Well, here it is! The season finale of CSI: Vegas, it's been an unusual rollercoaster ride with plenty of ups and downs but we've made it. Let's see how this ends for our CSI team of OG's and newcomers.
We open up to exactly where the last episode left off, Sara found the bolt cutters used on Guillermo (and possibly Hodges). It's all hands on deck, no case of the week, the whole team (Chris, Allie, Max, and Josh). Sadly the broken anklet and bolt cutters will not prove Hodges didn't run.
Max is back at the lab trying to convince the undersheriff that Hodges did not run. He gives her temporary access for this case. Badass Maxine Roby shows him who's boss, telling him to get out of her chair. Good for Max, not taking any crap from her boss, especially because the only reason he's doing this is so her head can roll if it goes sideways.
At the scene, Grissom finds evidence of David being in the warehouse (a lovely clue left behind), TIN which stumps the pair to begin with. We get a glimpse of Anson with a beaten and handcuffed Hodges in a hotel room. Poor hodges, all he did was do his job a little too well and irritate the wrong people.
Now while Wix is appearing on TV, Maxine, Josh, and Allie speak with Hugo. Guillermo was killed with a 9mm and part of a trunk release handle was found in his throat. This leads to Alfredo Rincon also known as TINY. Surprise surprise the 9mm bullet leads to Garza, Guillermo killer and the other kidnapper. All they need to do now is tie it all to Anson! Which is a lot more difficult than it appears.
However, Hugo had pointed out Guillermo tried to use a fancy pen to cut his bindings. Sara and Gil hypothesise the pen was Wixs'. Tiny is brought in for questioning, but it goes nowhere plus he dumped and compacted his car. Time has to be running out for Hodges.
Grissom purposely runs into Wix to get the pen, but instead returns with a sample swab taken from a stain on Wix's bag. Very uncharacteristically well done by Mr Grissom! Yes he was threatening Wix at the same time, but he stealthily managed to pull that off! I am impressed but it also shows how desperate Gil might be.
The stain matched a powder found on Tiny's shoe, a designer fragrance chemical used in casino hotels. Back to the car, Allie and Josh take apart and dust as much of the compacted. The ashtray was mostly intact (weirdly) with a cigarette led to Tiffani Winters. We also get a nice reference to Mission Impossible from Gil "This message can self-destruct for all I care..." while they determine which hotel Hodges is hypothetically in. The Mosaic Casino is their closest match.
First of all, the lead to Tiffani allows the team to find Tiny and Garza but the latter was killed, and The Mosiac Casino was a dead end. A lucky break, back at the car, has Wix's pen appear. It does not have Anson's DNA but the presence of Huntington's disease (i.e. Anna Wix) which allows Max to persuade the Undersheriff to arrest Wix. This means his clothing and hands can be processed for evidence. Finally! The man is sort of behind bars, but only if the team can find actual concrete evidence.
Sara and Gil question Wix while the same fragrance stain is found on his shoes. Max figures out that the chemical has changed over the time. The chemical was actually picked up from The Green Emerald Hotel which has been closed since COVID hit. Boom! They find David! Who is luckily still alive. Just as Anson is preparing to leave, Sara and Gil hand him charging documents, Gil ends with "See you in court" and the cell door slams shut.
We get an ending scene for each character, Hodges sees his newborn, Allie finds her boyfriends house key burned, Josh being the one who did it, Maxine moving back into her office, and our OG couple Gil and Sara back on his favourite rollercoaster.
A final scene shows a livingroom with a mysterious hand covering the area with writing. Roll the credits! This was a good end to the season, it was fast paced, full of twists, red herrings, and plenty of kick ass scenes for our characters. After that I can definitely say I would like a season two. On the condition though, that Gil and Sara return. If they stick to this kind of overarching story, I hope the writers stick to 10 episodes but I'd also be open to a slightly longer season more like the original show.
Another note for a possible second season could be to have Anson Wix in court with the charges placed at the end. Imagine Wix and Grissom battling it out in court?!
The final scenes with the main characters was nice, a good way to wrap up some ends in case the show isn't renewed or the cast decide not to return. I was a little disappointed we didn't see Chris, Penny, or Hugo in the final scene, plus a scene from Anna Wix realising her brother lost would have been nice too.
Overall a strong end to a mixed season but I'm very glad I stuck with it! What did you all think of CSI: Vegas's finale? Any clues on that mysterious final scene? If we got a second season, what would you like to see?
Thank you all for sticking with the show for these 10 weeks and sticking with me as I wrote these odd recap/reviews! Merry Christmas everyone!
- SarahR
