Lucky Number Seven

CSI has become a television mainstay, never seeming to drop out of the most watched TV shows of the week, even after seven years. Many claim that no TV show could stay good for that long, and maybe that's true, but CSI season 7 is easily the most creative and original season yet.

For the first time, this season of CSI relies on plot threads that continue throughout the season. The major one being a serial killer who leaves a perfect replica of the crime scene down to the smallest detail. This story threads through the episodes Built to Kill pt 2, Post Mortem, Loco Motives, Monster in the Box, Lab Rats and Living Doll. Also is a storyline starting involving Greg stopping an attack by a group of thugs in the episode Fannysmackin, accidentally killing one, and having the family bring a civil suit against him even when the city finds his actions excusable. Near the midpoint of the season, Grissom leaves on a teaching sabbatical and the team gains a new member in the form of Michael Keppler (Liev Schrieber), who does quite a bit to make us care about him in the span of four episodes.

The characters themselves also have a few personal stories this year, though they never reach Grey's Anatomy like melodrama proportions. Near the beginning, Cathrine's father Vegas mogul Sam Braun is killed, Grissom and Sara's budding romance continues mostly under the radar, and Warrick's marriage continues to disintegrate mostly off screen. This demonstrates why CSI has continued to remain good all these years. The early seasons were characterized by complex, disturbing, ripped from the headline cases, and lots of emphasis on scientific technique. This worked wonders then, but its difficult to keep coming up with new mysteries that will wow audiences for seven years, especially when they begin to recognize the formula and things begin to lose their impact. So, this year, it began to shift some of its focus to the characters and their reactions to the cases and their outcomes.

Not to say that none of the cases are good. In fact, this season is quite experimental when it comes to the mysteries, here are a few of the highlights of the season.

Toe Tags: Grissom always says "we do our job because the dead can't speak for themselves", well here, for us at least, they do. Five corpses in the morgue sit up and discuss their deaths amongst themselves while the CSI's try to solve them out in the field in a group of mini cases.

Fannysmackin: One of the most meaningless of cases the CSI's have investigated, and introduces a major plotline of the season.

Law of Gravity: the last episode featuring Keppler, and goes to show how much we have learned about and come to care about, this character.

Empty Eyes: A harrowing episode, when the CSI's are called to the scene of a brutal multiple murder, only to find that one in still alive, only to have her die holding Sara's hand.

Lab Rats: An episode that did the impossible: make an interesting, entertaining clip show. Focuses on Hodges and the other lab rats who do much grunt work behind the scenes.

Ending Happy: CSI trying its turn at comedy, to much success, with a detested victim who makes Rasputin look like a soft wimp.

Living Doll: The season finale that ends the mystery of the miniature killer also brings out a terrifying cliffhanger that haunted many for a summer. Chilling, effective and NOT to be missed.