No epithets are strong enough to describe my enthusiasm for CSI. Night Las Vegas is shown from above. Myriad lights, skyscrapers, neon facades of casinos and expensive hotels, freeways, crowded streets. Las Vegas never sleeps, never sleeps. Las Vegas is an entertainment industry; it offers its customers everything from roulette, prostitutes, drugs and guns to contract killings.
Las Vegas is a corrupt city with high levels of crime, corruption and immorality. Crimes are constantly taking place here, several thousand jailed criminals and recidivist rapists are officially registered and monitored by the supervisory authorities, several dozen serial killers who have evaded punishment are listed as uncaught. What makes people constantly kill their own kind? Perhaps the dry, hot wind of the Nevada desert? Perhaps a sense of vice and illusory impunity reigning on the streets of Vegas?
Forensic experts are rarely heroes in the public eye. They don’t pose in front of the cameras and nobody really knows what kind of work they do. If the perpetrator ends up behind bars, reporters praise the police who captured the villain and the prosecutor who put him in jail. No one remembers forensics. Nobody knows that the entire evidence base, which the public prosecutor is armed with, was painstakingly collected and prepared not by the prosecutor - it was handed over to him by the criminalistics department, and only to her, this very laboratory, society owes sufficient evidence to initiate the trial and pass a further sentence.
Forensics along with police detectives arrive at the crime scene. It is already cordoned off and surrounded by a bright yellow ribbon around the perimeter. Nobody touches anything. The coroner carefully, trying not to leave traces, approaches the body and declares death, after which a team of experts takes up the case. They photograph the crime scene, take fingerprints, traces, take samples of blood, other fluids and fibers. No criminal can leave behind a trace: hair, saliva or thread from his clothes – a piece that will reveal his DNA or other features, which can then be compared with the results of tests, and presented to the court.
In the laboratory of Vegas under the breeding of Gil Grissom work Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes and Sarah Sidle. All of them are professionals, all of them are devoted to their work and to their boss, Grissom, who, by personal example, demonstrates to them what large-scale knowledge in various fields a forensic expert should possess, what incredible observation, perseverance and endurance he should differ, how unconventional he should think and what nerves of steel he should possess.
Grissom is a middle-aged man, level-headed, reasonable, verbose, completely devoted to work, introverted and withdrawn. He is, of course, a talented scientist, a kind and pleasant person, but he has no friends, at the age of half a man, he is not married, and in terms of entertainment, he is not inclined either to play, or to alcohol, or to women's society. He only touches life with gloves. Is he happy? Satisfied, yes, but not happy.
I admire him, but in terms of masculinity and sex appeal, I don't find him bright. Full, with a clubfoot bear gait, small steps and crooked legs in wide trousers, a compliant, soft character, he could be an excellent father, uncle, friend, etc. But to spark a passion for him, a man must be a little more cynical, firm, assertive, a little more aggressive. Sarah Sidle wouldn't agree with me! Maybe I would even go in the face for such words.
Katherine Willows is a former stripper, single mother and illegitimate daughter of a famous mobster. She knows Vegas at night firsthand, and even after leaving the strip bar stage, she has retained connections among the dubious but useful unofficial hosts of Vegas. When she was young, she was undoubtedly beautiful, but now her face is clearly visible traces of aging and withering, and yet the tiger grace and femininity in her is obvious. Katherine is a bright image, but she, for some unclear reason, never inspired much sympathy for me. It was rather annoying and annoying.
Warrick Brown is a black, sexy, former player and a very entertaining character. In his nature, unlike the rest of the team, just the same pepper and salt, the dangerous qualities of a bad boy that attract the attention of women. His calm self-confidence, a sense of strength and courage coupled with some inner instability, outbursts of rage, make Warrick unpredictable and complex. In my opinion, he is the most solid as a criminologist, and the most interesting as a person. Warrick is my favorite male type of series.
Nick Stokes - handsome, open and honest, with a wide white-toothed smile - a nice guy, whom any girl would want to marry and have children with him, but he is too positive. Of course, it is nice.
Sarah Sidle is my favorite girl in the series. Cute, emotional, thirsty for justice and taking human tragedies to heart, she is hopelessly in love with Grissom, and utterly miserable. A person with deep scars in her soul, she begins another battle with Evil every day, and each failure leaves a deep, painful mark on her. Who knows how I am waiting for that bright hour when Grissom will stop keeping his distance in his relationship with Sarah and let her closer! I>
The crimes that forensic scientists investigate alongside the police are realistic and brutal. Grissom's team often has to deal with murder and child abuse. The creators of the series do not spare anyone. And often, in exceptional cases, as is the case in reality, the evidence is not enough to bring the perpetrator to justice. This is our life.
CSI is one of the best series, it is made so professionally, intelligently and competently that one can only wonder how much information was shoved by the writers when writing the plots, and how much intelligence and soul was invested in creating the characters. This is not a movie for those who want to relax while watching, it is a spectacle for viewers who receive unheard-of pleasure from the intense mental pursuit of the truth, the whole picture of a puzzle that needs to be assembled from thousands of tiny pieces; it is a spectacle for those who like to think, compare, analyze, solve puzzles, deeply empathize and root for the guilt of the criminal to be proved.
CSI is not a narrative about people as such, the characters in it are not spelled out too clearly, and the personal lives of the heroes are given crumbs of airtime, CSI is a story about Forensic with a capital letter, about science, about the ebullient activities of those who work with the microscope, and in the morgue, and go “in the fields”.
In the United States, the series deservedly has a huge success, and if earlier the departments of universities in this specialty faced a shortage of applicants, after the publication of CSI, a great many young people caught fire with the desire to become criminologists.
Bottom line: an extremely smart and exciting series. It is highly professional.
10 out of 10