crack_van | CSI: An Overview

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CSI: An Overview

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS, Thursdays, 9:00 pm EST)

There are spoilers for the first three seasons littered throughout the following. The first two seasons, incidentally, are available on DVD if you're looking to catch up. The show's also in syndication; reruns air on Spike TV every Friday night.

CSI debuted in 2000 and is about to enter its 4th season. The show revolves around the Las Vegas crime lab and the crime scene investigators assigned to work the night shift. It's a high-tech version of the standard cop show, focusing on a new and generally grizzly case each week as the CSIs collect evidence and piece together clues to solve the crime. Taken at face value, it's a fairly well-written crime show that doesn't waste a lot of time focusing on the characters' personal lives, although we do get a few glimpses of the major characters' demons along the way. Certain personal themes carry through the series, such as lead investigator's hearing loss or Catherine's problems with her ex-husband, but enough is left to the imagination to make this a fun fandom for fic writers.

Generally there's one major case per episode, which is supplemented by another, lower profile case. The ensemble cast is large enough that not everyone gets airtime every week, but the writing is well-balanced enough that the show doesn't tend to favor certain characters over others. The fandom itself offers a ship for every taste; there's plenty of het, the gen case file fic, and of course (not nearly enough) slash. There's canon evidence for pretty much any pairing you can come up with, if you look hard enough:

Sara/Gil
Catherine/Gil
Greg/Warrick
Sara/Catherine
Nick/Gil
Sara/Warrick
Catherine/Warrick
Warrick/Gil
Sara/Nick
Sara/Greg
Nick/Warrick
Gil/Greg

and of course, my personal favorite:

Nick/Greg

I might be slightly biased in that direction. Also, I just wanted an excuse to post that screencap in the synopsis.

The Players: (you can click on the image to see a larger version, because I am obsessive that way)

William Peterson as Gil Grissom

Grissom is the lead investigator of the night shift. He has trouble related to people and generally screws up every relationship he attempts to start. He's an entymology expert, which has a tendency to factor into a lot of his cases. Born in California, he was the youngest coroner in LA county history. From there he moved to Las Vegas to work in the crime lab. He suffers from a genetic disease (inherited from his mother) that is causing him to lose his hearing. At the end of season 3 he was headed to surgery to try to stall the hearing loss, which has been affecting his job performance in the past season.

He's been involved in a few onscreen romances: a bad date with one of the lab techs, a flirtation with a forensic artist (both in season one), and in season three, he slept with a dominatrix named Lady Heather. The next morning he accused her of murder, which pretty much ended that. Again, he's not very good with people.

Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows

Catherine is a CSI level 3, and Grissom has a tendency to treat her as second in command. She's older than the other CSIs and has the experience to be in command. She grew up in Montana, and left home when she was sixteen. She ended up in Las Vegas working as a stripper, where she met her ex-husband Eddie. They have one child, Lindsey. They had a rocky marriage and an even rockier divorce until Eddie was shot and killed midway through season 3. Catherine's very self-sufficient and sometimes abrasive, but she knows how to handle Gil, which is why there are quite a few Gil/Catherine shippers out there.

Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle

Sara joined the team during episode two of season one, after rookie Holly Gribbs was killed on her first night as a CSI. She was brought in by Gil to round out the team and investigate Warrick's role in Holly's murder. She was the one who uncovered Warrick's gambling addiction, and for awhile it caused a lot of tension between them. That seems to have disappeared from the writers' radar, however, and there are plenty of Warrick/Sara shippers who play off the tension in their fics. Sara has a tendency to make snap judgments and she's not much better with people than Gil. She's really uncomfortable around kids.

Her track record with men is lousy; she dumped her EMT boyfriend Hank in season three when she found out he already had a steady girlfriend. She and Gil met when he ran a seminar she attended, I believe. She grew up in California. In last season's finale she finally told him she was interested and he shot her down because she works for him. Many viewers live in fear of seeing what could only be a really awkward romance played out onscreen, but there are plenty of Sara/Gil shippers out there who would probably love to see it happen.

Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown

Warrick was born and raised in Las Vegas. His mother died when he was seven, and he was raised by his grandmother. He worked as a casino runner during high school, then worked various jobs on the Strip to put himself through college. Sometimes he has a chip on his shoulder, sometimes he doesn't. He has a gambling addiction and it's gotten him in trouble more than once on the job. He's not the type to hold his emotions in, but he's shown himself to be a supportive friend, particularly where Catherine's concerned.

There's plenty of Warrick fic out there, both het and slash. Generally he's paired with Sara or Greg, sometimes Gil and/or Nick. There's not as much Warrick/Catherine fic as there should be. I'm just saying -- it's practically canon. If they were going to play out one relationship on the show, I would vote for Warrick/Catherine. They're both Vegas people and they compliment each other really well. Also, Warrick's great with kids, and Catherine's daughter could use a father figure.

