Mea Culpa

Season 5, Episode 9, Aired
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Episode Summary

Grissom is confronted with new evidence while on the stand of a murder trial of a restaurant owner.
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''The new evidence in the murder trial requires the reopening of the case and Eckley initiates an inquiry into Grissom and his team. The results of the inquiry lead to dramatic changes of the CSI team and the series.''Sarah and Greg investigate the death of a John Doe killed by a modified semi automatic weapon, which goes off accidentally in the lab.
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9.2
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Superb
309 votes
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Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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  • Stupid Ecklie and hating the fact that Grissom is in fact better than he is at being a CSI.

    9.1
    "Superb"
    By pagman_rox, Jun 05, 2011 Report Abuse
    I love this episode. Well I didn't like the fact that the team ended up as swing and night shift but I did like the plot of the episode. Grissom screws up, it is as simple as that. They have to blame someone for it so they chose Grissom and his team as the scapegoat. At least because Grissom messed up first time they got a second chance to look at the evidence and find who actually did the killing.

    Ecklie is far from my favorite character after this episode. He wanted to destroy Grissom but he didn't succeed. *Insert evil laugh here.* I don't think that the evil Spork should be transferred to nights but again Ecklie was taking revenge on the evil Spork for saying it wasn't Grissom's fault. At least the evil Spork said it wasn't Grissom fault...
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  • Finally i got why Sophia Curtis was Demoted.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By ileanabrea, Nov 09, 2010 Report Abuse
    This was a great episode,as always. I have always liked Sophias character for Grissom. She's smart, beautiful, and with humor. In this episode she is investigating Gil's development in a recently re-opened case. She has to report to Ecklie the way Griss managed the case. At the end she says Gil didn't do anything wrong. Of course Ecklie was expecting the oposite and felt his right hand betrayed him, so she got assigned to the "Graveyard shift".
    The way the new evidence appear and the new turn in this case was really cool. For a change the team have to reconsider their origial posotion for a new fingerprint found in an old evidence. Of course, they had to prove the way that fingerprit appeared. Even this was a great episode, i have to say i see the end comming.moreless

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  • New evidence

    9.2
    "Superb"
    By sid1157, Feb 27, 2008 Report Abuse
    So grissom is on the stand at trial when he notices something that he didnt notice befor Uh oh. It was a print and he coul tell just from looking at it that it wasnt the suspect that they had in jail. So they have to re open the case an after going through all of the evidence they find out that the killer was the guy that is on stands son. This episode was pretty good and i liked how they showed what the csi's do when they are confronted with new evidence that they didnt know was there befor.moreless

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  • It deserves a near perfect score because of the stunner it gives the audience. The story is kind of superfluous in many ways.

    9.9
    "Superb"
    By qstevie, Oct 08, 2006 Report Abuse
    A new fingerprint gives Grissom pause on the stand. He hadn't seen it before, because it hadn't been there, so he recuses himself.

    He follows total protocol, but everyone's favourite baddie, Ecklie, decides he could bring the lab into disrepute - by examining evidence??? I wish they'd write a storyline that put Ecklie in a bad light, a la Nick and his one night stand. Boy would he need these guys then.

    Ecklie manages to wrong foot and ambush the rest of the team into revealing a few of Grissom's shortcomings - nothing professionally damaging, but enough for him to decide to break up the team - great for the series in some ways but boy do you want to take at this guy's kneecaps with a bat. Again, the actor playing Ecklie is magnificent - he really makes you hate him, not that it's hard. And to top it all Catherine gets the swing shift instead of the day job - and he even effectively demotes his own team member, Sofia, because he doesn't get his own way. The guy is scum in a bucket!

    The CSI storyline really takes a second place to the characters' own stories. It's nowhere near the best actual full on investigative story, but I don't think it's meant to be.

    Cleverly plotted for character development, and maybe necessary to shake up the show a bit.moreless

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  • Grissom has to reopen an investigation when a new fingerprint appears on a sealed piece of evidence, and Ecklie splits up the team.

    9.6
    "Superb"
    By aussieforgood, Jan 05, 2006 Report Abuse
    Grissom has to reopen an investigation when a new fingerprint appears on a sealed piece of evidence & Ecklie isn't happy about it. He tries to get as much dirt as possible on Grissom by interviewing each member of the CSI team but none of them have anything bad to say about him, and Sophia who is investigating Grissom for Ecklie doesn't come up with anything to prove that Grissom did anything wrong.

    Ecklie the jerk splits up the team to get back at Grissom, he pours all his revenge on the rest of the team as well for sticking up for him.

    He promotes Catherine to swing shift supervisor, instead of day shift which is what she originally applied for, because she defended Grissom, and he gives her Warrick & Nick.

    He demotes Sophia because she didn't come to the conclusion he wanted in her investigation of Grissom, and puts her on his team along with Greg, who is still training & Sara who lied to Ecklie to protect Grissom.

    Anyway, the best thing that came from the split is that my 3 favorite CSI's: Grissom, Sara & Greg are on the same team & weren't seperated.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • "Mea Culpa" is a Latin phrase meaning "My Fault". Edit
    • In this episode, Ecklie splits up the CSI team. Grissom is to remain in charge of the graveyard shift and is in charge of Sara, Greg, and Sofia Curtis, and Catherine is promoted to head of the swing shift and in charge of Nick and Warrick. Edit

  • Notes

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    • Music Featured In This Episode: In a State- UNKLE My Happy Ending- Avril Lavigne Edit

  • Quotes

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    • Nick: Keith, what we'd really like to go ahead and do is get a set of your fingerprints, if we could. Okay? Keith Garbett: Why? You know, I'm sorry, but I don't exactly trust you guys. You destroyed my family. You let my dad rot in jail for five years, and now you're coming after me? No way. Forget it. (he slams the door in their faces) Brass (to Nick): I thought that went well. Edit
    • Sofia: This is, uh, confidential. I don't have an office, so ... Catherine: The inquiry into Grissom. Sofia: Just reviewing all documentation. Case identifiers, analysts' initials ... Catherine:: Your responsibility is to confirm that all conclusions drawn are supported by the data. They are. Sofia: Excuse me? Catherine: I worked on this case. The conclusions, they are supported. I assume that's what you're finding? Sofia: Catherine ... I appreciate your interest, but I think it's prudent to reserve my findings for the Assistant Director. Catherine: Right. Edit
    • Jeffery Sinclair: Grissom, Judge Witherspoon wants me in her chambers first thing in the morning. Ecklie: She's going to demand a full update, Gil. Grissom: I can't explain the appearance of the print on the matchbook. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Ecklie: You're making the lab look bad. Jeffery Sinclair: Word has it you've reopened the entire case. An unexamined hair and an unidentified print on the murder weapon? Grissom, did we make a mistake and arrest the wrong guy? Grissom: I don't know. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Grissom: Heraclitus said that it's in change that we find purpose. Heraclitus was a 6th century BC (pre-Socratic) Greek philosopher who lived in Ephesus and is better known for his statement You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you. Or in other words, No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. Edit

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