Friday, April 3, 2009

CSI “Mascara” Bad For The Eyes

Photo CBS
The 200th episode of CSI, “Mascara” was an odd episode that was actually a chore to watch. The show seemed to make a point of noting it was the 200th episode, but then only features the long-time cast members for only very short scenes. It was, however, directed by William Friedkin, who also directed “The French Connection.”

It seems that a woman that was once a student of Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne) was found murdered. She had been working on her thesis, and it seems while doing the research, she appears to have stumbled on a serial killer. Since Langston knew her, he decides to work the case.

The problem is that the victim never became interesting. And Fishburne’s handling of the case was somewhat lifeless and plodding. It didn’t help any that the suspects involved a bunch of masked wrestlers, and there was too much time spent on wrestling scenes. There was one mysterious section where one of the wrestlers, who was in a tanning booth, is shot and killed by the woman’s murderer as the wrestler exited the tanning booth. As they both struggle, the wrestler who was shot seems to incapacitate the shooter in a choke hold, but then the shooter picks up the gun and shoots the other guy dead. And then…nothing. It was like that this killing had never happened, because they seemed to cut to the killer’s arrest for the murder of Langston's friend and that particular shooting was never mentioned again.

Langston also had a completely out of character meltdown - at least out of character for what we know of him. He breaks a few windows in his anger over the woman's murder and the murderer himself. Is this part of a plan to give Langston a dark, unpredictable side, and make us wonder if he really is the controlled, stable man he appears to be? It’s a shame that that he had such a meltdown over a character that viewers may not have cared about, in an episode that was so forgettable.

On a side note, Fishburne is starting to look pregnant, and Helgenberger looks even more skeletal. They need to swap diets for a while.

My opinion that this 200th episode of CSI was a dud and it was a shame that the episode didn’t better honor the veteran cast members of the show that the fans have come to appreciate all these years. As for me, I’m getting out the makeup remover to clean “Mascara” out of my mind.

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