Standard stuff this episode: Sara’s a loser with no social life, Grissom is inappropriate, Catherine is badass and yet loaded with maternal empathy. And Greg is desperate for the approval of his superiors. JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE CSI OFFICE.
To take the smaller story first, Nick and Catherine investigate the death of a guy who was apparently shot in a hunting accident. Apparently they are also engaged in some kind of fancy dress competition.
Qui? Moi? (Catherine has obviously come as a French mime) (all mimes are French, right?)
Can you guess who Nick has come as?
Here's another shot to give you a clue (note the jumper)
Obviously, this is obvious. Nick's whole face (his whole body, heh heh) is an Action Man costume
YOU GUYZ I'M SERIOUS
ANYWAY enough of my obsession with Nick’s face. Hunting guy has left behind a grieving widow
Grieving
who quickly discovers a surefire way to get Catherine onside.
Grieving widow: … with the baby and all…
Did you say BABY? Wouldn't that make you a MOTHER? I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEEEEEL!
Anyway this is quite a sad little story (except for a brief happy moment where Nick and Catherine model some attractive waders)
People say I look like me da (ten points for anybody who gets that reference)
and therefore ill-suited to my CUTTING AND SARCASTIC WIT. So I will maybe leave it there.
Meanwhile on the main storyline, Grissom and Sara are probing the case of two, very different, sisters, both found dead in some pipes near a field. One of them is glamorous and has tattoos. The other one (much to Grissom’s surprise) doesn’t shave her legs.
What kind of sorry excuse for a woman does she think she is?!
Obviously, with that kind of weird sociopathic behaviour, one who just likes to stay at home and buy things on the internet. (Actually this might merit a new post category: Internet Weirdos. Anybody on CSI who participates in social media is usually suspect in some way.)
Gosh Grissom, not everyone can be as UNFEASIBLY GLAMOROUS as you appear to look on your ID badge headshot
Anyway after a brief hiatus of suspecting glamour-girl’s boyfriend, Not Mark Wright
Mark Wright
Mark Wrong
Grissom is soon set on the right (Wright?) (I’ve overused that one) track, via an enterprising prison governor who has his inmates working shifts on a kind of boutique call centre.
*Johnny Cash plays as hold music*
PPP sez... "This is the kind of shizzle that went down at Shawshank. And that didn't end well for ANYBODY. Except Tim Robbins. And Morgan Freeman."
Seems like dowdy hairy lady ordered herself a MAN as well as some (dowdy, hairy) clothing.
Mail order boyfriend
Nothing wrong with that (though it’s always risky to purchase sight unseen) but a sudden (Greg-enabled) realisation later
BUT OF COURSE!
"You've got that look." << It's called a realisationface, Sanders
and (with the help of an open-minded yokel) Grissom is collecting some evidence which doesn’t look good for Mr Mail-order.
Grissom: Mr Willoughby – would you mind if I fingerprint your spigot?
Mr W: No one’s ever asked me that before.
Is this one of those fetish things you read about on the inter-ma-net?
Lesson of the day? The internet is BAD, mmmkay?!
That’s the lesson for the viewer, anyway: Sara receives with a more personal takeaway as HEAVY PARALLELS are drawn between her and hairy internet lady. She realises the similarity herself, as they look around Donna’s house –
Sara: We already know she cooks like I do – takeout on speed dial.
Alert! This is Sara's house! Note the many takeout menus on the fridge. (I thought this was our first look in a CSI's home but actually I think we see chez Catherine a few times in the first season)
– but the point’s made more harshly when Nick (somewhat out of the blue) gets on Sara’s case about her obsession with work.
Nick: Sara – you gotta get out more.
That was way harsh, Thai!
I feel like this exchange is a bit weird and gratuitous but maybe I am expressing unrealistic expectations about character integrity… Nick is a nice boy!
I mean, he is objectively right. The empty answering machine is an Ancient Symbol of Doom. (What's the 2010s equivalent? An empty email inbox?)
But Greg agrees, it was uncharacteristically catty. Booo!
C.S.I. Love You 