How exactly did the stripper die? I stepped into the kitchen to tend to what I was cooking and missed that part. I know the golf ball salesman was too drugged to do it.
They ended up concluding that she slipped in the bathroom and conked herself on the towel rack, slicing her head open and bleeding profusely. They figured she ran to the bedroom to get to the phone and/or the drugged John but bled out, conveniently falling directly onto the bed.
I didn’t get what the deal was between the wedding-chapel guys, including why Alien scraped Elvis’s caddy, or why Elvis thought it would be a good idea to haul Alien’s body out to Area 51 (and if there were dozens of people there snapping photos, wouldn’t the Air Police have put in an appearance to try to get them to disperse?) I have to admit, it’s kinda strange to see French Stewart not squinting.
Incidentally, weren’t two of the cast members holding out for more dough? I was expecting some hastily-explained absences.
What is with all of the accidents in the CSI franchise lately? Seems like every third gruesome death in Vegas and Miami is a ridiculously convoluted accident.
The sequence of events as I recall them:
a) the actors playing Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes “go on strike” for more cash.
b) CBS fires them rather than pay them more.
c) the actors say “wait a minute, there must be a misunderstanding here, we weren’t holding out.”
d) the actors go back to work.
Oh. My. Gods, I remember seeing French Stewarts name in the credits now, but I had promptly forgotten and didn’t even recognize him until just now.
Anyhow, Elvis and Alien were in fierce competition for the wedding biz, and I guess it escalated enough that Alien thought defacing the car was a good idea. Elvis thought Alien was dead when he found him, so he took him out and buried him near Area 51 “because that’s what he would have wanted.” He was actually doing something nice, and I really think that he thought so. Of course, he ended up burying Alien alive, but that’s the way it goes.
I liked the pace of the four-bodies-one-episode, but it felt like nothing went nearly as in-depth as I like to see it. And poor, poor Greggo. Stuck in the lab forever. sigh
My understanding is just slightly different:
a) CSI show hits no. 1 in TV ratings
b) expecting the actors to ask for pay rises, CBS sends all the lead characters a letter stating they must re-sign (not resign!) new contracts by a certain date
c) George Eads and Jorja Fox (‘Nick Stokes’ and ‘Sara Sidle’) are late replying (for different reasons, not especially contract related)
d) CBS advertises for replacement actors
e) George + Jorja sort it out (phew!)
Yours is a more accurate version glee. I was close enough to almost be in the same ballpark. 
And… I concur with your “phew”. I like all the characters and their interactions. I would’ve not liked a change. (Though I don’t mind additions to the cast – I’m still hoping “Michelle” from 24 comes back.)
[English accent ON] My dear chap. Absolutely no need to apologise. [Enlgish accent OFF]
Firstly, our versions were very close. 
Secondly, the cycle of US TV contract negotiations is almost always exactly as you describe it. :rolleyes:
Thirdly you are clearly a discerning viewer. 
Like you, I am very satisfied with the interactions.
I find it interesting how things rapidly changed from the pilot, and have since evolved.
[Lecher ON] I want Krista Allen (cheeky prostitute) and of course Melinda Clarke (Lady Heather) back. [Lecher OFF]
Assuming no resurrections, I reckon 1 out of 2 is very likely… and Lady Heather’s analysis of Grissom’s character is fascinating!
Regarding the hooker death, I thought it went:
Hooker gave her john something to “relax” him so her job would be easier, but gave him too much and he passed out. Her nutjob boyfriend followed them to the hotel room and in a jealous rage beat her to death. She staggered back to the bed and tried to wake the john, but he was too passed out, and she couldn’t call for help. She died on the bed and the boyfriend bolted. They found his prints in the bathroom- he claimed that the two of them were in on it together (the prostitution), but they concluded that they were not in on it- that he was jealous and crazed and killed her.
Nope, that’s how they thought it went, but the video surveillance of the hotel hallway and the complete absence of blood on the boyfriend’s clothes cleared him. It was, indeed, a big accident, and she may have survived if the john hadn’t been drugged and could have helped her.
