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Finalewatch: 'CSI': Exit Warrick
With only minor exceptions (Greg moving from lab rat to investigator; Sofia popping in for a bit; Ronnie Lake's cameo), the core CSI team has remained intact for the past eight seasons. Eight years. Even with annual contract disputes and William Petersen's desire to broaden his horizons, the core team remained the same.
Until this season. First Sara Sidle left, and now...
I wish we could say we'd seen this coming, considering the Warrick conspiracy subplot (which, as I've harped, disappeared entirely for a good long time). But I firmly believe had Gary Dourdan not been nicked for alleged drug possession, he'd have bounced back next season.
We open on a funeral, which is good a place as any for a corpse. As pallbearers carry their grim cargo to his eternal rest, we hear a cracking noise. The pallbearers falter, and seconds later a body -- no, two bodies -- tumble through the bottom. Transition to CSI on the scene, where David pronounces the uninvited guest dead for longer than 24 hours, but with no sign of trauma.
Warrick knows the guy, though: He's Leonard "Lenny" Harper, a private eye who also happened to be the undersheriff's partner back in the day. Lenny was suffocated, and though his office and car have been sanitized, Archie recovers files from Lenny's computer that show he was investigating Lou Gedda for Warrick. Warrick's not there to confirm, though; he's at Gedda's club, disoriented and holding a gun when the cops storm the place.
That's because Lou Gedda is dead, brutally beaten and shot and handcuffed in his office barber's chair. Warrick claims he doesn't remember what happened, and for a few minutes I hope this means he uses Catherine in a stripper outfit to try and piece it together. But no. Brass and Grissom both tell Warrick to shut the hell up and get a lawyer, and the rest of the team slow-mos into the next scene to watch Warrick sit in the back of a squad car. The undersheriff gives the case to the day shift, understandably, which means we get to see Ecklie be human again when he also tells Warrick to lawyer up.
Internal Affairs is less human, baiting Warrick until he admits the evidence points to his guilt. While they play up Warrick as an unhinged obsessive, Catherine visits his apartment (to get a change of clothes) and finds the walls plastered with articles about and photos of Gedda. Worse, Ecklie and his team are already there. Oops. The Night Shift gathers around to brainstorm the case, and Henry bursts in to tell them Gedda was chloroformed. That's gotta be a violation of something. Warrick's blood tests clean, but seeing as he spent more than 90 minutes actually breathing post-drugging, that's not a surprise.
But wait -- wasn't the Night Shift off this case? They're playing with Warrick's bloody shirt! Just... huh. Anyhoo, this allows Grissom to figure out Warrick was held up while chloroformed and manhandled into shooting Gedda. This prompts Grissom to turn his attention to the handcuffs at the scene. And hey, the marks on Gedda's wrists don't match Warrick's cuffs. There's a mole in the department! Which we knew. But probably forgot, it was so long ago.
Oh, but Lenny was also choloroformed, so the CSIs compare fingerprints from both scenes and find one common set of prints: a cop named Daniel Pritchard. Sure enough, Pritchard has a handcuff key in his locker that tests positive for blood. That's enough for the DA to drop charges against Warrick. So why did Pritchard kill Gedda? Grissom figures someone higher up in the department needed the gangster silenced. Forget it, Warrick, it's Vegas.
We end with the Night Shift eating and laughing together at a diner, which scares me because I don't remember it ever happening before. Seriously, people, you can't throw a happy scene like this into a show like CSI without setting off alarms. The cast leaves one by one, laughing, in slow-mo (except Nick, who stays behind to hit on the waitress), so you can call Warrick's TOD any second. Our newly innocent hero is met at his car -- parked in a dark alley! Geez! -- by the undersheriff, who congratulates him.
Spidey-sense... tingling...
Warrick goes on and on about how he'll keep pulling this thread to the top of the department... to the man who just appeared out of nowhere in a dark alley. Sigh. Sure enough, the undersheriff sounds less than thrilled about this, which is probably why he shoots Warrick through the neck. Not enough? He shoots him again, then wipes down the gun and tosses it into Warrick's car. And... scene.
