Reviews

1. The sequence of flashbacks inadvertently causes loss of suspense. 2. The trapped arm changes from one to the other. 3. The once brilliant serial killer turned catatonic vegetable did not a memorable villain make. 4. Very little forensics were performed or tech used to find Sara when lots of forensic science and technology were used in previous episodes when finding other victims in the desert. 5. It was raining for the majority of the episode, the news called it the heaviest storm of the year, warnings of flooding. However, as soon as the sun came up, all the water was gone! Dust clouds forming behind vehicles, car tires and shoes were sinking in 4 inches of dry sand. It was evident the area hadn't seen rain in weeks, yet we're supposed to believe that it's the next morning after the storm of the year was dumping rain all night? Sure. This inconsistency causes confusion about what the threat was. Because it was supposed to be the likelihood of drowning face down in water and mud. But now a few hours later the water is gone and the threat is now supposedly dehydration and sun stroke. So either the rain must not have been that heavy or the desert was not very hot and dry. In mere hours both of these threats are impossible. It would have taken days for all that water to dissipate. She was missing for less than 24 hours.

I liked the story line of the modeling agency it fell in line with the rest of the series and had a nice poetic justice kinda feel.

However, Boa Vista's story line with her abusive ex husband was poorly thought out. The ex husband trespassed into an active crime scene(officers are usually guarding but are suspiciously absent), was ordered to leave then Boa Vista gets understandably emotional and mildly threatening(only after he subtly threatened her livelihood and well-being) which somehow causes a judge to approve a restraining order favoring the ex? No judge would sign off on that! And even if they were possibly drunk and actually did approve such an asinine request, then an appeal would be in order immediately! It's so reprehensible that all the characters just accept it and they all act like it was normal for that to happen. He's a known criminal and abuser fresh out of prison! And a judge approves a restraining order against the woman for which he went to prison for beating?!? Which, by the way, would hinder investigations and process of justice, because of Boa Vista being constantly removed from her own crime scenes because he somehow now has control over the CSI's and can show up to crime scenes early if he wishes and force her to leave! As though the RO gave him(a felon!) seniority over the CSI's! And it's somehow overlooked that he trespassed and possibly contaminated TWO crime scenes and yet he's somehow given a job cleaning them up? Also, I'm sure they run a background check for a job in crime scene cleanup as well. So even if he did happen to commit fraud to get the job he'd be caught almost immediately, working closely with law enforcement and past acquaintances. The stupidity of this story line is inexcusable and the reason for my 1 star rating. The episode would have gotten a 7 from me if it wasn't for the lazy, ignorant and boorish writing in Boa Vista's story line.

I know I'm ranting, but I was enjoying the series, overall, and I'm angry that I might have to stop watching if this isn't rectified in future episodes or if such idiotic writing is getting past the other writers, producers, directors. I mean, they also have advisors and readers on set who are supposed to catch that sort of thing, and nobody thought that it was even a little sketchy! It blows my mind. Granted, as with most TV shows, you have to get used to suspending your belief a bit. But this is just ridiculous. If they don't clean this up, I'm probably done. Yes, I realize the show has been over for years but I only discovered the CSI franchise a few years back and am slowly making my way through. So their money has been made and my opinion of this and any other episode doesn't really matter anyway, unless you're a late comer like myself and also found this episode to be written by a high schooler, you're in good company. :)

Making the plants and trees the antagonists, hmmm. At least its original thought. But thats its only redeeming quality. Once it was revealed that it was the plants that is causing the panic it became a comedy for me and I had a pretty good time laughing at all the ridiculous attempts at creating fear. Its especially funny when Mark starts talking to the ficus tree like its going to suddenly jump at him! The isolated old woman actually did a good job at being creepy and made me jump. Oh, and no ending. It weirdly just stops. Three stars because of the score, it's the best part of the film.

So much wrong with this episode. Bucks plot line made him look like a naive 15 year old. Lena's character is going downhill fast. Started out promising. Her stature, build and strength is exactly the type of women who are firefighters. But then they put her in a fight ring with a dude with at least 6 inches on her and he never even got in one punch. BS! I'm not saying she couldn't take a man down. She'd give any dude a run for his money. But a huge dude who has trained for a fight? Nope, not happening. And definitely not like that! If she's fast she'll hold her own for a few minutes. But he's going to get in some punches, guaranteed! And in the end he'd have her KO'd. That is proven by the men who are currently participating in women's athletics/fighting and breaking records, and faces LITERALLY. Women are actually getting the s#*+ kicked out of them by men in the fighting ring because those dudes feel like women, total garbage. Stop trying to pretend that women are the same as men. They're not. And that's a good thing. Women are absolutely strong, but in different ways. Whatever happened to women being proud of their uniqueness? I'm disappointed Rousy herself didn't call out the writers on this bogus plot line. She should know better than try to perpetuate this lie that a ripped woman could take down a ripped dude and no punches landing from him. I guess if people want to see that then more power to you. But I'm done. I'm fine going somewhere else for entertainment. Have fun in fantasy world.

Apparently, in Austria they close ski resorts if it's snowing. I live in Utah with some of the best snow on earth and have snowboarded most of my life. I've never seen a resort closed for snowing. It's a ridiculous, flimsy plot line to say that a ski resort closed for snow. If they shut down a ski resort for snowy conditions then they must also close their hiking trails for having too many wild flowers or for being too beautiful outside! Also, nobody puts a massive, air cushion at the end of a jump! Learning to land the jump is 99% of it. Why put a big pillow at the landing? Yeah, you wouldn't. I guarantee you that the ski resort didn't have that huge air cushion on hand. The movie crew had to actually request a movie-stunt grade air cushion brought in just for that scene. Then they moved it so real people could go off the jump like real people would. Unrealistic plot lines.

There's no way a sane person who paid $13 would rate this above a 4. Terrible script, mediocre acting, unnecessary gore. Decent soundtrack. Had all the amblings of a bad Disney movie. The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Let's talk about this unprepared Mickey Mouse operation. What do you think they'd use for weapons in apprehending paranormal beings? Some kind of energy sucker like Ghostbusters, maybe? Or some new, state of the art plasma gun introduced to us specifically for this movie? Nope. Regular guns. That's right. They have billions of dollars for high tech facilities in the Colorado mountains and London and plenty of manpower but nothing in the way of taking down a particularly nasty apparition. You'd think they could be a little imaginative in their writing and give the BPRD a weapon that could at least plausibly kill a spirit. That is their business after all. Then again, maybe the writers were trying to give us the feeling that the BPRD was an overfunded government program that blew all its cash on expensive buildings(Winston Churchill's desk??), locations and transportation then had nothing left for what they actually needed the money for -which is the very definition of today's government! If that was the case then they hit the nail right on the head!