CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV Series) For Gedda (2008) User Reviews

As In "FOR GEDDA"-Bout Warrick Brown Coming Back...

[cchase · 8/10 · 24 May 2008]

Alright, so no, this was not CSI: PRIME'S finest hour. In this, the episode that closes the door on the three-ep story arc involving Brown's one-man crusade against Vegas mobster Lou Gedda (John Capodice), the man who put the "PIG" in "Pigalle", the notorious Strip strip-joint and tourist trap, the execution (pun intended) could've been much better. Gone is the darker, grittier and more hallucinogenic feel established by director William Friedkin, who (IMNSHO) should have directed all three episodes, which should also have been handled by the same writers, to preserve some sense of creative continuity.

And PLEASE don't tell me that anyone who watches the show on a regular basis didn't see that ending coming from a mile off. If you know ANYTHING about casting, you know what kind of characters that actor Conor O'Farrell usually plays, (HELLO? Anybody watch a little show on another network called "MEDIUM"???) So, yep, it should've come as no big surprise that the Undersheriff turned out to be Gedda's departmental mole.

And though the whole affair was lacking both stylistically and creatively, things could've been a whole lot worse. Or does anyone pay attention to the news anymore? Considering the real life troubles of actor Gary Dourdan, it was a miracle that Anthony Zuiker and Company were able to provide Warrick with some kind of a tragic but dignified exit on such short notice. Yes, it lacked the finesse and irony we've come to expect and hope for on this show, but it would've been cheaper - and even more lazy - to just have Brown walk off into the night and disappear, turning up as a quick postscript next season. "Well, ever since that jogger found Warrick's body out in the desert..." "Wonder how Brown is holding up these days in Seattle?..." That tired sort of thing.

But there are at least two pluses here. First, I swear that if CSI David Hodges (Wallace Langham) had turned out to be the mole, I would've thrown my shoe at the TV and never watched this show again. Yes, Conor O'Farrell was a pretty obvious choice, but you'd have to know something about casting to have picked that up. Making Hodges the rat would've just been inexcusable.

And second, at least somebody had the good taste to have one of my favorite characters from another cop show, "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) from THE SHIELD, working with IAD on Brown's case. I don't know how they pulled that one off, but it's in perfect keeping with Dutch's character on the other show, and I hope he continues on in the episodes we know are coming involving the investigation of Warrick's death. At least until THE SHIELD returns on FX.

Plus, this is a good time to shake off the cobwebs and stir things up a bit more. This makes EIGHT, count 'em, EIGHT seasons for the flagship of the CSI franchise. Things get shaken up in the cast roster a lot less over here than on other procedural shows, (you heard me, Dick Wolf), so maybe it's time to get the kinks out and use the opportunity to start fresh next season.

this episode

[jwstephens · 8/10 · 19 May 2008]

Responding to Bud W's comments (serious spoilers) I believe that I would tend to agree with you if this were not a season ender. A lot of the actors will be either leaving or preparing for exits soon, so this stirs most of them up.

The one character most affected (to talk around the spoiler) may reappear as writers can do anything from a long thread which explains the scene was a hallucination that the character had ( he is in a paranoid state of mind with the problems he is having, maybe this is just a twist to launch into him being around and in the loony bin for a while).

So don't write anyone off unless you read the actor exited. I have not seen anything on that.

I agree with the comments totally though about evidence handling. This is the "top" CSI show of the franchise so to be so sloppy simply does not fit with this show or cast in a good way, in the manner it was done in this show. I suspect editing, but you never know, maybe they were in a rush because of the layoff from the strike and simply had to make due.

I hope they get the show on track in the creative way they have been doing it when it comes back next season.

Info from Wikipedia - spoiler included

[Jennifer-Stickney · 10/10 · 17 August 2009]

Just a comment about "Disappointed" post.

