It's finally happened.  Now that the season finales for all three CSI shows are coming closer, you can't help but feel the pinch--it's becoming another dry news day at the franchise.  It's getting harder to find good bits to discuss, but thankfully we found some of them.  A couple of interviews in this week's installment: the first is from CSI newcomer Lauren Lee Smith, who talks about how luck led her to her current role.  The second comes from departing CSI: Miami writer Corey Miller, who discusses the reason for the recent abundance of multi-episode story arcs over in sunny Florida--and, yes, a sneak into what happens in the remaining episodes of the season.
Item one: You can say Riley's lucky.  The recently married Canadian actress found herself in CSI thanks to another failed pilot over at CBS.  The series wasn't picked up by network executives, but one person--who, she doesn't know--saw the ditched pilot, saw her performance, and thought she was a perfect fit for the crime drama.  Hours after she was told the project was a no-go, she got another phone call, offering her a slot on CSI.  A week later, she was in.

"Very, very lucky," she said.  "I still don't know how it quite all came about."

But she's bent to quell suggestions that she's an overnight success of sorts.  "I've been doing this for more than 15 years," the former The L Word cast member said.  "I've worked my butt off.  I've done a lot of crap, and I've done a lot of material I feel really proud of.  I think they recognized that when they thought I could be a part of this."

While she's bent on pursuing other projects while CSI is on hiatus, she is happy to have a slot on the crime drama.  "This is the first time I've had the opportunity to work on a network television series with this kind of popularity," she said.  "This is a big network series, possibly the biggest.  It's definitely opened my eyes."

Item two: CSI: Miami spoiler galore--well, sort of.  In an interview with fan site CSI Files, departing CSI: Miami writer Corey Miller--his last episode was the one aired last Monday, "Dead on Arrival"--spilled some bits about loose ends introduced as this season went on.  But first, why the many story arcs--Delko's (Adam Rodriguez) background, his romance with Calleigh (Emily Procter), and all that?

"It being our seventh season, we felt we earned the right to open up the characters some more," he said.  "Secondly, we also feel like it revitalizes the actors.  It's hard to play similar 'look what I found' evidence scenes over and over again.  So delving into their real lives helps them explore different sides of their characters, and the show is so much better for it."

Now, for the possible spoilers, and don't say I didn't warn you.

Question one: Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) got into pretty deep water when he falsified evidence after being kidnapped by a Russian mob.  Will he be found out?  "We don't get into that by the end of season seven," Miller said.  "The main thing we wanted to do was show how the Russian mob could get to our people and try and divide them.  It wasn't about Ryan getting reprimanded for the tenth time.  But I do think that Ryan will carry that experience with him for the rest of his days, wondering if he did the right thing."

Question two: Tara (Megalyn Echikunwoke) was revealed to be harboring an addiction to pain killers, as we saw in "Divorce Party".  Will she be found out?  "All I can say about that storyline is that her secret will eventually be discovered by one of the CSIs," he said.  "How that plays out and what becomes of it I will have to leave to the viewer to discover in the next few weeks."

(If I can interrupt here, I'm guessing it's in next week's episode, "Collateral Damage", because we're seeing Wolfe and Tara argue about something.  What Kyle found out last Monday was just the tip of the iceberg, it seems.)

Question three: will Horatio (David Caruso) have a showdown with Ivan Sarnoff?  I guess the answer's pretty obvious, but let's hear it straight.  "Everything comes to a head between the CSIs and the Russian mob in the season finale," Miller said.  "That episode is one of our most action-oriented ever.  It moves like a runaway train."

In fact, this is how he describes the season finale: "The Russian mob makes their final play in their quest to take over Miami, which incites World War III."

Oooooh.


-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: Canada.com, CSI Files
(Image courtesy of CBS)