‘CSI: Vegas’ EP on Why [Spoiler] Is a ‘Viable’ Suspect in the Season-Long Case
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the CSI: Vegas series premiere “Legacy.”]
Welcome back to Las Vegas! CSI returns with a mix of old and new investigators to solve more cases of the week and tackle one that hits very close to home in the Vegas revival.
When Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) — a legend at the Crime Lab, as new boss Maxine Roby (Paula Newsome) has to inform the next generation, Allie Rajan (Mandeep Dhillon) — is attacked in his home, he turns to someone he knows to help: Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox). The investigation first leads back to a man Sara, Brass, and fellow CSI-turned-star-witness David Hodges (Wally Langham) put away, Bill Dwyer (Charles Baker), who kidnaps an officer. But it turns out someone instructed Dwyer, and the letter written to him mentions a storage facility: “I think it’s where they do it.”
That storage unit has apparently been rented to David Hodges for a long time, to Sara’s surprise. And inside is a mini crime lab, with case files. It has everything to fake test results and whip up phony evidence. Sara insists someone has to be framing him, but everything seems to check out. Joshua Folsom (Matt Lauria) points out that it may be too damning: Every print is clean and complete.
With Hodges facing charges, Gil Grissom (William Petersen) returns to land from his boat to do “what we always do,” he says to end the episode. “Follow the evidence.”
CSI creator Anthony Zuiker teases what’s ahead in the season-long investigation that’s very focused on the original characters — and what’s new to the franchise with Vegas.
Sonja Flemming/CBS
At the end of the premiere, it looks like Hodges was falsifying evidence or someone framed him. What made Hodges, whether or not he’s guilty, the right character from the original series to put in that position?
Anthony Zuiker: The character of David Hodges has been with our CSI Las Vegas franchise for most of the run, so his tenure is deep. He’s been there, I believe, probably 15 or 16 seasons. So he definitely had the longitude and the tenure to be able to be implicated versus someone who was there for a cup of coffee. It’s a viable choice. And I think the audience who are the loyalists to CSI will understand that they should be taking that particular character seriously based on these allegations.
What’s coming up in the investigation?
A lot of twists and turns. The pressure cooker will begin to be plugged in rapidly by Episode 3. We’ll be having external forces coming in to examine the investigation and put the entire lab under a microscope. The audience will appreciate that. Unlike CSI, the original, where it might be a three or four-episode arc for the Miniature Killer or that kind of thing, this will be a 10-episode arc running all the way through the season. It’ll be something that’s dealt with every single episode and will come to a climactic conclusion.
Is this the only case that will span multiple episodes?
Yeah. We’ll have our crime of the week, of course, because that’s what CSI is, but in terms of an ongoing runner, it will be the investigation of criminal malfeasance in the lab quite possibly pointing to various individuals until we reveal who it is.
Taking a look at the new characters, it seems like Allie and Folsom are set up to possibly be the future Sara/Gil relationship of the Crime Lab.
There is a level of love interest there, which is not something we really do on the franchise. The sort of commitment to that early is new for us. And as they sort of grow and time goes on, I’m sure they’ll rise up as a new Gil and Sara, but more importantly, rise up as the new Folsom and Allie. They have to grow into the franchise as their own leads, and this is the beginning of that story.
CSI: Vegas, Wednesdays, 10/9c, CBS
Conversation14 Comments
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I'd forgotten how much I enjoy their process of investigation. Good show again!
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After watching the premiere I am super disappointed there are not more of the original cast members. I would like to see Willows, Sanders, and more of the lab rats. The new cast can’t act well.
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Happy to see Petersen and Fox back. I’d like to see more of the old cast though. That Hodges character eeks me out, I can’t stand him.
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Welcome back CSI! But really, no one cares about smarmy Hodges, that character is boring. Happy to see Jorja Fox and William Petersen though. But where is Greg Sanders aka Eric Szmanda. Seems like you are selling a new show with only a few of the original cast members. I would like to see Marg Helgenberger aka Catherine Willows too.
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I know Catherine took a Job with the FBI, but she could come to the show in that capacity, if this is something that goes way back and is still damaging them now, then that someone has to still be around. Having access to the lab and an original from CSI, so where are the Originals? They can't come back for a few shows? No Originals, Not CSI.
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they mentioned at one point about attending Catherine's retirement party, and that she was too busy (or something) to meet Brass and Sara after giving them the "red carpet treatment" as Brass said when first meeting Sara.
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That's Brass! Everyone was upset she left, Sarah was there when she left, retired from CSI and moved onto the FBI so it's not like it was a surprise to anyone, so what's the real reason she couldn't appear in a few episodes? For Any of the Originals?
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So the creator of the show doesn't know how long Hodges has been around.....He started in season 3, he hasn't been around 15-16 seasons, facedesk.
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I understand actor availability might be in play... but shouldn't at least ONE person from the last season of the show (either 'Lab Rat' or 'Field Mouse') still be there...
and having seen S03E02 The Accused is Entitled, recently, in which Grissom's Mentor 'sells out' and becomes a Professional Witness and Hodges being a Grissom Fanboy (to the point of 'stalker') would Hodges go down that route as well... (even if he wasn't around for that episode, his habit of lack of boundaries, especially toward Grissom, and that he's telling stories about them as a couple, surely he'd have read up on a Celebrity case in which their relationship was outed, before they even knew/recognized that they were in one.
all that said, his tenure, and that weirdness (which would surely have been reported to HR in a real lab setting) makes him a viable suspect ... either him or the Assistant ME, also Named David, would fit the "always there, but how much do we really know about him" mold
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A ten episode arc is way too long to hold interest. I’m not sure about the new cast either with the exception of Paula Newsome who I think is great but the rest - no real chemistry. So between that and the way too long arc episode 3 may be my last.
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I waited excitedly for the return of the show. Now I'm highly disappointed that there will be a long, drawn out plot against beloved Hodges. Sorry, but I'm out. It will remain on my DVR but will not watch them until Thanksgiving break.
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It's definitely an inside job. I think it's the Asian character, name? Probably has a family member who got sent to prison. He was eating pomegranate and definitely had access, right?
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You gotta be kidding!
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