C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation Season 3 Part 2 DVD Review:

The Las Vegas CSI team of Gil Grissom (Petersen), Catherine Willows (Helgenberger), Sara Sidle (Fox), Warrick (Dourdan), Nick (Eads) and Greg (Szmanda) continue to investigate crimes in the city of Sin.

Random Acts Of Violence
Warrick investigates the drive by murder of a young girl in his old neighbourhood. The girl's father is a friend and mentor of Warrick's as well. Warrick struggles to control his emotions to the point where Grissom pulls him off of the case. Nick tackles the murder of a computer company employee. The only suspects are the three other employees in the building.

One Hit Wonder

Catherine takes the point in the investigation of an escalating series of peeping tom incidents. The crew is racing to stop the attacker before his crimes become more serious assaults. Meanwhile, Sara reopens the dormant case of her friend, a district attorney. The DA is facing surgery to remove a bullet she got in an attack that killed her husband three years prior.

Lady Heather's Box (extended episode)

Grissom investigates the murder of two men that leads him to a new encounter with Lady Heather. Catherine is desperate to find out what lead to the near death of her daughter and why her ex, Eddie, disappeared.

Lucky Strike

A man driving with a wooden stake in his head dies in front of a casino. Grissom and Nick work to discover the 'vampire" killer. Warrick and Catherine hunt for the killer of a NBA star's 5 year old son.

Crash & Burn

An elderly woman crashes her car into a crowded restaurant. One of the patrons is Sara's paramedic boyfriend. Grissom and Nick investigate the possible carbon monoxide murder of a woman in her home.

Precious Metal

Catherine, Nick, and Sara investigate a seemingly months old body found in the mountains. Discovery of the man's identity lead the team to the world of robot wars. Warrick and Grissom look into the case of a man found murdered in an alley. Complicating their efforts, the medical examiner "lost" the body for 11 days. Greg helps this case by doing some undercover work.

Night At The Movies

Grissom and Catherine investigate a moviegoer who was stabbed to death; the team comes to a forensic impasse while processing a teenager who died from a gunshot wound.

Last Laugh

Grissom and Catherine investigate the murder of a despised comic who died onstage, apparently after drinking from a tainted bottle of water. The case grows more puzzling when a 15-year-old boy dies in a convenience store after drinking the same brand of water. Brass reopens a woman's accidental-death case after spotting the deceased's husband in a flashy new car with a trophy date on his arm.

Forever

The trampling death of a trainer by her horse aboard a private jet is investigated by Grissom, Catherine, and Nick. Sara and Warrick look into a Romeo and Juliet scenario in the desert.

Play With Fire

Grissom, Sara, and Nick investigate the murder of a woman in the press box of a high school stadium. They arrive less than an hour after the woman's death. Catherine and Warrick try to determine the cause of an explosion in the DNA lab of CSI that seriously injures a lab tech. The personal lives of our characters come into play in this episode.

Inside The Box

A professional bank robbery leads to the death of a detective. While investigating the case, Grissom deals with his hearing loss and another CSI gets a personal revelation.

The third season concludes and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation continues to set extremely high stands from televisual drama.

What CSI has above a lot of other crime shows is its accessibility. You can pretty much watch any episode and you are instantly enthralled, even though you don’t have any character backstory. Each episode is about the crime and the evidence, nothing more, with a little bit of character development thrown in for the series devotee.

As the series progresses smaller characters get a chance to shine and none more so than Greg, played brilliantly by Eric Szmanda. He actually get to leave the DNA lab for the first time as he pushes Grissom to be more involved in the investigations and Szmanda reveals in the fact that his character has the chance to grow.
Jorja Fox’s Sara also has the chance to advance during the third season as Grissom pushes her talents to the limit, all the while trusting the instinct he has that she has a lot of potential. Fox jumps at the chance to push her character forward and comes into her own when she gets the wrong end of the stick when Sara misinterprets Grissom’s attentions.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is how all television shows should be made. Its high production values are equally matched by riveting scripts and the fact that it treats the viewer with a high level of intelligence makes this a classic show. As the viewing public seems to be becoming more obsessed with the Reality TV phenomenon, it is a relief to know that shows like CSI are flying the flag for quality dramatic television.

Star Rating = * * * * *

PICTURE AND SOUND
Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack the transfer is very good. The picture and sound quality are first rate with the sound emphasising the dialogue of the character extremely well.

BONUS FEATURES

Episode Commentary

Random Acts of Violence - Commentary by director Danny Cannon and writer Naren Shankar. The pair chat about this been a classic CSI A & B case episode, where the two stories don’t interweave. British director Cannon comments that he loves watching the show without commercials and reveals the Soderbergh influence on how he shot the episode.

Lady Heather’s Box – Commentary by series creator Anthony E. Zuiker, director Richard J. Lewis and writers Naren Shankar and Josh Berman. An interesting commentary that reveals that all of the series writers worked on this feature length episode of the show. The four discuss how the script was divided up between the writers and how both the A & B stories were extremely important for the character development of Grissom and Catherine.

The Writer’s Room (11.42 mins)

Series creator Anthony E. Zuiker, show-runner Carol Mendelson and writers Naren Shankar, Eli Talbert, Josh Berman and Sarah Goldfinger take you behind the scenes of the writing of the feature-length episode Lady Heather’s Box. This featurette reveals how the science of the investigation has to be correct and fitted to the story and that the evidence is the key character for all CSI episodes.

Crime Scene Field Kit (6.14 mins)

Series technical advisor Richard Catalini takes you through each instrument in the CSI field kit. The ALS (Alternative Light Source), Forceps, Gel Lifters, Gloves, Ground Penetrating Radar, Phenolphthalein, Scalpel and Swab are all covered.

The CSI Shot: Making it Real (11.46 mins)

Series creator Anthony E. Zuiker, executive producer Danny Cannon and special effects creators Dave Pzewiecki, Brad Tanenbaum, Larry Detwiller, John Goodwin and Robert Konuch take a look at CSI trademark shot that takes you inside the evidence. The team take you behind the scenes of the Eardrum Effect, the Airplane Engine, the Leg extensions, the Dice Shot and the Punch, revealing how each shot was achieved.

OVERALL

The conclusion of the third series proves that the show is just going from strength to strength. The featurettes are interesting and the commentary tracks add to the value of the package. While it would have been better if it were a complete season box set, this is a well-packaged half-season set for a brilliant TV series. This is a must buy for all CSI fans and one hell of a rent for people who are getting into this terrific series.

DVD Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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