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'CSI': I only have eyes for you
Thanks to Andy for letting me grab CSI this week. I knew tonight was going to be a great episode when it kicked off with a guy singing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" at a rehearsal for an American Idol-type show called "Overnight Sensation." The producer, Drew Rich, is berating the finalists, Kip and Layla, for being flat.
Layla, the female performer, has a meltdown and runs off the stage. Later that night, her body is found in her underwear wrapped in a sheet under a highway overpass. Gil Gissom's quip of the week: "She may have gotten what she wished for... she's an overnight sensation now." NICE! The strains of The Who take us to commercial.
Performance hall. Drew tells Brass that Layla left around 7 pm and that her chaperone said she went to bed at midnight. Ajaya, the last one voted off, is now competing in the finals against Kip Westamer. Heh heh. Sanjaya versus Clay Aiken, perhaps?
Nick and Catherine examine the table cloth Layla was wrapped in. They figure it's from a hotel and that it was used to conceal her body in transport from the murder scene. Doc Roberts tells them Layla was standing when she was hit in the abdomen, which cut her liver and she bleed out. There was no sexual assault, though she was 8 weeks pregnant. Greg and Riley find wheel tracks at the dump site, indicating a cart.
At Layla's hotel room, Nick and Brass find that she called Drew around 7:30 pm and called the chaperone at midnight to say she was going to bed. Her browsing history in her computer indicate that she was looking at abortion clinics and adoption agencies.
Archie and Hodges discuss the show and Hodges reveals to be a "Vote for the Worst" guy. That's how Ajaya was kept in the contest. They examine elevator camera footage that shows Layla leaving at midnight and Kip leaving several minutes later. Kip and his father return to the hotel 4 hours later, after the murder. Brass hauls them in for questioning and reveal that Layla was pregnant. He then needles the father for wanting Kip to win so that they don't lose their house.
Wendy gives Catherine the DNA analysis, which reveals that Kip... ISNOTTHEFATHER but there was a hit in COTUS of Marvin Flick, who is actually Drew Rich the producer. He's in the system for having sex with a 15 year-old who ended up dropping the charges.
In a retrospective, it is shown that Layla was raised by her ex-Las Vegas showgirl grandmother. Brass comes upon Drew watching it and questions him about sleeping with Layla. He says that Layla had agreed to an abortion as long as she won the competition. Brass says his credit card was used the previous night at a hotel 3 blocks from where Layla's body was dumped and they haul him in for statutory rape because even though Layla was over the age of consent (16 in Nevada), it's still statutory rape if the adult is in a position of authority over the minor (i.e. executive producer).
Hodges tells Grissom that Layla's lipstick had spermiceti in it, which hasn't been used in lipstick since the 1950s. He also reveals that particles on the table cloth she was wrapped in were from the type of spray-on ceiling that hasn't been used in decades. Hodges says, "It's like your victim found a hole in the space-time continuum and was murdered decades ago." I heart Hodges.
Catherine and Nick examine a map of the strip in the 1950s. The only hotel still in existence today is La Chateau Rouge. Nick and Greg pay it a visit and Greg finds track marks like the ones at the dump site. There are also fibers from her sweater on chainlink fence outside. The guys pry their way in to the abandoned hotel and it's uber-creepy. Greg reveals that it closed 6 months after it opened because the mob didnt' like it poaching the business from the strip. The table cloths match the one Layla was wrapped in. Nick finds blood stains on the only table without a table cloth.
The whole team is called in. Grissom interviews a put-together older woman, Mrs. Rosenthal, the building owner. La Chateau Rouge was the first integrated casino in Las Vegas. Mrs. Rosenthal hasn't been inside since her husband was murdered there. She never sold it because she didn't want it to be torn down.
Inside, there's a creepy camera shot as if someone is watching Grissom from the balcony. He finds a bullet embedded in the floor and Nick finds Layla's cell phone. Greg and Catherine examine the dressing room and find footprints in the dusty floor and a recently-used tube of lipstick at the vanity marked "Jasmine," Layla's grandmother's name. On the cell phone, there is footage of Layla singing on the Chateau Rouge stage, in a costume from the dressing room. A man playing a saxophone emerges from the curtains, surprising her. She screams and the video ends. Grissom walks over to the curtains and pulls one back to reveal an old black man holding a gun. The man promptly faints.