"I do and always will like the 2007 regular characters on the show but it appears that this "cast" will not remain. I truly hope that that isn't so. I believe that I will quit watching this program if that be the case....Naturally in order to maintain that, the actors/actresses must be able to project that emotion in the show. The ones that are there do that for me. Please keep the cast as it has been for the last couple of seasons, thanks" If you look in Wikipedia's site about Gary Douran, it mentions he was arrested for drug possession around the same time he was working out a deal with his contract.

As for Grissom and Sara, they took a break from it, Sara's back in Season 10.

Dum-da-dum-DUMB!

[budwebster · 16 May 2008]

Quite likely the single worst episode of what is, as a general rule, a clever and smart show. I say that as a dyed-in-the-wool CSI fan, never having missed an episode since it was first announced.

I'm not just talking about the "death" of Warrick, although that was silly enough. From the very first scene, this ep was badly shot, written and directed.

The opening funeral was okay, and I was intrigued by the double-stuffed coffin, but I simply could NOT see any justification on the part of the writers for having the mourners attempt to block the way of the forensics team to remove the bodies from the scene. They certainly couldn't use the coffin that broke apart to bury their beloved coach, and Nick's promise that the county would pay for a new one (which came as a surprise to Grissom) should have been enough. BAD writing. Worse, once the real focus of the episode comes in - Warrick's troubles - that whole sub-plot is forgotten, never again mentioned except where it directly impinges on the Geddas murder and the PI's body. There's no mention of the mortuary owner's association with Geddas (and there had to be one), nothing after his interrogation by Brass which ended with a really silly joke. Would it have hurt them to throw in a line from Nick indicating that the coach's body had been returned in a new casket? Really? But that's not all. From the minute that Warrick's call came through to Griss, the director must have decided he was doing a 1951 noir flick for the Brothers Warner, because the lighting turned into something out of "Double Indemnity" or the night scenes from "Casablanca." Ever been to a real crime scene where they're gathering evidence? They bring IN lights if necessary so that the crime-scene guys don't miss anything.

But even THAT'S not all. Warrick is on the scene, disoriented, bloody, claiming that he had absolutely no memory of what happened - and NOBODY TOOK BLOOD OR URINE SAMPLES. Come ON, folks. This isn't Pig's Bladder, Arkansas, it's Lost Wages. That's the first thing they would have done once they realized he might (assuming his guilt) be leading up to a temporary insanity/incompetence defense. You think that's the first time in LVPD history that a suspect claimed amnesia? More. Skip ahead, never mind those gaping plot holes. They let in the breeze. They clear Warrick and everybody goes out for breakfast. Listen to the conversations, the other characters' reactions and their lines. My god, they did everything they possibly could to foreshadow Warrick's "death" except have him talk about the great new boat he was going to fish from every day after he retired in two weeks. Even the MUSIC told us he was going to die.

So he goes out to his car - alone. He gets in - alone. Every bit of music, every camera angle, is telling you "wait for it...wait for it..." and there's a tap on his window.

My freaking GOD. Has Warrick never watched a single movie or TV show in his LIFE? Does he NOT understand that a) you don't go into a dark basement, b) you never back into a room and then turn around, and c) you NEVER NEVER NEVER roll down your window when somebody taps on it after a night like he's had? The whole time they were in that diner eating the Last Supper, I sat there telling Mary "He's gonna die. He's gonna die. He's gonna die." Ten minutes before it happened, they were telegraphing so hard that the only way to have made it more obvious would have been to have a character in the background pointing to him and mouthing "HE'S GONNA DIE!" to the viewers. They couldn't have been more obvious if they'd done it with semaphore flags.

Of COURSE the mole was Undersheriff McKeen, the highest authority we've seen in the series thus far, this is VEGAS. All during the ep, Greg is talking about his book and what happened during the Good Old Days of Vegas, Gedda was one of the last of the old-time mobsters and did things the Vegas Way, and there was a private dick involved. Of COURSE it was the Top Cop. That's the Vegas Way. That's the EASY way.

If this seem overly vehement, bear in mind that until now, CSI has always been an intelligent show, one that highlighted science and empirical examination rather than taking the easy way. I expect more of the writers and the director, and this ep, for all its dramatic potential, was a severe let-down.

