Grissom And Malone Join Forces

See Also: 'Who and What' Episode Guide

Mr Grissom, you have a visitor.

The latest episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, "Who and What", forced the team to join forces with a stranger from New York City: Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia), an FBI agent who searches for missing persons. A bloody handprint from the murder scene in Vegas led back to a kidnapping and murder in New York six years ago. Jack flew to Vegas to see if he could identify the dead boy as his kidnapped child, but when the answer was 'no', he had to stay to help solve the case. At the end of the CSI half of the crossover, their killer returned to New York, and Jack continued the case on his own show, Without a Trace. Gil Grissom (William Petersen) followed along to finish the puzzle he started in Vegas.

Robert Bianco from USA Today cited the "bizarre dynamic" between the two lead characters as being the best part of the crossover. "Anyone who likes either show, or who appreciates fine TV acting, should enjoy the byplay between Petersen's wry, odd, observant Gil Grissom and LaPaglia's more aggressive, emotional and active Jack Malone," Bianco said. It Happened Last Night blogger Andy Grieser said that the crossover was good, explaining that "Wicker made for an interesting killer, because his rages were only blunted by his sister and his son."

While both reviewers were entertained by the crossover, they also felt that the shows were weakened in some ways. For example, concentrating on Petersen and LaPaglia was detrimental to the other characters. "When the two actors are together and center stage, the gimmick hums along," Bianco said. "But the effort to bring and keep them together shortchanges the supporting cast members, who feel so shoehorned that the shows might have been wiser to give them the week off." Grieser also pointed out that the attention paid to Grissom and Jack was not entirely even. "Unfortunately for CSI fans, Malone was clearly the main character for both hours," he said. He went on to say that "Malone had at least one scene with each of CSI's prominent characters, lab rats included, while Grissom's time in New York was basically a cameo."

According to Bianco, the two-episode event also strained the natural structure of both CSI and Without a Trace. "It's as if the crossover were working at cross purposes, with CSI losing much of its fast-paced grisly fun and forensic flash and Trace losing some of its ability to probe into the personal issues involved," he explained. "Still, as sweeps gimmicks go, this one goes more smoothly than most, particularly when the two stars are properly aligned. Don't think of it as a lesser episode of CSI or Trace; think of it as an extra hour with Petersen and LaPaglia."

The reviews of "Who and What" are courtesy of USA Today and the It Happened Last Night blog on Zap2It.

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