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

CSI's Big "'Brown'-Out" Merits Tears, Not Jeers...

[cchase · 8/10 · 11 October 2008]

Okay, CSI Fan, c'mon, admit it: you knew when last season left us with the horrific image of a mortally wounded Warrick Brown slumped over his steering wheel bleeding out, after being ambushed by the DIRRTY-er-than-Christina-Aguilera Undersheriff McKeen (Conor O'Farrell), what was coming next. It was all over the entertainment news wires, the speculation brewed for months: there was no way Gary Dourdan would be staying with the show.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have confirmation. Even the too-often shown previews made it pretty clear - Warrick was going from being a team member to becoming their most important case. Every cop show comes to this "very special episode" point sooner or later, and CSI's farewell to the troubled Mr. Brown was neither pitifully underwhelming, nor ridiculously over-the-top. As close as the team has become (at least on-screen), we knew that banding together to find Warrick's killer wasn't even in question. Nor was the equal participation with them in the hunt for the murderer by Jim Brass, who has always been a de-facto CSI member anyway.

If anything does stand out, it was seeing Gil Grissom's zen-like exterior finally slip and fall, to reveal the devastated man beneath, who not only lost a valuable team member and a close friend, but someone he mentored almost like he would his son...if he had one. Of all the team members, Warrick would've been the one Gil might have groomed to take his place when he finally strolled out the door for that "permanent coffee break."

No telling how that will go now, although we also know that Laurence Fishburne will be stepping in eventually, as Bill Petersen relinquishes his lead role in front of the camera and remains only as an Executive Producer.

What other changes will these departures bring? It will be interesting to watch...and the show is in need of a tune-up after what? Nine seasons?

Well, considering, Warrick couldn't have asked for a more dignified send-off.

One of the Best

[dting-56925 · 9/10 · 13 January 2021]

It is truly amazing the heart and soul the actors put into their characters for this episode. It is also one of the best directed and written episodes of the entire series. Definitely a must see!

The Mole

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 30 March 2023]

After killing Warrick, Undersheriff Jeffrey McKeen misguides the police and the investigators, framing officer Daniel Pritchard. Sara returns for Warrick's funeral and to help in the investigation. Meanwhile, the whole police officers and CSIs are assigned to arrest Pritchard and investigate the evidences of Warrick's murder. Soon the Grissom and his team conclude that McKeen is the killer, but they shall work in secret with Ecklie and Brass to avoid McKeen to compromise the investigation.

"For Warrick" is one of the best episodes of "CSI", with the discovery of the identity of the real mole in the police station. The cast has outstanding performances, showing their friendship and feelings for each other. The return of Sara Siddle is another plus in this episode. Gary Dourdan unfortunately left the show since his contract was coming to an end and terms couldn't be reached for a new deal. Warrick Brown was one the best characters of "CSI". There are gossips that Gary Dourdan's 2008 arrest on drug possession charges was another motive for him leaving the show too, but it was not officially confirmed. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "For Warrick"

Emotions Aside

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 22 February 2021]

I thought the story of the apprehension of Warrick's killer would require a decent set of events. But I think the really high ratings had more to do with the emotional toll of losing a beloved character from a long running TV show. This is OK I guess, but some of the failings after the realization of the perpetrator became a bit suspect. One person said, "anticlimactic" and I guess I agree with that.

A strong memorial to an underdeveloped character.

[digital_utopia · 7/10 · 7 September 2017]

(SPOILERS)

Perhaps one of CSI's worst faults, was never giving Warrick Brown the same level of development as the other characters. He rarely existed outside of the stereotypes associated with a token racial character, so when it came to the increased screen time throughout the Gedda story, his obsession felt like it came out of left field.

That said, perhaps the writers did at least try to set things right with this episode. The memorial to Warrick - both the funeral itself, and at least half of the episode before it, was both heartfelt and believable. As I said, it's just a shame that Warrick couldn't have gotten this level of quality focus while he was still alive.

That said, I think jrbleau's review needs to be addressed. Opinions are great. If you don't like an episode, that's fine. But when those opinions are based off of ignorance and simply wrong information, that's a problem.

