‘CSI’ season five: Not a shark in sight

‘CSI’ season five: Not a shark in sight
Paige Newman
MSNBC
May 24, 2005

George Eads just barely survives the Quentin Tarantino-directed finale

For actors thinking about doing contract negotiations over the summer, you might want to think about George Eads of “CSI.” Ask for too much money, and you just might find yourself in a Plexiglas box rigged with explosives, buried alive, with fire ants gnawing away at you.

Of course, it wasn’t actor Eads who was buried alive, just his character, crime-scene investigator Nick Stokes. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — this was the only episode of the season to feature Eads’ character prominently. How much do you want to bet that, this summer, Eads readily agrees to his new contract?

Thursday’s finale featured a great combination of what’s great about “CSI,” adding some really fun Quentin Tarantino touches. The episode crammed a lot into two hours, including Gil Grissom’s (William Peterson) well-known love of bugs — that entomology library he keeps in his office sure came in handy — Catherine Willows’ (Marg Helgenberger) strained relationship with her crooked dad, Sam Braun (Scott Wilson), and Grissom’s hearing loss, which enabled him to read Nick’s lips.

After being lured to a phony crime scene, Nick was abducted by the father of an imprisoned woman, whom the CSIs had pinned to her crime with only the evidence of a Styrofoam cup. Nick was buried alive and the team worked together — a wonderful strategy change that was even approved of by awful Conrad Ecklie (Marc Vann) — to hunt him down. After a phony ransom setup ended with the abductor blowing himself up, the CSIs realized that Nick's chances to live were slim. The episode had plenty of fan-pleasing moments, including a plot development where Nick had to shoot out a light from within his tiny cramped quarters. It also featured well-played emotional scenes, as the CSIs faced the fact that they might not save their friend.

The Tarantino touches were obvious: Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) and David Hodges (Wallace Langham) playing the “Dukes of Hazzard” board game — Tarantino is a notorious collector of television paraphernalia and legend goes that he and John Travolta bonded before the making of “Pulp Fiction” over one of these games. We also found out that Grissom is a huge fan of Roy Rogers (suspiciously Tarantino-esque) and even keeps his certificate of Trigger ownership framed. Former Riddler Frank Gorshin turned in his last performance, playing himself. The man did a great Jack Nicholson.

Another great Tarantino touch: Nick’s feverish dream sequence where Dr. Al Robbins (Robert David Hall) opened him up with a chainsaw, while cheerfully discussing his case with “Super” Dave Phillips (David Berman). “He had a good heart,” Robbins said to Nick’s father (Andrew Prine), handing him the organ. Not your typical “CSI,” but it worked here.

Ultimately, Pancho (as Nick’s dad — and now Grissom — calls him) survived. He wasn’t upset with the imprisoned woman (Aimee Graham), he just didn’t want her to come back into the world angry. And as for Grissom, fans will identify with his final words of the episode: “I want my guys back.”