A little more info on **Brian Eckers ** post above: Hooker slipped in the pee next to the toilet, twisting her ankle and losing her anklet. In falling, she wacked the shit out of her head with the towel rack/deep gouging weapon. She stumbles, spurting, to the bed and tries to wake the drugged John. She bleeds out so fast because her platelet count was low from a hard life of heavy drinking. She barely has time to conveniently collapse on the bed, spurting all the while, before she was no more.
I really need to get a hobby.
The issue arose because neither George nor Jorja showed up for the first day of shooting. CBS said they were to be fired. Jorja negotiated something and was quickly allowed back; George insisted that he had overslept and arrived late, and had no intention of striking, so he was forgiven.
There was a neat reference to that last night: When they were at Area 51, Sara said to Nick, “Why are you late?” Nick said something like “Me? What about you?”
So Jorja Fox is still on the show?
Hooray!
You’re right- I was showering after I posted and it came back to me. That’s what I get for knitting while I watch TV! I didn’t pay close enough attention!
As DeVena pointed out, the stripper/hooker’s drinking was a big contributing factor. Her blood alcohol level came up as .30. Almost 4 times the .08 level required for a DUI charge. Makes it even more amazing that she made it from the bathroom to the bed after giving herself a fatal blow to the head.
I thought that was so incredibly bizarre, I can’t believe the CSIs bought it.
It’s unnatural and wrong to let Greg out of the lab. He must slave away indoors, fearing the light of day (er, or neon lights of Vegas) forever! Muwahaha! He’ll beg Grissom to let him outside, and Grissom will just hand him some evidence to analyze.
Gentlemen, let this episode be a lesson to you: Please do your best to hit the bowl when urinating. Don’t learn it the hard way.
While I’m at it, I also missed a couple of the details of the nightclub shooting. It was all on the waitress’ head, right? What was her motive again?
(I wish my apartment was set up so I could cook and watch TV at the same time. I would have forgone cooking entirely, but I knew I was going to be watching “Without A Trace” right afterward, and I didn’t want to wait two hours for my Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni!)
The waitress had been dating the dead owner, and he’d asked her to pick up a bag for him in L.A. She claims she didn’t know what was in it, but she was arrested for drug trafficking. When she was arrested, the owner promptly dumped her and told her that if she ratted him out, he’d kill her. Figuring hiring a hit man was better than prison, she hired the guy who killed the owner, but then the hit man told her the price had doubled, and she couldn’t afford it. So she stole the other owner’s gun, hid it in the toilet tank in the men’s room, and blew the hit man away.
I think that’s all of it.
I’m pretty sure she hid the gun in the ladies room, didn’t she? In any case, there were two elements that struck me as excessively dumb:
[ul][li]She doesn’t want to involve the 10% owner because she likes him, yet she arranges to meet (and plans to shoot with the 10% owner’s gun) the hitman right in the middle of the club. That’s kinda like Dick Jones saying to Clarence Bodicker “You involved me!” during a casual meeting in Jones’s corporate office with Bodicker’s name on Jones’s secretary’s appointment book. Gosh, no involvement there.[/li][li]She was smart enough to hide the gun in a toilet tank, but not smart enough to flush the fingerprint-covered duct-tape down the toilet? C’mon. Besides, why did she shoot at the big ugly disco ball, anyway? Was she briefly overcome by the spirit of Martha Stewart? Setting up a panicked rush-to-the-exits only makes sense if she flees with the crowd, carrying the gun (it’ll set off the metal detector, but with hundreds of people cramming through the exits, who’ll notice?) and disposing of the gun somewhere else.[/ul][/li]
The discovery of the tape annoys me a little. CSI can get so hopped-up on plot twists and red herrings that oftentimes the solution hinges on some ridiculously convenient piece of evidence discovered in the last five minutes so they can rush to a final resolution.