I can’t believe it, but I think I am starting to actually “like” D.B. Russell. Granted, the show’s new lead (played by Ted Danson) had a very good supporting story this episode, continuing the trend of the crimes getting more interesting, which is something the show hasn’t done for some time.

Two different scenes took the forefront this week. Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) and Greg (Eric Szmanda) followed a man found dead on the streets, his lungs full of chocolate. The victim appeared to have drowned in a vat of the sweet stuff, and Morgan continued to shine as the team’s new recruit. I don’t remember the last time any of the CSIs were excited to put their hand into a body to feel inflated lungs, and I feel like the character is bringing some new blood, energy, and spirit to a show that needs it.

Oddly enough, the death-by-chocolate case was left somewhat open ended as the fallout of the more prominent story unraveled, but it did serve to give both Morgan and Greg some good screen time. And seriously, only on “CSI” can you see a guy drowning in luxury chocolate.

Most of the action centered around one of Sara’s (Jorja Fox) old cases coming back into the limelight. A serial killer who abducted, tortured, and killed little girls, before hiding the bodies in cement, had just been freed from jail, only weeks before a body was found with the same MO.

The only small glimpse of plot progression this week came from a discussion between Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) and Russell about this case, with Catherine warning him of getting too personal with the team and advising him to pull Sara, deeply emotionally attached to the original victims, from working it.

Russell kind of listened, and kind of didn’t, but not before Sara’s interactions with the original, now free, killer almost cost the department a lawsuit.

I don’t want to ruin how things wrapped up (I will say that it was one of the possibilities I called halfway in), but the plot actually worked. It provided one of those “ah-ha!” moments that I have always liked about “CSI,” and it really came through as the result of a team effort.

A solid case is one thing, but the show is still leaving me grasping for straws. What happened to the thinly veiled threat Russell made about getting rid of Nick (George Eads)? What about Nick and Catherine’s fight at the end of the first episode? Will we find out anything anytime soon?

Perhaps not, but while I’m throwing down the prediction gauntlet, I’m going out on a limb and saying that all of Russell’s family is dead. Gone-zo. His almost annoying dedication to bringing them up at every crime scene and at every awkward moment just seems too consistent to be accidental. I have a feeling there’s more to him than meets the eye.

But, he is starting to grow on me. In the first episode he already blew past Laurence Fishburne in my mind, and while he will never be able to replace the hole Grissom (William Petersen) left in my heart, he’s quirky, interesting, and at least seems to be trying to take the team in a different direction.

All in all, a very solid episode from a show I was starting to write off. If the case is good, that can oftentimes be enough to carry a whole episode, and this week that’s exactly what happened.