CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV Series) Ch-Ch-Changes (2004) User Reviews

Very good episode. With a truly unbiased view on the topic.

[m-47826 · 7/10 · 24 June 2022]

All episode long you have different points of view, regarding transgenders and the transition they go through. Some characters sympathize with it, while others feel uncomfortable. And it's normal behavior. I really don't get the hate in the reviews section, that make people who wrote them very dogmatic, and anything but open minded. There was nothing insulting nor degrading with the way they were portrayed in the episode. And I personally loved the talks between Grissom and that trans woman played by Kate Walsh. It was a nice way to defuse the controversy, whether you live with it, or you're just an observer. It's a good CSI episode, and the investigation takes you, even though you know who the killer is, the moment the actor appears onscreen...

The Transsexual World of Las Vegas

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 14 January 2023]

While driving her convertible at high-speed in the highway, a woman is stopped by a patrolman. Catherine and Grissom arrive later to the highway where the woman was found with slit throat and slashed genitals in her car. They also find a camcorder with no tape on the floor. The entire team investigate the case and Warrick and Sara find documents in the car, showing that the victim is Wendy Garner and the car's registration and the driver's license in the name of Walter Clancy. When Dr. Robbins finds a prostate in the victim, the team learns that she was a transsexual, and soon concludes that Wendy and Walter were the same person. When Grissom and Brass investigate Wendy's fiancé Aaron Laner, they learn that he does not know that Wendy was a transsexual. The team also interview her fellow dancers and learn that Dr. Mercer is the responsible for most of the transsexuals' operation. However, the doctor tells Catherine and Warrick that he refused to operate Wendy since she wanted to jump steps of the procedure required by the law. Now they are looking for the surgeon that might have operated Wendy.

"Ch-Ch-Changes" is an episode of "CSI" where the investigators need to learn about the outcast transsexual world of Las Vegas. For straight viewer like me, it is interesting to see the problems that persons with problem with their gender need to face to survive. Lindsay Crouse, Kate Walsh and Sarah Buxton are women in the real life, but Jazzmun that performs Mercedes is a transgender woman. The title is based on David Bowie's song "Changes". My vote is eight.

Title (Brail): "Ch-Ch-Changes"

Ew-Ew-Ewwww...

[Son_of_Mansfield · 6/10 · 22 April 2007]

Usually CSI handles what Grissom calls, "aberrent behavior", with a deft touch, but this episode dissolves into cliché and makes the trans-genders come across as freaks or take a back seat to the yucky details of the crimes. By the time that Lindsay Crouse starts talking about how she was in Vietnam, "cutting the arms off grunts", you spend more time rolling your eyes at the writing then watching the characters. Then, we find out her husband spit into his victim's mouth when he was killing her. Why is this important? He had gone down on his wife earlier in the day, so he spit some of his wife's semen into the victim's mouth. Yeah, thanks for that. Ironically, with all the surgery, it's the good doctor's murderous husband who is the most disgusting character. This is one of the weakest episodes of the series.

Sick Move into the Trans World/And It's Not the Trans Folks

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 31 January 2021]

I'm a huge fan of this series, but this time it goes to far into societies hatreds. Obviously, trans people have all kinds of issues with the way they are treated by the rest of the world. But here we make them part of a freak show. I'm sure there are those who fit the description here, but the whole thing is so unbalanced, going for the sensational.

So Transphobia

[PetiteGirafe · 1/10 · 4 October 2021]

This whole episode is so, so cringey and grossly transphobic. The constant misgendering, portraying the trans community as freaks, blatant disregard for any actual facts about the trans community. Its all so bad.