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Between hay fever and swine flu and the coming zombie apocalypse, spring has turned young lovers' thoughts to disease. "CSI" is down wit da sickness.
[These spoilers have reached pandemic level five.]
It's a dark and stormy night. Cath and Doc Robbins are unofficially out on call, examining the scene of the third undetermined death in as many weeks -- if Doc doesn't find a cause, his budget may be slashed! Now there's incentive. Doc has to take a call, so Cath enters the vic's house and is promptly attacked and bitten by his mom. What did I say about zombies?
Just as promptly, Mombie Dearest collapses and dies. What happens to a budget when undetermined deaths pile up? Sure enough, Mombie turns out to be the fourth undetermined death. The first three at least had a tenuous connection: All had body modification, whether tattoos or really uncomfortable-looking subdermal beads.
Hey, whaddaya know, Ray and Nick almost immediately run across someone who knows what's up. Dr. Jack Shaw, former coroner, owns Jack's Body Shop, a tattoo place like none I've ever been in. And I have plenty of work. Seriously, who goes someplace with only red neon lighting when getting ink that lasts a lifetime?
Anyhoo, Shaw recognizes the work as one Carl van Goe, who Shaw fired for being too much of a diva artist. Van Goe isn't cooperative, and since he's been working out of his toolshed, he's under arrest.
Worse, Doc Robbins and Ray figure out what caused the death: rabies. Time for Cath to get to a hospital! Also time to research rabies, during which Ray and Nick learn there was a case... in Reno. Where Shaw was coroner. The good doctor is arrested, and his receptionist collapses.
Ray and Doc Robbins head to Reno to get an unedited version of the state's earlier rabies case, and guess what? The deceased's husband in that case was... Shaw's receptionist. But he's too dumb to be a criminal mastermind! Yeah, well, Shaw's girlfriend, a nurse at the free clinic where he volunteers, was the dead girl's mother. Geez, how did Shaw not figure any of this out, presumably after a trial and being run out of Reno?
Anyway, Shaw's innocent of everything but questionable taste, and Doc Robbins acknowledges he now owes rabies-free Catherine more than a little favor.
In the B-plot, Greg and Riley are called out to a victim who's alive and unresponsive, though not the former for long. Turns out young Kayla had been stabbed in the neck, dragged under a truck and left to bleed to death. At first it looks like her boyfriend Elvis Rodriguez is to blame, but turns out instead it was the Diet Club.
Yeah, Kayla and her friends Rhonda and Diana (who plays Mindy on "Friday Night Lights") had entered a bikini contest. Rhonda tried to sabotage Kayla, which led to a food fight during which Rhonda threw a pork chop. Pork chop stabbed Kayla in the neck, and she collapsed soon after, what with all those diet pills making her blood thin. Have fun in jail, Diet Club!
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
This was, by far, the best CSI episode since William Petersen's departure. Everyone was featured in at least some important role, the insertion of Langston into the team was less clunky (his "road trip" with Doc Robbins looks to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and one I hope they continue), and the two mysteries were actually both interesting and a bit surprising. Killed with a pork chop...and people wonder why I hate "the other white meat."
It was good to see they had Catherine involved in something again, rather than just a couple minutes of her walking down a hallway.
Hopefully they continue the new trend of having Langston featured as part of the ***emble versus taking center stage. He works much better as a supporting character. Maybe now that his character has been fully introduced into the show, this will be the direction.
Have to wonder about the hairstylist though. Catherine always looks like sh*t when
she has plain straight hair and Nick is too old to pull off the near-bald cut these days.
This show got CSI back to its roots. Two cases, rather than one. And nothing too tricky or fancy. I think CSI has tried too hard the past couple of seasons to be different. Maybe now that they have figured out the Langston character, they can get back to what they did best a few years ago.
Well,we all know that George Eads had been on medications making his face swell. The medicines were for his back which had surgery on finally a couple of weeks ago and will be in physical therapy for eight weeks. The meds gave his face a moon shape,steroids do that sort of thing,it made him look older and more tired.For those who didn't notice he ahs been sitting and leaning a lot since Turn Turn Turn...I wish him well! He got his hair buzzed due to his surgery and his pain lifting his arms.
I enjoyed this episode because all of the cast members were used. Hopefully this will continue from now on. Doc Robbins scenes were great. Wouldn't mind seeing more of him. WELCOME BACK, Nick and Greg. The two of you are the main reason I have not given up on this show.