Wow. While all signs pointed to a bad ending, I thought for sure this episode was shot before it was announced Gary Dourdan wouldn't be back. That makes me wonder how it was written originally, and how the team will replace not one but two investigators. Please let the answer to the latter not be "Hodges."
I'm in the minority and never 'got' this show. I have seen a couple of episodes every couple of years and I never caught on. To me, it's the same show week after week, allowing people to join in America's hypocrisy of seeing blood and guts in close-up week after week, yet show one tit on television and it's the end of civilization. And the show tells us one thing about police officers: say nothing to them. Ever. They are corrupt. They cannot be trusted. It's Us v. Them. The police have no respect for people or the law. They say and doing anything for a conviction. That's how CSI views the police. This TV show is about our need to tune-in in order to tune-out. How the producers, writers and actors sleep at night is mind-boggling. But they probably sleep well. We learn nothing from CSI. Who cares about Warrick? He's another character on another TV show, which adds nothing to our society. It fills the void of the empty lives of individuals who are afraid to live. Eight seasons - I hope the actor who portrays Warrick saved his money and invested wisely; as an actor, getting another gig like this is next to impossible.
Samuel | May 15, 2008 7:52:41 PM | #Thank you very much for the story! I left an event on time to see the entire episode at home. To cut to the chase, I missed the 1st 1/2 hour waiting for the polie to come and ticket a car parked illegally in front of mine, leaving barely enough room for me to exit, with help from the policeman spotting me. It was worth missing half the show to help a deserving motorist get a parking ticket. And thanks again for the rest of the story! Yes, a devastating conclusion.
Jean SmilingCoyote | May 15, 2008 8:33:18 PM | #I knew Gary Dourdan was leaving the show but I didn't expect for them to kill off his character.
The ending was a terrible surprise for me. I'm actually quite heartbroken over this. There goes my eye candy..
Well, now that I look back on it.. there WAS some foreshadowing.
Episode starts with a funeral.. ends with a funeral..
Holly Gribbs references..
and even the moment in the diner (while a flash back to Season 1, I believe) was kind of like a last supper type of thing.
Sad. But I wonder what they'll do with the Season 9 Premiere?
Watching him walk to his car, I first thought car bomb, but was surprised when the undersheriff walked up, but I knew it wasn't ending well for Warrick.
I heard they casted someone for Jorja's part next season from the L word.
You said that you've never seen a show ending w/ the team at a diner? It's traditional to end the season w/ them at a diner/restaurant. Before writing, do a little homework.
Dan | May 16, 2008 6:10:41 AM | #CSI has had scenes in that diner a few other times.
Liam | May 16, 2008 6:45:31 AM | #For the 10 minutes of the episode i couldn't stop shaking and my heart was pounding. At first i thought warrick would be shot when coming out of the diner. then of course he walks into an abandened alley. (Who parks in a alley at night?)
anyways when the undersheriff said to warrick "you don't give up". I knew something bad was about to happen. still when he killed warrick it was really sad & kinda suprising (only because the undersheriff shot him, I figured he was going to die). I'm going to miss him. The premiere is going to be amazing.
What?!? No comments about Jay Karnes, Dutch from the Shield, playing the detective??
I didn't expect Warrick to get killed either. It was a sure way so he wouldn't return.
Tim | May 16, 2008 8:38:10 AM | #Well it was surprising to see warrick go in this manner, I seriously think it should be a good cause to bring sara sidle back or to have other csi teams join in the evidence hunt I think catherine could call up Haracio cane for help, and Mac from sci ny this would be one heck of a hunt!
tony | May 16, 2008 9:09:48 AM | #Should have been a two hour episode. Way to much stuff to cram into one hour.
Scott | May 16, 2008 9:16:00 AM | #I am so disappointed that Warrick was killed, I have the same feeling that I had when Kate was killed on NCIS.
Trupen | May 16, 2008 10:14:23 AM | #Trupen, I felt the same way last night.....I totally thought of Kate from NCIS.
Anyways, I can't believe they killed him off like that. As soon as they showed them in the diner my roommate knew he was going to get shot.
I hope that we start season 9 with the team finding him, so we can see some of the emotion from the team. Nick is going to be a mess....excellent!
I have never understood why people who have only watched a couple of episodes every few years get on a board and respond.I can understand you not being a fan of the show,but to waste your own time to write about a show you don't like-I don't get it.
