CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 9 Review: In the White Room

It’s encouraging to see storylines from earlier this season get picked up again rather than letting them float along unresolved.

CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 9 brought home the point that there’s a big bad who hasn’t been revealed.

That’s a relief. Catherine solved Grace’s murder on CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 8, seemingly wrapping up the main ongoing story arc. But now it’s revealed that there’s a new storyline to enjoy for the rest of this season.

It turns out that three of the nine cases in CSI: Vegas Season 2 are connected, even though it didn’t appear so at first.

This case with two murders at a Regency romance festival just seemed like another of the bizarre murders that the Vegas CSI lab keeps having dropped in their laps.

But no. It hearkened back to CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 1, in which a dominatrix was murdered by a seeming wackadoo, Alan Herskovitz.

Herskovitz also went after Lamont Moore, who had undergone the same experimental psychiatric treatment as himself and the dominatrix. But Moore was saved when Herskovitz was arrested and committed.

Make that “saved for a short time,” as he reappeared, murdered in the cheap motel room where he had been hiding.

Only it appeared that Moore had no link to the first two victims until it turned out that he was a janitor at the hotel where the Regency romance festival was being held.

It soon became apparent that the first two victims were killed by mistake and that Moore was the real target of the killer.

Still, that didn’t map out why Moore had again been targeted. That required dogged work by Allie, who discovered documents that Moore had hidden in his hotel-room tub.

Moore was being blackmailed so that he would murder Albert Santoni, who accidentally killed a star chef before committing suicide on CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 6. Having failed to obey orders from some unknown big bad, Moore was the latest to be earmarked for murder.

The documents showed that all the suspects and victims from three cases had been patients of a controversial psychiatrist. 

That left only Herskovitz alive. He knew more than he was saying to Maxine and Catherine but kept up the raving so that he wouldn’t be released or found sane and sent to prison.

Solving the case came down to grackle poop, found on a bullet hole at the first murder. Its composition enabled the team to narrow its search to a handful of farms using a particular brand of genetically engineered feed.

Serena and Allie drew the short straw, locating the killer, who had been partially blinded when Moore threw bleach at him. He made the mistake of tussling with Serena, leading him to be at death’s door after he made it to surgery.

Unfortunately, the big bad behind the conspiracy now has an image of Catherine, Maxine, and Penny, thanks to the web camera on the killer’s laptop.

The only question is whether this storyline will keep coming and going and whether it will be completed sooner or later. With the series’ soft ratings, let’s hope it’s sooner rather than opting for a never-concluded season-ending cliffhanger.

Since Catherine decided to hang around after solving Grace’s murder, she needed to find her direction in Maxine’s lab. She opted to become Penny’s unofficial mentor, requesting a locker next to Penny’s from Max.

Catherine has developed a soft spot for Penny. She even brought her inside a murder scene as her assistant on CSI: Vegas Season 2 Episode 4, feeling that Penny needed exposure to such a horrific tableau as part of her learning process.

What didn’t make sense was Folsom’s balking at her giving Penny extra attention. He indeed appeared to appreciate receiving Catherine’s guidance. So why not build up the least confident member of the squad?

Catherine’s encouragement paid dividends after Penny’s suggestion that they research the corn in the grackle’s feces to discover where it could be found.

She also gave Penny some tough love, explaining that Penny needs to step up rather than wait for her coworkers to pull opinions out of her.

Penny was wise to seek advice from Beau, another newbie who has never been afraid to offer his thoughts on any case, even if he sometimes misses the mark.

Then again, Beau is an adult male who has already established himself as an expert in a different field. So he doesn’t lack confidence.

The tension between Allie and Folsom came to a head even if he remained mainly oblivious to the problem.

Allie was facing an upcoming professional exam, and Folsom was doing everything he could to help her pass, even convincing his girlfriend, Serena, to help quiz Allie.

Serena has to be aware of Allie’s feelings for Josh, but she’s self-assured enough not to let it affect their working relationship.

The problem is that any romantic relationship between Allie and Folsom exists exclusively in her head. He views her like a younger sister. So it was little wonder that he was clueless when she declared that their friendship had to evolve. Maybe he should ask Serena what’s going on.

To revisit Allie and Folsom’s relationship, watch CSI: Vegas online.

How did you feel about this new ongoing serial-killer storyline?

Shouldn’t Penny embrace Catherine as a mentor?

Who’s more wrong: Allie or Folsom?

Comment below.

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