Crime jackpot
What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas…
CSI: Vegas
Season 2 Wednesdays (from 2 November) M-Net (*101) 22:00
CSI is the kind of show whose theme song gets fans drooling the second they hear it. And while the latest spin-off CSI: Vegas started off as a one-season limited series, its immediate popularity saw it renewed for a second season after just two episodes.
Season 1 saw the return of original CSI characters Dr Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox). They returned to Las Vegas to restore not just their reputations but also that of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, now run by Maxine “Max” Roby (Paula Newsome). A leak was suspected when a storage locker was found filled with evidence from thousands of court cases that was meant to be safely tucked away in the crime lab. The locker belonged to David Hodges (Wallace Langham), a lab tech technician who worked with Gil and Sara for years and as the authorities closed in on him, Gil, Sara and the crime lab had to work against time to prove David’s innocence, save face and get Max her job back as head of the crime lab – which, of course, they did.
KILLER REVISITED
Season 1 ended with the cliffhanger of a serial killer on the loose wearing black gloves and drawing all over a completely white room. “The killer’s image returns this season, in a very gradual way, and begins to unfold,” says Matt Luaria, who joins the show as Level III CSI and lead investigator Joshua Folsom. “Not only do we begin to sort of discover pieces of evidence that seem to connect to the image of this person that we saw at the end of last season, there’s a variety of really fun and dynamic cases that we explore throughout the season, adds the actor who has big shoes to fill with his new role.
Gil and Sara aren’t returning for the second season. “CSI has always been a love story. The story that people can find love in the darkest of places and times,” explains Jorja. “I personally just can’t split Sara and her hubby Gil again. So Gil goes… So goes Sara. Wherever they go, they belong together.” William agreed to appear in 10 episodes (season 1’s full order) and he’s sticking to that decision. “I’ve loved playing Grissom – he’s as much part of me as I am to him. But there’s also only so far we can take the character before we’re ruining his aura. I prefer to keep Gil how we know him,” says William, who isn’t leaving altogether – he’s working behind the camera as one of the show’s executive producers.
PERSONAL MATTERS
At its core, season 2 will focus on CSIs’ cases and the work of being a criminalist. But there’s the added bonus of exploring the characters’ personal lives, something that the viewers have been begging for on social media. “The show has always been primarily character-driven and the audience connected to these characters and grew to love them because they saw them at home and at the job where they do important work,” explains showrunner Jason Tracey. “You would get peeks of their life in an eyedropper fashion. We’re not flooding episodes with personal dramas now, but we are upping the dose a bit…”