Keith | May 16, 2008 11:56:33 AM | #I thought Sara left because she was pregmant. In the final weks they kept hiding her figure with bulky vests,furniture, books, etc.
Judith | May 16, 2008 12:13:13 PM | #I thought Sara left because she was pregmant. In the final weeks they kept hiding her figure with bulky vests,furniture, books, etc.
Judith | May 16, 2008 12:13:42 PM | #Warwick was my i candee too - so sad to see his part end that way. Now what happens to the corrupt sheriff? I always thought he was an authority figure with integrity - let's get rid of him as soon as possible - I hate all the corrupt undertones. Let's stick with your normal solving of homicide from crimes of passion and stupidity using the most highly technological stuff and brilliant CSI cast.
Also, let's get this miniatures scenario solved and behind us - just too unrealistic if you ask me. I LOVE THE SHOW - IT'S BEEN MY FAV FOR YEARS.
My guess is Liz Vassey will be taking over one of the spots, in an earlier episode it was mentioned that she was taking the quiz and all that jazz to become one.
Corey | May 16, 2008 1:32:37 PM | #Sara comes back, I go bye-bye. This is the kind of show that doesn't need some stupid love interest to clutter up the works. It's a procedural show, not Grey's Anatomy, which does the mix of hospital drama and romance quite well. Grissom's romance with Sara was clunky and just a little bit twitchy, so I'd much rather see a whole passel of new faces on the night shift than see Jorja Fox return. Besides, maybe with her and Dourdan gone, they'll show more of Marg Helgenberger, who just doesn't seem to be on as much as she used to.
As for the mystery, I have to admit to a bit of a sadistic streak, because I really was hoping Warrick had seriously kicked the strawberry sauce out of Lou Gedda. Such scuz as he deserves worse than what he did get. My only problem with Warrick getting caught up in the aftermath is that he is not some lightweight, as some of the lab rats are; rather, he's a large guy with a keen "spidey sense" (to borrow a phrase) and would have to get hit pretty dang hard and in the right place in order to get taken down so easily. Other than that, I enjoyed the way the investigation played out, especially how Warrick's colleagues (and, as he figured out at the end, his friends) didn't give up until they had exhausted all possibilities. I'm glad it ended the way it did, with Warrick being assassinated by one of Gedda's cronies, instead of going away to prison for either snapping and doing the bum in, or (in a plot twist that is waaaay too overdone) "being sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit." Sure, I'm sorry to see Gary Dourdan go, and very sad that Warrick had to lose his life as a result of his unintentional insertion into a web of gangland crime; but as storylines go, it's going to be a helluva season premiere.
Dark Disciple | May 16, 2008 1:43:56 PM | #Who says Warrick is dead? The producers could keep the character in a coma forever until Gary Dourdan dries out at rehab and realizes he wants his job back.
Scotsman | May 16, 2008 2:03:02 PM | #I am very upset that "warrick" is leaving the show! He is my favorite actor on the show. I hope the writters keep him alive somehow so he can make guest appearances!!!!
Judy | May 16, 2008 2:10:39 PM | #Poor Nick. He is going to be the one to find him. There is no way he can handle this. I can't wait till they get the under sheriff. I hope they don'kill Warrick off the show. He can live through this. PLEASE!!!!!!
judy | May 16, 2008 2:17:23 PM | #Remember a few episodes ago where the gangster apparently had a conversation with Brass. I expected him to greet Warrick, not the under sheriff. However, when the US greeted Warrick, he turned down the sat. radio. I expect that will give Grissom some indication of the killer.
ferd | May 16, 2008 2:28:48 PM | #I can't believe they killed my baby off the show. His eyes just blow me away, he will be missed. I also enjoyed Sara and Grissom relationship they went well together.Please, Please, Please don't kill him he off the show. It won't even be worth watching without him.
Chianti | May 16, 2008 2:49:18 PM | #I can't believe they killed my baby off the show. His eyes just blow me away, he will be missed. I also enjoyed Sara and Grissom relationship they went well together.Please, Please, Please don't kill him he off the show. It won't even be worth watching without him.
Chianti | May 16, 2008 2:49:19 PM | #
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