Hospital. The man, Norm Mailer, is being treated for dehydration and malnutrition. He babbles about making music with Layla and shooting at Kip, causing him to run away. He then confesses to killing Layla. Kip comes in to talk to Brass. He says he and Layla looked out for each other and nobody else loved her like he did. He was the person using the cell phone to videotape her singing on stage.
The forensics on the bullet found in the floor reveal it to match the bullet that shot Jules Rosenthal 50 years ago. Grissom watches some old footage of a guy saying that Melchior Wilson, a saxophone player at the club, killed Jules Rosenthal and died in prison. Catherine posits that Wilson ditched the gun 50 years ago at the club and Mailer found it, using it to shoot at Kip. They do forensic testing on a wallet that matches Rosenthal's to see if a print in the original case could've actually been lifted from an alligator-skin wallet like it was. They don't match, which means Wilson was framed for Rosenthal's murder.
A big-wig poker game. Grissom is there to speak with the sheriff about Rosenthal's murder. He says Grissom has to win a hand first. He buys in for $500 and hey! Benson is at the table! Grissom gets pocket sevens as the guys talk about the segregated Las Vegas of old. Grissom calls the pre-flop raise and the flop comes 6, 8, A of spades. There are a few bets and Grissom brings up Melchior Wilson's arrest. The next card is a 5 of hearts. Grissom has an outside straight draw. He calls the sheriff's bet and the 4 of hearts comes up. Grissom bets and the sheriff goes all in, thinking he's bluffing. Grissom calls and tells him to show his hand. He has the Deadman's Hand, As and 8s. Grissom wins.
The sheriff tells him that Wilson signed a confession and they had a good clean print. Grissom calls him on not being able to lift a print from an alligator wallet. Grissom shows the sheriff a picture of Mailer. Mailer's prints were all over the identifieds from the Rosenthal case. The sheriff dismisses him.
Back at La Chateau Rouge, Nick and Catherine wonder how Layla got punched in the gut. They find costume fibers on a big wooden chair and realize her bruises match the arm of the chair. Her death was an accident.
Back at the lab, Riley thinks Mailer is either Harry Bastille or Stanley Brown, the other two saxophone players from the club besides Melchior Wilson. SHe runs some facial recognition software, which tells them he is Harry Bastille.
Grissom questions Harry about why he moved the body if he didn't kill Layla. He says he didn't want to be bothered, just wanted to go back to the place he was happy. Mrs. Rosenthal is brought to the hospital and says that Mailer is not Harry Bastille. Grissom tells her Mailer is, in fact, Harry Bastille and that he may be the man who murdered Jules. She says that Harry didn't shoot Jules because she was there. She says she knows the sheriff and that there is no evidence incriminating Harry. She reveals that she had had an affair with Harry and her husband caught them, so she shot Jules in the scuffle. Harry wanted to confess but she wouldn't let him, so she told Harry to run away and she confessed to the murder, but the sheriff was forced by the town big-wigs to frame Melchior Wilson because a white woman could get away with murder but not be in love with a black man.
Flashback to Harry playing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" on the saxophone in the club while Mrs. Rosenthal gazes at him with stars in her eyes. Awww. Now, when do they get possessed by the ghosts of Grace Newman and James Stanley?
To tie it all up, Kip is revealed to be the "Overnight Sensation" winner while Catherine and Grissom lament the way Las Vegas runs. He came to Las Vegas to make money playing cards. He thinks in Vegas, risk is a good thing. She tells him he has roots, friends and a work family and he cryptically says, "Yeah... maybe it's time to up the ante." Hmmm.
The Sports Night fan in me is offended that Robert Guillaume is referred to as Benson rather than Isaac Jaffe :)
Rishi | Dec 5, 2008 1:20:57 AM | #What the heck was wrong with Tippi Hedren's forehead? I think she and her daughter need to put the plastic surgeon scalpels down.