1. Yes, they certainly could've drawn this out over multiple episodes, but it either wouldn't have made for very good drama, or they'd have to make McKeen play against his own character. From the minute he was first introduced - his character was entirely motivated by power, and appearance. Caring more about how things looked, and especially, how it made him look, than anything else.

He has always been the character that did the most damage to the good guys, using the power of administration and paperwork. The fact that nobody even suspected him until he was forced to play against his strengths, showed how good he was at his "job".

But then Warrick Brown happened. Something that couldn't have been stopped with words and paperwork alone (and he certainly tried that at first). Setting Warrick up for the murder of the stripper was a good idea - again, putting McKeen's strengths at the forefront - manipulating opinion. But "wetwork" and manipulating physical evidence is not among those strengths - so it should come as no surprise, that when he was forced to play that role, is when he made his first mistakes.

From then on, he found himself playing increasingly out of his league, with predicable results. Having Gedda killed was his Hail Mary play - killing Warrick - doing the dirty work himself, was simple desperation. Simply stated, the fact the audience (as well as the police), even suspected McKeen of being dirty, already ruined his longevity as the big bad.

2. If you were listening, you would've known that they were a few *miles* behind the fugitive. So no, the cars wouldn't have seen him crash. Yes. the chopper should've, and should've reported it - but if artificially created suspense tactics were a dealbreaker, you would've stopped watching this series in the first season.

As far as the crash itself - all the audience saw was the setup (Pritchard attempting to threaten McKeen, followed by him eyeing McKeen's gun). We never saw the struggle, or tire skids, or even one of those fancy "ghost" scenes, where the CSIs imagine what happened based off the evidence. So you're essentially saying that there's no way a car could end up changing its direction of travel by 90 degrees from its original direction, in order to hit the guard rail head on. Which, in the context of a struggle with the driver, and the driver ultimately being shot, that's a pretty large leap in logic.

Finally, you still seem to be assuming that TV shows are shot in real time, and there's no such thing as editing to - for example, adjust the pace of the scene to make it more action packed, or more suspenseful. It's impossible to make the claim that McKeen couldn't have crawled that distance by the time the CSI's found him, because there's no indication of how much time had actually passed.

Anticlimactic

[jrbleau · 2/10 · 13 October 2009]

SPOILERS

At 8.8, this is one of the highest-rated episodes of the entire series, but I have to disagree. My problems with it are as follows:

1. We have a bona fide villain in the department and this should have taken more episodes to solve. As it was, with McKeen's incompetence it was just too easy, so there wasn't any tension.

2. The chase was ridiculous. The cars are following, only a few dozen feet behind the fugitive, but when the fugitive car crashes, nobody sees it. Oh yeah, there's a helicopter right on his tail, too. And a car can't crash through a guard rail that way, running parallel to it, it would just bounce off, or the car would just skid or roll rather than plow through. After the crash, the seriously injured McKeen somehow, and for some reason that escapes me, drags himself a good distance away (he has the time for this, despite the other cars having been a couple of seconds behind). Only Nick follows the bloody trail. We get the usual confession (one of the cheap devices too often used in this and other shows), and with taunting by McKeen, Nick shoots the fugitive! Of course, he deliberately missed...

So, where we could have had some real tension, the writers resorted to the implausible artifice in point 2. I simply can't see how an episode with such cheap devices can be rated so highly. Maybe the viewers did it out of loyalty to the Warrick character, but I felt the character's death merited a better episode than this.

Good episode, too bad Sidle is back.

[fasanodavid · 5/10 · 23 January 2024]

It's bad enough the producers killed off Warrick, but now this means they decided to being Sara Sidle back, in a move clamored by no one at any time on any continent, in any universe.

Also, it is kind of anticlimactic knowing who did it.

Part of the fun of the show is trying to guess who they'll land on as the perp and seeing what clues you can pick up on.

Well, if you saw the last episode or the literal beginning of this episode, you already know. That's a bush league move. You can tell this was just a ratings grab in a way that also let them bail on Gary Dourdain. I know he had been having some drugs and DV issues. Certainly needed some help and accountability for acting out with the womenfolk was in order. But swapping Warrick for Sidle is like being the Vikings and still trading for Herschel Walker, knowing what a terrible deal that was.