CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

The crane shot of the camera rising above the box containing the body of the little girl is probably one of the most breathtaking and emotional camera shots in the eight seasons of CSI. That scene alone will blow you away. I didn't care all that much for the part of the story focusing on the man who was the prime suspect mainly because it was painfully obvious that he was innocent. Even Grissom couldn't understand why Catherine was so convinced of his guilt. Yes, the guy was a liar, but there was a rational explanation for that. That's all.

I love CSI, don't get me wrong. But I still think that another episode about a murdered child is not what we need. It starts out quite promising: the stand-up comedian was pretty funny at times and there was a deliberate set-up for him being the murdered one. But like the CSI tradition goes, he is just a decoy. The real case is the little girl found in a box.



Of course, everyone on the team is affected by her (especially Catherine). You could feel their pain and sense of loss, as they were wandering round, collecting evidence, with the quite sad piano music playing in the background. But somehow, it does not work for me. The missing/murdered child has been done many times before and it hasn't got the same ring to it anymore.



Frankly, all the characters (with the exception of Hodges) acted very irritatingly. What is more, Brass and Catherine were very nasty to Dean James/Leo Finley. So nasty in fact, that I started to lean towards him and not CSI. So when the final scene arrived, I was on his side, not Catherine's and every word he said was true for me.

It's always hard, as a viewer, to watch episodes of any crime drama where the victim is a child. However CSI always does a really good job dealing delicately with emotional subjects and this episode is no exception.



This was a well written, emotional episode which portrayed not only the poignant effect the death of a child has on a community but also the effect of 'Megan's law'. On the other hand, the concept wasn't completely original and has been handled a number of times already by the show.



I liked the ending to the episode, which was foreboding of a possible storyline to come. My criticism of Catherine in these episodes; is that she becomes self-righteous and accusatory she when faced with a child victim. It is completely relevant that she would react in the way she does as she is the mother of a young daughter. However I feel the writers play on this too much; so whereas in earlier episodes you may empathise with Catherine, in later episodes it begins to annoy you. However, as I mentioned above, the reaction is relevant to Catherine as a character and fits with her personality – but it has perhaps been overused in these types of storylines.



Despite this minor criticism, A Thousand Days on Earth is a well written and well handled episode of CSI – one that shows that the show hasn't faltered in its ability to tell good stories.

Something seems amiss. Maybe its that I watched it one time only but I thought the girl died of blunt force trauma as determined by the coroner. When the stepsister and later the stepfather started to relate what really happened that the girl was innocently locked under their sink during a game of hide and seek; there was practically no showing of blunt force trauma.



The most it could have come from was when the stepfather tried to bring the girl to the hospital by riding a bus wherein her head was dangling but even that scene was left unclear as the cause of her death.



Too bad I missed the replay though.

This was Cathrine's episode mostly as she was the most influenced by the case but everyone was. And I really liked this - there was emotion. There was the misunderstood and tragic. The story itself was simple but the way it was plotted and it was put into motion. It was brilliant.



The ending was somehow off standing but it had it's own beauty there and added something to wait for.



But somehow I feel they are out of ideas. This episode was very deep and moving but the case was not too original, I would say. But this episode had some great acting and.. one of the best over some time.

The total story twists a lot in this episode.

First you think you know who's going to die and then it changes and we see the little girl.And whell, let's say that children in this kind of show always makes the drama a little more intens. The twists in the story around Dean James is whell done and it sure makes for and exiting and almost scary ending.This may sound weard but that is just wat i want :)

No,we don't want people to get hurt but for me an exiting finish leaves me wating for more.It leaves the show hanging in my head for a while in stead of forgetting it right away. If a show makes an impression like that, you know you have just watched something good :)



I almost thought Sayer ( from Lost ) made an cameo-apperance here but that's not the case.



Anyway this is one of the better shows that just stands out due to the nice twists in the story and the exiting ending.



greatings

basje-nl

The episode opens with a comedian in a comedy bar/club on stage making jokes. As the episode opens he is making jokes about children and abortions. While on stage a man in the audience gets up and starts asking the comedian things like does he thinks abortion is a joke etc. The man also makes a gun out of his hands and pulls the trigger at the comedian. He then simply walks off. As the comedian leaves the car park he spots a box. Then the CSI's are called in. A little girl is inside and dead. She's in her pj's and is approx 3-4 years old. She looks so little when David picks her up and places her very gently on the morgue table.

Brass holds a press conference about the girl. It is soon discovered that the course of death is blunt force trauma, but there was no sexual evidence. Catherine names the little girl Cordelia instead of Jane Doe (as in norm when an identify of a female is unknown). Warrick and Nick set up a camera in a flower arrangement to be placed where the little girl's body was found. It is soon discovered that the little girl's hair was naturally brown and had been dyed blonde approx. 48-72 hours before she did. This could have been to hide her true identity. From the barcode on the side of the box that she was found in, they soon discover the owner of the box. They go round to the address of the owner and ask them questions about the box, the owners simply say that they threw out the box. Warrick searches a database of missing children and believes that he may have identified the little girl. It was not the right little girl, which made the scene even more heartbreaking to watch.

