this to end soon. And nothing ever happens well for main star love interests, so even the new coroner [Peyton] might not be safe.

ANOTHER things to watch for:

- another lab tech or coroner to make the jump to more CSI ranks, or for another police officer to convert.  They love doing that, so let's see which secondary character shines enough to warrant a bump to the front line.


What do you think? Leave your comments or thoughts... I know I've only just started!

Welcome to CSIGAMER's Blog- where staff will hopefully comment, review, dissect and rant about the CSI serieses.  We will be revamping this blog as we go along to make it easier to access and read... and we hope that you all like it. 

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Kay- CSIGAMER Moderator