TMZ | Dec 5, 2008 7:44:30 AM | #What no mention of Pa Walton?
Syntillana | Dec 5, 2008 9:38:11 AM | #Great episode, I can't wait for next week!
By the way, it's CODIS, not COTUS.
Stef | Dec 5, 2008 12:13:51 PM | #found it kinda boring... who killed the chick then? i was distracted...
joits | Dec 5, 2008 1:01:18 PM | #joits, it was an accident. When she ran off the stage when she was frightened by the old man at the rundown casino, she hit the arm of a chair which caused her death.
Rishi | Dec 5, 2008 1:04:39 PM | #So did Tippi get away with the murder then? There were no shots of her or Harry being arrested, and they are both guilty of a crime. Harry for being an accessory or obstructing justice, as he knew and didn't say anything to the police.
Mike | Dec 5, 2008 2:22:15 PM | #I thought the show was not very good this week. There wasn't any real closure on the fifty-year-old murder case and Grissom was left speechless at the old sheriff's comment about him having time to look into his old cases. It's a shame that the show is ending with lackluster episodes. I say "ending" because I won't watch it once Grissom is gone. It looks like we won't be seeing him get his flashlight polished like I had hoped.
Loves Peter..sen | Dec 6, 2008 10:34:35 AM | #Did anyone else think that the place looked pretty clean for being abandoned 50 years ago? There would have been mountains of dust. The upholstery on the chairs looked very bright as did the costumes in the dressing room. And would the lipstick still have even been there since it was exposed to the air, and who in their right mind would use it? Sorry, but I think the prop department missed it on this one. I'm sure that during fifty years the place would have been looted and all of the furniture taken. There weren't even any rats or cobwebs. I know it's just a TV show, but come on, a little reality please.
Loves Peter...sen | Dec 6, 2008 10:50:00 AM | #Don't forget, LP, that it's the desert...there wouldn't just be mountains of dust, but drifts. Maybe the mice have allergies and call Merry Maids. :P
I liked the historical aspect of the case, even though Las Vegas is so new and ever-changing that "history" doesn't mean much there. I'd be interested to know if the old casino was a real relic from old Vegas, or if it was just a prop set in a corner of some studio lot in Culver City. Regardless, the set design was cool, even if, as LP said, there was hardly any dust to speak of.
For me, I really don't care much about Petersen leaving anymore. His character stopped being all that interesting to me about four seasons ago. He is part of an ensemble show, and so the other players will be able to go on without him just fine. Having said that, I don't think CSI has more than a couple seasons left in them. Unlike Law & Order, which can recycle old plots until the sun explodes, you can only talk about blood spatter and DNA residue so many times. This is the problem with procedurals of any kind. CSI still is shot well, directed well and (usually) has decent acting, which is why even a repeated plotline is often still fun to watch. But like that old casino, the luster is starting to wear thin. I just hope they kill it before it starts becoming a lumbering dinosaur that CBS only keeps around because they don't have anything to put in place of it. Otherwise, CBS may end up like NBC and fall to the bottom of the ratings.
Kara Mel Apples | Dec 6, 2008 12:25:59 PM | #This seemed more like a COLD CASE ep. than CSI (which is cool with me, because I like both shows. :)) As far as what happened to Mrs. Rosenthal and Harry--most likely her stable of lawyers got the murder charges reduced down to self-defense (which it was, for Rosenthal most certainly would have killed her and Harry.) Since there was nothing to hold Harry on (he didn't deliberately set out to mislead the cops--he obviously wasn't in his right mind) he probably was released, freeing him to spend his life with his long-ago love.
deering | Dec 6, 2008 4:19:32 PM | #It's Doc Robbins, by the way.
Peg | Dec 6, 2008 6:58:38 PM | #I couldn't really get into the episode, I taped it so I will try and watch it again. It lost me with that old school crime.
Emily | Dec 8, 2008 8:45:21 AM | #Is the casino really still standing?
Stuart | Mar 5, 2009 1:00:29 PM | #
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