George Eads as Nick Stokes

Nick grew up in Dallas. His father's a Texas Supreme Court Justice and his mother's a public defender. After college (the web site says he attended Rice, but he mentioned A&M on the show to a former frat brother once, so that subject is open for debate) he became a police officer and served on the Dallas PD for three years. He left to enter CSI training, then took a job in the Vegas crime lab. Nick's from a big family (five sisters and a brother), so he connects easily with people, but he left Texas to find his own identity away from his family.

He has really amazing chemistry with Greg, but he's more often paired with Sara or Warrick. There was some Nick/Sara flirting in season one, but the writers dropped it pretty early. He's had one ill-fated onscreen relationship with a hooker, and she was murdered the next morning. Since then they haven't actually mentioned him dating anyone. Personally, I would posit that that's because he's been involved with Greg for awhile now, but again, that's just me. There is quite a bit of onscreen flirting between Nick and Greg, so it's surprising that there's not more fic devoted to the two of them.

We know that Nick was molested by a babysitter when he was nine, and he was stalked by the guy who installed his cable in season two. He seems to attract the crazies. Another reason he and Greg work so well together.

Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders

Greg grew up in San Francisco. He works as a DNA tech, but he wants to be a CSI. He's gone out on a few cases in seasons two and three, and in season four we should be seeing more of him onscreen. He's a science geek but he's also into surfing and heavy metal and flirting. Lots and lots of flirting. With pretty much everyone. I imagine we'll see more Greg fic once he takes a more central role on the show, but for now there are a few gems out there.

In last season's two-part finale Greg took the brunt of an accidental explosion in the lab and his back was burned pretty badly. He's recovered reasonably well, but when we last saw him he was dealing with a persistent hand tremor. Who knows if that will figure into season four or not, that all depends on the writers and their devotion to continuity.

Paul Guilfoyle as Capt. Jim Brass

Brass used to run the crime lab, but after Holly Gribbs was murdered in the series premiere he was transferred back to homicide. Since then he's been a liaison to the crime lab, working closely with the CSIs when their cases coincide (as they often do). He has the best repoire with Catherine and Gil; he and Warrick have been known to butt heads, but Brass has mellowed a lot since season one. I don't think they knew when they started the show where they wanted his character to go, but he's settled into a sort of Andy Sipowicz-vibe at this point. Only not as abrasive. Brass is from New Jersey, which is probably why I love him so much. He's divorced and estranged from his only daughter.

Robert David Hall as Doc Robbins

The head coroner, Doc has surfaced in one or two rare fanfics that I know of. He's married and has three kids, but for some reason people still slash him with Grissom every so often. There is some chemistry there, though, and it's fandom, so anything goes.

Other characters include:

Archie Johnson -- lab tech
David Hodges -- lab tech
Lady Heather -- a dominatrix who briefly got involved with Gil during "Lady Heather's Box"
Holly Gribbs -- a rookie who was murdered during the series premiere
Eddie Willows -- Catherine's ex-husband (deceased)
Lindsey Willows -- Catherine's daughter
Conrad Eckley -- the lead CSI on the day shift
Bobby Dawson -- ballistics tech
David Phillips -- assistant coroner
Kristi -- a hooker Nick slept with in season one (deceased)
Hank -- EMT, dated Sara briefly in season three

A list of archives to get you started:

The Body Farm -- multi-pairing archive, well-organized
The CSI Fanfiction Archive -- the archive of the csi_fic list
The CSI Slash Archive -- a small CSI slash archive
The Nick/Sara Archive -- archive of the Nick/Sara mailing list
The Catherine/Warrick Archive -- Catherine/Warrick. No mailing list as far as I know.
Shipper World -- Catherine/Gil
Naked Truth -- a Sara/Catherine archive
Imagine -- Nick/Warrick archive
What Makes the Desert Beautiful -- a Nick/Greg archive (brand new so there's not much there yet; I'm working on it)
Fingerprints -- Gil/Nick archive
The csi_slash mailing list

Doh! I can't believe I forgot to mention this:

csi_slash The CSI slash LJ community. You should go sign up, because...you should. And stuff.

That should about cover it. Of course if you have anything to add/amend/refute, please post a comment and I'll add it to the synopsis. Thanks.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Caroline, thank you!! This is a great overview, and I can certainly see the appeal of Nick/Greg. Guh.

A couple of your pic links at the top are not working properly, but everything else is perfect!

Thanks again!!

I just finished repairing the links. Everything should be working now ::fingers crossed::. I've been having weird problems uploading graphics lately so I had to finesse my server. And I'm all about pimping the Nick/Greg, so I totally have an ulterior motive for signing up for CSI.

That's a fabulous overview! And wonderfully balanced despite that bit about Nick/Greg (Yay!! *g*). Thanks for doing such an excellent job. :)

This is a great overview. I've only watched one CSI ep so far, and that didn't much help with getting a sense for the characters (iirc it was a case with a midget), but I know a lot more now.

Hee! Hi!

I think you di a great job with this. The descriptions of the show and the characters were really well done, as were your pairing descriptions. I was happy to see the pretty picture of Nick and Greg in the middle of the screen. As for archives, I really wish someone had a Nick/Greg one, not that that has anything to do with anything.

