CSI 12x07 Brain Doe review

First of all, who really needs a rundown of the entire episode this week?

Let’s skip the boring stuff and get to the question first & foremost on my mind. If Cath goes to DC, will we eventually see her hook up with Gibbs somewhere, somehow? I’d love to see Cath & Abby in the lab together (after Cath first gets over her shock that Abby looks very eerily like the “pink haired girl” who killed her ex-husband and left her daughter in a car filling with water.)

Okay. Okay. I know. Cart before the horse. And since it involves a character from CSI, anything I wish for I can almost be guaranteed that it will never happen. Just let me dream, okay?

If you haven’t a clue as to what I’m rambling about, let us look at the scene from tonight’s episode of CSI.

-- Cath & Greg walk into the locker room, just coming back from testifying in court.

G: is it just me, or are defense attorneys getting smarter?
C: oh, NO... slimier. Don’t worry. We still have the truth on our side.
G: I still don’t like that guy. There was nothing wrong with my evidence collection.
C: at least he didn’t ask you if it was Dr Willows.

Let’s stop there for a moment. I always love scenes with Catherine & Greg. (and isn’t Greggo quite handsome in his suit and tie?) Their talk here makes me think back to Season 3’s “The accused is entitled”, where Cath was on the stand and her past as a stripper was brought up in an attempt to discredit her testimony. Strangely enough (NOT), I’m not a big fan of that episode.

-- Anyway…continuing with the scene, Sheriff Sherry Liston comes to the doorway of the locker room.
SL: Sanders. Willows. Coming or going?
C: we are just returning from court, Sheriff.
SL: Sanders, you look like you could use a cup of coffee.
G: (chuckles & starts to leave) nice seeing you too, Sheriff.

Okay, now I’m flashing back to the early days with Greg & his very expensive coffee. I wonder if he still has his secret stash at work, considering he’s not stuck in the lab these days.

-- as Greg leaves, the Sheriff comes in to the room to talk with Catherine.
C: you in the neighborhood?
SL: not really. (they both sit down on the benches) So uh, how are things going?
C: no complaints.
SL: really? I’d complain. You were a supervisor, now you’re not. No advancement on the horizon. I’d be pissed.
C: I work with some good people. It takes the sting off.
SL: well, maybe I can do a little better than that. I’ve been spending a lot of time on The Hill. Senate Judiciary Committee’s exploring establishing a forensic science commission. They need a full-time staffer, expert in the field. I recommended you. … I hope you’re good with that.
C: uh…wow…I don’t know what to say.
SL: do you really wanna be processing used condoms & dirty panties the rest of your career? Go to DC. Pay’s good. The hours are great. You get to travel. … sometimes you have to move out to move up. (takes a card from her pocket) If you’re interested, don’t take too long.
C: thank you, Sheriff. Thank you, I appreciate the confidence.
SL: it’s not easy for us, not in law enforcement. That’s a man’s world.

Well…didn’t really see that scenario coming. I was really hoping for Cath getting back into Sam’s world with the casinos, but…like I said before, this gives me great fodder for bringing Catherine into Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ world. At least they’d be in the same city. Now, if only I could write fanfic, there would be endless story possibilities.

I also love how Cath never saw this coming, either. It seems that after her blowup with Nick at the end of the Season 12 premiere, Catherine decided to go back to enjoying her job again, even if she wasn’t the one in charge.

-- After DB says “Hi” to the Sheriff in the hallway, he talks to Catherine when he sees her walking out of the same room that the Sheriff had just left.
DB: hey Catherine, everything alright?
C: yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?
DB: no reason. No reason at all. (looks at his piece of paper) um, just got a call-out, a 406 at a mortuary, and you’re gonna love this part… comes with an NRS 200.033. Have no idea what the hell that is. You ever seen so many numbers in a sentence before.
C: is this an assignment or an observation?
DB: uh, yeah. Sorry. Both.
C: got it.

You know, if I knew I’d keep watching the show when Marg leaves, I might try to get invested in DB’s character, but at this point, I can’t. He does have some cute, quirky traits, though. At least the “family” references have stopped coming up in every scene he’s in. Thank goodness.