Turns out that Dean (the partner of the woman who was the original owner of the box which the little girl was found in) was on the sex offender list and is arrested. We also find out that Dean is an alias, his real name is Leo. We then go to a prison, where they are serving lunch. A prisoner inmate sees the little girl's picture on TV and starts screaming that the little girl in the picture is his daughter. He is then seen with Catherine talking about his little girl. We then find out that his ex- cell mate left prison and married his ex-wife. The little girl's real name is Inez. They soon track down the mother & step-father. The step-father is arrested on suspicion of murder.

The step-father little girl tells the CSI's that they (Inez & her two step-siblings) were playing hide and seek and Inez was hiding under the sink and there she died. It was all an accident. The step-father explains that he came home and fell asleep. When he woke up and asked where Inez was his daughter led him to where she was hiding and there she is found dead. He took her on the bus to the hospital, but didn't make it there.

When Catherine and Grissom check the footage from the flower arrangements they find out that parents did visit where she was found to pay their respects. Catherine leaves the building and bumps into Leo from earlier; he tells her that he has been waiting for her. He says he's lost everything, his girlfriends, his house etc and blames it all on Catherine. He gets more aggressive towards her and she pulls her gun on him. He then goes go to say that he is going to kill himself on Catherine property and then he simply leaves.

Although the story was heartbreaking, the thought of a child dying like that is horrible. And as always the acting was great. But the case and the solving of it just did not make any sense. I would seem to me that one of the first things they would have done was check the medallion that the stepfather laid on the little girl, for finger prints or something that would have surely lead them to him sense he had been in prison and "in the system". Also Catherine read the charges against the main suspect and saw that everything he said was true, but they latched on to him in such a "rush to judgment". Also I find it extremely hard to believe that a man would get on the bus with a child like that and not ONE person would remember or at least put it together when they saw her on the news. And the stepfather calling "911" was not an option, but walking to a bus stop and waiting was? Even if they did not have a phone, how many phones did he pass? It was kind of stupid, they wanted us to just throw to much out for the sake of making this story plausible and I just could not. I expect better from CSI, that is why they are number one.

I really do not like plots that involve children coming to harm. This one is handled very well however. What makes the whole thing work is the sympathy you get to feel not only for the victim but suspects who left the body in such a mournful state that they obviously cared for the girl.



The episode them descends into the wrong suspect being found and interrogated before some piece of evidence crops up to discount them and lead the team to the correct suspect.



Tragedy is compounded as the suspects turn out to be the girls mam and step-pa. Furthermore, the mam is accidently shot by police as they are cornered with their two other kids. (We dont get to see if the wife dies!)



This turns out to be an accidental death. Im sure that this scenario has been used before almost ad verbatim, except for the sympathetic ending. However, the only real interesting part is Catherine being confronted by the man she was sure was the killer (who was a regi. sex offender). He loses everything as everyone finds out who he really is. I think this was the only aspect of the show that was worth watching. The way Cath seems to let her emotions rise and affect her judgement in these cases. We even get an observant look from Grissom about it.



Im hoping that this is leading to something in the near future.



The episode is good quality if only a little innovative. With it now being series 8 maybe this show is heading to a closure? Then again with the writers strike break, perhaps they lost their stride.



Not a great episode, but still worth a watch if you dont mind the rehashed storyline.

Not a very good episode at all. Sure it was sad and all, but there was a bunch of extra pointless things in the episode that was totally unnecessary. It's one thing to add extra stuff to try and "trick" the viewers and lead them on to one thing, but then reveal to them what it actually is. But in this case, you have the two random parents that came in. What was the point of that? Also, the whole beginning with the comedy scene; unnecessary. Lastly, the thing I find the most annoying is the fact that they completely ignored all the clues from the autopsy. What happened to all the bruises and trauma she apparently had on her body? The flashback merely showed her getting gently taken out from under the sink, and placed in a box carefully. What gives?? The last bit with Catherine was about the only redeeming factor of this episode.

A very sad episode centering on the death of a child and a jab at the sex offender public notification laws. The case did a great job with revolving suspects. I had to wonder the whole episode through who was guilty and thankfully it wasn't the guy registered as a sex offender. On that note I loved how the guy who was accused did nothing in reality but got caught up in a over-arching law. This ended with a confrontation with Catherine and her take no prisoners attitude. He may kill himself throwing her into guilt or try to kill her great move giving us such a cliff-hanger. This was the emotional side of CSI episodes not about flash or character squabbles but a heart-wrenching case that makes you want the guilty brought to justice.

