TVSquad

Right on. Great episode, but that last bit in the prison was completely useless. Great fun to watch for QT references and "signatures."

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I agree it was a great show. The Nick Stokes actor (sorry, forgot his name) deserves an Emmy nomination. Wonderful, gut-wrenching performance. But the ending got me furious. Why was I looking at a CU of a sullen prisoner who I knew so little about? Was I supposed to feel sorry for her "plight?" That's adolescent thinking. It didn't work. There were clarity issues. There wasn't enough specificity in the flashback. The styrofoam cup wasn't enough. But worst of all? I felt that I was being lectured to and I hate that. Especially in the final scene of a terrific drama, and ESPECIALLY when the writers have failed to do the hardcore work of paying off all the things they foreshadowed. Why wasn't it Warrick who discovered Nick's body? Why go to all that work foreshadowing Warrick's justifiable anger over the incident with his girlfriend earlier in the program, and then waste it on him kicking a bucket? That's way too easy. First off, it should have been Grissom in the coffin, but ok, I understand why that wouldn't happen. There were wonderful early scenes of character building. But then, when this hugely traumatic and life-altering thing happens right in front of their eyes to their beloved co-worker Nick, why not use this opportunity to pull Warrick and Katherine, and Grissom and Sara closer together? That's where you were taking the show emotionally and then you inexplicably pulled the plug. It was the perfect place to advance those characters' relationships. Instead, there was lots of standing around looking at pretty scopes. Now, I LOVE this show. It's infinitely better than the two spin-offs. Grissom is one of the great TV characters of all time. I love these actors. I love the way it's shot and cut. Best use of music on TV. And I love Tarentino. He's uniquely talented. But the writing was lazy. And the final scene turned a gritty epic into a sophmoric lecture. There was a wonderful complexity in this show; but also some thuddingly simplistic thinking in the writing. The writing clearly wanted me to feel sorry for this girl, but didn't tell me why I should care. Just because she's in prison? Give me a break. It was as if the writers wanted me to care more about her than about Nick. After all he just went through? Sophmoric. Quentin, you made me care about Nick so amazingly well--you did such a masterful job of it--that I am frustrated with the adolescent sentiment right at the end. It overshadowed (slightly, but still...) Nick's beautiful uncertainty in the final scene. As they say on Get Smart: "you missed it by that much."

Justice cannot be trivialized. There is real evil in the world. That gravity is the foundation of your show. Real evil did this to Nick. Have we become so divided as a culture that we don't know what evil is anymore? Is our society so fractured that we no longer recognize its face? Open any forensic textbook and tell me there isn't horrible evil in the world. Writers: please don't trivialize the horror of what victims go through. Nick was the victim, not the girl in prison.

Anyway... amazing job, but.... wow, I haven't been so pissed off at a show I think should be nominated for an Emmy in ages. :)

Doug

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Tonight’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation had me gasping for air. But that’s not to say it took my breath away; I’m conflicted about tonight’s episode. On the one hand I really enjoyed it. On the other hand their sloppy treatment of some details, like the detection of trace amounts of explosive on the dog’s coffin, disappointed me. I am a Tarantino fan and was looking forward to the finale. I was even hoping for a cliff hanger where I would be left wondering about Nick’s fate… and looking forward to another episode directed by QT.

Throughout the episode, I was definitely on the edge of my seat. They had me armchair investigating, formulating and planning out possible scenarios. But I was disappointed with the plausibility. I know this show needs a bit of leeway when concocting suspenseful episodes, but try not to make it so obvious.

Additionally, I really didn’t understand the daughter’s presence. Why was her character even necessary? The last three minutes of the episode should have hit the cutting room floor if that was the entirety of the story. Through editing or writing it wasn’t made clear why she should be important; yes, I know the DNA led us to her father, but it doesn’t really explain why he would do something so gruesome as to annihilate himself. His anguish over the loss of his daughter’s promising future leads him to go after the CSI who in essence put his daughter in the hell she lives. He demonstrates his "old school" ways by using ether, yet he’s tech-savvy enough to know how to install a live feed, trap a CSI by creating a trail of clues, able to wire a coffin and lower it into a hole without blowing up everything. It doesn’t quite work. Without a little more information about his daughter or their relationship, that dynamic is lost and seems she should have mostly been cut.