-- Cath arrives at the crime scene. Vartann is the detective on the case.
L: Hey
C: Hi Lou.
L: You okay?
C: why does everybody keep asking me that?
L: Okay. Lieutenant Theodore Seligson. 30. On leave from Afghanistan. Cutting trees in his backyard, fell & he broke his neck.
C: guy survived the war
L: yeah. Family’s jewish. Now they had to get him in the ground by this morning. Someone was supposed to remain with the body, but the mortuary night guy stayed with his girlfriend last night instead. Came in this morning & he called it in. … That’s Mrs Seligson, the widow, she came by as soon as she heard
C: how bad is it?
L: you need to see for yourself.
(they go inside)
L: I didn’t think corpses bled.
C: enbalming is considered desecration.
L: oh, really? … what about cutting the guy’s head open & taking his brain? … this guy was a war hero. I heard you guys found a brain outside a Tasty Time. That’s gotta be his, right?
C: it better be, otherwise we got a brain collector on the loose in Vegas.


Hey everybody, it’s Detective Vartann. You know, Lou. As in, Cath’s former or present or do-we-even-have-a-clue-anymore lover/boyfriend. I’d have to say that by this point the writers have totally forgotten that these two were, at least at one point, a HOT item ( remember the opening of “Blood Moon”? ) And we haven’t really heard anything since “the list” from last season. I KNEW the writers would screw up a good thing.

I love how Cath is already annoyed that both DB & Lou asked if she was okay. We know she’s got lots to think about now. My hope is that she gets to talk out or discuss her life-changing scenarios with either Sara or Brass. Brass would be great because those two have been together the longest, but Sara would be the obvious choice (then again, we’re talking CSI writers here) because she already went through her life-changing “leave CSI to find your happiness” phase.

Like I said, this is CSI, so who knows, they’ll probably have Cath call up Ray Langston and ask for his advice. *head desk*

Yes, that’s major sarcasm, folks. You know how much I really LOVED Ray. Not.

-- Cath is processing the scene. Sara arrives as well.
S: heard you could use a little help
C: yeah, Thanks. Our mortuary owner said that when they close at 10, the last thing they do is mop the floors. Compressions have got to belong to our brain thief.
S: you haven’t heard?
C: heard what?
S: Henry ran the DNA of our mystery brain against Lieutenant Seligson’s DNA in the military database,
C: no match?
S: (shakes her head) somebody breaks into a mortuary & steals a brain, meanwhile across town, another brain flies out of a convertible during a TC.
C: I mean, what are the odds? The two events have to be related.
Sara notices yellow marks on the back door & sees yellow powder on the ground.
S: this powder here says that they are. Nick & I processed Claig’s car, we found a crowbar & yellow powder that looked like this.
C: so Claig is the connection?
S: maybe.
Cath calls Hodges
C: Hodges, I’m sending you a photo of a shoe impression, I need you to compare it to our convertible driver Claig’s shoes….coming at’cha. (takes a pic on her phone & sends it to him)

Okay, I know you’re all waiting for it…

SQUEEEEE.

Yessirreee. It’s my two girls working together again. Hey, the scene was only just over a minute in length, but it was the second-best scene of the episode. Give me a break, scenes between these two have been very few and very, very far between for 11+ seasons. I’ll take my squee moments whenever I can get them.

-- okay, so we are not quite halfway into the show…and it seems that Catherine now goes *poof* Yep. That’s it for her for this episode. But I guess I can’t complain. I got Cath/Greg, Cath/Lou, and Cath/Sara. In all, that makes this episode a rousing success.

-- I guess that means I need to switch my attention back to the Sara Sidle goodness that I’ve missed. It was great to see both Sara/Nick and Sara/Greg scenes in this one. Both pairings have always been great to watch through the years. It’s what was missing during the Ray Langston years, as Sara got paired with Ray a lot. That became annoying.

Anyway, starting with Sara/Nick :
S: (looking at a bag of pills) well, he was definitely into medicine, but I wouldn’t trust him to drive my brain around.
N: yeah, why’s that?
S: oxy
N: oh.

S: there’s some yellow powder on the crowbar. Got some, uh, yellow powder in the bag too.
N: I have seen crappy cocaine that color
S: I’ve never seen a drug addict waste this much product.
N: (looks at the trunk) you know, we are down one body.
S: Trunk’s where I’d hide it.
N: pop it for me, will ya?
They open the trunk to find only a football with “17” on it.
S: pigskin? That’s it?
N: no, this is strange
S: why?
N: I’m starting to think Russell’s a psychic.
S: how come?
N: cuz he asked what Claig ordered at the drive thru window, it was a Number 17.
S: or it’s a coincidence maybe.
N: hmmm he hadn’t opened the trunk yet.

