CSI: Crossover Episode 3

CSI Episode 10.7 "The Lost Girl"
(CSI: Crossover Episode 3)

This review may contain SPOILERS.

Well the famous CSI Trilogy Crossover story has finally been finished. Until this across the board story arc, the only combinations of crossovers apparently were CSI/CSI:Miami to kick off the Miami Series, a couple of CSI:Miami/CSI: NY episode to gorify Horatio Caine (played by David Caruso) and get him into New York. There didn't seem to be any crossovers from CSI to CSI:NY before this story. This final episode is set in Vegas, where the whole story began only in CSI: Miami.


The whole basic plot of the entire thing centered around a missing girl Madeline Briggs played by a cute actress named Amanda MacDonald, who I could have sworn was a regular in some other series I've seen, but it looks like I've just seen her here and there in single episodes of other shows. AH I know I was confusing her with Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia). They managed to get her into each of the three CSI series as part of this story. There were virtually no other supporting or guest characters that managed to be in all three shows. The plot followed Ray Langston as he vowed to find Madeline.


As usual in this trilogy story it could have been a shorter self-contained episode. This final episode felt like the second part of a two part story arc where they leave some of it open for later on. In their own episodes Miami and NY seemed to have some minor elements that may pop up later on during the season,, but I'm not sure.

As with the episodes from the other two shows, the regular cast managed to make their appearances while doing their part to solve the case. One of my personal faves from CSI: Vegas is Wendy Simms played by Liz Vassey. I wish they had brought her in to the series much earlier, but they hadn't created the character at that point.

So now that the Trilogy Crossover is finished the various CSIs will have to return to the same old dull routine of digging up months old corpes and figuring out what happened to them and who they were.

Even though this episode was along the same sort of lines as the other two I will give this one a little better rating of 3.5 CSI thumbprints.

CSI: Crossover Episode 2

CSI: NY Episode 6.7 "Hammer Down"

(CSI: Crossover Episode 2)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

OK well this episode of the special CSI: Trilogy Crossover story, was a little better than episode one from CSI: Miami. I do see a common trend in these episodes though. Dr. Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) hopping out of a helicopter to meet the Officer in charge of whatever city he is traveling to.

Welcome to NY Ray!

OK so this episode starts with a car wreck on a bridge between a car and a big rig. The driver of the car is drunk and talking on a cell phone, he drops the phone on the floor and stupidly fumbles for it while still driving at a high rate of speed. The trucker is also distracted but by a passenger he has locked up in the compartment behind him. The driver of the car dies and is insignificant to the main plot. Darn. The truck driver turns out to be yet another piece in this massive trilogy puzzle that from previews and from further details revealed in this New York based episode deals with human trafficing in addition to the forced prostitution from the Miami Connection.

A character that was originally a suspect in the Miami part, becomes a victim in Miami and is now transported to New York along with another piece of the main puzzle black market organ transplants.

Again this was an episode that could have been contained within just one city but they needed to do some November Sweeps and make a spectacular crossover storyline that only uses Langston as the only character that crosses over. That saves some cast scheduling I guess. You just have one actor to transport between all the shooting locations.


While watching this particular episode I started thinking about the various crimes that are dramatized in the show. Sadly things like human trafficing and black market organs are big crime business, that is kept under the big media rug and has a certain air of mystery to them, but I digress.

I really enjoy CSI: NY over the other two series, but this episode was lacking in some areas and didn't seem like a true CSI: NY episode. Even though it was still an alright episode. I guess again I'll give it 3/5 CSI thumbprints.

CSI: Crossover Episode 1

CSI: MIAMI Episode 8.7 "Bone Voyage"

(CSI: Crossover Episode 1)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Well this episode was OK as far as CSI stories go. It seems to me that they have parceled off sub-plots to build up the main trilogy plot. I don't want to give off too much here but basically the plot involves the Miami CSIs getting a missing person's report and then finding only severed limbs. The problem is the second body part they find belongs to a second victim, that was reported missing by the Las Vegas Crime Lab. So to solve the mystery they bring in Dr. Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) to help them. He of course can't leave until they have solved this thing. They figure out part of the mystery the who did the cutting, but not necessarily the killing. They need to find out who originally dumped the victim's body.

A sort of subplot to the main theme is the victims wanted to be models (big universal cliche plot) and were forced to prostitute themselves. The Miami victim's story seems to be self contained and almost complete, but the Vegas victims story apparently is the plot that crosses over all three series.

All in all I enjoyed the episode, but it really could have been toned down to just one of the series, so far. I'll give it a 3/5 CSI thumbprints/stars.

CSI Trilogy Crossover Special Episodes

OH BOY. Starting Monday 09 November 2009 CBS will air a trilogy of crossover episodes in each of the CSI shows, starting with CSI:MIAMI which airs on Monday, then they will go onto CSI:NY on Wednesday 11 Nov and finish the storyline arc with the Original CSI (sometimes called CSI:LAS VEGAS or CSI:VEGAS)on Thursday 12 Nov. I am not a real big fan of crossover episodes that spill over into each and every one of the individual entities. I don't like it with comic books and I certainly don't like it with TV shows. I don't mind when a spin-off show starts off on a crossover episode of the original show to set up the spin-off, but once they are individuals I don't like the crossover story arcs to jump between the series.


UGH. My biggest peeve about all this is I am not a huge fan of CSI:MIAMI, although I do like the actresses in that show, but I haven't watched an episode of it in a very long time. Not since probably season 2 or so.


I am a fan of the other two shows, but not Miami. I hope when it comes time to release the DVD of this story that they do the right thing and have it as it's own little package, not only as the respective epsiodes in each series. Since I have no idea what season CSI:MIAMI is currently in I wouldn't know which DVD season to buy. OK I can look it up on imdb.com, and it looks like they are WOW in season 8 (CSI is in season 10, and CSI:NY is in season 6).



I will watch the episodes. I probably should record them all on the same tape to keep the story together. I normally don't record the shows much anymore unless I am out at the time they are being aired. Mostly since most shows are released pretty quickly now on DVD.