There’s nothing quite like one of those long, cool, signature “CSI” tracking shots, but the one that opened the new season last night was a little longer and, let’s face it, a lot cooler than the norm. We would even go so far as to call the shot – which showed the entire team in freeze frame even though they were clearly in the middle of some kind of gun battle – downright nifty. (That’s right, we said ’nifty.’ Got a problem with that?) You would think that the death of a Hollywood starlet in some Vegas back alley wouldn’t lead to such shenanigans, but, sadly, you’d be wrong. Before we find out how it’s all connected, however (the appearance of the great Garret Dillahunt as a security expert who works for the starlet’s Asian casino owner boyfriend should have given us a hint), we’re faced with a short-handed staff that is bickering and questioning the authority of Catherine, who is now running the squad. The exit of Lauren Lee Smith’s Riley Adams has left a pretty big hole on the team, so it’s a lucky thing for all that…wait for it…SARA SIDLE RETURNS TO “CSI” (yes, she and Grissom are fine, he’s just lecturing at the Sorbonne)!!! The big winner here is clearly us viewers. The first payoff? Sara giving Catherine a pep talk about leadership.

The stalker-killing-the-starlet story quickly takes a weird turn when Ray figures out that the stalker is just a fall guy, which means, of course, Dillahunt’s security dude is probably a part of it. The confirmation comes shortly after that, as does the big action showcase with all the gunplay and some old fashioned, glass-shattering kung fu from Ray. The connection? The seemingly unconnected John Doe death Greg is investigating which, of course, ends up being directly tied to the starlet’s murder. And isn’t that always the way?

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