Isn’t it great to have these two working so wonderfully together again? Yes, I’m bringing back memories of the Good Old Days (like season 6’s “Gum Drops”)

-- As for Sara/Greg…
lovely scenes between the two. First when they’re going through Tasty Time receipts and watching the video of the brain-swapping in the parking lot, and then when they’re going through the video of Ryan Dempsey’s fights. And I loved the scene where the two go to the gym to talk to Pernin.
G: would you buy a membership off that guy?
S: not a lifetime one.

And she even gets some time with Brass as they interview Pernin. In all, a great episode for Sara.

-- dare I mention even a great Sara/Hodges scene?
Sara comes in to the break room where Hodges is eating some chicken nuggets.
S: Hodges, what are you doing?
H: um, it’s a break room. I’m on a break.
S: you know chicken’s nuggets don’t really look like that, right?
H: please don’t ruin my lunch.
S: fine. … uh, yellow powder. Trace. Give.
H: receive. … you know, I’ve been trying to text you for over an hour. (he gives her the file)
S: talcum powder.
H: in Claig’s duffle bag, on the crowbar, at the mortuary. In my report, powder’s made with a special formulation with five essential oils, used in high-end gyms, including my own.
S: you…go to the gym?
H: Mhm. Under this shirt, ripped. (goes to unbutton his shirt)
S: I – I believe you. …yeah. (she starts to leave)
H: page four. It’s a list of gyms.
Sara walks away as Hodges continues to eat
S: not even real chicken in there.

Wonderfully. Classic. Sara/Hodges. At least Sara didn’t have a vegetarian reference, and just stuck to the digs about the chicken.


-- It was great to see Robyn Lively as Mrs Dempsey. I first saw Robyn back in the early 90s in an after-school special called “The Less Than Perfect Daughter”, where she was great as the daughter who could never live up to the extremely high standards set by her mother (played by the always wonderfully evil Jenny O’Hara). And Marg fans might remember that Robyn was also with Marg in the tv movie, “In sickness & in Health”. It sucks that there were no Marg/Robyn scenes here. Thanks again for nothing, stupid CSI writers.


-- I forgot to mention the Russell Family Drama. Methinks Cath & DB should compare notes on the rebellious ways of teenage kids. I loved the scene in DB’s office where Charlie is playing the guitar.
CR: it’s just…the other players don’t really get me. It’s different here, dad.
DB: hey, you’re the new kid on the team. Everybody thinks you’re a little weird, right? Well, join the club. *laughs* We are weird.

-- There was some great Brass sarcasm too.
B: you know what they say – fast-food kills ya.
DB: not usually quite so fast.

DB: alright, we got a math problem here.
B: never very good at math.

And how great was Brass at the end with the young (but tragically abused) boy. It’s scenes like that where Paul really shines.

-- speaking of the kid…
first of all, this is the first time I’ve seen Kai Caster. He did a great job. He looks like he’s got a great future ahead of him.

-- as for the episode/story…I didn’t really connect the dots for this one, mainly because I fast-forwarded through the boring stuff ( i.e. anything that didn’t include Cath, Sara, Greg or Robyn's character, Mrs Dempsey)


-- It’s interesting how this episode was like a bologna & cheese sandwich.
- You had the fluffy pieces of bread on the top & bottom (the beginning & ending of the episode) that are really just there to hold things together, even though it’s not the part of the sandwich that you really are looking forward to eating.
- Then, there’s the mayo that goes on the inside of the bread to give it that little extra moisture so it’s not dry & unappetizing (the DB/Charlie parts)
- Then you add the cheese to each slice of bread (that would be the Sara, Greg & Morgan parts in this episode)
- Finally, you add a few slices of bologna in the middle to give it that meaty substance & filling. (that, of course, is the Catherine goodness that was all scrunched into the middle of this episode)
- Oh, and I think this time around, I also added some honey mustard to my bologna & cheese sandwich (the nice & sweetly spiced performance by Robyn Lively)

So, there you have it, folks. I’ve compared a CSI episode to a sandwich.

My life has MUCH purpose & meaning now.