"CSI" Recap & Review -

CSI
"A La Cart"

Original Air Date: October 4, 2007

Jillyree - TwoCents Staff Writer

The long absent Conrad Ecklie is adamantly trying to reach Gil Grissom on his cell phone. No answer. A very battered Sara enters CSI and is questioned by Ecklie as to how long she and Grissom have been “intimate”. Sara answers two years.

Somewhere else in Vegas, a ball goes bouncing down the road to a classical tune, and is found the next morning by some guys doing community service work.

Wait! That’s not a ball!

Some kid’s cappa got detated!!

Nick, Grissom, and Greg are called out to the scene, where Grissom quotes “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

We see that Ecklie is making his 4th attempt to call Grissom, and is ignored…again. As Grissom walks ahead following a blood trail, Nick and Greg discuss the now-revealed relationship. Greg claims he knew. I think he’s full of BS. They find the body of the kid in a ravine. His hand is also missing.

The body is taken back to the morgue where David and Doc Robbins start their usual prep of the body. Nick takes prints of the hand still attached to Wendy and they get an ID: Vincent Bartley.

At another crime scene, we find Catherine and newly-divorced Warrick investigating the death of a Hugh Hefner type named Huxley who was stabbed in the head. He and his “kitties” were dining at Blind, the newest and stupidest themed restaurant ever. The deal: You eat. In pitch dark. And your waiters? They’re blind. Brass questions the owner of the restaurant , and she claims that when you lose the sense of sight, the taste buds go into overdrive, giving you a sensual dining experience. I now know more about the way the taste buds work than I ever cared to.

Cath and Warrick search the dining room, and find blood on the chair, the tablecloth, and on the floor. Also, one of his “kitties” sweater is covered in blood. She thought he had just fallen asleep, which apparently, was common place for Hux.

At Blind, Warrick finds a pair of night vision goggles. Folks, let me tell you, there was some twisted stuff going on in this restaurant: women cheating on their husbands while hubby is sitting across the table (thus the glasses - hubby got smart and caught her!), drunk dudes feeling up Hux’s Kitties, a little oral action from the newly engaged couple…no wonder no one noticed there was a murder in process!

Hodges clues Nick in on the fact that the black powder that they found on the kid is tire rubber…finely graded like slicks, the tires they use on go-karts.

Greg and Nick go to the local track and chat up the cute girl at the counter. She tells them that “Vinnie Vroom” won all 3 of his races the night before, and that he kept beating “Hot Rod”. (That’s what she said!) It turns out that Hot Rod(ney) is at the track and when Nick and Greg call out to him, he takes off running. A chase ensues and ends with Nick drawing his gun on the kid and calling him a “dumbass”. They find Vinnie’s missing belt in the cab of Rodney’s truck. It’s bloody, and Rodney is taken into custody.

Warrick and Catherine are still investigating at Restauranto Bizarro, and are interviewing a blind waiter. Oh yeah, like he’s gonna be of any help. What good could he do? Tell them what the murderer felt like? Sounded like? They do, however, notice that his tie has blood on it.

Back at HQ, Brass interrogates Rodney, and finds out that he didn’t kill Vinnie. We get an elaborate flashback of the night of the incident: they take a couple of go-karts out on a stretch of highway for a REAL race, and the two weave in and out of traffic. Rodney wins, and turns around to see Vinnie’s headless body, still driving the cart, veer off into the ravine. Scared, he dumps the body, takes the belt to tether the two carts together, and gets the heck out of Dodge.

Finally, Ecklie catches Grissom in his office. He asks Grissom the same question he asked Sara, telling him that it’s mandatory. Grissom says 9 years. NINE YEARS! The show’s only been on EIGHT!!

In one of my favorite pieces of continuity on any show I watch, Doc Robbins takes a picture of Huxley for his “Celebs on my Slab” scrapbook. They have determined that Huxley was stabbed in the head with an ink pen, which they find in “Bloody Sweater” Kitty’s purse. She immediately lays blame on the Chef/Owner of the restaurant, since, you know, the chef was a former Kitty and was scorned by Hux.

Meantime, Warrick and Catherine process the evidence and find a fingerprint in ink hidden by the blood. It belongs to, get this…THE BLIND WAITER! He was trying to frame the chef, because she stole his idea for the restaurant. Dude…you’d have been better off just letting her have it. It would have tanked eventually, once the novelty wore off.

After checking out the go-karts used in the street race, Nick and Greg discover a weird spatter pattern. It turns out that an 18 wheeler blew a tire at exactly the same time kid passed by, and it Ed Trucked him. The ballistic gel dummy proves it, and Grissom smiles.

Sitting outside the go-kart track, Grissom and Sara discuss their conversations with Ecklie. Sara laughs when she hears Grissom’s answer, and they remember back to the day they first met. Sara had a ponytail, and wanted to ask Grissom out to dinner then. Sara announces that she’s moving to Swing Shift, so that they don’t have to give up their relationship. They walk into the track a happy couple, and see everyone else on the team riding around, having fun. Nick calls Grissom “Ricky Bobby” and Grissom refrains from joining the fun until Sara tells him it’s OK.

As she watches them all driving around having fun, the realization that she is no longer one of “their team” sets in, and she cries.

3 of 5 stars. Not as good as last week, and I really don’t like the looks of things for Sara.