Very Scientific! (C.S.I (Las Vegas))

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	C.S.I (Las Vegas)
Date:	26/05/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great characters, mysteries

Disadvantages: None

Never had forensic science looked so cool and sexy as it had until CSI Las Vegas arrived on the scene.

CSI is a television series that follows the working lives and sometimes personal lives of a team of crime scene investigators. It has been on our screens since 2000 and is a very popular and successful show. The show is set in Las Vegas although in real life is filmed in California with some outside shots done in Vegas.

Each week there is a new crime, generally two that the investigators visit to collect clues, process the evidence and then try and figure out exactly what happened and why and by who. The investigators in this series work the night shift so a lot of the filming is quite dark and sinister but I definitely think this adds to the greatness of the show. They are dealing with dark, scary crimes and the bleakness of the night shows just how depraved human nature can be.

Once the investigators have collected their evidence such a blood, hairs etc they take it back to their lab and run lots of tests on it. A lot of the scenes are shot in the lab as this is where they do a lot of their investigation work. It's really interesting to see all the different machines and techniques that they have at their disposal to uncover the real truth behind things.

What I like about the show is that it's very fast paced and some of the crimes are really weird and wonderful. How they come up with some of the storylines I don't know as they are really obscure but do leave you thinking about them afterwards and amazed at how sometimes they solve the crimes although their sort of motto is, "always let the evidence do the talking," ie you can generally get your answer by putting together all the clues.

What I also like is that you do get to see a bit of the personal lives of the CSI's but not too much. A lot of their background stories are alluded to and I think it surrounds them with a bit of mystery. Up until this present season 9, Gil Grisson was the leader of the team, played by William Petersen. He was quite a quiet, introverted character but very good at his job and had the respect of the team. His deputy is a lady called Catherine Willows. She used to be a dancer in Las Vegas until she entered her new role but has to juggle the responsibilites of motherhood to her little girl with that of her job. They are about 3 other CSI's in the lab as well as a police officer who is a regular and helps to question the suspects the CSI's uncover.

All the characters are strong, each have their only little ways of doing things and quirks which make it an interesting, different show.

My only criticism is that at times I don't think it's necessarily too real. They make collecting evidence look quite glamarous when I'm sure it's anything but, especially when you have to go searching through dumpsters looking for clues or having to process bodies that have been dead for weeks. Also, they seem to process the clues very quickly and solve the crimes quite quickly too but I'm sure it takes weeks, even months to find a finger print or solve a crime. That said they need to put everything into an hour show.

All in all, a great series that I hope will run for a long while yet.

Summary: CSI - Las Vegas