CSI Season 9 Premiere - "For Warrick"

I got out of CSI just a tad last year--not by choice, just circumstances like the Strike and whatnot--arriving back for the amazing final run of three episodes they put on to end Season 8.

(For the record, the episode called "The Theory of Everything" is one of the deepest things CSI has ever done; "Two and a Half Deaths" is BY FAR the funniest episode ever, and "ForGedda" was a deeply moving finale.)

Of course, if you watched last May, you know that after getting exonerated, Warrick was shot in the final moments for a cliff-hanger. The Premiere of Season 9 resolved that. In many ways, it felt like this episode was probably meant to end Season 8, but maybe with the Writers' Strike....oh well. Let's get to it.

"For Warrick"

Fantastic and moving. When you consider the emotional impact, arguably this is the second best episode ever. Easily in the Top Five. The CSI team got to say goodbye (as did we) to Warrick, one of the coolest and best characters on TV this decade. (Three years ago I named Warrick the 10th coolest character on TV. If anything I'd rate him higher today.)

Everyone got their moment to shine, reacting to Warrick's death. MargHelgenberger ("Catherine") stood out, though Nick and Brass and really all of them were great. It was even nice to see Sarah Sidle come back. Felt right.

Long-time readers know I have long had HUGE problems with the character of Sarah Sidle. I don't know what it is, but she drives me bananas. However, maybe we can make peace. Jorja has put on a few pounds since leaving CSI. Her hair was shorter and curly. She definitely isn't as hot as she used to be, but she looked softer and more feminine to me. I tell you the truth: I liked this look for her much better. Let that be a lesson to those who say I'm all about the pulchritude.

The plot of catching the bad guy was great and all, but really secondary to the shout-out, a forty minute goodbye. They used typical "backward plotting" to let us see Warrick on video. He has a son! Mostly the video was for Warrick to say how much Grissom meant to him. Warrick had a great line about if he could choose his father, it would have been Grissom.


Speaking of Grissom, I left him out of the props above because (as usual) he was in a class by himself. In his best performance (since Grissom got obsessed with that victim who looked like Sarah, and possibly the best EVER), William Peterson knocked it out of the park. His devastation at finding Warrick never felt like Emmy-bait, even though it so was. It felt true. It felt like what Grissom would do. Afterward, those blood-soaked clothes reminded us that just because CSI is a TV show, and we don't take it seriously, murder is always serious, and those left behind suffer unimaginably.

Peterson was looking a bit older here, though maybe that was makeup (lack of sleep over Warrick?). Regardless, he was fantastic, both at the beginning, and at the end, when he gave Warrick's eulogy. I'm not ashamed to say that it got a bit dusty in my room as I watched. (Of course, my mom would counter it's ALWAYS dusty in my room, but you get the idea.)

Grissom has been the heart and soul of CSI for 8 seasons. Though the ensemble cast is phenomenal, and the writing usually top-notch, it is Grissom that put the show over the top and gave it such a great run. The second best character has been Warrick. (I know some of you disagree, but you're morons.)

First we lose Warrick, and in six weeks we lose Grissom. I'm not hating and saying CSI will go into the scrap heap. The writing is still great and it's not like Catherine, Nick, Greg and the lab geeks aren't awesome, but what show could lose its greatest two characters back-to-back like this and not take a huge hit? I guess we'll have to deal with it as it comes.

For me, CSI has moved back into the Absolutely Must See rotation.