Wednesday March 5, 2008
Criminal minds
With seven seasons under its belt, and its eighth premiering in Malaysia tonight, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation proves it can go the distance.
By ZACK YUSOF
zackyusof@thestar.com.my
VERY few television shows have lasted as long on air and enjoyed as much global success as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. But even with seven seasons under its belt, the fast-paced procedural drama continues to captivate audiences all round the world with its riveting storylines, high-quality acting and state-of-the-art special effects.
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Crime stoppers: The cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, (from left) Robert David Hall, George Eads, William Petersen, Gary Dourdan, Marg Helgenberger, Eric Szmanda (background) and Paul Guilfoyle, is back for the series’ eighth season. |
Relying on cutting-edge scientific methods and old-fashioned savvy to solve crimes, the investigators are driven to succeed by the premise to ”let the evidence bring justice to the victims and closure to the survivors.”
Season Seven saw the show scaling new heights in terms of entertainment value with the CSI team embroiled in a gripping and intense on-going hunt for the deadly “Miniature Killer”, an enigmatic serial murderer who created detailed miniatures of her crime scenes and sent them to the authorities.
While this case ran throughout the season, other interesting subplots such as the traumatic abduction of Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger)’s daughter Lindsey and Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda)’s civil suit for wrongful death after taking the life of a gang member who attacked him also offered much in terms of viewing satisfaction.
Going beyond the standard police procedural storylines most weeks with the introduction of more personal accounts involving many of the team members as well as new faces, Season Seven consistently delivered the goods.
Plot devices like the introduction of Michael Keppler, who was excellently portrayed by The Manchurian Candidate star Liev Schreiber, as stand-in supervisor for Gil Grissom (William Petersen) during a four-week sabbatical made for a fascinating change of pace and dynamics.
Of course, no season of CSI would be complete without its usual parade of famous special guest stars and among those appeared in the last season were John Meyer, Sean Young, Ned Beatty, Ally Sheedy, Method Man, The Who’s Roger Daltrey and even Cirque du Soleil!
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In one episode, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) and Warrick (Gary Dourdan) investigate the murder of a family. |
The new season promises more thrills and suspense with the CSIs being tested harder – both professionally and personally – than ever before. Not only will viewers get to see what happens with Sara and the Miniature Killer but they will also discover more about her secret relationship with Grissom. Yes, Grissom will finally let the cat out of the bag .
Other interesting subplots in Season Eight include Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) going head-to-head with the remnants of the old Vegas mob (beginning in an episode directed by Oscar-winning director William Friedkin of The Exorcist fame), and Grissom investigating the causes and repercussions of Colony Collapse Disorder – a global bee epidemic, while Nick Stokes (George Eads), the soul of the team, senses that in the fallout of the Miniature Killer ordeal, his “family” is breaking apart and fights to maintain their unity.
Viewers will also be introduced to rookie CSI Ronnie Lake (Jessica Lucas), who comes with plenty of energy and enthusiasm but very little experience. Fresh out of school and eager to learn, Ronnie’s enthusiasm quickly begins to wear on her new colleagues.
The show that nobody wanted
Gary Dourdan, George Eads and Marg Helgenberger were busy filming scenes for Season Eight episode nine (You Kill Me) at the CSI set situated at Universal City, Los Angeles, but they still found the time to speak at length about the show to the group of jet-lagged journalists from Asia and Latin America.
With the entire group of journalists gathered in the Crime Lab’s meeting room, Helgenberger, who plays Catherine Willows, took the opportunity to talk about how her character will develop.
“The plan for Catherine, this season, is how she might come to some sort of a crossroads in which she has to decide if she wants to stick with her current position or make a career change and work on the casino that she has just inherited from her father,” she revealed.
“I think that the business side is exciting for her,” she continued. “I think change is always good, especially for a person like Catherine, who has been doing this for quite a long time and might want a little change. So, I think they’re going to play that out and see what happens.”
For Gary Dourdan, the Philadelphia-born actor who plays Warrick Brown, the cool and laid-back analyst with insider knowledge of Las Vegas, the show’s global success has been nothing short of amazing, especially considering that in the beginning, nobody really had high hopes for the show.
“We were the show that no one wanted because they (the studios) were all about the cast list at the beginning,” laughed the easy-going Dourdan. “And to come from that to be the No.1 show in the world, we just weren’t expecting it. We weren’t going, ‘let’s take on Friends, we’re going to win.’ We were just happy to be on the air. And to go from that point to be the No.1 show has been an amazing journey.”
Dourdan finds it strange that although people like watching the shows, they don’t really admit to watching them.
“It’s funny. The critics constantly just look right over us and they don’t invite us to any of the awards shows. The other shows that are like us – the copycats – they’re getting awards and they’re getting invited to all the parties. And so it is kind of strange, you know?
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Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) in a scene from the pilot episode of CSI season eight, entitled Where Is Sara? |
Commenting on what may be in store for his character in Season Eight, Dourdan said: “He kind of goes through a lot, like, ‘mayday! mayday!’, you know? He crashed and burned with his marriage, so you will see that.”
Talking to George Eads, the chatty, opinionated, distinctively alpha-male actor from Texas that plays Nick Stokes, one gets the impression that nobody loves the show quite as much as him.
Even after eight years of playing the same guy, Eads still gets very excited about the task of bringing his character to life.
“Well, I think that they hired the right guy,” opined Eads, still dressed in his blue Crime Lab jump suit for the interview. “I’m just very passionate about the show. In one respect, you get to play the same guy for eight years, and you wonder how you are going to make it fresh this time. But in another respect, it is a long movie where I get a chance to mature and evolve.
“With every passing week, I get an opportunity to improve my acting because I get to do it day in, day out. So a lot of times, I compare it to being a professional athlete.
“I feel like in the eighth season, I’ve gone from maybe a good high school quarterback to someone that is throwing the ball harder and faster with more energy and who has more ability to lead a team.
Eads added: “So I’ve got to evolve this character to being not only more of a man than he was in the beginning, but a better CSI too. And I think he’s kind of fallen into a role of possibly being a leader of men instead of a follower.”
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