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Tuesday 16 July 2013

CSI 13.21 "Ghosts of the Past" Review

The episode begins with three so called ghost hunters, Owen (Billy Aaron Brown) Doug (Yani Gellman) and Carrie (Erica Dasher) filming and looking for ghosts inside a slaughterhouse the site of several murders committed by serial killer Walter Sims.  After much talk, Doug is killed by being hoisted up on a meat hook and stabbed when checking out the 'hanging room.'  After Doug took out a knife used by Sims to stab his Vics so that he can summon his spirit with it.  Brass (Jim Guillfoyle) tells Finn (Elisabeth Shue) how he investigated the murders twenty years ago after a security guard, Sims, kidnapped seven boys and slaughtered them here.  Sims dies in the same way and now Doug is killed too.  A man, Thomas Pope (Ian Bohen) turns up who is selling the place and tells Brass he knew this would happen, he had a strange feeling when he went inside there, now if that wasn't a big clue then I don't know what else would be!

Finn and Sara (Jorga Fox) examine the slaughter room and Sara hates being here cos of the slaughtered animals,that's  why she stopped eating meat.  David (David Berman) tells of how when the killings happened  they used to talk about it at school, saying if you called out "Walter Sims" three times he'd appear.  A bit like the 'Bloody Mary' legend.  There's Doug's camera in the pool of blood in which Owen fell whilst getting his DB down but the memory card is missing.  Finn suggests they luminol the entire area for blood and Sara opts to luminol outside the room.  Here she finds a set of prints which are leading away from everyone else's and towards the wall, where she finds the knife, the murder weapon.

Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) and Greg (Eric Szmanda) process Owen and Carrie for evidence and Owen can't stop raving about how his spirit appeared and everyone's gonna go wild.  Carrie however felt a presence in the room and shows him her protection amulet.  Owen admits to taking the memory card so he can put the footage on the Net.   Doc (Robert David Hall) calls DB (Ted Danson) to Autopsy and he's a bit reluctant to be there, until after Doc's finished the autopsy.  He tells him the original incision has also made in Doug's DB and this wasn't released to anyone.  The killer was carving an 'S' shape.

At the CS, Morgan and Greg find a shrine for the boys, some of the toys are new and others are much older. Greg looks like he can sense something and Morgan finds an earring, she says could be Carrie's since one of hers was missing.  Greg doesn't think it's hers.   Nick (George Eads) tells DB that Owen's camera stopped filming for about 98 seconds, which would have been enough for him to have killed Doug.  Sara finds Owen's prints all over the knife.  Owen admits to bringing the knife there as something belonging to the killer is required for their spirit to be enticed.  Carrie tells Greg she believes he has psychic ability and that he gets it from his grandmother, who has a funny name, Olaf.  She gives him her amulet and she says he'll need it. Now as soon as she took that off, you knew she was in trouble!!

Hodges (Wallace Langham) has to help Nick in locating Owen at the time of the killing and uses his EVP (electronic voice projector) to do this.  He need Henry's (Jon Wellner) help since it means returning to the CS as he's not going alone.  These two are great for laughs, as we'll see Hodges' fear and Henry's scientific motivation which leaves him fearless.  They manage to prove Owen wasn't in the same room as Doug and Henry notices the presence of infra sound on the computer.  These are invisible to the human ear.  He says they should find out what's causing it since it leads to a feeling of coldness, butterflies in the stomach and make people think there is some sort of a ghostly presence.

He finds a fan and turns it off, curing Hodges' butterflies.  They then hear  a scream and find Carrie bludgeoned with a baseball bat at the shrine.  DB introduces Finn to Scott Tunicliffe (Eric Lange) he wrote the book on Sims and Finn asks if he's writing a sequel.  He's brought his files and shows them photos of a woman who appeared at Sims' trial, a trial groupie.  Finn notices she's wearing the same earring Morgan found.  Greg and Morgan collect the toys to examine from the scene and Greg admits he was a bit of a psychic when he was little, since his grandmother had the gift.  Carrie came here to talk to the boys.  He also finds her EVP and plays it back, he can hear children's laughter in the background after Carrie is killed.

Finn tries to find the woman in the photo and Sara tells her to try locating her by seeing if her photo shows up on the Internet, matching a Monica Downs (Kiersten Warren).  Mitch (Larry Mitchell) brings her in and says she's crazy.  Monica admits she was at his trial and recalls Brass there too. She tells them about Sims and their boys, the family he created for her.  Henry finds male DNA on every single one of the toys but it's not in the system.  DB and Nick know the boys were in the back of Sim's car but his accomplice must have been at the front, someone who lured them.  They suspect Tunicliffe, but he has an alibi.

Greg tells Morgan he's returning to the CS and he takes Pope with him to let him in.  Pope asks what he's looking for but Greg doesn't know.  Pope shows the hammer he's hiding under his jacket and then that laughter is heard again!  It's his ringtone and in that instance Greg knows it's him.  Yes as said.  He was the eighth boy abducted by Sims and he was afraid the ghosthunters would speak to the ghosts of the boys who would reveal his old identity, Jonathan Harris.  Finn tells him he's not to blame for the killings since he was only 11, but he still hears their voices.

Morgan apologizes to Greg for not believing his psychic ability.  Their work is about science but there still could be the spiritual around them.  Greg is a little sceptical since not one of the ghosts gave him a sign that Pope was the killer.  Morgan believes something must have been looking out for him.  Greg takes the amulet and hangs it in his locker, he closes the door and it opens by itself.  Yes he didn't think of Carrie's amulet which she gave him for protection and it worked.  Sara needs some time to go to SF and ensure a serial rapists isn't paroled and DB tells her to take some time off too.

Not so much a scary episode but one that focuses more on Greg and his 'ability.'  Though there was that eerie presence to add some credibility to the presence of ghosts.  A must for Supernatural lovers and I mean the TV show as well.  Also in an episode of  CSI 6.19 Spellbound, where Greg revealed to Grissom that his grandmother was a psychic.  SO it's good that they mentioned this again here.  Also in that episode the woman was killed after she foretold her own murder and was a fake.  Greg mentions he's got some of his Grandma Olaf's skills, but Grissom just shoots him down, saying he hasn't.   Cos it's all about science, something similar to Morgan here.  Greg: "I have an  expertise in the occult."
Greg: "My Nana Olaf ...was a psychic.  She didn't have a store, just a sixth sense and the family thinks I might have inherited it."
Some good continuity too with Sara reminding us she's a vegetarian and Morgan being just that little bit sceptical especially as the season finale approaches and a storyline that puts her in danger.

Don't know whether you believe in the supernatural/paranormal, but a lot of people do and there are some strange spooky goings on in real life.  Had a few encounters myself as did my father.  I fell down the stairs two years ago and it felt like a hand pushed me from behind, but there was no one at home and no one would do that even if they were.

Watch this clip here which I thought was kinda cool, not scary though, especially the bit with Richard Grieco and his paranormal encounter!
    http://www.biography.com/tv/celebrity-ghost-stories/videos/ana-ortizs-boombox-plays-without-power-35741763532

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