CSI: Grave Danger
(dir. Quentin Tarantino)
While investigating a bogus crime scene, one of Las Vegas’ Crime Scene Investigators is kidnapped by a bad guy with a grudge and buried alive. Using what scraps of evidence they have, the rest of the team race against time to recover their colleague.
Since it first started, the original CSI series has been consistently good, slowly building up a loyal following. Five seasons in, and it’s really starting to reward the viewer - with strong characters that your feel like you know becoming more and more fleshed out.
The ratings are obviously paying-off too, as for this season finale the producer’s managed to draft in celebrity fan Quentin Tarantino – who came up with the story and directed this final episode. While that might seem like a dangerous move, Tarantino manages to direct the episode without stepping too hard on the established formula of the series. There are a couple of his trademark pop-culture snippets (such as two of the lab rats playing a Dukes of Hazzard board game), but generally he sticks to the program and uses the existing visual style - largely established by early director Danny Cannon.
The weight of having Tarantino on board injects an extra zap into the story, and the extended length of a double episode gives more room to build up the tension, suspense and sympathy - building up to a genuinely thrilling end.
Even Eckley comes out well in this one.
6th Jul 2005 - Tumblr
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