A Great, but Sad Episode

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 30 March 2023]

During the funeral of the strong Mr. Bell, his body and the body of a stranger fall out of the casket through the bottom. Greg, Nick and David Phillips come to the scene to investigate while Brass brings the mortician to the station to understand what has happened, but he keeps silent and asks for a lawyer. When Warrick visits Dr. Robbins, he recognizes the dead man as the private investigator Lenny Harper, who was a former police officer. Grissom and Nick goes to his office, but the place has been cleaned and no evidences are found. Meanwhile, Warwick receives a phone call and leaves the office very angry. Soon Warrick calls Grissom and tells him that he is at Gedda's office without any recollection of what has happened to him. But the police arrive and arrest him for the murder of Gedda in his notorious barber chair. Now Warrick is investigated by the Internal Affairs, while his co-workers and friends are not allowed by Ecklie to carry out the investigation. However, they use Lenny Harper's case to prove that Warrick was framed.

"For Gedda" is a great, but sad episode of "CSI". The situation of the CSI Warrick Brown seems to be resolved, with all the evidences pointing to him as the author of Gedda's murder. But the teamwork of his colleagues and friends succeeds to prove his innocence, and they celebrate together in the end the resolution of the case. But the unexpected twist in the very end is a cliffhanger to make the viewer looking forward to see the sequel on the next season. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "For Gedda"

Riveting, But.....

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 22 February 2021]

We return to Warrick, the mob boss Gedda, and the girl who died and her connection. Warrick gets a call and heads off to see Gedda (can a character be more stupid?). Gedda is dead and Warrick seems to be the prime suspect (the only suspect). We live day to day with him, in his jail outfit, the CSI's looking for any clue they can find. What's disturbing is the devil may care attitudes once things are wrapped up. So we await the investigation into Warrick's death which will begin the new season. It should be interesting.

Season finale

[xbatgirl-30029 · 8/10 · 2 February 2024]

I watched this episode when it first aired and I believe it was pretty well known Warrick wasn't coming back, or at least it was a high likelihood. So as the episode went on you don't want something bad to happen to him, but you weren't exactly shocked either. They do make you think for a bit at the end "well maybe he is going to stay!" Then they pull the rug out under you. They left the door wide open for Sarah to return, but Warrick is definitely gone.

I do agree with some reviews about there being a lot of plot holes, although I think Warrick not having his blood tested was more of a clue than anything. Why did the person running the investigation not get labs? To hide evidence, of course. Although why wasn't Warrick himself yelling to get his blood drawn asap? That didn't make sense. I also have watched enough tv to believe his union rep should have been there to protect him and get him a lawyer immediately. And as a probable final plot hole, the undersheriff left his fingerprints all over Warrick's car. He only wiped off the gun before he walked away. So...

I do agree as well with another reviewer that the opening scene was gratuitous, if not racist. How does it make sense to hide a corpse in the coffin of a very large man so it was bound to break? Why not keep pursing the funeral home director as an accomplice? Why did our gang stand around the grave making really obnoxious comments and jokes about the dead person - with his family standing right there?!? And finally, why make the crowd decide to fight the CSI's for no reason other than "Black people are just like that?"

In the end though, it just gets old hearing people complain when a show changes. Long running shows either change or get cancelled. If you don't like it, stop watching. As it is, we are left with a bit of a cliffhanger about what will happen the next season. I can't remember if they ever answer Warrick's question about why was Gedda himself killed. Is there someone even higher up who needed the whole mess cleaned up? Or is it going to be dropped? As of now though, a character we watched and liked for 8 years is gone.

Edited to add that I love that the redhead Nick was eyeing at the end is played by the same actress who was Jessica on True Blood. One of my favorite characters. He has good taste!