I enjoyed the signature Tarantino direction and framing of shots. It is obvious through his direction, Tarantino has been watching and is a fan. But who isn’t? (Really, don’t answer that; I know someone will.) He maintained the style and franchise of the show’s usual direction yet peppered the episode with "good dramatic stuff". (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/) A finale should have a bit more passion than the usual season, and tonight’s episode delivered. Tarantino’s style kept me on edge and gave me the Das Boot effect. Gasping for air.

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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet.. the very last line of the episode.

Grissom says, "I want my men back."

Anyone remember when a couple CSI stars held out for more money?

With a storyline like that, I think they'll be back.

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I felt the daughter in prison angle was a bit week. She only had a five year sentence. It would have been a little more believable to me had it been his child on death row that lost a final appeal due to the DNA evidence.

George Eads was great. It couldn't have been easy to shoot in such a confined area. Would be interesting to know how long he was in there during this episode.

Would have liked to see a crater from the explosion. It looked like he was wearing about 16 ounces of symtex. That much would have taken Grissom and the whole building. The plausibility of a civilian getting their hands on that is very, very low, but makes for great TV!

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Well I'll stand up and say it: it was good, but it wasn't _great_.

And there were a couple of really unnecessary bouts of Tarantino self-indulgence: the long "get used to it, I'm packing" discussion at the start of the episode; and the autopsy nightmare at the end.

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What can I say, this was by far the BEST performance I have seen of George Eads' and William Petersen.. This episode delivered what it promised an edge of your seat, breathless 2 hours. Great Work to the crew and director on a Finale that was worth the wait.

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I finished watching the episode about 3 hours ago, and I can’t get it out of my head. I think what got to me the most was George Eads’ performance. I can’t get the scene before last, when they opened the coffin and he cried and tried to grab their hands, out of my mind.
I think I only noticed the Tarantino touch because I was looking for it. And I didn’t really get the nightmare scene at the end. But what an episode…

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I hope that George Eads is nominated for an Emmy, his performance was spectacular and spell binding. The prison scene and several others were confusing and not necessary, however, QT did a marvelous job with the cast we will be CSI fans for as long as it is on. It's the only show I've ever been addicted to and have seen every episode more than once in some cases. LOVE IT!!!!!! Good job.

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That was an absolutely amazing CSI episode. It was like none other. For once the screen shots were pretty much equally split among the main CSI members, unlike all other episodes in which Grissom is focused on for 55 min and the other 5 min is for the rest of the extremely large cast. (Not that I dislike Grissom) Finally, we see more emotion from ALL the characters and learn about them more.
George Eads was FANTASTIC. He displayed amazing acting, which we rarely see because of the little camera time he usually gets, if any at all. He completely made me want to cry for him.
QT made this episode amazing and I would love to see another from him. This made a fantastic season finale because it was highly suspenseful, emotional, and EVERYTHING else that one could think of. I enjoyed the closure at the end and just the plain excitement from the entire episode definetely makes me long for the season premier.
Like many others, I don't see why the last scene was on the daughter. It should have been on Nick, maybe on how he's getting on with life: recovery. Obviously psychologically he must be damaged a little bit! But the last scene was not needed at all. It should have ended with Grissom saying "I want my men back." because it's such a statement, showing how much these CSI people need each other. It would have created a good, poignant moment.

I congratulate all the CSI crew and actors on their MAGNFICENT job on this episode!

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can anyone clue me into the reference to the twins at the beginning? Relevance? What am I missing?

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CSI's season finale was indeed spectacular!! Although that end bit in prison definitely didn't have enough detail within the 2 hours to make it work.

There isn't enough praise to bestow on George Eads for his performance in this CSI season finale. That is a tough emotion to do truly convincingly, and he couldn't have done it any better. I also found the scene were they opened the plexiglass box and Nick cried and tried to grab their hands incredibly touching. Again, high praise for George's performance. While Grissom's character has rarely shown emotion throughout the entire 5 year span, it was clear (to me) how he felt about Nick. You can't get more obvious than when he used the name Nick's father has used -- "Poncho". Great scene Will!

