CSI -- Crime Scene Investigation: Series 2, Part 2

Thanks to its focus on more single-case episodes, the second half of CSI's second series is an even more highly concentrated dose of forensic puzzle-solving from the Vegas science sleuths. With the whole team working together on one puzzle crime (or series of crime puzzles), the group dynamic is elaborated and the audience drawn deeper into each investigation. The first three episodes are all single cases: "Identity Crisis" sees the return of Grissom's nemesis, serial killer Paul Millander; in "The Finger", Catherine is caught up in an elaborate kidnap plot; while in "Burden of Proof", a stray body in a "body farm" leads to a difficult case of child abuse. After a brief return to the two-investigation-per-episode format, the team unite once more for one of their most intriguing cases, "Chasing the Bus", in which they must unravel the mystery of a bus crash in the desert. "Stalker" is possibly the show's most terrifying episode to date, with a woman found murdered behind the safely locked doors of her apartment.

The season concludes with "Cross Jurisdictions", a rather unsubtle way of introducing the spin-off show CSI: Miami and, finally, "The Hunger Artist", a somewhat strained attempt to comment on our society's obsession with glamour and self-image, which is most notable for Grissom's devastating discovery that his hearing problems are not only congenital, but irreversible. --Mark Walker