The crime lab really brought the ick this time out.
Also, they continued to make enemies on CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 2.
It’s a little early for what felt like a Halloween episode. But it is Vegas, where creepy is a year-round thing.
So why not peer inside that city’s cottage industry known as haunted houses?
What I want to know is if there’s such a thing as a haunted house wedding chapel. It would seem like a natural hybrid.
But I digress. An establishment such as Necropolis would be an ideal place to stash a body if it’s appropriately disguised.
It certainly was well hidden in this case, as the thick coat of paint not only stopped the smell of decomposition but also caused the body to liquefy inside that casing. Beau’s joke about almost being named Stew was totally inappropriate and perfectly appropriate at the same time.
The CSIs had to get extremely creative because the body had so badly deteriorated that identifying the victim through traditional means was out.
That’s where Beau entered the picture, as his magic with putty enabled him to reconstruct the skull and develop a likeness that could be checked against a gallery of missing people.
The biggest obstacle to solving the case was Allie’s determination that Gene Farrow, that creepy little man who injected himself into the investigation, was the murderer.
Yup, it was that old cliche about the murderer getting involved with the investigation to distract the police.
Also, once it was established that the victim, Harker, was an opponent of Necropolis, why wouldn’t its biggest fan, Farrow, be a logical suspect?
Farrow did keep turning up in the wrong places, such as the murder scene. And Allie was rightfully creeped out by that doll likeness of her that he had constructed. As Max pointed out, borrowing her identity was hardly reason enough to arrest him.
The problem was that Allie forgot the first rule of forensics. Rather than follow the evidence, she attempted to find evidence that proved Farrow’s guilt.
And that just didn’t exist since he was just an innocent freak. So the team wasted time and effort looking for evidence that wasn’t there.
Once they started following the evidence and the golden rule of forensics, checking out who had means, opportunity, and motive, it didn’t take them long to arrest the real murderer.
Unfortunately, Allie has earned herself an enemy in Farrow, who is clearly unstable and has nothing to occupy his time now, thanks to her.
Let’s shout out to the show’s best new character, Beau. Sure, he made a rookie mistake, failing to put on booties while searching Harker’s apartment.
But, in addition to allowing the victim to be identified, his finding those shoes in the closet sent the investigation off in the right direction. Also, it’s easy to like someone who can boastfully deliver the line, “I’m your huckleberry.”
The jury remains out on Sonya and Jack, the siblings now manning the morgue, as they only received one extended scene. But Hugo is a tough act to follow.
Speaking of making enemies, Catherine hasn’t stopped doing so as she continues to push her unofficial investigation into Grace Huang’s disappearance.
Did she really think that the officials at the Eclipse would turn over the surveillance she sought just because she had the chutzpah to march into a casino that had banned her? If so, that was delusional.
At least Catherine did make a couple of new allies, one who stayed and one whose status remains in doubt.
The former was, of course, Josh Folsom. Who else could Max appropriate from her crew for such an off-the-books investigation?
And when Folsom goes in, he goes all in.
After he found a suspicious casino vehicle in the parking garage from which Grace disappeared, he had his brother-in-law tow it so he could hack the navigation system. Not terribly legal, but effective.
When he discovered that the SUV had been driven for an hour out into the desert, Catherine knew then that she wasn’t going to find Grace alive.
Yet off into the desert they went, only to find out after an afternoon of research and digging that Grace’s body had been moved. So all they had to work with afterward was a piece of tortoise shell.
Catherine’s other ally came out of nowhere as casino official Jodi agreed to help her, even getting her the surveillance that she sought.
Yet, after she returned from the desert, Catherine received a panicked call from Jodi, who had been followed and beaten, with her phone taken. Somebody got wind of how Jodi was helping with Catherine’s investigation.
It’s not likely that Sherri Saum, who plays Jodi, was brought in for just one episode. The odds are that she will end up assisting Catherine or wind up dead herself.
Something is rotten at the Eclipse. What did Grace see at the casino that got her killed? And who else is Catherine going up against?
This intriguing storyline is just getting started.
To revisit Catherine’s greatest hits, watch CSI: Vegas online.
How did Allie do leading an investigation?
What did you think of Sonya and Jack?
What got Grace killed?
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Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.