The finale was such an emotional episode for all the characters, and I would have liked to have seen their emotions after Nick was out of the coffin and away from the 'grave site'. I did find it odd that Nick's parents where never to be seen again after they were told of their son's situation..

Thanks to the producers and directors for not making it a cliffhanger, and thanks to everyone who worked on the episode for making it worth agonizing wait to see if Nick lived or not. Please get it out on DVD asap!!

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I watched it back to back on my vcr thursday night and 3-4 times tonight. Very powerful and dramatic, almost like the first "Matrix" when you think Neo has really died... It makes you wonder : whose love is going to get Nick back to life ?
That's why I disagree with most of the posters who would just cut the encounter between the daughter and Nick. His last comment "that's it" is poignant, for we've witnessed his ordeal and George Eads awesome performance but in the end, it's like episode 4x4 with Nick's final comment to Grissom "just another day in paradise". We may care a lot but we soon forget as long as "it" happens to other people. When "it" happens to us, we scream, we fight, we cry, we confess and we hope some team or some trinity is gonna save us.
Not a surprise if George said QT had him thinking too much about death because there's definitely more in this season finale than day in day out action. Still, I'm glad the insects didn't get the last word... Season 6 premiere should be called "love bugs" !

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the CSI finale was fantastic. I could not have asked for a better episode. My only niggling regret was that last scene at the prison with the daughter that seemed unncessary and out of place. But,I've even worked that out in my own head. Nick (the Eads character), besides being buried alive, has gone through the frightening scenario of having a gun stuck in his face and having a stalker who had living above him and watching him sleep eventually badly frighten and injure him. So he wasn't just confronting his demons or being weirdly sympathetic when he went to talk to the daughter. He was very shakily looking out for number one. When Nick told the daughter not to take the anger with her when she cleared the prison gates, he was telling her to leave him alone. He was not the cause of her father's death or suffering. What he was concerned about was having another self-rightous, angry connection to CSI coming after his hide and doing what he could to circumvent that. Anyway, that's my take on his visit to the daughter. Nothing else really makes sense to me. I just could not let such a wonderful show end on such a soft note otherwise.

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What was the song that Stokes was singing along with the radio in his truck and when he was in the coffin?

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Janis, nice take on the ending. Maybe that WAS what they were saying, but it wasn't what was communicated, unfortunately. The last scene was misguided, awkwardly written and directed, and ended-up being antithetical to the entire philosophical thrust of the show. Beautifully acted by Eads, though. It's very hard to end stories well, so I'm sympathetic. It's just that the finale was so freaking amazing, I wanted it to be perfect. Sometimes that happens when you take lots of risks, which is one of the things I adore about QT. He is unafraid.

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name of the Christmas song Stokes was singing "It was Christmas in Las Vegas...." and who is it by. CSI Las Vegas has the best group of characters ever, Peterson IS Grissom.
Keep on forever.

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I thought it was an amazing episode. George Eads' acting was phenomenal. My two favorite scenes were when they first saw him in the coffin and the looks on their faces, and then when they finally opened it up and he was so desperate to get out. I didn't like the bit with the girl in prison at the end. I agree with Holly, I was hoping after they got him out they would cut to the CSI team's reaction to finally getting him out. George deserves an Emmy for this portrayal. Complete believable that he was underground.

Janice

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I have to agree with Jean P who asked “whose love is going to get Nick back to life ?” I am eager to see what the crew will be like at the beginning of 6th season. I’ll be very surprised to see Nick working as usual. When did you say the next season premiers?

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I've got a different take on the final scene and it has taken me a while to figure it out. I think Nick, who has gone through a more tortuous and lethal prison than the daughter ever could, is working on not "taking it" with him and wants her to do the same. He's clearly at the edge of his emotional strength and he has to tell someone else what he's dealing with and his colleagues are too "close" for him to approach them. Like others, this should be a thread in the new season as Grissom's deafness was in the earlier episodes. In addition, I really appreciated Eric Szimada's (sp.?--sorry) performance since he had so few lines but we really felt his fear and grief through his facial expressions. If George Eads is not nominated for AND does not WIN an emmy then there is no justice in this world and that is NOT what CSI is all about. How soon does the new season start? :-(

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