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RSS'CSI': Ray Langston gets 'Lost'
Whatever happened on "CSI", happened. That's what we can learn from the fallout of an early-season murder and some "Lost" guest stars.
[These spoilers are named Chip.]
Remember Hugh Hefner wannabe Hampton Huxley? Lots of folks do, and they miss the days he owned his own Las Vegas club. They especially miss the chips from the Hux Club casino, and collector Wiley Schindler (guest star Gerald McRaney) is foremost among them.
But first, our corpse: Houston Dobbs, an employee at the Silver Dollar Diner, is found shot to death in the desert. Dobbs worked for "Lost's" Libby (Cynthia Watros), but more important, he and "Lost's" Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) uncovered a load of Hux Club chips at a Las Vegas button company.
Schindler claims he straight-up bought the first batch of chips for a dollar each. When they get to the Blue Bird Button Company, Riley and Ray find Jacob and giant honkin' hole where the chips were buried. That's a lot of chips. Jacob is hurt pretty badly, and Ray puts doctor before CSI and grabs his gun so Riley can call an ambulance.
Another wrinkle? Because the Hux Club chips were buried (from laziness, it turns out) instead of destroyed, the Nevada Gaming Commission considers them bearer instruments. In other words, they can still be cashed in for face value. Oopsie! Schindler's pretty heavily under suspicion.
Thing is, Libby is killed -- and a bunch of chips are sold online -- while Schindler is in custody. Aw, poor Libby. Does she get shot in every show? I suppose she didn't in that Christopher Titus sitcom, though I bet she wishes she had been.
The chip-seller is caught on video soon enough, a busboy at the Silver Dollar named Walter Ellis. And hey, Ellis was married to Libby! Guess he got sick of sleeping with the boss, or something, and killed her to steal the chips.
Ray searches Libby's place, and in the garage he sees a trunkful of chips in one car and luggage in the other. Looks like someone was hoping for a big score before he headed out of the country. And that someone is, brain genius indeed, hiding in the trunk of the other car with a gun. He shoots, Ray returns fire, and somehow the doctor scores.
We close with Ray, who took an oath to first do no harm, kneeling over Ellis' corpse.
So ends the first season of Laurence Fishburne's reign on "CSI." I have to say, it's been an interesting ride, especially with Fishburne's Ray starting at the bottom of the totem pole. Sure, the other CSIs got a bit of short shrift, but I'm looking forward to the balance being restored next season.
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I was hoping that Ray would get shot whilst in comp***ionate doctor mode. No such luck. I really, really wouldn't miss him.
The episode was all right. It's always nice to see Gerald McRaney.
Just for trivia's sake: nearly all the vintage chips shown in the episode were donated for the show by a local man who collects the things. He was just on the news a little bit ago, showing his collection. Quite cool. Too bad the episode wasn't quite as interesting. Casino chips...really? And you'd think Cynthia Whateverherlastnameis would be getting tired of getting shot in the abdomen by now.
So Langston shot somebody...this was the exciting last minute of the episode we "shouldn't miss?" Apparently, the hype monkeys over at NBC must have slipped a few pages from their playbook into CBS's ad department. Now if Langston had been beaten to within an inch of his life, injected with a nasty truth serum, tied to a chair, dangled from a helicopter...now that would've been interesting.
Yes, always nice to see Gerald McRaney. :)
It may be too late for next season.
The damage is done. The writers have given up on the other characters who many long-time viewers really cared about. There's been too much Ray and now he does EVERYTHING. He's a doctor and a coroner, and a cop and a social worker and a professor and a translator.
There's no room for anyone else. Grey's Anatomy was far better. They understand balancing characters' screen time.
I've been a "Langston" fan from the beginning, but, this episode didn't make any sense. Langston leaves a patient in dire straits to take a call from the office? And what's so interesting about vintage chips? During this episode, I either left the room or changed the channel to HGTV which was more interesting.
Titus was an awesome, hilarious show. I sincerely hope Cynthia Watros has no regrets over being on it.
This episode was an absolute disaster! I have hinted before that Langston should move over to CSI Miami with Horatio, and the two of them can play superheros and leave CSI Vegas alone. What are the writers thinking? My son and daughter have bought every season of CSI Vegas,but for this season I am going to pay them to NOT buy it. I am hard pressed to believe that William Peterson has wholeheartedly approved of the Langston episodes.
PLEASE...............bring back the interesting episodes that we had become accustomed to. I gave up on Ghost Whisperer because of the ridiculous story line, I do not want to give up on CSI, because I like the rest of the remaining cast. The Langston character that the writers have created is a joke.
And what is up with sending Nick away for the final episode of the season???
Just not impressed. Why give away the last minute of a finale in the description of the episode? True, there weren't a lot of cliffhangers on CSI, but the past couple years (season 6, 7, 8..) have been exciting/surprising. This just wasn't it. CSI used to be a "must see" for me. Now, out of all the shows I watch CSI is literally the last one I get to. And this episode really summed up the second half of the 9th season: ho hum and not exciting.
But, I will never stop watching. I'm in far too deep. =)
Season Ten should only include Catherine, Nick, Greg, Reilly, Doc Robbins Hodges, Det.Br***, David, Wendy and all the detectives and lab techs we've met over the years. Dr Raymond Langston should leave FOREVER!