C.S.I. is an acclaimed, edgy, fast-paced drama series about a passionate team of forensic investigators who work the graveyard shift at the Las Vegas Criminalistics Bureau. Their job - to find the missing pieces at the scene that will help to solve the crime and vindicate those who often cannot speak for themselves - the victims. Between the hidden clues and the buried motives lies the trail to the truth because people lie... but the evidence never does...

The eighth season of CSI was effected by the writers strike in America, the result being that this season only contains 17 episodes. When, in the past most half-season box sets have contained 12 episodes, splitting the 17 episodes between two box sets is a little cheeky.

Season 8 - Part 2 contains only nine episodes instead of the normal 12. What's even worse is that Momentum even have the cheek to run an ad for Kia Motors at the start of every disc. This is something I'd expect to see on a rental disc, not one I'd paid good money to own.

Season 8 would have been the perfect time for Momentum to package these release as season box sets with a lower RRP. I don't think any other series is released this way, with such a high retail price, and most TV show season box sets generally sell for under £50.

Highlights in this collection include:

Cockroaches: Looks like the mob are alive and well in Las Vegas and Warrick ends up becoming the prime suspect in a murder that's related to the them. But instead of listening to reason, and following Nick's recommendations and Grissom's orders, Warrick ends up going up against the mob on his own.

A Thousand Days on Earth: CSI investigates the death of a little girl whose identity remains unknown and whose body has been dumped in a cardboard box in a car park. It's a delicate case that isn't easy to piece together.

Drops' Out: When the body of a woman is found in a flat, the CSI team soon work out she's been shot. When another woman is found dead in the flat upstairs their landlord, Drops, is brought in for questioning, even though he is still in jail.

The Theory of Everything: Is just another night for the cops in LA. A man is being questioned for illegally killing a deer and dressing it in a tutu. When he tries to make a run for it one officer pepper sprays him, while another tasers him - the result is that he mysteriously bursts into flames and dies. Also in the police station that night is a mentally unstable woman who is trying to warn everyone of an alien invasion. No one takes her seriously until bodies start turning up covered in their own blood - green blood. Across town an old couple dies, apparently in their sleep... but the evidence suggests that all of these cases are somehow related.

Two and a Half Deaths: Grissom, Catherine, Nick, Greg and Brass are investigating the death of a well known TV star called Annabelle. She's not very well liked, so just about anyone could have killed her... but who would have stuffed a rubber chicken down her throat? This episode stars Katey Sagal (the voice of Leela in Futurama) and Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day, Heroes).

For Gedda: The team investigates the murder of a man who was stuffed inside an already occupied coffin. This only comes to light when the bottom falls out of the coffin at the funeral. The victim ends up being a private detective that Warrick hired to follow Gedda, the mob boss from Cockroaches. Warrick disappears and is found, covered in blood, with Gedda dead and tied to a chair. Warrick claims he can't remember what happened, but he's the main suspect.

Extras include audio commentary for Cockroaches; Deleted Scene "Catherine Investigates" (2 min, 14 sec cut scene, from Grissom's Divine Comedy, that sees Catherine snooping around Grissom's place); Shot in the Dark (9 min, 20 sec featurette that examines the lighting of the show); TOD: A Bug's Life (21 min, 22 sec featurette that looks at real life forensic entomologists and their work); and What Happened in Vegas (21 min, 11 sec look back at Season 8).

While I enjoyed these episodes immensely... would I have paid £35 to own them? I doubt it.

7

Nick Smithson