Whenever the kids are involve in crime scene, everybody always gets too involve in solving the case. The sad body found in a box was too sad and too disturbing at the same time. The hysteria of the media was well executed. And how everybody handle the case was realistic. In truth, while watching the episode, I kept on thinking, "this is why I love the original CSI." Their dedication to realism makes each episode convincing.



Its also good that they start using really hi-tech equipments this episode. The surveillance camera on the site where they found the body and the camera used to see what's inside the grocery where a hostage was happening.



I'm just wondering why they only have one case this episode. Makes me think that this could be continued as season ender with Catherine and Leo, finishing their business. About the Leo guy, I think this is the first time that CSI focuses on what happened on the innocent suspects they interrogate. I like the confrontation at the end. All in all, one of the best episode all CSI fanatic should NEVER miss.

This was an excellent episode. It begins with us thinking we might be investigating the death of an abortion clinic worker or a stand-up comedian then goes in a totally different direction. It is always a good thing when you look at the clock, there are 20 minutes left to the show and you still ar enot sure who did it.



Additionally, in the final scene we are left with what might be a recurring story involving Catherine. At times she really gets emotionally wrapped up in cases (who wouldn't?) and this leads her to falsely accuse one suspect.

We've seen that thing countless times on the crime drama's but here in this episode, it seemed fresh.



Great job!

This was an unusual episode, but sad. Just a reminder not to store chemicals where a child can get at them or be exposed to spilled but toxic fumes...a lesson for the audience taken from real life? Also, they inadvertant way Leo's life was turned upside down. Not really a Megan's Law Child Abuser, just in the wrong place at the wrong time and bad circumstances. Do things like this really happen? Megan's Law should be for the actual child abusers, not mistakes! Did this story line come from real life? It would be interesting to know how many times this has happened. I'll be watching futures episodes for a continuation of this storyline.

a truly good episode that has the csi team investigating the murder of a three year old girl. everything from the comedy skit to the southern girl to the girls stepfather hostage situation. this episode was very well written because not only were the plot twist well concelled ,like the fact that the girls father was in prison or that James Dean is an compulsive liar, but for once i felt all the emotions that Catherine felt at the same time. I hope the rest of the episodes of csi are going to be this good or better for the rest of the season.

I'm not a big fan of CSI, but this episode was pretty good. The story was very sad and tear-jerking. I didn't expect it to just be an accident like that. So, overall, the story was great. I loved the twists and how it turned out that the girl was the daughter of a man in jail. That was intersting. I thought it was pointless to have the couple come in to see that it wasn't their daughter...what's the point of that? Just to waste time? Anyways, I still have my quircks that I don't like about CSI, but this story was good and Grissom's fuzzy again! I love his beard! Oh, I also like the bit at the end with Catherine; awesome!

I'm a big fan of CSI, but their best episodes are the ones with an underlying message or social comment behind them. This case is oddly familar to me because it is loosely familiar to a short story I once wrote, and it has odd parallels to a local case of the body of a young boy dumped in a nashville park by his abusive stepfather. Excellant and respectful in its execution, that case is merely the lead in to the story of Dean James, a character who is falsely accused of being a pedophile because if circumstances beyond his control. You'd think a decent lawyer would have prevented him from being labeled, but the episode makes its merit by showing how the law ruins the lives of individuals who are not dangerous to be in society. It's a story about a reformed criminal's fear of the law and how he cannot operate in public because of a fear of the law. If this Dean james character pops up again, and I know he will, I hope its part of a story line with him taking the CSIs and police to court for unlawful arrest and slander. A good lawyer could net him at least a million dollars; that kind of storyline, especially in the wake of Greg's trialand make for even more intense drama in a a series that still manages to surprise me after eight seasons.

I really thought the script for this episode was really though provoking. From investigating the scene, to the media frenzy down to identifying the poor little girl. It's a definite team oriented from AV to DNA to trace and canvasing the scene and possible suspects. I thought Grissom was pretty hidden in the case and Catherine in the lead which is fine, I just questioned it because of her sensitivity as a mom. I like the interaction of Catherine and Hodges and unfortunately Catherine had a really good point. I also liked it was Grissom overlooked Hodges and quizzed Wendy on the hair samples. The final realization was the death was an accident, just one not handled as it should have been and a family is destoryed by it. Now the ending with Katherine in the garage with Leo was intense and scary, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I think this is going to cause Katherine to do some serious thinking on how she does her and unfortunately I don't see Leo going away.

Ah, the deception. I thought a major character was supposed to die off this week. All in all, it was a good episode. There were a couple of scenes that caused me to get a little choked up. Did baby Inez's sibling kill her under the sink or did she die from chemical inhalation? Who's finger prints were those on her body? Is it me, or is Hodges just becoming more and more irritating with every episode? What's with the crazy guy "Dean James" aka Leo Finley? I thought he was going to shoot or smack Catherine over the head with something in the parking garage. Looking forward to next weeks episode, hopefully it'll be a little more exciting.