A decent end to a lacklustre season

[kylie_1206 · 7/10 · 15 June 2008]

Season 8 of CSI has to be, I must say, the worst they've produced. Too many loose ends left hanging (hello, where did Sofia go/why did Sofia go?), and the departure of Sara Sidle, seriously damaged the show. The writing didn't seem to be as spot on as in recent seasons, and a lot of the episodes were, to be frank, boring.

The latter half of the season was especially difficult to watch but, as an avid viewer of all three CSIs, and a collector of everything CSI, I had to hang in there. Whilst this finale didn't impress me like previous ones, it was a decent enough ending.

The storyline with Warrick had been awkward, at best. If they're going to put a lot of focus on any actor in the show, it should never have been the weakest of the entire cast, like it was with Gary Dourdan. He's decent, but not nearly good enough to have had so many 'Warrick based' episodes this season. (Hey, where are the GREG episodes? He had hardly any screen time this season, which is incredibly disappointing). However, the very end of the episode made up somewhat for the majority of poor scenes we'd had to stomach over the last few episodes. Despite my (obvious) dislike of the Warrick character, I found myself close to shedding a tear or two at his death. It was a well done part of the episode, and a very big twist to have him killed in such a way, by the under sheriff! Incredibly unexpected, and so, it made up for the episodes before it somewhat.

It'll never rate in my top five, but it was nice to see some of the previous quality the show is capable of, sneaking in to the finale. Gary actually did a very good job in this episode, so it was a nice exit (as nice as murder can be!) for his character.

The Disappearing Cast Of CSI

[ccthemovieman-1 · 3/10 · 30 January 2009]

This might be - except for the final minute - the first time I've ever seen a season-concluding CSI episode that, frankly, was boring. That's unheard of for all three of these shows: Las Vegas, Miami and New York. Granted, something dramatic happens which keeps you hanging until the new fall season, but here it only happens in the final seconds. At that was no shock, thanks to word leaking out that "Warrick" would be knocked off and another CSI member leaves the show.

No sense going into detail about the episode; you already know it. Warrick is accused of a crime he didn't commit: the murder of a big mob boss "Lou Gedda." The main question is how the CSI team will prove he is innocent. With constant flashbacks of an incoherent "Warrick" at the murder scene, the show drags on and on with a lot of unanswered questions that should have been (if the normal CSI/police work had been done, as it has in most of the previous episodes through the years.).

I have watched the last four seasons on DVD, skipping the live advertisement-ridden shows, so I knew in advance - thanks to CBS in late summer - that "Brown" was history. I also watched "Sara Sidle" and have since found out - thanks to CBS promoting it in December - that Grissom is gone now, too.

Speaking of that, another reviewer here poses a good question: "what happened to "Sofia" (Louise Lombard)?" She disappeared after the 2007 season with no explanation. How's that for treating longtime fans of the show? Not even the courtesy of telling us what happened to her!

Overall, it wasn't just this bad episode that was disappointing; the whole season was weak, after a great year the season before with the memorable "Miniature Killer." Now, half the cast is gone. One wonders if this will CSI will ever be as good.

disappointed

[cscpearson3459 · 5/10 · 15 May 2008]

I do and always will like the 2007 regular characters on the show but it appears that this "cast" will not remain. I truly hope that that isn't so. I believe that I will quit watching this program if that be the case. The ability that the cast has to create a "positive" working environment is what appeals to me about this particular CSI show. I was drawn to the affair between Grissom and Sara. Always waiting for the next show to see what happens to them at work and with their friendships with the other cast members. I would really like it if the show continues to maintain that type of "intrigue" and "camaraderie" between each cast member. Naturally in order to maintain that, the actors/actresses must be able to project that emotion in the show. The ones that are there do that for me. Please keep the cast as it has been for the last couple of seasons, thanks

No tears

[southgatekid · 2/10 · 29 October 2021]

When this episode originally aired, I was getting ready to quit the series. Lab techs leading, warrant raids, characters getting irritating. Warwick and Sarah characters were brutal. I came back in the fall that year, to see the follow up, but this series was no longer a priority for me. Great cast but horrible writing. It'll kill a series every time .