CSI Craze

MONDAY = CSI

If you do not know, CSI stands for 'Crime Scene Investigation'. It is a hit series on criminal investigation, showing on AXN. As I do not have Astro, it means catching an older season on NTV 7 every Monday. There's CSI: New York at 8pm, CSI: Miami at 10.45pm and CSI: Las Vegas at 11.45pm. Hence, the above equation. The television set is mine on Monday evenings. Unfortunately, I usually miss the 8pm one as my dinner time is around 8pm.

CSI has become like an addiction for me. It is a must watch, rain or shine, day or night, exam or no exam. Criminal investigation series are nothing new as there are many other such series. However, I think what capture the interest of CSI fans like me are the scandals surrounding the cases (people just love scandals, don't they?) and the usually stunning revelation at the end of the episode (suspense!).

Another aspect that has captured my attention is the portrayal of the characters, not the criminals (they are all the same: either inhumane, insane, or indifferent) but the investigators. The way they interact with each other and with the criminals sure provide a good ground for character analysis. And each team of CSI has its own unique characteristics, making each one just as unique and interesting.

Fellow CSI-kaki, Hon Whi, once asked me who's my favorite: Mac (NY), Horatio (Miami) or Grissom (Las Vegas), and my answer was Grissom. But right now, I think I want to make an about turn and pick Horatio instead. The more I watch the series, the more I fall in love with him.

Mac is just regular. Nothing much about him. Neither good nor bad, lukewarm. Grissom on the other hand, is absolutely good. His goodness is a universal truth. A father figure, nice, kind, friendly. He will be the one who counsels his subordinate and be the first to advocate their promotion is they are deem to be suitable. In fact, he is just too good to be real, so much so that I find it difficult to identify him as a real person. Well, I must commend the producer though, for creating such a down-to-earth guy as Grissom.

As for my dear Horatio (and his trademark shades), he is such a mystery. His cool outward appearance sure disguises his warm heart well. At times he seems to be an emotionless robot who keeps strictly to procedure. But when it comes to his loved ones, or even the victims' family, his heart just melts for them and seeks to help them wherever possible. Of course when it comes to his own brother, he is willing to go as far as to bend the rules for his sake. Now that's human!

Besides being a scientific movie, Grissom's team is actually pretty poetic. There are some quotes from the series that I found really meaningful. When a dead girl lied on the coroner's table, he said this,

"Beauty is skin deep. We're all the same inside."

And as Greg (the new kid in Grissom's team) attended his first post mortem, he said this about life as he saw the body being cut open,

"That's all we really are. It's what we do with it that counts."

Well, CSI is more than just a criminal investigation series. It is indeed an insightful drama. Probably this is why it caught my interest and and the interest of so many others. A wonderful production indeed.