C.S.I. CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION: SEASON 3 PART 1 DVD Review:

The Las Vegas CSI team of Gil Grissom (Petersen), Catherine Willows (Helgenberger), Sara Sidle (Fox), Warrick (Dourdan), Nick (Eads) and Greg (Szmanda) return.

Revenge Is Best Served Cold The CSIs investigate the mysterious death of a poker-playing legend in the middle of a volatile high stakes game.

The Accused Is Entitled: A box-office superstar is arrested for the murder of his one-night stand, and his dream team attorneys will stop at nothing to throw dirt on the CSI evidence.

Let the Seller Beware: An open house becomes a death house when the two owners are found murdered; a cuckolded husband and his wife, who may have been cheating a little too close to home.

A Little Murder: A popular dwarf is found hanged during the annual little people’s convention, but his average-sized fiancé insists that he did not kill himself, and as the CSI team investigates, she may turn out to be most likely suspect in his staged murder.

Abra Cadaver: A woman who volunteers to be part of a magic show is made to disappear, for real, and when the CSI team investigates, they find that a famous magician may be a murderer.

The Execution Of Catherine Willows: A serial killer who Catherine helped put on Death Row receives a stay of execution on a new evidence appeal, forcing Catherine to re-examine her feelings and the case against him.

Fight Night: During a middleweight championship bout, two fighters with bad blood between them enter the ring, but only one is left standing: the CSIs are called to the scene when the loser is pronounced dead.

Snuff: The CSIs investigate the death of a porn actress in a violent snuff film but have no idea who she is, where the movie was filmed, or who shot it...

Blood Lust: A young man is accidentally run over by a taxi, and a pack of angry bystanders attack the driver, believing he intended to flee the scene, leaving the young man dead on the street. But the CSIs prove the boy had already been fatally stabbed before the cab hit him, and now they are investigating three deaths...

High and Low: A John Doe takes a flyer off the roof of the building but he died in the air, not on the ground, and the CSIs have only his tattoo to jumpstart their investigation.

Recipe for Murder: A dismembered body is found in the grinder of a meat-packing plant, and the CSIs trace the murder to a five-star restaurant where the victim was the head chef.

Got Murder?: The CSI team work backward from the gruesome discovery of a human eyeball in a raven’s nest, to discover that a wife who had formerly gone missing has been murdered – and both the husband and the teenage daughter have motives that shock the investigators...

The most popular show on US TV just gets better in its third season. This is crime drama at its very best with every episode as enthralling as the last.

The Jerry Bruckheimer produced show has made forensic investigation cool as it reveals the techniques and technology used by modern day police forces to capture criminals. The show’s unique style of showing the murderous act’s consequences to the human body reveals the brutality of murder and how frail our bodies actually are.

As the seasons progress, the actors have grown into their roles. William Petersen was already a really good actor before making this series, anyone who as seen Manhunter will agree, but this role has put him into the forefront of TV glitterati. Gil Grissom isn’t the best people handler but he is the consummate forensic scientist. Petersen brings both class and dignity to the role as the character struggles to excel in his job while suffering from involuntary hearing loss. Marg Helgenberger has come into her own in this series. This is an actress that you would have always recognised but would have never have put a name to, until this series came out. As Catherine Willows she is the shows heart and perfect second in command for Grissom. The role also proves that the most challenging roles for women over the age of forty are on television. The rest of the ensemble is also first rate, with Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle and Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown the real standouts.

A lot of the credit for the series has to go to the writers, who keep the show fresh. They have to be really inventive to keep the interest and it is a good thing that there are millions of ways a human can die, so the series and its spin offs have plenty of material and ideas they can work from.

C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation is one of the best crime shows to ever hit the airwaves. This is riveting television that has you hooked as soon as you start watching. Crime drama doesn’t get any better than this.

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
Revenge Is Best Served Cold – Commentary by director Danny Cannon and series creator Anthony Zuiker. An interesting commentary that reveals more about the season 3 opener and the characters themselves. There is a lot of background not just about this particular episode but also the series itself.

The Accused Is Entitled – Commentary by director Kenneth Fink and co-writer Ann Donahue. The pair talk about casting, writing and directing the episode and well the theme of an accused celebrity killer been a CSI dream script idea that finally came true.

Fight Night – Commentary by director Richard J Lewis and co-writer Naren Shankar. The two talk about the logistics of shooting and writing a Vegas fight night.

Snuff – Commentary by director Kenneth Fink and co-writer Ann Donahue. The pair returns for another informative and fun commentary about the episode that covers the seedier side of Vegas.

CSI movies into Season 3 (13.15 mins)
This relatively short featurette reintroduces us to our favourite forensic investigators. Series creator Anthony Zuiker and the cast talk about the series and what each of their characters have to look forward to in season 3. By warned that this does feature a lot of clips from the series and gives a few things away.

The CSI tour: Police Station (9.24 mins)
Production designer Richard Berg takes you on a tour of the Las Vegas police station. He shows you all of the key areas including the interview rooms and Captain Jim Brass’s office. This informative tour also reveals that it is the crew that are on the wanted posters on the walls of the station.

OVERALL
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is without doubt one of the best police drama to ever grace the small screen. While this may only be a half season box set (A full season set would have been a lot better), there is enough here to warrant the purchase. The two featurettes are quite short but informative but it is the episode commentaries that really add to value. For fans of the show, Season 3: Part One is a must and for those of you who are just discovering the programme, rent out the previous two season and then enjoy even more of this terrific show. It just keeps getting better and better.

DVD Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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