Anyhoo, great job with this. Wouldn't it be cool if you attracted more Greg/Nick slashers with this post? I can't wait until the premiere tomorrow night.

CSI is one of those shows in where I don't want to see the slash because it would distract me from the actual show which is excellent. Or maybe it's not so obvious like in other shows. But, since I'm already riding the

crack_van, I'm looking forward for your reccomendations.

So if I were to start a Nick/Greg archive (http://desiderium.slashcity.net/csi/main.html), do you think you could send me the fics you've written so far so I could archive them? That would be most excellent. You know, if I were to start an archive.

That's my favorite thing about Nick/Greg slash; it doesn't detract from the show because they're not onscreen together that much. Not to pimp my own ship or anything. But you're right, it's one of those shows that's so good it doesn't really need fic. But there's a lot of it anyway. Go figure.

Glad I could help : ) I'm sure I missed a lot, but hopefully people will let me know.

I had to censor myself a few times in order to achieve any kind of balance. I'm severely biased toward Nick/Greg, I confess, but I'm glad to hear it didn't overtake the synopsis.

A dear friend was sweet enough to direct me to your LJ, and I think I scared my family with the squeal of joy that I made. It's always surprised me how many people I've talked to *don't* see Nick/Greg (which would be my OTP).

I love your recap, and that screencap -- could I use that for icon-making??

And, say, hypothetically, I was working on a N/G story... could it find a home in the new archive? :)

Excellent work.

Hypothetically speaking, please *please* send my your fic when you're done. I'm scraping up what I can from friends I know who write Nick/Greg, but as you can see, the cupboard's pretty bare at the moment. I'd be glad to have your fic, and anything you choose to write in future.

As for the screencap, help yourself. I know it's online somewhere else, but I can't remember where. I have SO many screencaps from season one but I can't fit them all on my server. I have a ton of Nick/Greg icons on my web site, though, so if you want any of those please help yourself:

http://desiderium.slashcity.net/media/csiicons.html (http://desiderium.slashcity.net/media/csiicons.html)

Caroline! Oh, my freaking god! You are the best! I will so send you my stuff as soon as I get back from my Genetics reveiw session and Bio Snacks! It looks so very, very cool.

Good, I knew I could count on you. We need more than just my fic up there, after all.

I will keep the archive in mind, I need to get back to writing the stories now *g* I have the archive bookmarked, too. And I read your stories, it makes me so happy to find some good N/G stories.

And I love the icons, thank you! I might just pick one, though I've become addicted to making my own, too :)

I saw Carleton's stuff up there. You should ask Sarah and Jacki too. Am I forgetting anyone? I wouldn't be surprised. My brain is currently mush.

Does no-one slash Greg/Gil? I think they're fascinating on screen together.

Also, Em Brunson, one of the grande dames of The Sentinel and Sports Night fandoms, writes quite a bit of Gil/Nick, not all of which is archived at Fingerprints. She has her own Yahoo!fic list.

There's a little Greg/Gil out there. I knew I would forget to list a pairing or two on the list, thanks for reminding me.

Ok, this is just a little fan "hi".

I love your work. I check your updates every week or so and you've pretty much sold me on Nick/Greg, which is difficult since I have this weird obsession with middle aged white guys with little to no interpersonal chic (Gil Grissom, Jack Malone, and Jack Bristow. sigh.) I've loved Gil/Nick and Gil/Greg, but man, you schooled me on the Greg/Nick ship and now I find myself reading fics that only involve hot young guys, no cranky older men at all...

What's this world coming to?

:) pg

ps: Mad props to your Danny/Martin stuff, too.

pps: and yer GS stuff almost makes me want to see the movie...almost...:)

Heh. I don't like to take responsibility for people sitting through that movie on my account. It's one of those things where you really have to love the pairing to endure the rest.

Thank you, though, that's a great compliment. Nick/Greg have so much chemistry that I can't *not* write them. I resisted for two and a half whole seasons before I finally gave in to the lure of their tremendous chemistry.

Hello!

I'm very very late to the CSI party, but I wanted so see what all the fuss was about. I watched a recent episode and quite enjoyed it, so I stopped by here to get a quick character synopsis, etc. I was wondering if you knew of a place where I could get an "in a nutshell" recap of the seasons since this overview was posted?

They used to recap over at TWoP (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com), but I don't know if they're still doing recaps. Otherwise I'm not really sure. I used to do episode reviews of a sort, but they were all slated toward the Nick/Greg interaction on the show.

I was just curious ... is this going to be updated as it's now two seasons behind and the sixth season is about to begin.

I love the descriptions! I especially love bit about how there's evidence for any ship if you look close enough. That's certainly true. Being a Sara/Greg shipper, I look every week. lol

Good summary.
BTW, The first archive you mention, the Body Farm, is now closed down because the show "jumped the shark".

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

CSI: An Overview

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Guh...

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Other pairings?

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Mad props

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