I am not a regular watcher of CSI. It is not that I hated it; the show simply had nothing to draw me in, none of the actors interest me (though William Peterson was the bomb in The Beast).
So season seven was my introduction to the world of CSI. I will start by saying I am going to ignore the major flaws in the show, the stuff that sends forensic scientists frothing at the mouth worse than a crazed St. Bernard with rabies.
I sat down looking to be entertained. On that front, CSI delivered. From what I gather, the subplots involving the various characters were a relatively new thing for the show. They were a major reason I enjoyed it. I have never been a big fan of the standard police procedurals; I enjoy ongoing stories and more personal content.
This season focused on a serial killer called the Miniature Killer. Said wacko leaves behind little…miniature replicas of the crime scenes (including itty bitty bodies). ~Sigh~ the real world never has such interesting lunatics. Cannibals are about as interesting as they come.
So TMK is a true match for Gil Grissom (William Peterson) and his band of techs. This guy seems to thrive on perfection. That can be a problem for Crime Scene techs since their job is finding the evidence left behind by the bad guys.
This brings me to my biggest gripe: THE STORY DOES NOT END WITH THE SEASON FINALE!!!!!!!
They chose to wait until the season premiere of season eight to complete the story. For somebody watching it on DVD, this is really frustrating. The felines in the house became quite alarmed at my vocal declarations of outrage. Normally these come when I am either at the computer or opening the mail.
Now this is not enough for me to say that one should not buy the set, but I think it is worth pointing out so more people are not left cursing the producers of CSI at the end of their viewing binge (I know I am not the only one to watch hours at a time).
This season also saw William Peterson leave for a while. Liev Schreiber (Most recently seen in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate) steps in for a stint as Michael Keepler. This change allows the producers to play around with the dynamics of the team. It makes for a nice change of pace and kept the show interesting.
This season also sees appearances by John Mayer, Danny Bonaduce (who, I guess, has a right to make a living), Sean Young (What the hell happened to her career?), Ned Beatty, Ally Sheedy (See my comment about Sean Young), Julie Hagerty, Roger Daltry and Cirque du Soleil.
For extras, there are seven commentary tracks here, as well as six featurettes. Some of these are quite interesting, including ones that look at Cirque du Soleil and Roger Daltry (The show’s theme song being from his old band The Who), while another focuses on the season-long story of The Minature Killer.
Overall, I enjoyed this season and will likely come back for season eight…and not just for the completion of the TMK story!
Jeremy Lynch
For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.
